Tag Archives: diet

The Most Important Areas to Address in Healing ME/CFS

This post just flowed out of me from nowhere today. Hope it helps you in some way. These lifestyle changes made a huge difference in my life. I now have so much energy and get tired normally at the end of the day. I cured my ME/CFS with these methods among others.

  • Environment – what you surround yourself with in your home is a reflection of what is going on inside your mind and body. If you surround yourself with items from the past which serve no present purpose, you are living in the past. If your house is messy and cluttered, it reflects a cluttered and confused mind. Clear out your clutter and you will find clarity in your life.
  • Diet – the food you eat and its quality are transformed into the cells in your body. If you eat lifeless, processed food devoid of nutrients, your body will become lifeless. If you eat genetically modified food, you will produce modified DNA. If you eat meat filled with the energy of fear and suffering at slaughter, them you will create fear and suffering in your mind. People need to understand that everything has a vibration, some things have high vibrational energies of love, joy, appreciation, freedom and other things contain low vibrational energies of violence, fear, death, suffering and pain. And what we come in contact with has a direct effect on our vibration. And low vibration creates chronic illness.
  • Relationships – are you living in an environment with people who criticise you and put you down? Do people in your life take advantage of you and drain your energy? If so you need to address your relationships with the people in your life, be it family, friends or coworkers. If you are in a negative environment at work where you are bullied leave the job. People do not change however much you try to help them. You can be tolerant, loving and accepting of that person, but if they continue to harm you and affect your health, leave the situation. And when you do work on yourself and learn the lesson so that you do not attract people like that into your life again. Learn assertiveness skills and boundaries.
  • Creativity – finding a creative outlet is vital in any chronic illness as a way to deal with the traumatic emotions you are going through. You may want to write your feelings down, start a blog to express yourself and connect with others in a similar situation to yourself. Create jewellery – you could even start an Etsy shop online to earn a bit of money while you are ill! Draw pictures, paint, sing, play an instrument, anything that lights up your heart. You will feel so much better.
  • Get out in nature – reconnecting to nature is so important as being among trees and plants calms us down and the energies heal and nurture you. Humans have lived with nature for thousands of year until recently we have separated ourselves, living isolated lives indoors in the house or working in an office. We are part of nature and we need nature to survive! The summer is a good time to sit in the garden in the sunlight getting some much needed vitamin D to boost the immune system. If you can, go for a short walk. Seeing the beauty of the flowers, trees and the blue sky will fill you with a sense of appreciation to be alive.
  • The Mind – the mind is a powerful tool that we can use to manifest our dreams or we can create our worries depending on what we focus upon. If you find that your mind is racing with negative thoughts, try focusing on your breath. Count the number of breaths as you inhale and exhale. By concentrating on counting, your mind will stop chattering. This is a form of meditation and the break in your thoughts or lack of resistance to your good will allow good things to flow into your life.         Mindfulness is another way to silence the mind. By watching your mind, also known as your EGO, you are aware that you are separate from your mind and it cannot control you. This is explained in the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.         Alternatively you can try positive affirmations to replace the negative thoughts. If you keep repeating a positive statement out loud or in your mind, eventually it becomes a belief. You can say ‘I have perfect health’ ‘I am abundant’ ‘My cells are vibrating in perfect synchronisation’ ‘I can heal myself’.

These lifestyle changes can help to make a positive difference in the quality of your life. They take time to learn and put into practice like any new skill, but once mastered they can be useful tools for life.

Why I’m Vegan

There are many reasons why I’m vegan which are listed below. Some of these reasons may shock you. The methods used in the animal industries are disturbing and people should be make aware of how animals are treated.

Meat – meat is produced by murdering another living being. Animals have a right to live and enjoy the freedom of their lives.

Meat is difficult to digest and contains the vibration of fear, suffering and death. The animals queue up and watch their friends, brothers and sisters being slaughtered in front of their eyes! They hear the screams and wait in fear for their turn. Their bodies are flooded with the stress hormone cortisol. And upon slaughter these hormones are still present in the meat. So when you eat meat you are consuming cortisol, adding to the excess cortisol that floods most of our bodies due to the stressful lives we lead and puts a strain on the adrenal glands.

