First let me say, that next week I will be 53 and I have no problem at all with arthritis or joint inflammation or pain in my hands. I do get cuts and scrapes from working out in the yard; and red, dry skin from doing dishes; but no joint pains or inflammation. But I could quickly and easily have problems again, with very little effort. Let me explain.
I starting having problems about five years ago with arthritis type symptoms in my fingers. A couple finger joints started to ache and became noticeably swollen and red. Then several joints on several fingers on both hands developed the same aches and inflammation. At first, I thought I was developing arthritis since my mother had severe, painful arthritis in her fingers by the age of fifty. I thought I was destined to develop arthritis too so resigned myself to learn to live with it. Fortunately, God had other plans in mind and graciously showed me that I was not destined to crippling arthritis at such a young age.
The arthritis type symptoms would come and go and then I started to realize that when I was at home, they were much worse than when I was traveling on our homeschool trips around the country. I assumed it was due to a different climate (everywhere was good except at home...) and was just grateful to have a reprieve from the aching occasionally.
After dealing with this, on and off, for about two years, I happened to mention my finger inflammation and pain to a mom of one of my son's friends. She mentioned that studies were showing a relationship between finger joint inflammation and GMO foods. I was amazed and started to evaluate the difference in my diet when at home versus on our trips.
At home we were going every week or two to a local Mexican restaurant. I thought that it was o.k. since I was getting the fajitas and eating lots of fresh grilled vegetables with them. They also had a wonderful homemade salsa. I would enjoy the salsa with chips while waiting for our dinner. Whereas on the trips, we seldom ate out and when we did, we ate at natural local food restaurants and cafes.
I did know that most corn in the USA was GMO and most corn products that were not certified organic would probably contain GMO corn, but I did not think my once every week or two consumption would be a problem. Especially since the rest of my meals were home cooked using excellent quality ingredients.
However, I was wrong. I think this was the beginning of my understanding that going 100% does not allow consumption of man-made or man-altered foods/ingredients every week. I was getting a bit desperate for a solution (as the symptoms got worse, I decided that I did not want to live with this problem and have painful, badly disfigured, bent fingers like my mom) so I tried an experiment. No more eating corn tortilla chips at restaurants. Bingo. Within weeks my fingers were doing much better.
Of course, this was hard to do at first because we thought we loved eating out at this restaurant and this meant I did not get a break one night a week from cooking. It was not hard for long though. The benefit of not having a chronic health problem far outweighed these things and I realized that we had become a bit addicted to this restaurant food (I wonder what other ingredients were in the food that were drawing us back...).
Of course, this was hard to do at first because we thought we loved eating out at this restaurant and this meant I did not get a break one night a week from cooking. It was not hard for long though. The benefit of not having a chronic health problem far outweighed these things and I realized that we had become a bit addicted to this restaurant food (I wonder what other ingredients were in the food that were drawing us back...).
Unfortunately, or perhaps I should say fortunately, this was only a temporary fix, which opened my eyes to a bigger problem with today's food supply and the importance of being aware and listening to your body's clues rather than taking some medication to attempt to 'get' rid of the symptom, which is your clue. Though I was no longer eating the chips at restaurants (or even eating out regularly anymore), I was still buying organic tortilla corn chips and eating them on a weekly basis. My fingers would get better and then the problem would start up again, though with much milder symptoms.
At this point, I came to realize that even many of the organic brands of corn chips were causing my finger inflammation and pain. So I started experimenting with different brands of organic corn chips until I finally found one brand that did not cause problems for me.
I concluded that what I had been reading about the cross-contamination of corn was indeed true. And my body seems to now be sensitive enough to this problem to see it. The one brand I found that I could eat without having problems was made in Canada. For now, it seems to be using a fairly pure source of organic corn. Perhaps one day soon, I will no longer eat any corn. I have already almost entirely cut it out of my diet. I eat one brand of corn tortilla chips and occasionally eat something that has a little organic cornmeal or other corn ingredient in it. I now suffer with no arthritis type symptoms of any kind - to think I could be developing severe crippling arthritis now! And if I had gone with the problem to a doctor, I would probably be on some man-made medication that would be causing the development of other chronic problems and side effects.
I said that I could easily and quickly have problems again. I know this is true because once or twice I have thought perhaps I was mistaken about the cause and eaten some corn chips or other corn products when not at home. The next morning, I will often wake with a 'funny' swollen feeling in my fingers. This is my 'wake-up call' and I don't let it get any further. We really have no idea what is in our foods when we eat out. Thus I then immediately eliminate eating anything out unless I know who prepared it. There are many GMO foods now, not just corn. So I am very, very careful about my food choices, eating at home and buying the best quality ingredients, just in case, not eating anything away from home for at least a few weeks to let the problem abate. My fingers are so happy that I do this!
I said that I could easily and quickly have problems again. I know this is true because once or twice I have thought perhaps I was mistaken about the cause and eaten some corn chips or other corn products when not at home. The next morning, I will often wake with a 'funny' swollen feeling in my fingers. This is my 'wake-up call' and I don't let it get any further. We really have no idea what is in our foods when we eat out. Thus I then immediately eliminate eating anything out unless I know who prepared it. There are many GMO foods now, not just corn. So I am very, very careful about my food choices, eating at home and buying the best quality ingredients, just in case, not eating anything away from home for at least a few weeks to let the problem abate. My fingers are so happy that I do this!
I share this with you to encourage you to take very seriously buying the best quality food and ingredients that you can afford and finding local foods that are not conventionally raised or grown. Man-made foods, man-altered foods will make you sick. You may never develop arthritis problems. Instead, you may be prone to develop heart disease, digestive problems, diabetes, dementia, or maybe a nervous system problem such as MS. You may get away with eating poorly for a long time if you started out with a strong constitution but it is not possible to maintain optimum health on a diet of man-made foods. Genetic modification of cells (which if you don't know about you should investigate - a virus is used to inject the DNA change into the cell) is just one of the newest ways that man is creating unhealthy foods. Unfortunately, a GMO food can 'look' completely normal so you must educate yourself about the foods/ingredients you are buying.
Going 100% to me means cutting out man-made foods and ingredients. It does not mean eliminating specific foods from my diet - I eat all of the many, many different foods and ingredients that God has given us. I enjoy a huge assortment of delicious foods and feel quite blessed doing so. Do not think you must live with chronic health issues or that you can't enjoy great foods. It can be very frustrating to correlate, but your diet plays a huge role in your health. Figure out what your 100% approach looks like and then begin to implement it. I thank God that I did.
Going 100% to me means cutting out man-made foods and ingredients. It does not mean eliminating specific foods from my diet - I eat all of the many, many different foods and ingredients that God has given us. I enjoy a huge assortment of delicious foods and feel quite blessed doing so. Do not think you must live with chronic health issues or that you can't enjoy great foods. It can be very frustrating to correlate, but your diet plays a huge role in your health. Figure out what your 100% approach looks like and then begin to implement it. I thank God that I did.
"The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving." Psalm 28:7
No comments:
Post a Comment