Helpful Living
Febraury 2023
"How to Improve your Health by Eating Real Food
and How to Slowly Transition from the
Standard American Diet (SAD) to a Real Food Diet"
Blog
In the news
By now you know I want help people improve the quality of their food choices. What you may not know is that I make lifestyle recommendations as well. Some of these include tips for increasing exercise or improving sleep but I also educate clients about many harmful ingredients in everyday items we use. My goal when I work with clients is to meet my clients where there are by addressing what changes they are comfortable making to their lifestyle that will improve their overall wellness. These lifestyle recommends aren’t about spending a ton of money to overhaul your house. This is too expensive and leads to a lot of waste…two things I am against! This is about making a slow transition so when you run out of a product or something breaks, you know what a better options are available for purchase. Below are a few of my favorite household upgrades. STOP with the plastic food containers! Whenever you have the opportunity, store food in glass containers. Drink out of glass at home or use a glass water bottle when you are on the go. WHY? Plastic is chemicals. Chemicals can leech into our food and water ESPECIALLY if they are heated. You heat your leftovers in a plastic container in the microwave, you have also infused your food with chemicals. YUM! You drink out of a plastic water bottle…that sits in the sun in your car, you now have chemical infused water…TASTY! You get my point. How can you fox this? Transfer your food to a dish for reheating. Look to products you buy that come in glass. For example, I love Artisana nut butters. After I finish a jar, I can easily peel off the label, clean it and now I have a new food storage container. If you do need a new water bottle, you can obviously purchase a glass one or if you are at the store and need water, only purchase a brand in a glass bottle, when done, wash and reuse…now you have a new glass water bottle. Clean up your laundry! Detergent reinvented Did you know laundry detergent is mostly water?! Maybe you like lugging the larger plastic jugs home and you count it as part of your workout. NO? Me neither! Now I use Earth Breeze laundry sheets. They removed all that water and condensed the actually cleaning agents into a small sheet. They come in unscented or scented. They ship for free in regular mail with minimal packaging. The packaging they do use is recyclable. They work well. If you want to check earth breeze out for yourself, check out this link . Dryer sheets reinvented Say goodbye to dryer sheets and hello to wool dryer balls. Anything that is reusable is worth checking out. It means less impact on our planet but dryers balls are a double whammy because it also means fewer chemicals and synthetics in your life…and laundry. Wool is a natural fiber and will absorb moisture from the clothing. The movement of the dryer balls throughout the cycle help to soften clothing. So what is the take away? Wool dryer balls are reusable and shorten drying time (i.e. energy) because they absorb moisture from clothing, a positive for the planet. Wool dryer balls are a natural fiber that will soften clothes with no chemicals or synthetics, a positive for us! What you use on the outside is just as important as what you put inside your body. Your skin is your LARGEST organ. Yes, it is an organ and many times an overlooked one. I do recommend people look to clean skin care when they run out of their current toiletries. My primary recommendations when it is time to purchase new skin care include face cream and deodorant. These items are on your skin everyday and should be of the best quality. Replacing your beloved items will be a process. I have purchased MANY products that are ‘gentle’ or for ‘sensitive’ skin that are made with high quality ingredients but they just haven’t been a good fit for me so patience is a must! When you find a brand that works though it is a game changer! About Face! For face cream, I truly enjoy Ursa Major products out of Vermont. I specifically like their Forest Alchemy Eye Cream and their Golden Hour Recovery Cream. They are committed to product quality which for them means, powerful active ingredients, natural aromas, no suspect chemicals. They never use petrochemicals, SLS, SLES, parabens, synthetic fragrance or color, silicones or PEGs. I also like that they are constantly evaluating their packaging to improve it so it is sustainable. They are one of the first plastic negative skincare companies. Ursa Major is also a B Corp certified, B Corp certified companies meet rigorous standards of corporate and social responsibility. Everything from a company’s workers, suppliers, community and environmental impact is assessed for a company to be certified. Stay fresh as a daisy! Deodorant is where it’s at these days. Stop with the antiperspirants and start with a quality deodorant. I will say this is a process…and maybe one that should be done in the winter when sweating isn’t at its peak due to cooler temperatures. Ursa Major does have a deodorant that I recently received a sample of called Hoppin’ Fresh Deodorant which is sure to get you going in the morning due to the mix of peppermint, eucalyptus and rosemary. So far, I have enjoyed using it. Why switch? 