Seafood especially tuna contains mercury and if consumed regularly can cause mercury poisoning.

What is meat? – Meat includes beef, lamb, veal, pork, chicken, turkey, duck, liver, other organ meats, all fish (yes fish is meat so if you eat fish you are not a vegetarian, you are a pescetarian!) and all seafood such as prawns, muscles, crab etc.

This video broke my heart when I saw it. How can a dog be more compassionate that a human being? We will sit by a watch a fish suffocate while the dog tries to save its’ life. The dog understands how precious life is. And we are supposed to be more intelligent?

Eggs – eggs have the potential to form into a chick if they are fertilised with sperm from a rooster. However the egg industry is one of the most cruel industries and the males chicks are ground alive on a machine with metal blades. The hens are used to produce eggs for our consumption. Many are confined to cramped, unhygienic cages and not allowed to roam free outside in the sunlight. I had tears in my eyes when I saw a picture of a male chick about to be cut up on a blade.

Dairy – Cows are abused. They are pumped full of growth hormones to build them up for slaughter as well as antibiotics which remain in the milk we drink. Dairy is acidic and mucus forming. There are some farms that treat their animals well. If you are going to buy milk and cheese it is better to buy organic and buy goat’s or sheep’s dairy as they are less intensively farmed that cows.

Leather – leather is cow’s skin! Would you wear human skin?

Merino wool – I discovered the horrors on the merino wool industry in the following video. The sheep are transported across the ocean on board freight ships in cramped conditions. When they reach land, they queue up to be slaughtered alive. Their throats are cut and their legs cut off in front of the other sheep just for the sake of getting their wool. I will never buy merino wool. 50% of merino wool is from Australia and it is hard to tell the source and the treatment of the merino sheep.

This video presented by Pink is very distressing. I was very shocked and upset when I watched it. If you are sensitive to gore then please don’t watch it.

Honey – I have been informed that honey is used to feed the baby bees and when we take it for our consumption, they have nothing to eat. So I avoid eating honey.

High vibration – to eat a plant-based diet you are consuming nutrient dense foods with a higher life-force energy and it will nourish your body and give you more vitality.

Alkaline diet – A plant-based, vegan diet is alkaline, anti-inflammatory and full of antioxidants. Therefore it protects your body from damage and inflammation.

Thank you for reading my reasons for why I’m vegan. The methods used in some of these industries are shocking. I hope you understand more about the animal industries and the morals of eating animal produce.

Video Introduction

Hey everyone!

I had a haircut today and got up the confidence to create my first video on YouTube! It is an introduction to me and my blog. I hope you like it!

Feel free to post feedback on my YouTube channel Cooking to Heal ME. I will be uploading videos on how to make my recipes as well as health tips. I’ve also uploaded an oracle card reading. So head over there and subscribe!

I want to thank the lovely Chrissy Faery from My Sparkly Life for inspiring me to start making YouTube videos! Check out her site and her YouTube channel!

Therapies to Heal ME – Part 1

Therapies to Heal ME – Part 1

After my diagnosis with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I was determined to cure my ME, despite the NHS saying that it is an incurable, lifelong illness. I refused to accept that I had to suffer for the rest of my life.

So I set about researching on the internet for therapies that may help. I tried out so many therapies over the 3 years of being housebound with ME. Some would give temporary relief to my symptoms, while others allowed me to make huge shifts in my health that have had a lasting effect on my life. I have learnt something from every therapy that has added value to my life.

It was when I visited the nutritionist and started gradually changing my diet to include more fruits, vegetables and whole grains that I experienced noticeable increases in my energy levels and a reduction in my brain fog, dizziness and weakness.

Here is a list of the all therapies to heal ME that I tried out between December 2009 to December 2010 in an effort to cure my illness, including dates, and my experiences with them:

2009

December – Diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

  • Caveman Diet – recommended  by my Dad who had a friend from work whose daughter had ME and was trying this diet. It consists of eating only meat and non-starchy vegetables. Unfortunately I had an intense detox reaction and was excreting a lot of dark, smelly material (toxins) and it was overwhelming for me. I became even more frail and started dreaming of bread, so I stopped the diet and started on a simple diet of steamed fish, veg and rice.

