Month: June 2017

No Carbs, No Life!

While I was taking my baby for a morning stroll in the lobby, with my fancy-ass Starbucks cup in hand, I felt extremely groggy. This might sound hypocritical because I am no longer supporting Starbucks. Why? Their prices have gotten completely out of control up here in North America. I am not going to spend $5 on a small chilled iced tea with 3/4 ice in it or $6 on a frappuchino, especially when I can make these drinks myself. There are Starbucks take-out cups in the hotel room so I made my own English Breakfast Tazo tea with a splash of vanilla soy milk. Yes, I am camping out at a hotel this week and the baby is less than amused. Personally, I don’t blame her. I would hate it here too if I was stuck in a stroller or playpen all day. She’s a Miss Monkey so I don’t exactly trust her on the bed. She’s figured out how to roll off of the bed already, despite the pillow barricade I made to prevent this incident from happening. My ruthlessness must make me a bad mother, but I have yet to meet one mother who hasn’t made any mistakes. I’m a flawed human raising a 50% look-a-like munchkin with monkey abilities. So sue me. pexels-photo-227668.jpegAfter my 11-hour night’s sleep divided by 1 diaper change and a feeding, you would think that is plenty of sleep for a normal adult. However, this isn’t an “off-day” for me since I could sleep all day, every day, given the opportunity. I’m not sure how long I have had iron deficiency anemia, but I’m guessing that it has been affecting me for years. The signs which weren’t so obvious years ago are very obvious now. No amount of pills, diet changes, sunshine or prayer have helped me recover. While I was sipping my morning tea, I grabbed my spastic phone and started researching Iron Deficiency Anemia treatments like a madwoman.

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This isn’t the first time that I have researched this particular topic. I wasn’t searching for iron supplements or injection sites since my current city of residence doesn’t offer iron shots. No. I was looking for ways to increase my iron levels on my own. In my previous post, Why I left Multi-Level Marketing, I mentioned that I am tired of taking supplements and having to rely on them to function somewhat normally. I also mentioned that I am miserable on a low-carbohydrate diet and that this love-hate relationship with food isn’t working out.

Somehow, I have managed to convince myself that I am sickly, thanks to the internet confirming my beliefs that I have these disorders/diseases, to name a few: Celiac disease, lactose intolerance, depression, tooth decay and chronic fatigue. This leaves me with very limited food options. No wheat. No dairy. No sugar. No life.

Disclaimer: What you are about to see is not mine. You can check out Jenny’s website for more hilarious posts at The Bloggess.

“OH I DON’T NEED REAL FOOD. I’LL JUST LIVE ON THIS RAW CABBAGE.  I’M SO HAPPY. THIS IS FINE. EVERYTHING IS FINE.”

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This particular post by Jenny Lawson made my day brighter. Luckily, nobody heard me actually Laughing Out Loud in the front lobby downstairs. I must have looked foolish in my pajamas, unbrushed hair and ratty hoodie surrounded by a large wedding party that appeared out of nowhere. There were 10 bridesmaids blocking my path as I sheepishly meandered my way through the blockade of picture-perfect cover girls. I don’t understand how some people can be so loud, hyper and happy ALL. THE. TIME. Perhaps this is my fatigue and depression talking. Seriously, I must have looked pathetic as I made my way past them while avoiding eye-contact and feeling sorry for myself that I’ll never get to be a bridesmaid in my lifetime.

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Why I left Multi-Level Marketing

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As I am sitting here popping my supplements like prescription pills, I know that there must be an easier way to heal my sensitive teeth and skin. After doing intensive research over the last few months, most of my findings suggest a diet high in unpasteurized dairy and organ meats, ranging from raw milk to liver. My initial thoughts were….Yuck! You may consume these foods and that’s cool. These foods, I admit, are nutritionally dense and I wish they were readily available to me. But for the typical North American like me, raw milk, liver, grass-fed butter and meats are not easily sourced, or very pricey $$$. Part of my lifestyle includes living as minimally as I can, coming from a former (still broke) university student mindset. Also, there is no guarantee that I will heal my issues with these specific supplements or expensive products. I want to believe that a miracle butter oil and fermented cod liver oil will work, but with the steep price and life-long commitment requirements, I have decided not to settle with this point of view.

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Reconnecting with nature is nature’s medicine.

I know that there must be a better way to heal my body, and I am very determined to find an answer before it’s too late. I have a lot of tooth sensitivity, discoloring, chipping, abnormal enamel erosion which may be linked to gluten intolerance (possibly some degree of Celiac disease???) or Bruxism, along with iron deficiency anemia and vitamin D deficiency. I am only 25 years old and live a healthier lifestyle than most people so my health issues confuse me. I have always had cavities since I was a little kid, and was told by dentists that my problems were due to genetics. Right now, I am extremely frustrated by the lack of improvements when I adopted a low-sugar, low-carbohydrate diet for several months. Deep down, I know that a ketogenic diet is not the answer for me and I don’t want to rely heavily on animal products to be healthy. I am in no way vegan or vegetarian but over the years, I have tried these lifestyles as well, especially during my university years. Personally, I dislike the word “diet” since these life choices are realistically  lifestyles.

glass-1404593_960_720Also, I don’t want to rely on supplements forever. I used to be a part of a very expensive supplement company but I disagree with their true intentions and couldn’t afford to be part of their “team” long term. I was losing money or barely breaking even plus I hate chasing people/pitching my products to them. Call it what you want, but in the end their true intentions of connecting with people and recruiting is to make commission. I have always been an introvert and approaching strangers for the sole purpose of recruiting isn’t for me, especially when I do not know them on a personal level or their health backgrounds. When recruiting people is more important than selling the products in order to make a living, this is a big red flag that the company only wants the movers and shakers. It’s the little guys like me, who genuinely want to help people live healthier lives, by raising awareness of the health benefits that these supplements can offer for specific cases, but with that leads to burnout. Recruiting was never my intention – I just wanted to help people live healthier lifestyles with the nutritional knowledge that I have. I minored in Nutrition and Neutraceutical Sciences so I am not an idiot when it comes to diet and lifestyle.