1) Antiperspirants are loaded with chemicals so the more we can limit our chemicals exposure, the better. 2) Did you realize sweating is an excellent form of detox? It is one of the ways we release toxins from our body so letting yourself sweat is actually a positive if you want to improve your overall wellness! So to recap we want to perspire, even sweat, but no one wants to stink! If you want to see all the products Ursa Major has to offer and give them a try, click here to check out their website. We all deserve to feel well. This doesn’t mean just eating nutrient dense foods, it also means doing the best we can with our lifestyle choices to set ourselves up for success. I think it is important to remember that this doesn’t mean spending an excessive amount of money or trying every fad. It means making little changes where you can and letting them add up so you can feel good on the inside and outside! When we make these slow and steady changes, we help ourselves and the environment! #educatedwellness
I do think acceptance is a positive step in moving forward but please do not think it means you are giving up or giving in! This can relate to many different scenarios in our lives but I will focus on how it relates to our health and wellness. We all have nagging issues. Maybe your sleep quality has deteriorated. Maybe you have put on a few pounds. Maybe you are experiencing more acne or joint pain in the past year than you can remember. I think many people just ignore signs and signals their body is trying to give them and push it off as ‘getting older’ and accept that this is the way life will be from now on. BUT WHY?! If joint pain is a new phenomenon for you why would you dismiss it as getting older? If you have acne unlike anything you had as a teenager isn’t the logical choice that something in your lifestyle has changed to spark this issue? Yet so many of us think, this is just the way things are now. We accept it and feel miserable but don’t do anything to change our situation. I want people to ACCEPT changes that are happening and THEN decide if they approve of them. Are you ok with that joint pain? No? Ok, take some time, to evaluate the situation knowing that you are NOT on a straight path. This will take time and patience. When did this joint pain start? What time of day is it the worst? What did I do before that time of day? What did I eat before it was the worst? These are all starter questions. As you are able to answer these, it can open up a whole new level of questions. This is all a positive. The more honest and open you can be able answering these questions for yourself, the more power you have to make changes. You may be able to see a pattern develop and can now work to disrupt that pattern. You can pass this information along to a doctor or a functional nutritionist like me and we can further drilling down into the heart of your issue. How do you put this into practice though. Below I offer an example. You eat a turkey and cheese sandwich everyday and every afternoon your joint pain flares up. So you stop eating turkey and cheese sandwiches and it goes away. Excellent, but what really caused the joint pain because that sandwich has multiple ingredients? So you experiment and eat a salad with turkey and cheese on it and no joint pain. Then after a few days, you go back to your regular sandwich and joint pain comes back. Well, I would say that is a pretty clear sign that the bread you eat is an issue for your joints. Now that you have this information you can really start to experiment. What happens if you have pasta for dinner? If you still have joint pain, you now have insight that processed carbohydrates are an issue for you, specifically, gluten. If you DON’T have joint pain after eating pasta, then maybe it is an ingredient in the bread you normally eat that is causing an issue. Look to the bread’s ingredients list for more clues. What oils do they use? Many inexpensive oils that are used in baked items are so overly processed with chemicals and heat that they are rancid before they are bottled (yes, it is true). What about other sugars and additives listed? Processed and fake ingredients can wreak havoc on our bodies. Make sure you can read all the ingredients listed, if it is too difficult because it is a word with a number of syllables, just put it down! That product can no longer be considered food. Going through this process does take time and patience but it does give us control. Control over our health and wellness and that is absolutely priceless! So remember ACCEPTANCE is the beginning step towards regaining control so you can feel like yourself again! Do you feel like you need guidance on how to make improvements to your lifestyle and diet so you can feel better and be better? Feel free to reach out to me and we can talk. You health and happiness ALWAYS matters.
We think the number on the scale is the end all be all! Who hasn’t thought, if I could just fit into that smaller size dress everything will be great.
I have to admit I fall victim to this mentality as well but I am actively trying to change my perspective. I am trying to look at a larger picture of my wellness so I have a complete view of what is going well and what still needs improvement so I can move forward on my wellness journey. How can we do this? Read below!
Make a list of health concerns you currently have and would like to address.