2010

February

  • Gupta Amygdala Retraining Programme – This involved watching DVDs for hours, which I found difficult because I had to concentrate for so long. There was a floor map to act out a sequence of movements and phrases whenever I had a negative thought. I had to say ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ and use hand gestures to break my negative thought. Once I had memorised the sequence I was supposed to do it around the house wherever I had a negative thought. I found it embarrassing doing it in front of my family. However after a few weeks I felt much more calm and happy and my mind was more relaxed.

March

  • Acupuncture – it involved lying on a table and having needles inserted into in specific points on the body which unblocks your meridian channels. I felt no pain, just a slight sensation as the needle went in. I remember on one occasion I experienced a feeling like an electric shock shooting through my foot as she unblocked a foot meridian! It gave me temporary relief from my symptoms, but the benefits quickly wore off. Fortunately she recommended that I visit a nutritionist she knew, as she could see I had severe digestive issues.
  • Bush Flower Remedies – the acupuncturist asked me to select 5 bush flower remedies that I was drawn to and made up a tincture for me to take. I used then on a daily basis but they did not have a very strong effect. Although, I do remember that in one therapy session I got very upset and she gave me a few drops of one bush flower remedy and within a minute I felt calm again.
  • Aromatherapy – I was drawn to aromatherapy and bought the excellent book Complete Illustrated Guide to Aromatherapy by Julia Lawless. I would often put a few drops of essentials oils in a vaporiser which would fill the house with a calming aroma that left me feeling very relaxed.
  • Feng Shui – I remember vividly the first day of Spring. The sun was filling the house with bright light and I was drawn to pick up a book on Feng Shui from the bookshelf which had been sitting there for years unread. I became very interested in Feng Shui and started applying it in the house. It was an interesting hobby that kept me busy. I learned that the flow of energy through your house affects your life. I moved the furniture and placed crystals around the house which vibrate at high energy levels and protect me from ElectroMagnetic Radiation (EMR).
  • Acupressure – after visiting the acupuncturist, I became interested in acupressure which does not require needles and can be practised by anyone. It involves using your fingers to putt pressure on sensitive points on the body which clears any blockages in the meridians. I ordered a book called Acupressure for Common Ailments and used the technique at home. It immediately relieves muscle tension and gives a feeling of peace and calm.

April

  • Clutter Clearing – I started spontaneously clearing out my clutter in the Spring. This process went on for about 6 months until I had got rid of most of my clutter in the house. Strangely good things started happening in my life. In August I read Karen Kingston’s ‘Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui’ book which inspired me to let go of the last items of clutter which I had an emotional attachment to. It helped me to deal with stuck emotions from the past and release them. I cleared out most of my wardrobe because the clothes reminded me of being at university and working at Premier Foods where I got ill. I moved on from the past and new things came into my life.
  • Crystal Healing – I become interested in crystals and usingP1000373 their different properties to heal emotional issues. My favourite crystals were amethyst for protection from negative energies, rose quartz for acceptance of others and healing the heart and citrine for positivity and abundance. I would also cleanse my chakras by laying down and placing 7 tumblestones of different colours over each chakra for 10 minutes or so to rebalance my body.

May

  • The Chrysalis Effect Supported Recovery Programme – The Chrysalis Effect was the most helpful programme I have done. Once a fortnight I was emailed exercises to do such as a questioning my beliefs, values and lifestyle. I had many realisations and made lots of changes which improved my life. The staff provide great support via email as they have experienced and recovered from ME themselves.
  • Holosync – I discovered Holosync Audio meditation in the Chrysalis Effect Programme. This is another one of the best things I have ever done. Whilst resting for an hour everyday laying on my bed, I allowed my body to get into the healing state and quietened my over-active mind. I became a more peaceful, calm and happy person. My stress tolerance improved.
  • Reduce ElectroMagnetic Radiation (EMR) – I turned my bedroom into a tranquil paradise and removed most of my electrical appliances such as my TV and computer to reduce nasty EMFs that affect my sleep.
  • Dowsing for Earth Lines – I learned about P1030154rdowsing and dowsed the house for harmful earth (ley) lines using coat hangers bent into L-shaped rods. I discovered I was sleeping with a ley line going right through my body and two diagonally crossing over my ankles – which would explain my constantly cold feet! These harmful earth energies disrupt the nervous system and weaken your immune system. The body is unable to heal while you sleep as it is constantly fighting to keep your body in balance from the disruptive Geopathic stress. So I moved my bed and began sleeping better immediately. Later on I discovered that copper pipes deflect the earth lines so I placed them in strategic positions around the house and everyone in the house began sleeping better!

