Tag: coping

Crazy Food Combinations

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Gluten free oatmeal with beef gelatin for added protein?stop messin with my head

Sautéed celery, carrots, and turkey patties with salt and marjoram?

Baked and herbed chicken thighs?

Almond butter on iceberg lettuce wrapped around a slice of leftover turkey/beef meatloaf?

Almond/coconut milk smoothie with celery, carrot, avocado, and Celtic sea salt?

Yes!  Things sure can get weird when you’re on 3 diets at once:  1)  mold-free due to mold illness, 2) Candida/low sugar and starch due to a systemic infection, and 3) low sulphur due to probable methylation issues.  And you thought trying to lose a couple of pounds for your New Year’s Resolution was challenging?  That’s kid’s stuff  in my kitchen!  At least number 3 is only for 10 days before I add back cruciferous vegetables to see if they have contributed to the noxious symptoms of the past 2 years.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll figure out how to make pancakes out of squash and coconut flour after all!

In the meantime, note the incredible power of food.  I have a true Foodie friend who was able to help her sister recover from a deadly kidney disease in record time by painstakingly altering her sister’s eating plan.  The Nephrologist was astounded at the improvements in her lab results.  Yes, food is fuel and should require more of our time and attention if we desire better performance from our bodies or health.  While I do wish that my adherence to a mold-free and Candida diet for the past year would have made more of a difference, I know that I would be FAR WORSE if I had been more lax.  I am grateful for the supernatural strength of the Lord to help me shop for, prepare, and tolerate these special foods when I have felt very sick.

Somehow I am not be surprised that the Lord cares for all of these details of my life.

Matthew 6:26  (NIV)

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

The food of the earth was created for our nourishment and enjoyment from the very beginning.

Genesis 1  (NIV)

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
He has provided so much for us so I am challenged to be a good steward of that which He has provided.  I certainly can make it through the inconvenience and “missing out” of the sweeter and juicier foods for a time if it will help me get well.  I don’t need to know how long this will last; I am just grateful that there are new approaches to try and I only have to go to my local grocery store to find them!
So if you are facing some new dietary challenges this year, take heart!  You are not alone.  The changes you are making might just change your life in more ways than you imagined.  Besides, the smell of almond slices roasting in a little organic olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt is, well, heavenly!  Try it on a salad or topping a casserole in place of cheese and see whatcha think.  ;J

The Moments that Define

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When you get up and cook for guests before your treatment and post-treatment nap, you know who you are.

When a moment of intimacy is not as much about you but about pleasing the one you love, you have decided how you will be.

The clock means nothing late at night when it’s time to pour out your heart as it comes alive at last.

The Bible app becomes a good reason to keep one’s head buried in that 3 x 4 inch techno time-sapper again.

A can of chicken is your main entrée when the guests dine on carbs and foods that would make your head explode.

All you can do is all you can do then you clean up the kitchen and make your husband’s lunch anyways.

You know that nothing is possible in your own strength and that the Lord is carrying you, sustaining you once again.

Tis then you know the moments that define bring glory to the One who holds your dreams in His heart until you are united again.

woman in despair

Forbidden Fruit

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It’s everywhere.  I look in one area then into another and I cannot avoid seeing it.  I go to the store and displays everywhere tempt my senses.  I must be strong.  I look forward as if I am wearing blinders (those “harness winkers” or leather patches that keep horses from looking to their peripheral vision) so I don’t stray from my mission.  The forbidden fruit beckons.  “No!” I will not cave.

It’s not that I can do this in my own strength, by the way.  The cravings are too great.  Every cell in my body has probably been affected at some level since I’m without the glucose and carbohydrates that provide energy to battle the infection raging therein.  Oh you thought I was writing about something sinister, didn’t you?  Nope.  It’s an elusive fungus, partially protected in a mucous-y biofilm but not sinister per se.  It is CANDIDA!  And at level 3 of 4 levels, gut yeast is hurting me badly.  The “forbidden fruit” includes actual fruit plus food containing any form of sugar plus any simple carbohydrate or starchy vegetable.  This includes all grains, even the gluten-free kind.  Now even several months into this this extreme diet I have yet to see the endpoint.

Now let’s add another layer:  any food that is fermented, aged, seasoned with just about anything but salt, or at risk for trace amounts of mold!  Evidently even walnuts and pecans can harbor mold in the folded areas of the nut itself.  Leftovers in the frig for more than 24-hours can harbor mold.  Black pepper can harbor mold.  And the list goes on.  Tonight I decided to sacrifice some more seasonings to try to prevent the side effects of consuming the wrong foodstuffs.  The consequences have been severe:  three and one-half hours of seizure attacks plus hours of recovery yesterday convinced me of the need for some more tweaking.   I also stopped one of the medications that feels like it’s killing me.  When a pathologist stated online that seizures change the matrix of the brain, well that woke me up again to the seriousness of this battle.  Seizures can be a part of a level 3 Candida infection.  Geez.  And most people associate yeast with vaginitis.  That was a cakewalk compared to where I am these days.

