When I heard that Dr. Daniel Amen was going to be one of the keynote speakers for the Gluten Summit I got excited. I have read several of Dr. Amen’s books and I knew his approach to a brain healthy diet, which would include inflammation for the entire body and not just the brain. I was not disappointed by his talk at all. Here are some highlights that I took away:

“Avoid things that hurt your brain like gluten, sugar, and bad fats. Avoid processed foods, bad fats and excessive sugar and salt.”

“Your behavior is turning on or off certain genes, making illness more or less likely to happen.”

How to use food to reverse illness:

70 percent plant based

30 percent high quality protein

Healthy form of fat

Increased energy

Stabilizes mood

There was so much more that Amen shared and his website and that of his wife’s is an amazing resource for information. I still struggle with eating healthy; a lot of it has to do with bad habits, emotional eating, and all those things that I struggle with. I don’t feel like I have the adequate support I need to kick start a new eating adventure let alone a moving adventure. I start, get distracted, and then stop. That is my normal. I have no idea if this is just because I have those negative thoughts that say why bother, it won’t do any good anyway or if it is pure laziness on my part. I don’t think it is laziness, I think it is the negative thoughts that pop into my head when I am having a bad flare day or some disaster just pops out of nowhere. Seems like no matter what I do something happens to derail my progress for example, my left hand swelled up to where they thought I had a blood clot, turns out I don’t. It is just inflammation, which I saw in the ultra sound they took of my hand and arm. I saw the pulsating red inflammation in my arm and wrist and thought I hate you, go away, why don’t you just leave me alone. Yes, I know I talk to my body in a negative way, but inflammation is the enemy to my body right now. It isn’t doing the job it is supposed to do in the healing process; it is attacking my body and causing me pain. Even while I am typing this post, my hand still hurts, but it is not swollen, thank you God for that. This leaves me deeply frustrated with my entire body and I talk poorly to it. I know that this is one aspect that needs to change. I do have an amazing body, even when it is not behaving properly. It isn’t being properly because I have feed it junk my entire life and I know this, so the truth I am to blame for the predicament I am in. I am also the only one who can change it and yes, I know the information, just that those yummy cheese delights look so tempting. And plus, I get bored and then I eat so that I am not going crazy with loneliness and boredom. I am working towards changing this part of myself by having projects that I am working. One of those projects is my “Healing Voices” and my blog “Jamie Chases Butterflies”, and writing my book “Beyond the Trach” and of course, keeping my body moving and healthy despite the currently health condition I am in. I am a work in progress and I am also humble enough to know that I am not perfect nor do I always know what I am talking about but I am bound and determined to make the steps necessary to change my circumstances especially when God shows me where I need to work on. That is why 2014 is my Journey To Wellness, that is what I have titled my journal and that will be my focus.

I know nutrition is important. Believe me I know, I watched my father fight stage 4 colon cancer and switch to a vegan diet which helped him leave 2 in a half years past the time they said he had left. Doesn’t that say something? I wish I had the courage, the motivation, and the determination to totally switch my eating habits to where it needs to be. I do make a few small changes, such as limiting the amount of beef I consume and I know don’t eat a lot of grains or gluten which I know is helping my body. Being on a limited budget when it comes to food, I do my best to get fresh produce and get my vegetables in and I don’t consume soy or at least I try not, but I have noticed that a lot of packaged foods from bread to canned goods have soy in them. And it isn’t the soy that our grandmothers knew; it is the highly processed stuff that is not good for us at all. I do my best and I do like to learn what I can so that I can make better options for myself.