When my bestie first suggested this as a potential title for a potential blog that I may or may not write (it really took me a while to decide), my first reaction was, ‘But why? I am not religious..’ But I am curious, so I googled the actual definition, and found this: ‘a person who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith, especially by public preaching’.

This is a hilarious and clever play on words. I love it. This is who I am! I babble, chatter, yammer, prattle and jabber on and on about health to anyone who is nearby, whether they are listening or not. I can almost always find a way to connect health and nutrition to any conversation. I hope to inspire people to take a closer look at their life, though steady, non-judgemental but informative conversation, and make wiser choices on what they consume and have even successfully converted a few. I am officially a Food Evangelist.

So why such a passion? Like most others who have made similar health changes, I was sick. My list of health concerns included asthma, seasonal allergies, eczema, chronic bladder infections/interstitial cystitis (8-11 infections a year for 5 years), severe cramping and pms, depression to the point of almost constant suicidal thoughts, anxiety that gave me panic attacks every time my phone vibrated and left me with an inability to leave the house without my husband, and auto immune hashimoto thyroiditis. By the time I received my diagnosis for auto immunity, right around my 29th birthday in November of 2014, I was trying to manage a furniture store while needing 16 hours of sleep a day, unable to wear any shoe that covered the tops of my feet due to the eczema that ran across my foot and up my leg, also impairing my ability to walk. I was 235 pounds on a 5’5” frame yet only eating every couple of days due to a complete lack of hunger, running a basal body temperature of 94.6 (much below the average of 98.6), chronically anxious with mini panic attacks all day, and my stress was running so high I would cry at the slightest thing, and had brain fog so bad I was developing a stutter. When I finally got everything in place at work and was able to take my medical leave a month later in December of 2016 I literally slept for 2 weeks straight, and then proceeded to stay at home on the couch for 3 months. Even the thought of doing the dishes was overwhelming to the point of causing a panic attack and exhausting enough to cause me to need a nap.

The journey from those dark days to an efficiently functioning human specimen is one that I am still on, but the improvements I have made are mind blowing to me. It is just after my 33rd birthday and I have lost 65 pounds and moved into the realm of medium sized clothing. I have even started developing strength and muscle. This, though, is so minor for me when compared to all the other things that occurred during my journey. I do not have any asthma or seasonal allergies. I can go for walks or hikes any time I want and not have to worry about my lungs. I even climbes a few mountains in Jasper Park this past summer. I have not had a bladder issue in over 2 years. I do not experience any more PMS besides some mild cramping that only lasts a couple of hours, and as a bonus, my cycle has become very regular and much lighter. While I have sad, depressed days I do not feel the all-consuming darkness and weight of true, chronic depression. I do not have anxiety or panic attacks, and actually feel an easy calm even when things around me start to get hectic. I am back down to my regular 6 to 7 hours of sleep a night, with no need for a nap during the day. I am warm all the time now, and I was able to put my hashimoto’s into remission and get off the synthroid they put me on when I was diagnosed. Becoming medication free was a major goal of mine.

While all of these changes have been amazing, the greatest thing I have gained back, while not fully realizing the extent to which I had lost it while sick, is my mind, my brain function. I have no brain fog. I can connect thoughts and concepts, and maintain a deeper understanding of the world again. I can read and focus and learn. I feel smarter now than I did at the age of 20 when I was in college.

So what am I doing with this blog? Well, spreading the good word I guess. I want to go deeper into my story, what I learned and how I turned my health around. I want to discuss topics like nutrition, food as medicine, auto immunity, lifestyle and support, topics that helped me through my journey. I want to help people who feel betrayed by their bodies understand that their bodies have not betrayed them. We have inadvertently betrayed our bodies through the foods we eat, the products we use and the lifestyles we live. But it is not too late. Our bodies are very forgiving, and want to support us, function properly for us. We can give them the right stuff to heal themselves and live healthier, more fulfilling lives. I am not saying that what I will write will be the ‘be all, end all’, but if any of my experiences ring true for you, why not test it out and see how you feel. I want to save the world, if I am honest with you, and I believe that can be done, in part, through proper nutrition, due to my own experiences and the experiences of others I have read about and discussed with.

I guess next time my bestie offers me a suggestion I’ll try to remember not to doubt her.