Do you normally suffer from joint pain or muscle aches? Does your hair not grow very quickly or your nails are weak? Is sleep a constant issue? What about your digestion? Do you rarely go to the bathroom? Is your urine a very dark yellow? What about your skin? Is it often dry or do you regularly have rashes? To me, these are all signs that something is not functioning well in your body. Your overall wellness is imbalanced. So if you are only focusing on the number on the scale it doesn’t necessarily mean you will feel good even if that number goes down. You still may have joint pain or you still may have low energy levels. I believe there is a better approach to addressing the concerns of weight gain. In fact, I am in the midst of addressing this right now for myself.
I will admit I have gained a few pounds recently that I’m not happy about at all. I was starting to beat myself up, which is all too easy to do. Then I decided to stop myself and evaluate some other things about my wellness. I have always had terrible nails. They were weak. I used to bite them and pick up my cuticles constantly. I have just noticed this summer how strong my nails are and how frequently I have to cut them, something. This is a sign that something is in balance in my body if my normally weak nails are strong and grow quickly. I have also noticed my skin isn’t as dry. It does help that it is summer and the humidity levels are higher but mineral sunscreens and chlorine in pools can be drying and I’m not reaching for the lotion as often as I normally have to this time of year. Again, this is a sign that something is going right in and is well balanced in my body.
It is important to recognize the positive takeaways and go on from there. It doesn’t mean I’m happy that I’ve gained a few pounds but it shows that I am doing a few things right and now I can focus on what is going wrong. I can do that without beating myself up and negatively affecting my progress.
So where am I going wrong? Vegetables. I don’t think I’m eating enough fibrous vegetables which are key to good digestion because they help build up the good bacteria in your gut. It’s summer, gardens are flourishing, it should be easy to get lots of vegetables in my body. I need to focus on trying to get an additional vegetable on my plate for both lunch and dinner. Alcohol. It’s summer. It’s warm. You see friends, you’re out and about. I've honestly indulged in a few too many glasses of rosé. Cutting back is something that I know I can easily curb and instantly see positive results. Partially because it means I will consume fewer EMPTY calories. I also know that no or less alcohol will improve the quality of my sleep. Pro-tip…a rose or white wine spritzer is a great way to have a cocktail but not get out of control. More MOVEMENT! I have committed to improving not only my exercise but also increasing my daily movement. I tend to work out five days a week and have always thought that was enough. I’m not sedentary on the weekends. Normally there are multiple dog walks and some yard work and other work around the house but I don’t think it is enough if I want to lose those few pounds. This doesn’t mean I’m going to start running 10 miles a day but it does mean I’m going to pick up two extra workouts a week, being sure to incorporate some different types of exercise such as HIIT or yoga classes. I am not going to stress out about it too much, just commit to two additional 20-30 minute workouts each week. If I go too big, I will just set myself for failure.
I believe these three tweaks to my routine will help me feel better and in turn, help the number on the scale go down. It is worth a shot and all of these changes are healthy and can only make me feel better. I am NOT focusing on extremes, which never work in the long run because of burn out. I am focusing on manageable, healthy change so I achieve manageable, healthy results.
Do you want to make long lasting changes that move your overall health in a positive direction? Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Maybe it’s time you try a new approach to managing your health, a functional approach that gets to the root cause of your symptoms and allows you to heal. Always feel free to reach out to me, your FNTP.
UPDATE 7/20/21: I started writing this blog over a week ago. I have been incorporating these changes for just over a week as well. I am down 5 pounds. To be clear, I do not think this is all "real weight" I have lost, i.e. some is excess water. I do KNOW it is extra "junk weight" from too much alcohol. Incorporating extra veggies is also helping with my digestion to improve my elimination. More movement never hurts either!
Baby steps do lead to big changes!!
When people gain weight, they get upset with themselves which adds extra stress to the situation. Healthy eating and exercise are important factors to overall wellness including reducing our stress level but seemingly unexplained weight gain can be a sign from your body that it needs help. It is important to start by evaluating your lifestyle…AND be honest with yourself. Evaluate stress levels in all aspects of your life. The top three areas include: Work. Has something changed with your job? It may be a positive, such as a promotion, but the adjustment period has been more difficult than you thought it would be. You think you should be happy but instead you are just stressed. Home life. This can change on a dime! Everything is going well for months, then the roof starts leaking and you get an email your son is failing a class. Stress levels sky rocket immediately! Personal relationships. Is all well or is a fight from 2 months ago still weighing you down? Once you have had a chance to evaluate these aspects of your life, you can step back and see how elevated stress levels are affecting you…and causing even more stress to your body. Stress can lead to sleep disturbances. Are you prioritizing your sleep to make sure your body gets the rest it needs to restore itself each night? Why is this so important? If your body does not get the rest it needs to restore and repair itself, then additional stress will be put on your systems. Everything from your endocrine system, your blood sugar regulation and your digestive system will take a hit. Quality sleep is essential to our health.