Thousands of dollars later, my husband gave me a reality check and told me to think for myself. I was tired of being told what to do, how to sell product, how to cold-call people, promised results with over-inflated hype, and yelled at whenever I “failed” my upline time again. Meanwhile, I was working my hardest to succeed and now realize that my success cannot be measured in sales or the number of people recruited. Since leaving the company 4 years later and ditching the authorship fees for good, I have had several people approach me and try to recruit me to their companies, but this approach isn’t going to work unless the company has good ethics and you can convince me that it’s different than the other competitive multi-level marketing companies in the health and wellness industry. I will never join another multi-level marketing company again.

Healing starts from within and the only way I will be able to truly heal is through proper nutrition and sunshine. There are plenty of resources online along with some books that I am looking forward to reading such as The China Study and Holistic Dental Care. I have a bad habit of being lazy, sleeping in and procrastinating on important tasks. But these poor life choices need to stop if I am ever going to make a positive impact on people’s lives. I am going to  find a solution or a better formula for healing which I know, starts from within. I want to help people who are struggling with their weight or blood sugar fluctuations (yes, you can lose weight with my tips and tricks), learn to live with less stuff, save money, and live a more fulfilling life through proper nourishment. Who knows, maybe I will start another YouTube channel specifically for this blog. I love being able to think for myself without having to hound people and ruin relationships in the meantime. There are several influencers who I follow online and they have unknowingly helped me get started on my personal journey, and I am grateful for their knowledge. The internet is a wonderful tool for research and a place to heal.

You can check out my personal YouTube hobby channel, which isn’t associated with the sereneluna blog:  hellokitty8404

Wading Through Murky Waters

Hello, everyone! Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been very busy and dealing with personal and family life. Some things are just not meant to be shared on the internet and I have no problem taking a hiatus offline from time to time. My goal for this blog is to connect with real people in a more sincere, personal way, and in order to do that I need to be at my best, mentally.

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As some of you know, I have taken a break from Facebook and recently ended a couple friendships with some long-time “friends.” Not only that, but my daughter required some critical medical attention and is still undergoing these appointments and surgeries out of province. I rather not get into this, but in case anyone is wondering how I am doing, there is a complicated answer to that question.

Now that I am back with my husband in our small town aka “city” dwelling, life is slowly returning to normal again. My regimen has become more strict though, due to the frustrations I had living off of a SAD diet (Standard American Diet) with the in-laws during the last few months. Luckily, the 3-month pregnant appearance that took over my body was the only bloating, which I managed to lose through a strict eating plan. I unintentionally stumbled upon the paleo lifestyle while I was looking for a solution to my toothache and “cure” to weak tooth enamel. My years of abuse to my teeth due to a strong sugar addiction and conventional toothpaste that was doing more harm than good, is slapping me in the face now (quite hard, as a matter of fact). Honestly, I am terrified of the dentist and had a very bad experience last time I was there getting a cavity filled. In the meantime, I am researching approaches to this problem, which were pointing to a paleo lifestyle.

I know that I won’t be able to maintain this lifestyle long-term but I am hoping that some life changes stick with me this time around. There are some benefits to the paleo diet which I agree with 100%, except for the low carbohydrate reasoning here:

1. It is highly focused on eating a lot of vegetables, which is vital to good health.
2. It eliminates dairy products and instead, is heavily based on animal fats and ketosis metabolism (aka low carb diet). The only reason I am consuming animal fats now is that I was very deficient in certain vitamins and minerals. I also supplement now with vitamin A, D and K, calcium, and magnesium. 
3. It avoids processed foods. I am a huge advocate for this one. I used to be a slave to processed food and MCD’s Jr. Chickens, but ever since I eliminated processed food, the candy had to go and so did all of those Dollarama sketchy chocolate bar and cookie purchases. 

There are also some reasons where I don’t agree with paleo, so this isn’t exactly the breakthrough solution I was hoping for. It’s certainly not sustainable long-term, living on a high-fat, low-carb diet. We do not need high amounts of animal fat to live and I don’t have access to “grass-fed meat” and “butter oil.” Our bodies need carbohydrates too, so really, the trick is whole foods here. DUH. By eliminating white sugar and white flour, packaged crackers, and cookies, candy, ice-cream, cereal, microwave-meals etc., my options became limited. I am currently researching the Mediterranean lifestyle and planning on incorporating these home-cooked meals as well. The vegan lifestyle isn’t for me due to the high sugar consumption and the fact that I already have weak teeth that need extra love right now. I don’t think an 80-10-10 diet is going to help with my problem, sadly. I want to believe in 80-10-10 but first, I need to work on getting my vitamins and minerals up to normal levels. It’s pretty evident that the majority of people living in the western world aren’t healthy, and are likely eating a SAD diet full of processed garbage food. I am not participating in that lifestyle anymore nor am I a human dumpster. Goodbye, sugar cravings! Hopefully, for good this time! 

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“Happiness is not out there, it’s in you.” -unknown