Saturday, January 03, 2015

This is My Story...for now

Several years ago I was in a car accident.  Because of the accident I made my first visit ever to a chiropractor.  After the twelve visits the insurance paid for he offered to continue caring for me for health care purposes rather than for injury.  I signed up!

After doing a urine analysis, he discovered I am carbohydrate intolerant!  GULP!  Folks, do you know what all we eat that is full of carbs?!?!?!?   I chose to follow the diet to improve my health.   I did pretty well on it with a few exceptions.  Coffee was on the no list...I continued to drink coffee, but did cut back on it.  Drinking my coffee also meant I would break the no dairy rule as well.  I used my 1/2 and 1/2!   Having moved to California, I also ate fruit.  Hey, they have all the tropical fruits I grew up with in Latin America!  I could not give those up!

After a few days of severe pain I changed the date of my appointment.  When he adjusted me he asked, "have you broken your diet this week?"  Startled by his question I asked why.  He explained that once your body is back on a perfect diet it gains back its capacity to tell you when you have eaten something you should not eat.  That is why babies cry so much.  Their bodies are perfected to tell when something has been ingested that should not be.  The more we keep giving our bodies the wrong food the more likely the warning signs just give up and quit telling us.(He worded that better, but I cannot remember his exact explanation!)  I had to confess that I had indeed broken my diet!  My mom was living with us and a dear, dear friend from Mexico had brought over her home made tamales.  Now how could I not eat those!!!  The next day our pastor's wife brought over her delicious sticky buns she is so famous for.  Yep, you guessed it!  I did add those to my diet.

A few weeks later, I had flown home after being gone two weeks.  Gary stayed in California~I was living in California/Missouri two weeks a month in each place.  The weather was bad so I chose not to go grocery shopping until the next morning.  All I had in the house were Brazil nuts.  Since I had not eaten all day, I ate a lot of Brazil nuts.  The next day, while grocery shopping, I had a severe and painful attack in my upper left lung.  I literally could not pull in my air without extreme pain.  I went to the car and called the chiropractor.  I went straight to his office.  As he adjusted me he said, "Did you eat a lot of fat yesterday? "    Goodness!  There was no hiding anything from this man!!!!  

I have to tell you, I actually got angry at this.  If I am good on my diet, but have an occasion to indulge in a goody...I pay heavily for it!  I rebelled!  I told him I could not live like that!  That meant I could not enjoy an occasional treat while on a get-away with my husband!  I could not indulge in the yummies my girlfriends have when we have our yearly, week long trips!  I would no longer enjoy the marvelous treats of the holidays!  Yikes!

I chose to not follow the diet so well!

The doctor warned me that in five years I would be quite unhealthy if I continued eating the carbs.  I decided I could handle it in a moderate way.    I started out well, but little by little it became easy to eat the beans and rice at a Mexican restaurant, it became easier to join my husband with desserts...and maybe even order my own dessert if he didn't!  I enjoy eating all the fruit growing in my yard(figs, dates, guavas, orange, bananas, limes, lemons)  

So, five years later I am facing the challenge of going on The 21 Day Sugar Detox.  Upon reading the book I have discovered it is basically the same diet I was following five years ago.  Why am I going to do this?  It is not for weight loss like everyone else might be doing now at the beginning of 2015.  I am doing it because, yes, five years later I seem to be bothered by most anything I eat.  I seem to be tired most of the time.    I am not totally recognizing me!  The man was right!!!

So, for 21 days, I plan to follow the plan and hope that it improves my health.  After that I am going to have to be so much more careful than I have been!  

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It could be quite frustrating when health issues get in our way to indulge on the things we love, especially food. Though how your chiropractor knew about it, I have no idea. Haha! But I am with you; I think an occasional thing wouldn’t hurt, as long as it is not something that would drastically affect your health even at small amounts. Anyway, I hope things are doing a lot better for you know. Thanks for sharing this with us!


Minda Mazer @ Belden Village Chiropractic & Wellness Center

Sabrina Craig said...

Surviving a car accident is not the end of a victim’s tribulation. They can still suffer from the resultant injuries and traumas, which can really be uncomfortable and disturbing. It takes so much time to put everything back to normal, because it involves both the physical and emotional parts of our being, but I believe it will pass. Anyway, it seems that you are enjoying your therapy sessions, and it's really great to hear that. I hope that you're faring great, Joyce. Thanks for sharing that! All the best to you!

Sabrina Craig @ Medical Attorney NY