June

  • Hair Analysis for Food Intolerances – I sent off a sample of my hair for analysis of food intolerance by a laboratory. The results came back and were very interesting but did not seem to correlate with what the nutritionist later detected.
  • Colonic Irrigation via Colease Herbs – I can’t remember the outcome of the Colease herbs but know it didn’t cure my chronic constipation.

July

  • Nutritionist, Supplements & diet change – I went to see a Nutritionist, at the recommendation of my Acupuncturist. This was the best thing I ever did for my ME recovery. She used a Vegatest machine to detect that I had Candida, Glandular Fever and  CytoMegalo Virus. She gave me a course of natural supplements to kill off the infections. Also I was deficient in Vitamin C, iron and Omega-6-fatty acids and she gave me vitamins to take. After taking these supplements for a few weeks I began to see vast improvements in my health. I could concentrate for longer, my mind was clearer; I could do more physical activities around the house such as cooking and washing my hair.  All this time it had been viruses and a fungal infection giving me all my symptoms. She also discovered that I was intolerant to cow’s milk, Yeast, Sugar, and Beef. So I immediately cut all these foods out of my diet. I had to check the ingredients labels of all the food I ate.  I felt much better after doing this, especially after cutting out sugar. I began eating healthier, experimenting with cooking new foods.
  • Fluconazole – the nutritionist advised my to visit my doctor when she detected that I had a yeast infection. He prescribed me fluconazole for my thrush.
  • Anti-Candida Diet – I felt weak and shaky the morning after cutting out sugar from my diet. This is the body’s normal response of withdrawal symptoms to suddenly stopping taking a drug. I replaced the processed white sugar with fruit.

August

  • NHS Pacing Programme – I went once but did not like it as they were very patronising and only talked about the managing the symptoms and not things that might help cure them. They made us sit on hard, uncomfortable chairs which for people with ME who have aching bodies is not very comfortable.

September

  • Space Clearing – I bought a sage smudge stick online as well as a shell and feather to represent to 4 elements of earth, fire, water and air. I lit the sage and wafted the fumes around every room in the house using the feather and catching the ashes in the shell. This cleansed the house of any stagnant, negative energies. Afterwards the energy in the house felt lighter, fresher and happier and the air looked visibly sparkly. I carry out a space clearing ceremony once a year to clear out and the negative imprints from arguments or negative entities.
  • Relaxation Music – as I was housebound I would spend most of the day sitting in the conservatory watching the nature outside and reading and spent the evenings listening to relaxation music from Global Journey where you can get 25 free downloads. This really helped to slow down my overactive nervous system and get me out of fight-or-flight mode and into the rest-and-digest parasympathetic nervous system. The gentle sounds, calmed and relaxed me and left me feeling so peaceful and content.

October

  • Positive Affirmations – I also read the most amazing book ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ by Louise L. Hay. She taught me how to change my negative thinking habits into positive ones and how positive thoughts attract positive experiences and it brought miraculous events into my life.

December

  • Gluten-free Diet – I bought the book Cooking Without Make Easy by Barbara Cousins and began cooking gluten-free food. I also used the Dove’s Farm recipe booklet that my Mum got at a gluten-free meet-up group. I started baking bread, cakes and biscuits as well as making oat flapjacks and trying out FreeFrom pasta and bread.
  • Counselling & Hypnotherapy – the nutritionist recommended that I go and see a counsellor she knew. It was helpful to talk about traumas that happened in the past and my current problems. She gave me some great advise such as encouraging me to join a ballroom dancing club to be around people again and to learn to drive to get more freedom and independence. She also advised that I leave my parents house and rent a room to get away from a controlling family member. She did guided visualisations to get me into a relaxed state and then put positive messages into my subconscious mind.

