It all started in the psychologist office a few years ago. It was the first meeting, and he asked me to tell him a little bit about myself. I started talking, fast, telling about my marriage, special needs child and my job. He stopped me after about 10 minutes and said, 'You have a lot of anxiety don't you?
I listened to this and thought "No". So I said, " Why would you say that?" He continued to ask me what my definition of an anxious person was? So I responded with," An anxious person is a person who is afraid of new things, doing anything, looks like a chicken with it's head cut off, gasping for air, and looking stressed. He said, " That is what I see and hear when I listen to you."
WOW ~ talk about a show stopper.
I didn't know what to say...I didn't see myself like that at all- I thought I was level headed, intuitive, low stress WOMEN who liked to smell the flowers...
Turns out that is who I WAS in the past.
The women he saw now was not the same women.
Soon after this meeting, I enrolled in The Institute for Integrative Nutrition AFTER my first experience meeting a health coach and doing an elimination diet... and I learned very quickly that emotional triggers cause chemical reactions in your body which can weaken your immune system. I had to learn ways to cope and to not be so anxious. I had been diagnosed with lupus and autoimmune disease just 8 years earlier.
I had urinary track infections often, had migraines, depression and mood swings.
I was also experiencing strep throat every year, sometimes twice a year along with many colds.
I was on birth control and even a SSRI for depression.
After Nutrition school I looked at all my RED FLAGS and said... something has to change I have to eat differently, handle my anxiety and stress differently or I am going to be unhappy, overweight and depressed for a long time.
I had to really dig deep and think about my behaviors, my patterns of thinking, and my true feelings.
What I realized was that high-stress situations at my home were triggering sugar eating and that was feeding my candida. It was NOT a yeast infection, but yeast in my body, making me tired, sluggish and thus I started drinking coffee for energy. ( I had my first cup of coffee at age 40.)
So why do I call this post RED flags?
I spent almost two decades of my life, full of anxiety- fear and after IIN ( Institute for Integrative Nutrition)
I did little changes:
I wrote in a gratitude journal
I began meditating more.
I addressed my binge eating (eating disorder) and saw a trained psychotherapist.
I began to do more self-love rituals- naps, diffusing oils, baths with Epson salt, tongue brushing, dry brushing and reading.
This got me far- but not to the finish line.
Until I decided to write a book- A book about my marriage. I put away the fear of what my family and friends would think if they read the book- and I just wrote. I wrote to serve others in my situation, I wrote to help heal my fear, anxiety, depression. I wrote even though it was vulnerable. I wrote to cherish myself and my story.
( while writing from October 2014-March 2015, I worked long hours at the computer, didn't exercise and used coffee, creamer and sugar desserts to give me more energy to write) Making me more tired, and more lethargic~
BUT
I finished the book, I published it.
It's on Amazon.
While doing so I met some amazing other authors, many of which I will be show casing in future blog posts, as they all tell an amazing story of one kind of struggle or another.
BUT I came across my favorite book of all my fellow authors.
This women. This book.
Melanie Banayat
She let me read HER story.
Her book is called Stretch YOUR Brave Hack Your Story
It is a book to break through chronic disease with storytelling.
To tap into your courage and uncover root causes of health conditions.
Full of beautiful art work by Melanie and stories.
Which brings me to this post~
and Red Flags.
My mother has taught me to look for red flags in my life, but often I ignore her. I ignored her with my marriage. But when I read Melanie's book...I saw the words Red Flag Concerns under the chapter entitled I Got this! I don't got this.
There is a story about a women Melanie calls
Stringent Sue and guess what...this women she writes about sounds a lot like me.
She suffers from Stress, anxiety, candida overgrowth.
Her red flag concerns are:
Stress can influence the bacteria living inside of us. (Candida)
It can bother the digestive system and immune system.
AND she wrote...
"Candida bacterial overgrowth triggers intense sugar cravings in order to keep multiplying, which can keep the cycle of insanity going for women suffering with eating disorders."
So guess what in her book she had questions to ask myself and Actions to take and Stretching of my mind and limiting beliefs that had to be done.
I finally had the last piece of the puzzle.
Just by looking at the Red Flag, healing my candida and having Melanie's book "fall" into my lap.
Why didn't my doctor believe me, about candida or my symptoms? It doesn't matter what matters to me is that I was able to begin the shifts it took to change and feel better.
If you order Melanie's book this week, you will receive access to all of these great bonuses including my book in pdf form.
After you purchase Melanie Banayat's book on Amazon THIS WEEK May 10- 15 2015 just email Melanie at
Melanie@miligirl.com a copy of your receipt.
and she will email you the link to access all the bonuses.
I am happy to report I am candida free.... and red flag are not flying.
When you purchase my book Stretch Your Brave, Hack Your Story between May 10 thru May 17, 2015 on Amazon.com, simply email me a copy of your receipt and I will email you the link to access all of these wonderfulBONUSES
. That's it! Be sure to mark you calendar and set a reminder, so you don't miss out. - See more at: http://www.miligirlwellness.com/stretch-your-brave#sthash.dQ4VJLKH.dpuf
. That's it! Be sure to mark you calendar and set a reminder, so you don't miss out. - See more at: http://www.miligirlwellness.com/stretch-your-brave#sthash.dQ4VJLKH.dpuf