SO I got sick, really sick but it was 100% my fault. Honestly, no one to blame but me. I was 22 living it up, eating whatever I wanted ( ie, chocolate, croissants and more chocolate) and not exercising. I figured if I took the stairs once ever few days I was golden. But I was wrong. I also figured that since I was young that proper sleep was not essential and that five coffees a day was how everyone survived. But then it all caught up with me.
After a particularly hectic work week and a Sunday night spent out eating fries and taking shots I began to feel incredibly lethargic, unusually so. Following my friends conversation became increasingly difficult and this pain in the back of my skull began to radiate up into my temples it actually hurt to blink and my chest had this pressure that built every time I took a breathe. On my way home my coat felt like a million pounds, getting into the car was even more intense. When I finally got home I got my boots off and crawled into bed. I woke up the next morning and I could barely move. I actually thought I might be dying. the next few weeks were pure hell. I had managed to destroyed my immune system to a point were all my tests and levels mimicked that of a much older, very unwell person. I had contracted bacterial and viral pneumonia, strep throat and an intense stomach infection. I couldn't swallow, breathe and was coughing up blood. My fever hit 102 and stayed there for a week, on top of it all the visits to the emergency room during flu season had allowed my weakened and exhausted immune system to contract the flu.
So there I was sick as I had ever been, round after round of antibiotics, scans, blood tests. An EKG because my heart was over compensating for my deteriorating lungs, doctors kept telling me "your so young!" and it made me feel incredibly guilty. I had done this to myself. Around the same time someone very close to me was diagnosed with terminal stage 1V cancer. We became hospital comrades and in a crazy determination to understand how someone I cared about so much could one day out of the blue be told that she had a stage for cancer i began to research. I bought and read everything I could on cancer, health and well-being and then I got the doctor who would change my life. After going back to the hospital for my fourth round of potent antibiotics ( our as I referred to it as my germ poison) I was sent in to get my prescription filled by this young doctor, she literally glowed. After reviewing my file and stating the usual "you're really young to be this sick" she starting to ask me about my nutrition, fitness levels, etc. ( the first doctor of the many I saw who even asked). After guilty admitting that I had been really, unnecessarily mean with my body she surprised me by saying that after the next round of antibiotics where completed she recommended I do a juice cleanse... " a what?!" I hated vegetables, hattttted them! I was the kid who grew up on a beef farm and who's uncle had a dairy farm, I lived for meat and dairy. But I figured why not, I was at my lowest point and I needed to do something. I went home and started to research, I watched the documentary 'fat, sick and nearl dead' and finally bought a juicer. What was amazing is that a lot of the cancer research I had been doing in regards to nutritional health aligned with what the doctor had been telling me. That whole foods, plant based diets were optimal for overall health and well being and so I took a chance and it changed my life. Seriously!
It has now been over a year since I got that sick. I was a watching, barely breathing zombie who started to listen to her god, pod and take notes. I am now living a mostly vegan lifestyle and exercising at least three times a week and I have never felt better. So this is my story, I have learned so much from the past year and I cant wait to share what I've learned. So here it is, this little vegan blog. Enjoy my loves!