Stress can also affect our eating habits. When stress levels are high do you need some comfort? Hello,1/2 gallon of your favorite ice cream or maybe it is a bag of salty chips you crave. You sit on the couch and before you know it, it is gone and you really don’t feel much comfort and many times you feel a little sick. The truth is you were looking for emotional comfort and you were relying on food to help. It is a common trap we all fall into when we look to food for comfort and usually not from the best sources. Why is it so difficult to resist some foods? Well, the more processed foods we eat, the more we crave them. This is truly by design from the manufacturers. Their products are engineered to make them hyper-palatable. This keeps you craving them and purchasing them. They also want to keep their profit margins as high as possible so they focus on keeping costs down. Check out the ingredients list on your favorite processed food, I guarantee it includes poor quality oils (fats), ingredients from GMO crops, excessive amounts of sugar or salt and a good dose of chemicals and preservatives to keep the shelf life as long as possible. All of this works well for the manufacturer but leaves your body confused about how to process these ‘frankenfoods.’ Our body uses food as fuel. When the body doesn’t know what to do with a substance it can’t identify as food (i.e. processed foods), it simply stores it in your fat tissue. Our fat tissues have an unlimited amount of storage capabilities…hence weight gain! So if you feel like you can’t live without a particular processed food, it isn’t your fault, your taste buds have been hijacked. It will take effort to stop eating them but the reward is your health.
Too much exercise can put additional stress on your body. Believe it or not, if you are already experiencing stress, adding a stressful workout routine to your list could hurt you more than it helps. So many people say, ‘I am so stressed, I just want to sweat it out.' I get that sentiment and some days that workout routine is essential to clearing your head and feeling good. It also needs to be balanced with less stressful forms of exercise such as restorative yoga, walking and stretching so your body doesn’t go into stress overload. Why is all this true? How is it possible that we can contribute to our stress levels with not getting enough rest, our eating habits and our exercise routines? It goes back to our primitive selves, our ‘fight or flight’ protective response which is still deeply ingrained in each of us. Back in the time of cavemen, ‘fight or flight’ meant a tiger was chasing you. It was a SERIOUS life threatening event. Today, most of us operate on a daily basis at an elevated stress level. Have you ever felt ‘stressed’ because your phone is ringing, you hear a ding from your inbox and you are being asked a question? While yes, that is a lot going on, I think we need to reevaluate if it is worth our time to call it a stressful situation, more likely it was just overwhelming for a minute. Reframing the definition of stress is important because when we are continually in a ‘fight or flight’ mode, our adrenal glands are working overtime. They can’t handle this continued stress so they begin to release the hormone cortisol to try to help manage this stress. Cortisol is nicknamed the fat storage hormone…hence weight gain!
Not all stress is in our control, of course, but I think if you take the time to step back and evaluate where your sources of stress are coming from, you may be able to see what steps you can take to alleviate stress or where you need to work to reframe what is actually considered stressful. It isn’t easy but it is important to do the work so you can make adjustments to your lifestyle to relieve stress and improve your wellness because your health and happiness is always important!
