WAPF Conference 2011

This last weekend (Nov 11th-13th) I attended Weston A. Price's Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas. I cannot even begin to say how much I learned there, and I was also able to find so many resources for information on nutrition and health. I attended a session called Gut and Psychology Syndrome, and learned all about GAPS from the woman who discovered it and created a cure for it. I purchased the book she wrote, and am going to begin her GAPS program soon in order to heal my body from my sickness. I'm very excited to begin. The diet is a bit intimidating, but that is only because it involves a lot of cooking techniques that I have never used before. In the diet I will be making my own yogurt, sour cream, ghee, kefhir (sp.?), and fermented vegetables. I am extremely optimistic about this program, and believe that it can definitely heal my gut. Healing my gut will take away all of my symptoms: bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, food sensitivities, eczema, hair loss (hopefully), brain fog/lack of motivation, and my over all energy level. I'm so excited! It is going to be a long and difficult journey (estimated to take about 2 years), but it is well worth it.
Soon, after I organize the pages and pages of notes I took at the conference and read all of the book and sources I have now, I will be posting information/papers on my blog about different health issues, nutritional issues, and modern day food problems. The things I learned at the conference were extremely eye opening, and I just want to share as much information as I can in order to help/educate people on the truth of our human body's health, and how we can maintain it. The answer is not (usually) in doctor's prescriptions and drug after drug.
Instead of only treating our symptoms with drugs (which are usually doing more harm to our bodies in the long term than they are doing good-taking away our symptoms) , as Western doctors do today, we need to look a little bit deeper into our bodies and find the source of the problem which is causing the negative symptoms. This will result in complete healing. Our bodies are amazing and self-healing. We just need to provide our bodies with the right tools to heal itself... These tools being the food we put into our bodies, sunshine, and exercise. Now I will admit, it can get a bit complicated these days with how many toxins and pathogens we are exposed to, but these things are the roots of the tree - the food we eat, our happiness/emotional state, and exercise.
Can't wait to share more with you guys!

A Heart Update

If you are reading this and for some reason you don't know me that well, you are about to get to know me pretty well. I am a very open person, and if anyone asked me how I was really doing, how my heart was, how my relationship with the Lord was, I would really tell them honestly how I was. What I have written below isn't exactly a happy update, but it is where I have been. Praying things go up from here.    
   My heart towards the Lord? Honestly, it hasn't been too good. I just have not been going to Him for my needs. I have been living a miserable existence I guess, and my lame life has sort of made me hate myself a little. I have such little motivation. I have no idea why. It's very hard to get myself to do anything productive. This is my life every day: wake up late (around noon or later), bathe and moisturize my skin, and then I eat and watch TV for the rest of the day. I really want to change it. Watching TV is how I escape from my reality though. My reality is indeed my problem. I hate my reality. I hate that I am sick, I hate what the sickness has done to my physical appearance, I hate my skin and how it falls off EVERYWHERE I go, and I hate that I disappoint my parents. So I watch TV to escape, and then I hate myself for not doing anything, and I continue to disappoint my parents. It's a vicious cycle, really. 
   I realize I need to love and accept myself and my situation in life. I need to accept that wherever I go, my skin will flake off, and then people will notice and make comments. I need to accept that I am sick, and live in the Lord's will for my life. I need to discover what he has for me in my sickness and glorify him in that. I need to love my appearance and believe that I am beautiful, even though my hair is falling out, my body is often swollen, red, flaking, and bleeding. I need to pursue joy. For some reason though, right now I just don't know how, and because I am not relying on the Lord for the strength to get through this and accomplish all these things, it isn't happening. So it seems hopeless. It is such a battle. I'm not gonna lie, this last week was rough. The self-loathing grew stronger, as did the discouragement and lack of hope. My mom always points out how I fail, and I fail a lot in her eyes, so that only upsets me more and makes me dislike myself more. I don't like disappointing her, but it's all I do. And I'm sure my dad isn't exactly thrilled with how I have been living either. 

Lately I have been doing a bit more grain-free/sugar-free/dairy-free baking! I made a dark chocolate coconut cake for a friend's birthday, some pumpkin spice cakes (didn't get a picture of these... I ate them too quickly), and a German cake with ganache and whipped cream coconut topping. I really enjoyed making them, although i must confess, I still prefer cooking to baking. Baking, well, it is just too exact and precise for me. I am not particular enough to get it right.