Food Really Matters!!!

As I lay here in bed, barely able to move, I decided its time I opened up a little bit about what I've been dealing with almost a year now. I want to share because in a world obsessed with the latest weight loss fad, it's hard to tell what's legit versus who's just in it for the dollar!

I used to be one of those who wanted that quick fix, I probably have a good 5 or 6 "diet" books in my library, but none of them promise long term results.... NONE!!! A year and a half ago that all changed... I came across a what I call "a lifestyle" plan that worked... that I was able to stick to realistically, "Clean Eating". Now I'm sure this is probably a term that you are all very familiar with, but do you really knowww what Eating Clean means?! I know I didn't. Google is literally my BEST FRIEND and I really don't know what I would do without her... like seriously! (haha) I spent many nights researching how to eat clean and in reality, I was already doing it, I just had to make some minor adjustments. All eating clean means is eating foods with as little ingredients as possible.. preferably below 3... and if you can't pronounce it... it's dirty! Processed foods are the demise of our bodies, whether you realize it or not, eating foods that God did not place on this earth and that man created, wreaks havoc on our body. Most can't tell the difference until they make the change and then have a cheat day/cheat meal and literally feel like they're dying afterwards. See that's exactly what happened to me.

January it will be a year that I have been dealing with some internal issue in my body. It started with an annoying pain underneath the right side of my ribs, one that made workouts extremely painful. After a trip to my doctor, he was sure it was inflammation in my muscles from strenuous workouts, he treated me for a condition called, Pleurisy. I went through the series of questions, "Do you notice a change after eating certain foods (no), does change in position help (no), blah blah blah (no, no, no)." The pain was so severe it sent me to the emergency room, where that doctor also convinced it was a muscle pain... I went through a series of tests, both blood work and xrays. I was on Percocet for pain management and two other kinds of spasm and inflammation meds, NOTHING HELPED!!! Tests were normal showing I was extremely healthy, I was lost.

Four months in and no sign of relief, I went for a second opinion, this time I went with a little more information. In the interim of  my issues, both my grandfather and my husband's grandfather had become terminally ill, my clean eating turned to eating fast-foods on the go while traveling to spend as many waking moments as we could with our families and also eating foods that others had cooked for our families, which you know typically is pasta and casserole dishes cooked for the masses. I noticed that while I was at home, where I ate clean, I felt a little better. The pain was there, but foods didn't make a difference. However, on the weekends, when I ate "dirty" processed foods, I was flu like following any meal. This was the key that unlocked a different door into my issues for my new doctor. She ordered another round of blood work and a series of ultrasounds to check my gallbladder, liver, and pancreas. Unfortunately, once again nothing! The only difference from the first time, was that my extremely great cholesterol levels (best my first Dr. had ever seen) had moved to borderline high... something I found interesting because eating dirty made that much difference in such a short time span! We hit a road block, my doctor was still not convinced that there wasn't something going on with my gallbladder considering the symptoms and family history, so together we created a protocol. Go back to eating as clean as possible, workout pushing through the pain, but don't strain, and take an anti-acid, then come back in 6 weeks.  The anti-acids didn't help and despise taking pills so I took those out of the routine fairly quickly, but within a couple weeks all pain was beginning to subside. Something was FINALLY working!!! I felt a sigh of relief. However, with an extremely busy lifestyle where I spend sometimes 2-3 hours in my car a day, I allowed myself to eat things I knew I shouldn't again. It didn't take long for the pain to come back. This time better than before, but now the illness following meals doesn't discriminate clean/dirty. Last night was my worst "episode" yet. We were out of town and had lunch at our favorite Philly sub place and before I had finished eating I was sick. I was able to make the drive home, but by dinner time I had no strength and was in so much pain I couldn't move. The pain was comparable to giving birth to my daughter! I woke up this morning, a little better but not much. I'm now terrified to eat, in fear that I will once again be paralyzed by pain. I'm scheduled for another round of tests, this time with the gastroenterologist for an endoscopy in hopes to finally get to the bottom of all of this, good/bad news! I want answers!!!

I'm writing all this for one reason and one reason only... FOOD MAKES A DIFFERENCE! Yes, I have something going on in my body that is causing all of these issues, but the years of yo-yo dieting and eating foods with ingredients not made for ingestion has caused all of this. If you eat foods that God placed on this earth to eat, your body will thank you! Treat your body with respect and in turn you will be happier and healthier!!!

My transformation

I wrote 'My Story' over a year ago, well recently I chose to create a Transformation Video & thought I would share. Singing has always been an outlet for me & a passion, so I chose to cover Colbie Calliet's "Try" for the video as well.  Enjoy ;)
-xoxo Coach Jessica

       

21 Day Fix Workout Calendar

By popular demand I have created a Printable Workout Calendar for the 21 Day Fix workouts. Feel free to save & print so that you can cross off the workouts as you complete them on your 21 Day fix journey. As always if you need absolutely anything, shoot me a message, and I'll be glad to help!

   xoxo- Coach Jessica