"Free" Food

Wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, cholesterol free, carbohydrates free, sugar free, peanut free, soy free, corn free, citrus free, additives free and I'm not even hung-ree!

Even though it hasn't been easy, I've stuck to this elimination diet prescribed by integrative/functional medicine physician Dalal Akoury, M.D. for seven days now as best I can. Yeah, I've cheated a bit but it's really, really hard not to indulge a craving, as you all know. Best of all, I've added a new natural sugar, quinoa, flax seed and sea salt, and a number of other foods and products I never would have tried.

I've learned a lot about genetically modified foods (bad) and organic and free-range meats (good) and find I'm eating a lot of rice  - white rice, rice milk, rice waffles, rice mozzarella cheese and even rice cakes. Yes, Delilah Jones of Imagine Publicity, I have found a brand of rice cakes that don't taste like paper towels!

I've also learned that purported healthy food is not necessarily good for you - even those found in a 'healthy' supermarket, grocery or supplements store. It's the food additives that are most hard to avoid. In Dr. Akoury's upcoming book, "Please Don't Eat the Donuts," she lists these additives and their consequences. YUK. I never want to eat 'un-healthy' again.

And I think that's the whole point of "Dr. Dolly's" elimination diet. Even though I am doing a 'toxic cleansing' for 10 days, I am also introducing myself to a wide variety of foods armed with educational materials (that I carry to the stores with me) to make the right choices. In my 16 years as a professional patient I can honestly say I have never had someone in the medical profession present this information to me in such a clear, concise and loving way. I am so glad I went ahead with my first intake appointment at AwareMed Health & Resource Center and didn't get scared.

I'm not going to launch into a lengthy discussion or reference any health food sources here because MY diet is tailored to MY specific needs. And I think that is key. Although Dr. Dolly will extol the virtues of the new food pyramid that puts fruits and veggies on the largest bottom tier rather than meats, there are so many other things to learn about what we put in our guts.

I will leave you with one final story: Years ago, post-chemotherapy treatment, I went to the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for an Introductory Weekend. I went alone and roomed with a stranger - a first for me. And I went with wobbly legs, chemo brain, and an overall weakened immune system. But I needed to explore restorative health practices including foods, yoga, humor, etc. It was a life-changing experience and I was so proud to have done it all by myself.

One day, we did a session on food and it was obviously geared more towards those who have trouble with being overweight. However, the exercise (which I thought was quite foolish as we began) invited us to chew one raisin for at least 60 seconds; that is, not gulp them down in handfuls like we usually do. We experienced the sweetness, the tartness, the texture and learned how to appreciate a single item of food.

As we went around the circle describing what we'd learned from the exercise, surprisingly, I burst into tears! I realized then that I had been mortally afraid of food. You see, when you are diagnosed with cancer or Lupus or any other life-threatening illness, you are immediately bombarded with messages, information, and books about what kind of diet to eat to prevent or cure cancer. I tried some of Dr. Andrew Weil's stuff (even writing to him in desperation only to get a form letter in return) and a macrobiotic diet (miso soup for breakfast - UGH) and went to a naturo-pathic doctor leaving his office with hundreds of dollars of supplements that I couldn't swallow because my throat was so mangled from the emergency tracheotomy.

So a food imprint was born and I strove to get back to my fairly healthy diet where I ate everything in moderation. That worked until I was struck with gastroparesis a little over two years ago. Since it's time for a food revolution in my body, I am so glad to have a skilled healer to guide me correctly.

So, perhaps, you might start your own new food journey. You can start with one small raisin.

NOTE: I have been told that many of you are having trouble posting on my blog site. Please send me emails at ascrohn@gmail.com and I will be sure to post any comments you'd like. Thank you to those of you who have contacted me in one way or another and, once my website is complete, you will have another avenue to reach out to me. I love reading your comments! 

Asteroids and Meteors

We're all familiar with the saying that Saturday Night Live's Julia Sweeney made famous in her skit, memoir and one-woman show: "When you make plans, God says ha!"  I've had some interesting experiences in these past two weeks that have, once again, cemented my belief that things happen for a reason when the time is right. Shake, rattle and roll... Just maybe that asteroid or meteor was meant for me.

First, for fun, I had my Tarot cards read by Jennifer Johnson (a lovely lady both inside and out) at a Mardi Gras party on Fat Tuesday. It was a 'mini-reading' but with five cards laid down and the meanings given to me for each, I was somewhat taken aback. They were spot on. But Jennifer, who is quite the professional I must say, explained that she was just telling me what each of my drawn-from-the-deck cards represented. She never spoke of me personally because she didn't pretend to know me or my situations. It was my job to absorb the information and see if it was relevant. It was and it threw me off course a bit.

My professional photographer friend took my "book cover" photo and I am pleased with the results. Now I am no longer a woman with sunglasses holding her dog, but a writer sitting at her computer. The pose was painful, I'll admit; but, damn, Sherry Vance knows what she is doing. Click on her link and take a look at some of her amazing photos. The prices on that site are stupidly high so if you're interested in any of them at a reasonable price, let me know at ascrohn@gmail.com.