Blood Sugar. It is a term often said but I don’t believe fully understood or really thought about yet when understood it explains a lot about energy levels and maintaining a healthy weight…and so much more. We have sugar (or glucose) in our blood. We NEED a healthy range of glucose in our blood, about 70-100 mg/dL, to help regulate our energy levels. If we stay in this range, we will have a calm and consistent wave of energy throughout the day. That wave will dip when we haven’t eaten for a few hours and will rise up when we eat but the goal is to stay within that range. Why is it so important? How can we help maintain a healthy range? First let me explain how our body regulates blood sugar. It is actually regulated by two hormones, insulin and glucagon. When glucose levels are high, your pancreas releases insulin to help to store excess glucose in your liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue (fat tissue)-in that specific order. When glucose levels drop, your pancreas releases glucagon which signals your cells to release glucose and fat for energy in the same specific order—liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Here is the kicker, your liver and skeletal muscle can only store a finite amount of glucose so once those stores are full, the rest goes into your adipose tissue which can store an UNLIMITED amount of glucose. This explanation of blood sugar regulation is simplistic but I think it is impressive to think about how accurate our body systems are and how hard our body works to keep us in balance. So why is it important to keep our blood sugar in the 70-100 mg/ dL range? It means balance for our body. When we are balanced, our body doesn’t have to work as hard. The following are a few examples BUT there are so many more reasons why we want to level our blood sugar. These examples just scrape the surface. Our emotions are regulated Have you ever been ‘hangry?’ It is real, right!? You are so hungry you can’t think straight and if anyone talks to you, you are not responsible if you scream at them. Hangry is a sign your blood sugar is too low, it has dipped below the low normal range. Have you ever had a sugar high? This is when you have so much sugar in your system, you are excited, jittery or have the inability to focus. In both these scenarios, we aren’t in control of our emotions, our blood sugar levels are in control. When we work to stay in the normal range, we can stay calm, cool and collected. Our weight fluctuates minimally Remember when I mentioned above that our liver and skeletal muscle can only store a finite amount of glucose and our adipose tissue can store an unlimited amount? This is where weight gain comes into play. The more glucose you eat, the more will be stored in adipose tissue, the more it will expand. If you eat more energy than you exert, your body may never have the need to tap into your fat storage for energy. To be clear, I am NOT concerned about a person who is getting their glucose from broccoli or eggplant (yes, these are carbohydrates and turn to glucose in your blood). I am concerned about those who are eating a lot of bread, sweets or packaged snacks. Why is this? First, they are less nutrient dense than fruits and vegetables. Second, processed sweets and snacks tend to be filled with poor quality fats such as soybean oil or canola oil and chemicals to make these foods shelf-stable and hyper-palatable. These foods can sit on a shelf for YEARS in a store and hijack your tastebuds and make you continually crave more and more! The manufacturer can just sit back and watch their profits rise all the while our body doesn’t know what to do with the poor quality fats and chemicals so it just pushes them into your adipose tissue…once stored, it is very hard for us to release. Our sleep improves Yes, it is true. Balanced blood sugar means better sleep. Do you wake up continually between 2-3AM? This is a classic sign of blood sugar dysregulation. Our body forces itself awake because our blood sugar has dropped and it thinks something is truly wrong so it wants you conscious, think fight or flight. If this happens to you repeatedly, take note of what you ate and drank after 4PM that day. What else do you have to do? You are lying awake in the dark! Are you eating pasta and having a few glasses of wine? That meal would primarily turn to glucose in your body, so hours later after it is digested, your blood sugar would dip so much that it would go below the normal range and cause your undesirable wake up. Our energy is regulated Do you want to feel good throughout the day and not need to grab an energy drink or a cup of coffee at 3PM? Help yourself out and eat a meal that has nutrient dense carbohydrates-vegetables and balance that with a healthy dose of high quality protein and fat. I promise you, you will feel good throughout your day. The truth is, our bodies are trying to tell us what it needs all day, every day. When are you going to start listening? Are you unsure where to start or what your body is trying to tell you? As G.I. Joe said, ‘Knowing is half the battle.’ and I am here to guide you through the process if you are ready to make some changes to improve your health. Reach out to me, your FNTP!