If you have ME/CFS, I hope that these therapy reviews give you some ideas of healing methods you can try out. Everybody is different and what works for one person may not work for someone else. Still in my opinion it is worth trying everything that you feel may help until you find the one that works for you.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Therapies to Heal ME which includes the therapies that I tried from 2011 to 2012.

ME Question & Answer Session

Hi everyone! Since the latest issue of WDDTY featuring my ME recovery story was released, I have had lots of messages from recently diagnosed ME sufferers saying thank you for sharing my story and it is has given them hope, which is wonderful! They have also been asking lots of questions about ME and health and I wanted to share the questions and answers on my blog as it may help other people with ME.

Q: How long did it take you to recover fully?

A: I had my health collapse in December 2008 then had the diagnosis of CFS in December 2009 after a year of tests. I visited the nutritionist in July 2010 and felt a lot better after a few weeks of changing my diet and taking the recommended supplements. I was fully well and able to go back to work in December 2011. So I would say it took me 3 years to recover fully.

Q: Can you suggest any supplements that might help?

A:  I would recommend Source of Life Liquid Gold mulitivitamin to give your body support as it is easy to absorb and gives you an instant energy boost!  Vitamin C is important for boosting a low immune system, which is common in CFS. I took Vitamin C on a daily basis during the worst of my illness. Also a probiotic to repopulate the good bacteria in your gut.

Q: Do you believe candida was central causing to your CFS?

A:  I believe the main cause of my CFS was catching glandular fever at university and it weakened my immune system. I then took the anti-biotic tetracycline for my acne and it wiped out my good bacteria which allowed the candida to proliferate. As soon as the nutritionist detected that I had candida on the bio-resonance machine I cut out processed sugar and minimised sweet fruit. I also took grapefruit extract that she recommended and cut out yeasty foods. The combination of these approaches wiped out the candida within several weeks.

Q: Do you eat fruit nowadays considering it can start to re-feed the candida?

A: Yes I regularly eat fruit since it is full of vitamins and nutrients and the candida has never returned. My immune system is strong now and I regularly take a probiotic to support my good bacteria so candida cannot thrive.

Q: Did you find veganism superior to low fat meat protein+veg diet (like a stone-age)?

A: I would not recommend a low fat diet as the body requires a certain level of fat to function well. If you want to lose weight I would recommend removing processed sugar from your diet as the body cannot use it as it is devoid of nutrients and so stores it. I have never been on a cave man diet, but I don’t eat a lot of grains as they are hard for the body to digest.  I eat a high protein vegan diet with foods such a quinoa, brown rice, peas, nuts, seeds and legumes. I don’t eat meat as I believe it is wrong to treat animals cruelly and murder them when we don’t need to eat meat.

Q: How do we know which diet is healthy and right?

A: There are so many diets out there. You have to listen to your body to learn what is right for you. If you have a bad reaction to a food or get IBS from taking supplements, it is your bodies way of telling you it doesn’t like it and to stop consuming it. Don’t listen to what other people tell you, just follow your intuition and do what is right for you. You can do muscle testing on foods to see if you get a strong or weak reaction to a particular food.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to send me a message. Best wishes to you on your ME recovery journey.

Why ME?

WDDTY September CoverWhy ME

Read about how I used a healthy diet to recover from ME in the latest issue of What Doctors Don’t Tell You magazine which is out in the shops from today!

The article entitled ‘Why ME?’ describes the phases of diet I went through before reaching the cooked and raw vegan stage I am at today, having regained all of my energy. It is a huge change from being bed bound at the start of my severe ME and took 3 years of making positive health changes to recover fully. The article also features my 10 Steps for ME Recovery.

ME is a very real illness despite many doctors putting it down to being in the mind and prescribing anti-depressants. It is caused by the organs of the body not getting the energy they need to function properly from a poor diet devoid of nutrients. The mitochondria cells which produce the energy currency ATP need certain food components to function, and if they are malnourished, the organs such as the heart cannot sustain a fast heart-rate and blood pressure drops. This lead to collapses which I have experienced first-hand. If the brain does not get the energy it needs to function, it causes brain fog, poor concentration and dizziness which I have also experienced. As soon as you consume a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables and wholefoods, the cells are filled with the vitamins and nutrients they need to heal and return to full functioning.

