Healing Crohn's Disease Week 4 - Cold Showers

 

I have to admit, it was actually nice to have a week where the changes I made to my lifestyle weren't as huge as the week prior! My body is still adjusting to the intermittent fasting and cold showers was something that was more doable than I had anticipated. In the past, when I've done cold showers, I've found them to be a challenge...like, dreading turning off the hot water at the end of my shower and thinking of many reasons why I could justify skipping it for one day.

Ultimately, the health benefits of sucking it up far outweigh my momentary discomfort. Here are some of the things that interest me in cold showers:

• Improved circulation
• Improved immune system response
• Increased lymphatic drainage
• Weight loss
• Reduced Stress
• Faster recovery from training
• Anti-aging

In addition to these benefits, there are plenty more. I found this article to be a helpful place to start digging deeper and of course, you can always find lots of information through Wim Hof's website/app/YouTube. 

In the coming weeks, I'll be adding more time under cold water daily as my body adjusts and as with everything else, I'll be keeping track of the changes.

This coming week I'm onto adding Water Kefir...hopefully it's as easy to make as the package suggests!

Nature is free therapy

 

“Here I sit beneath a tree.  Heartbeat calm.  Soul hums free”

Monkey in the Mountains

 

“ And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling”

                                                                            - Shanti 

Healing Crohn's Disease Week 2 - Apple Cider Vinegar

 

Wow, week 2 was a little rougher than I had anticipated but it's funny how things work out sometimes. Adding the apple cider vinegar drink has been sooooo helpful with my PMS symptoms! Yay! If only it could have helped me with maintaining my coordination and strength for lifting...hmmm, wishful thinking?

I altered the recipe to suite my taste through the week and I've found the perfect combination of ingredients for me:

Apple Cider Vinegar Drink

• 1 Tbsp ACV
• 1 small lemon squeezed
• 2 pieces cinnamon
• Raw honey to taste
• Fill the rest of your mug with hot water

The two main differences that I noticed this week with adding the above drink have been that I've had a lot less bloating and pain in my abdomen after dinner, through the night, and in the morning. As a bonus, it helped to dramatically reduce my water retention when I replaced my multiple cups of coffee in the morning with the apple cider vinegar drink. To be honest, I liked how this combination made me feel in the morning better than having coffee so I'm continuing this going forward.

For the following weeks, as mentioned in the video, I'm adding a 15 minute Shamanic Journey for healing to my day. If you'd like to explore Shamanism before I post my fave links next week along with my experiences of adding a daily practice, please check out this book series by Paul Francis.

Healing is an art. It takes time. It takes practice.

It takes love.

5 Animal Qigong with a little attitude...

 

“I need a break from all the noise.  I want to breathe clean air and swim in clean water.  I want to sit on the porch of an old cabin and listen to the stillness.  I want to be out where things are simple and every breath is a reminder that there is beauty and magic left in this world.”

   - Brooke Hampton 

 

Healing Crohn's disease - Week 1 - Smoothies

 

My first week of smoothies went pretty well...I was anticipating that it would be more of a pain in the ass to make them than it was, YAY! I actually only ended up blending a smoothie 3 times during the week and stored it in a large dark coloured glass jar in the fridge (air tight and dark to prevent oxidization). This was a huge time saver! The rest of the week, I had it all ready to go and just poured a glass. Simple and absolutely something that I can continue to do regularly. 

As mentioned in the video, the improvements that I've noticed this week have been the following:

• Decreased inflammation in hands and under eyes
• Improved bowel movements
• Decreased sugar cravings
• Lost 2lbs (water weight)

I'm quite pleased with the changes so far. They are very much in alignment with the goal of this whole project...small incremental changes that can be sustained moving forward. When it comes to making changes with nutrition, I know that it can take weeks, even months, to notice the full spectrum of changes that are unfolding within our system so I feel very encouraged that some additional changes will most likely surface from continuing the green smoothies for the entire 4 months. 

Patience. Commitment. Self-Love.

 In addition to the smoothies, this week I'm adding an Apple Cider Vinegar drink to my after dinner routine. This one will take a little more getting used to for my taste buds but I'm willing to see if it grows on me, lol. 

Throughout all of this, I'm still lifting 4 times per week and doing a lot of walking (most days a minimum of 10,000 steps). I am hoping that with healing my guts, my strength will increase and my recovery from training will be improved...OMG, that would be sooooooo great!

“It is not about curing the disease, but healing the life; then the physical benefits come"

 Green Smoothie Recipe

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 banana (I left this out)
• 2 stalks celery or 1/2 bundle of parsley
• 1/2 English cucumber
• 1 1/2 cups kale (no stem)
• 1 small lemon
• 1 cup pineapple
• 1/2 tsp spirulina
• 2 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup ice (I left this out)

For additional information on green smoothies and more recipes, I suggest checking out Green Smoothie Girl.

CROHNicles - Preparation for 16 weeks of healing

 

Living with Crohn's disease SUCKS! For the last 8 years I have been riding the ups and downs of living with Crohn's and I am really sick of it. I also truly believe that if I get my shit together, I can heal myself...maybe not to the point where I live a 'normal' life but at least to a point where I'm able to live pain free with a clearly outlined method for maintaining my own good health. 

This is the beginning of a 16 week process for me where I am documenting what I'm changing in my world with the intention of dramatically improving my gut health. Each week I am adding or removing something that I have researched and I will maintain the change for the remainder of the 16 weeks. This way, I can see what the results are with my Crohn's and how that will in turn affect the rest of my life.

My first change will be adding a green smoothie daily to my diet. Nothing more, nothing less. As explained in the video, I'm trying to make simple changes that can be sustainable.

Prior to starting this first week of changes, here are the symptoms that I have been dealing with:

• Tired all the time
• Brain fog
• Abdominal pain 95% of the time (ranging from sharp pain to dull pressure)
• Inflammation in my hands, around my eyes, around my ankles
• Recovery from training seems slow
• Bowel movements are not regular
• Mucus in stool (no blood, which I have had in the past)
• Confusion about what to eat

So…let’s see if there are any changes after this week and for the weeks to come.