Then I was given a wonderful blessing by being able to spend several hours with two ladies who will now play a very important role in my life - Delilah Jones of Imagine Publicity and Dr. Dalal Akoury, founder of the AWAREMed Health and Resource Center who is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine. Delilah rearranged my puzzle pieces deftly. She answered my questions about social media marketing and suggested that I start an internet radio show so I can share all that I've learned about health and wellness with others and referred me to my pal Denny Griffin, true crime author, private investigator and radio host of CrimeWire where he regularly interviews former mobsters, I will launch my own Blog Talk radio show called "I Told You I Was Sick" on his InsideLenz network in upcoming months. With Dr. Akoury, I am going to take a huge step forward in caring for myself and my numerous chronic ailments by starting and blogging about my personal journey through integrative medicine. After nearly 16 years as a 'professional patient' of traditional medicine, I am going to try something new during the last third of my life and bring you all along for the ride. As Doctor Akoury says: "Health is the new wealth" and I've just got to give it a try.

My memoir and book proposal are done. It's being pitched to agents. I'm almost finished with my website. I've signed up with all the social media network sites - Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc. and I ask you to please share the links with others. And I'm not sitting still while my editor pitches my book. I am going back to Amazon.com's CreateSpace to self publish which is truly the modern way to attract readers and the eye of more traditional publishers.

Finally, I have also started filling out the paperwork to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in the foster care system; something I've wanted to volunteer to do for many years. If the social services system currently in place was in place when I was a child, I would have surely been removed from my home. As a foster and adoptive mother now, I can't wait to help other children who may be floundering and need another voice in the courts. I know many of the States' children and family services programs are a muddle right now, but I'm ready to dive in and help affect change in whatever small or large ways I can.

So for just two weeks in South Carolina where I can think and work and spend time in solitude, I've been guided to map out a new plan and I doubt it is mere coincidence that all of these things are coming together now. It is the proper time and I am being guided by a force greater than myself.

Most of all, I promise to be faithful to you, my readers, and deliver information that is important and relevant to good health and living a life that is always kind and wise. I am blessed to have you travel alongside me.

Watch out for asteroids! You never know when they are going to shake up your life.

Amy at five-years-old.

Owww

I'm having an 'ow' moment. And if my friends in my online autoimmune support group offer indication, they are all having 'ow' moments, too.

Those of us with Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, or any of the other hundreds of diseases and disorders that cause one's body to attack itself, we are all in this boat together. Living with these painful reminders of ourselves becomes rote. Most of us don't even feel the pain any longer unless we are reminded by a bump of the elbow, a twist of the wrist, or a simple kneel.

But then there are the days or weeks or months where the pain just doesn't seem to let up. Colder weather certainly affects us plus stress and overdoing anything. It's really hard to be a Type A personality with an autoimmune disorder!

My friends in the online group each have their own story, some that break my heart. Yet we all come together to support one another and offer guidance, advice, or simple and virtual {{gentle hugs}} to feel community - that knowledge that we are not alone in our pain.

As I plan a trip South where I will drive 12 hours over two days, I start to panic a bit. I put together my kit of essentials - car seat pillow, neck support pillow for sleeping, heating pad, BenGay or BioFreeze, special foods for my gastroparesis, ibuprofen and, of course, all my prescribed medications to last the up to two weeks I will be away. I also visited my local library to get two long books on CD. Listening to a book while driving keeps my anxiety level down and makes the trip more tolerable and even enjoyable. I do like my alone time.

I stay at the same hotel every time I make the trip so the management staff know me. I bring my dog, Shadow, and he provides comfort (and lap warmth in the car sometimes) but also forces me to walk which is a tremendous help to 'oil' my joints and something I haven't been able to do in the frigid cold in New York of late. Like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, I see myself crying out: "Oil can. Oil can."

And then it's 'ahhhhhhh.' I've reached my destination - a condo near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Shadow practically leaps out of the car when I roll down the window to smell that we are there, in my wonderful world of warmth and exercise and oceanic beauty. This trip I am hoping to finally meet Dr. Dalal Akoury, the holistic practitioner who cared so tenderly for my dear friend and colleague, Susan Murphy Milano when she battled Stage IV cancer last year and whose book Holding My Hand Through Hell is a must read for anyone who went through childhood trauma of any kind. Susan's experience is all the proof I need that childhood maltreatment can lead to adult physical illness, a thesis my own memoir supports.

On this trip, I go alone and know that I have many friends there who can come to my aid, if needed. That, in  itself, is a great comfort. Laughing and joking with them when we go out for fun is great medicine, too. I just ask them not to hug me too hard when I arrive. When I depart, they can hug me as hard as they want because I suddenly feel 'cured,' free of most of the pain that I've banished while down South. The drive home is easier, too.

It's no accident that my husband and I purchased a condo within walking distance to a hospital. I've taken myself there at least once to get a bolus of steroids or pain medication. In years to come, they'll all get to know me, too, just like the ER staff at my local community hospital in New York. I've learned to manage myself and my disease and my pain.

For those of us with chronic illness, a trip like this is huge. My similarly-afflicted friends will understand and, perhaps, those who read this will understand that most pain is invisible - that we don't mean to isolate ourselves, be cranky, or cry. Sometimes it's just the pain - that damn pain. Bon voyage!