Making Changes...

Hello friends! I have been researching how to incorporate a new & healthier lifestyle. I feel I've come to a point no matter what diagnosis the medical world comes up with that there won't be a simple and easy cure for me. I don't want to say I've given up but I know that there's a lot of things I can change in my daily routine that may help me live in a healthier and more productive lifestyle. The following excerpt is from a friend if mine. I found it very helpful and full of useful info do I felt I needed to share with y'all too! Hope this helps someone, if you've found any helpful additions, please feel free to leave your comments before! 

Hugs, The Shell Lady, Lynnette

Our society is blindly buying into products that are doing more harm than good, and unfortunately companies care more about revenue than to admit their cheap faults in production. That's greed and marketing for you. The bad side of it anyways. So, anyone I can tell my small natural journey to, I do, so they might have a chance to make small changes that help their own bodies in a big way. From my personal experiences, I believe there are 3 main areas everyone who is thinking about 'going natural' should focus on:beauty and hygiene, eating habits, and exercise routine.

I've been using all of the above products in my beauty and hygiene routine for over 2yrs now and I feel so much better about what I'm putting on my largest organ (aka my skin) :) It has thanked me too. My legs are no longer dry or get very many ingrowns, and my at times, painful cystic acne hasn't seen the light of day for at least 3 months now, and I can apply deodorant knowing my skin is breathing in beneficial ingredients. All positive changes from multiple edits in my beauty routine to going as natural as possible. My mother, who you might remember I mentioned has symptoms like those of MS, but she has essential tremor of the head, has seen a slower foldout of the benefits of going natural, but consistency is her issue. My homemade products have journeyed to Maryland recently and now my grandparents, cousins, sister, uncles and aunts are using them now and love them.

The next area to 'going natural' is eating habits. Last week my dad was told by his doctor he is borderline diabetic. What a wake-up call that was for him, and for the first time in seriously YEARS...he ate a salad I made for him and yogurt. He's the kind of guy that can eat a whole bag of chips or crackers while doing the bills or watching a movie on the couch, go pickup fast food for lunch every day, but will hardly eat any fruits or vegetables no matter how many times he is told he should...and slowly his stubbornness has caught up to him. What goes in, must come out. Your body won't tell you how it will all come out though. It is at those moments when we realize we are either having bad or good symptoms of what things we have been doing to our bodies. 

Two years ago when I started to eat more leafy greens, fruits, and vegetables at least twice a week to begin with, my body responded with some unpleasant reactions: a hurting stomach because of gas and the feeling I was still hungry even though I just ate 3 fruits and a big salad to get the needed calorie intake. I was questioning whether I was doing more harm than good by eating so healthy...and then my soon-to-be nurse sister informed me that bacteria farts. Yup, haha it's true! The bacteria that lives in your gut lets off nitrogen gas whenever they consume high-fiber and complex carb rich nutrients commonly found in healthier foods and even grains, which in turn gives us some bloating of gas. But this bacteria also lets off gas when foods or drinks that can't easily be digested are consumed. Bad and good gas that causes farting actually exists and is totally normal. So what I had to do is drink more water and take smaller consistent steps towards eating healthy instead of diving in all at once and eating as much healthy food as possible day to day. I had to give my intestines and the bacteria that lives there a chance to get used to being fed all the nutritional goodness I wanted it to have instead of shocking it. Now over a few months of easing in, it has learned how good healthier foods can be and bloating has disappeared! ...but, the catch here is that it has become smart enough to recognize what is 'junk' and what is 'healthy'. Can you believe that?? No joke. A healthy stomach will keep your desire for cookies, gum, ice cream, and all those other sweet treats in check!! I wish I could eat my favorite chocolate ice cream as much as I used to, but it has come down to maybe once a month that I consume it because having it consistently upsets my stomach. A good thing though I guess, my stomach is looking out for my body's best interests as I continue on my journey. I also make sure to eat relatively slow and not devour my food, which gives my stomach time to digest properly. 

The last area is exercise. Probably the hardest area for me to tackle, but the most important for my type of lifestyle. My 'real' job outside of ArtSea Chic is in a corporate environment sitting at a desk for 8hrs+ 5 days a week under pressure to meet deadlines, at times difficult co-workers, managing programs and a never ending to-do list. That's a lot of stress, pressure, and sitting that's hurting my body with not a lot of extra time to put towards exercising. If all that doesn't get released though, it's building up into a huge ball of anxiety and actually hurting my well being both mentally and physically. I have actually noticed whenever it gets bad, I tend to shed hair more than usual, I'm restless, my joints are sore, and it's actually very uncomfortable to sit more than an hour in the car driving home. That's my body's way of tell me that something's not right, and to do something about it. Isn't it smart? :) 

I'm in a constant battle for time, always. There's never enough time in the day to do everything I need to do. But, I know basic yoga and zumba fitness works like a charm. I'd add vacation to that, but I can't do that every day.haha When I can make a class, yoga and zumba twice a week have helped me relax and release all the pressure that's built up inside, which leaves me with more energy and better blood circulation that has eased the pain of having to sit for hours each day. It's a constant battle to find time to exercise, but it helps so much. You may recall me having mentioned my mom and I were doing zumba classes together twice a week. Well, fast-forward to today and she has lost approx. 20 pounds while doing her best to exercise consistently, eat better, and be thoughtful of what she uses during her beauty and hygiene routines. How awesome right? Very proud of her for accepting change, and now she is able to see benefits from it.

I absolutely 100% agree with you in that you cannot wait for a doctor's cure (sometimes they aren't even right), but they will always be there to help you. It all starts with you. You know your body better than any doctor ever will. It will take some extra work, a longer time than it would take to ingest a pill, and careful listening to your body talking to you to get to know it even better, but it is possible, and the outcome will be better than anything a pill could fix. You might not cure all your symptoms, but you will feel better overall about the quality of your life. 

Everyones DNA is different, complicated too. Some good triggers for one person might be the bad triggers for someone else. It's a puzzle that each person has to figure out themselves and with the help from a doctor sometimes, and work towards completing. The great thing about 'going natural' is the pace at which you move forward is as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. There's no worrying about drastic side-effects, symptoms, or reactions from medications...because you're just doing things your body is naturally accustomed to by nature. Life is better that way!