Yes, this is tough stuff.  Yes, it takes total discipline, focus, endurance, and patience with the repeated setbacks.  Chronic illness requires grace from one’s family, especially one’s spouse.  I am grateful for a loving husband who relies more on the Lord for his happiness and peace than on me.  He sees things from a hopeful place and speaks to the little improvements or the sweet moments between us no matter how small.  His God-given strength is very humbling.  The only way we are able to endure this is through the love of our Lord, Jesus Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that this is the Lord’s plan for our lives and that He is here with us no matter what happens.  And if it is His will, I will be well someday.  I will be able to put to use that awesome carbon fiber canoe paddle Steve bought me for Christmas!  Such a gift of confidence from my beloved.  I love my man!

The forbidden fruit of today have become the hedges of protection I need to keep me from getting worse.  Just like the corrective events of life (those we bring upon ourselves from our own mistakes and those the Lord allows for His Divine purposes), they are not to be hated, feared, avoided, or teased.  We must face that which is forbidden and directly choose otherwise, place a barrier (physical or mental) in the way of temptation, and simply go forth on a different path that leads to victory.  Nothing else will do if we want to win.  I did not dink around with my diet at all during Christmas and I still was very sick.  Imagine if I had “cheated” on my survival diet.  I would have not been able to visit with family for three consecutive days, cook for several hours at a time, and enjoy a delightful time of fellowship.  Sure I “crashed and burned” around 8:00 p.m. each night.  The sacrifice was worth the reward that was available to me.  The reward was greater this year than last year at Christmastime.  That’s cool.

From here the journey ahead is unclear.  I will continue the treatment approaches I have described above yet do not know yet if any new medical approaches are warranted.  I have an upcoming appointment with my Lyme and mold-literate medical doctor where we will review the difficulties I have had functioning these past two years.  There’s another functional medicine clinic of interest that is 3-hours away . . .   We sure will be praying for direction about all of this in the new year.  Wherever the path leads I know the Lord is already there.  I welcome His plan for my life that has created more joy than I ever could have imagined on my own.  If that joy must come through serious illness then I would not want it any other way.  Really.  I’m just believing what He tells me, you know.  Picture me and Steve in an outrigger canoe along a sandy beach somewhere warm . . .   Yes, I can picture it  . . .

Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 3:5-6

Where does my hope come from?

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From where may I find timeless truths that can transform my weary frame, my broken heart and mind?   Let’s see, for that to be true, the truths manifest in words would have to be true for all people at all times.  The only place for such divine work is from the scripture of the Bible that was, is, and forever will be.  (For:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1.)

I pray that you will find comfort, hope, and peace among these passages.  Some verses are for instruction, some for encouragement, some are promises, and some simply convey that the Lord understands and cares for our life experiences.  Some will also have greater meaning when taken in context of how they were written.  I encourage you to go to the Blue Letter Bible for the context of each passage and for more explanation or “commentary.”

May your heart be filled this day with the love, peace, and joy that comes from God Himself as He reveals Himself to you!  :J

And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.  John 16:32b

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

He does not forget the cry of the humble.  Psalm 9:12b

I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be trouble, neither let it be afraid.  John 14:27

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  1 Peter 4:10

And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation (i.e. comfort).  2 Corinthians 1:7

And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Jesus Christ.  Philippians 4:19

“But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 30:17

Is anyone among you suffering?  Let him pray.  Is anyone cheerful?  Let him sing palms.  Is anyone among you sick?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  James 5:13-16

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  1 Peter 4:10

He does not forget the cry of the humble.  Psalm 9:12b

Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble, You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear.  Psalm 10:17

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

I have set the Lord always before me; Because my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices, My flesh will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.  Psalm 16: 8-11

Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.  Psalm 41:3

Offer to God thanksgiving.  And pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.  Psalm 50:14-15

And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Jesus Christ.  Phil 4:19

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!  Psalm 27:14

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.  While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  2 Corinthians      4:16-18

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6-7

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite sprit.  Psalm 34:18

“My grace is sufficient for you.  For My strength is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  2 Corinthians 12:9

In returning and rest you shall be saved.  In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.  Isaiah 30:15

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me;  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  Psalm 23:1-4

For with God nothing will be impossible.  Luke 1:37

Now to Him Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.  1 Peter 5:6-7

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you; Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.  Isaiah 14:10

You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.  You shall increase my greatness And comfort me on every side.  Also with the lute I will praise You — And your faithfulness, O my God!  Psalm 71:20-22

For further inspiration you might enjoy listening to Praise you in This Storm by Casting Crowns.