According to Merriam-Webster ‘diet’ has a few definitions, the two I want to focus on are -food and drink regularly provided or consumed and -a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight I wish we could FORGET the second definition completely and use the word diet to refer to eating and drinking regularly. For many of us the word ‘diet' might as well mean deprivation. It makes us think of everything we need to give up and how we will feel hungry and miserable the entire time we are on the diet. When you decide to do a fad diet, how does it go? How long does it last? Do you think longingly about foods you have given up? How long does it take for you to give in and binge on those foods you love? This is not sustainable. So what is the answer? Eating to properly nourish and fuel your body and mind. This means we need to change our mindset. It isn’t easy, our brain is extremely powerful. We need to take time to evaluate what needs to change. This is a bio-individual list and deserves some thought. It can range from weight loss to joint pain to dry skin. No symptom is too small or too big, if it affects your life, it is worth being addressed. We need to take a very long and honest look at our current food choices. Here are a few questions to ask yourself and be honest with the answers. 1) How much of it is actually nutrient dense food and how much comes out of a box and has a long ingredient list? Processed foods are nutrient poor. Many nutrients are stripped during processing. Poor quality and inexpensive ingredients are also used to create a higher profit margin for the manufacturer. For example, you will find canola oil in the ingredients list, not olive oil or avocado oil. For sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup would be used, not sugar, honey or maple syrup. We need to wake up and realize that the manufacturers want us addicted to these foods so they are loaded with salt and fake sugars. The excess sugar and salt make these foods hyper-palatable making you constantly crave more. This is great for their sales numbers but not for your health. Processed foods lead to so many health issues ranging from acne to cholesterol to diabetes. The fewer the ingredients the better…it means you are eating whole foods that are nutrient dense. Some people use the “5 and 5” rule when shopping. This means the products can have no more than 5 ingredients and no more that 5 grams of sugar per serving. Staying in the outer perimeter of the supermarket will also help. The interior aisles are filled with long-term, shelf stable items filled with nutrient poor ingredients-that’s what keeps them shelf stable for so long! 2) Do you eat the same short list of food regularly and rarely deviate? Our bodies need a wide array of vitamins and minerals. There is a short list of vitamins our bodies can synthesize but most are considered “essential.” Essential in this instance means we MUST get these vitamins and minerals from outside sources…i.e. from food, specifically, nutrient dense whole food. When we eat a limited amount of food, we are also limiting the number of vitamins, mineral and fat sources we consume. An example to illustrate my point is that many of us are magnesium deficient. Magnesium facilitates so many actions in the body. It helps to make proteins and to utilize energy. Everything in our body is a protein or made by proteins. Everything you do, even sleeping requires energy! So yes, if you aren’t eating magnesium rich foods, you are most likely operating below your optimal levels. Once the quality of your food has been addressed, you can evaluate the why behind your eating. 3) Why do you eat? We all need to eat to stay alive, this is a fact. When it is 9pm and you have already eaten dinner but you still get off the couch to grab a pint of ice cream and finish it off this is not about nourishing your body. There are many reasons why this scenario occurs and the majority of them have nothing to do with hunger. Boredom. Stress. Loneliness. These are the first three reasons that come to mind. We are looking to food to fill an emotional void not a hunger void. Next time you are about to reach for the snack, take 10 seconds to just think of the why behind it. Boredom? Go do something different. Stress? Maybe read or turn on a comedy to help laugh the stress off a little. Loneliness? Give a friend or family member a call. It is important to note that eating hyper-palatable foods later at night can affect the quality of our sleep, cause weight gain and inflammation. All of these cause extra stress on our body and lead to illness. The questions listed above can be tough questions to ask yourself. Even acknowledging that you need to make changes is a fantastic step in the right direction so give yourself some credit. It can take outside perspective to help you sort through these questions. This is where my expertise as a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (FNTP) can help you to see patterns, address underlying issues and lead through the steps to make realistic changes that will stay with you so they become part of your lifestyle, not just a diet you follow for 2 weeks.
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I was so glad to work with Maureen St. Germain to gain a holistic understanding of the role of diet, eating and sleep habits play in my level of energy and overall hormone balance.
What was extremely helpful was to have Maureen study my individual habits and make very specific recommendations based on this listening and learning. She had a number of very astute observations that I was able to adjust with incredible results that were felt over about a 6-week period. I highly recommend working with Maureen. She is very caring, supportive and knowledgeable about the body and does not take a one size fits all approach.
I have taken a much stronger interest in diversifying the food I eat as well as understanding the quantity of food my body needs. In following the intermittent fasting approach I had actually gained weight because my body was in starvation mode and was not getting the appropriate quality and quantity of vitamins and minerals. I am grateful to Maureen for her support in putting me on a much better path! -Jennifer
I have suffered with severe chronic pain and stiffness for almost 25 years. I was ultimately diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I've tried several medications over the years which I either could not tolerate or did not help. On the last day of RESTART®, I noticed my pain and stiffness was significantly better. I didn't think that much of it because I do get an occasional "good" day. But I have had 3 "good" days in a row now and that is unheard of for me.
I cannot tell you how life changing this is for me. I've learned to deal with the pain over so many years, but it would break me down periodically. If I feel like I'm 100 when I'm 55, what is it going to feel like when I'm truly old? Shortly before RESTART®, I was in tears again thinking "I've got to go back to the doctor. Maybe there is something new." Well, who knew the "something new" was in my control all along. Thank you so much for this amazing gift. -Kelly
I was petrified to put on the jeans I haven’t worn since COVID. I went through the Restart® Program and kept up most of the eating habits and slid into those jeans today! Feels great! -Anne
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