Hey! I hope you’ve been having a happy fall so far! :)
First of all, I want to apologize for not posting in over a
month! Really sorry about that! I’ve been SO sick this past month and had to
make some HUGE changes in terms of my health. I wanted to share the little health
journey that I’ve had with you. So, here it goes…
I’ll start by talking about my vegetarianism. I’ve been a
lacto-ovo-vegetarian for 5-6 years now. I did go through a period where I was
vegan for a few months, but didn’t feel well eating in that way. I’ve
heard a lot of people do well being
vegan, but my body didn’t like it so I went back to being a lacto-ovo. People
always ask me why I’m a vegetarian. I always say it’s because of the gross
factor; I get grossed out very easily and a dead animal on my plate doesn’t
make me happy. I also feel really, really bad for the animals as well. :(
This past month, I caught an illness that only lasted for
not quite one week. I got over that and was on my way back to feeling healthy
again, when I got sick AGAIN! I did not leave my bedroom for 11 days!! It was
sooo crazy! I’m the type whose always bouncing around doing a hundred things,
so just sitting on my butt for that many days drove me absolutely insane! I
finally felt well enough to leave the bedroom, but I was lethargic and felt
like I was dragging. I mentally and physically didn’t feel like my normal self
yet. Normally I’m always happy, bubbly, full of energy, and doing TONS of stuff!
My lethargic feeling persisted for a few days and it didn’t
seem like it was ever going to go away. So, I ended up going to an amazing
naturopath that my friends go to. She told me that I was anemic (or borderline
anemic) and still had a virus inside me. She gave me powdered herbs to take that
would knock the virus out of my system and then she gave me blood building
herbs that would help with the anemia. I took my first dose of herbs and within
a few hours I felt like a million bucks! It was just, WOW! Really cool stuff! I
was so happy that I didn’t need to take an antibiotic. One was prescribed to
me, but I just feel that putting something like that in your system isn’t good
unless you really need to. Plus antibiotics come with a super sized side effect
list! It’s scary stuff! Herbs have little to no side effects. I experienced not
one side effect while taking the herbs. I’m so happy that I went the natural
route!
So, I was told by the naturopath that I’m anemic (or borderline anemic)
and other health practitioners have suspected that I was anemic before her. Anemia
is basically when you have a deficiency of red blood cells or hemoglobin in
your blood, which can result in making the body feel tired. I’ve experienced three fainting episodes
within the last 20 months! Let’s just say that wasn’t fun! :P I think the
anemia is what caused me to faint. My blood wasn’t as strong as it should have
been, maybe because I wasn’t eating the right combination of vegetarian foods
or maybe my body needed meat, I don’t know. But, I decided that I didn’t want to
keep fainting, so I thought I’d introduce meat back into my diet. I’ve had meat
on the brain lately and I know that my body needed it to be healthy and to
counter the anemia. My friend Bella gave me the final nudge that I needed.
After talking to her, I made my decision. It was a really tough decision to
make, but I am no longer a vegetarian. I ate tuna yesterday and chicken today.
It was really hard for me to do that but I know my body needed it. The tuna was
easier to eat than the chicken. I didn’t feel as bad for the fish, but eating
the chicken today…that was tough. Just because it’s a larger more intelligent
animal I guess. But both the tuna and chicken I ate were humanely and
sustainably raised, so that helped me get through it.
After eating my first dose of meat, I felt like I was back to my
“Madison normal”! I had that spring in my step, my mood was super happy!, and I
just felt SO good! My body definitely needed meat even though I didn’t want to
eat it. So, the lesson I learned from this experience is…always listen to your
body! Your body knows what’s best!
Note to vegetarian readers: I
want any vegetarians reading this to know that I still totally support
vegetarianism. :) It didn’t work out for me, but it works for a lot of people
out there! Vegetarianism is great and I wish my body liked being vegetarian,
but I knew I had to make that change.
I won’t be posting again until December because I’ll be prepping lots
of holiday recipes, crafts, and more for all of you! ;)