I genuinely hope the article inspires someone with ME to look at altering their diet and see the positive changes in their health. They can read my story and know that the illness is curable and despite what we are told, full recovery is entirely possible.

I am training to become a nutritional therapist and plan to work one-on-one with people suffering from ME to teach them the tools to heal themselves.

My Transition from Junk Food to Healthy Food

Here is my transition from junk food to healthy food:

Step 1: Junk Food

When I was a student at university living away from home and first became ill with ME/CFS I used to eat a diet of junk food such as:

  • Microwave ready meal lasagne.
  • Microwave ready meal salmon and broccoli in creamy sauce.
  • Microwave chips and fish fingers.
  • Pop tarts
  • Sugary Cereal
  • Pizza
  • Prawn mayonnaise sandwiches
  • Baked potato with tuna mayonnaise
  • Chocolate bars
  • Pasta in creamy sauce
  • Beef burgers

I now know that when you microwave meals it denatures the structure of the food so it is not the same food that went into the microwave!

Step 2: Gluten-Free

After visiting a Naturopathic Nutritionist who used a bio-resonance machine to detect my wheat and sugar intolerances, I altered my diet and cooked things such as:

  • Trout with wild rice, steamed broccoli and carrots.
  • Sea bass with gluten-free pasta and steamed vegetables in a creamy sauce.
  • Sausages, wild rice and steamed vegetables.
  • Gluten-free pasta in tomato sauce.
  • Steamed egg ramekin.
  • Gluten-free sandwiches
  • Rice pudding
  • Oat porridge with blueberries
  • Spaghetti Bolognese with gluten-free pasta
  • Oat flapjacks
  • Gluten-free pasta bake
  • Fish pie
  • Homemade pork burgers
  • Lamb shanks

Step 3: Reduce Processed Food

However my body become intolerant to the gluten-free pasta made from maize which I was consuming at least once a day. I developed IBS with stomach cramps, diarrhoea and even vomited once. So I had to change my diet again and ate things like:

  • Tofu with rice noodles
  • Carrot & Coriander Soup
  • Spanish Sausage & Bean soup
  • Tomato soup
  • Cheese & tomato sandwiches
  • Liver and bacon with potatoes
  • Baked potato with tuna mayonnaise
  • Pork balls with stir-fried vegetables
  • Chicken Gohan curry
  • Chicken kebabs in peanut satay.
  • Homemade chips
  • Chicken drumsticks & wings

Step 4: Vegetarian

I became interested in Detoxing the Pineal Gland and read a book where the author explains that tap water contains toxin fluorine and chlorine and fish contains toxic mercury. He also explained that meat has a very heavy vibration of death, fear, pain and suffering. I did not want to put that energy into my body as I wanted to raise my vibration. Also I had a emotive dream about a chicken in packaging that was half cooked and half still alive looking up at me with innocent eyes. I couldn’t bear to eat chicken after that and decided to become vegetarian so as not to support animal cruelty. The meals I ate included:

  • Baked butternut squash with thyme, walnuts and feta
  • Spanish omelettes
  • Baked potato with cheese
  • Potato salad
  • Greek salad
  • Hummus on gluten-free toast
  • Gluten-free pizza
  • Ratatouille

Step 5: Raw Vegan

Then I met my health-conscious ex boyfriend who had cancer and became raw vegan like him to get the benefits of detoxing my body, more energy and clear skin. I ate things such as:

  • Kale Salad with Sprouted Seeds
  • Smoothies
  • Juices
  • Raw chocolate
  • Chocolate & almond milk smoothie
  • Veggie nut mix in lettuce boats with hummus
  • Nori Rolls
  • Guacamole on corn cakes
  • Hummus and sprouted sunflower seed on rice cakes.
  • Raw carrot cake
  • Kale chips

Step 6: Mixture of Cooked & Raw Vegan

I found it very difficult to get enough calories on that diet and although my skin was clear, I felt hungry and weak. So I am now a mixture of cooked and raw vegan and seem to have a lot of energy. My favourite meals at the moment are:

Featured in the September 2014 issue of WDDTY magazine in the article ‘Why ME?’ about my recovery from ME/CFS using diet.