This week’s newsletter will be quick!  I had a very good question someone asked me this week. She was telling me that her daughter who is recovering from Lyme has not had much of an appetite.

Q: “She tells me she is not very hungry most of the day. She doesn’t feel  like eating breakfast and lunch. I usually give her some breakfast but she says she feels stuffed after eating it.  She says she has felt like this for about a year. I hadn’t noticed, but mainly she can’t take her pills on an empty stomach.  I don’t want her to get run down or become deficient in nutrients. I know she wants to lose weight, but I don’t know if this is why she is not hungry. Any comments?”

A: Yes, I have some ideas. It’s summer and I’ve noticed I don’t eat much either. It’s
probably 100 degrees in SC now, not a bad thing if she isn’t that hungry right now.

Focus on eating just foods that are full of nutrients like: a tablespoon of Chia seeds, psyllium husk in water to get fiber in, eating berries, freezing grapes and eating them to cool off, eating mostly veggies, maca or raw coca, drinking teas and making sure to eat lean protein once a week.  If her digestion is really weak, eating soups (veggies cooked down) is great, although sometimes difficult in the summer.

When you are fighting infection, your body needs all of its energy. It takes energy to digest food…LOTS OF IT. If she focuses on just eating the nutrient dense things, this is a good thing.  She needs to keep supplementing also.

Getting the right nutrition is very important.

If you notice yourself slowing down with the eating, it’s okay. During summer months you might notice yourself eating more fruits and veggies and not wanting to digest hardy meals. This is natural for everyone, but the only real reason why someone who is ill might have a hard time eating, is usually because of the inability to digest foods (which is why supplementing with enzymes is important) or just because it takes energy to digest foods and the body needs its energy in other places.

I sometimes lose my appetite when training, which is a sign of overtraining. If my body is tired then it’s sometimes becomes hard to be in the mood to eat anything. This is when I force myself to eat nutritious things and then I get plenty of solid rest.

Here are a few food items I think are essential for anyone’s pantry (ESPECIALLY when dealing with an illness):

Chia seeds (you can buy them in bulk and take a tablespoon of them each day for quick nutrition)

Maca-Raw Coca powder (put a little teaspoon in your smoothie!)

Aloe concentrate (a tablespoon of this a day goes a long way and you can also put them in smoothies…nothing on the market compares to the enzymatic activity and energy of this product! Read the newsletters here about using this aloe concentrate juice!)

Flax meal (good in yogurt, good in smoothies and I put a few tablespoons in my pizza crust or baked goods)

Coconut Oil ( eat a tablespoon a day or cook liberally with it!)

Ghee butter (cook with it, very nutrient dense)

Green Tea Extract (put a little in a smoothie OR just put a little in boiling water to make tea)- Read about the benefits of using this here!

Yerba Mate (highly antioxidant beverage)

Brewer’s Yeast (high in B vitamins and other nutrition, get the flakes, not the powder, as the flakes are easier to eat by the tablespoon, while the powder will just stick to your teeth)

Psyillum Husks (high in fiber, a couple of tablespoons a day in 8-12 oz of water, drink quickly before it congeals)

Shilajit (I’m exploring with this, but it’s an ayurvedic herb that is good for detoxing).

Excuse me one second, I have to go to my kitchen to see what else I want to mention….

Okay, some other foods I really like (staples during any season):

• Wild rice (buy different kinds, try the black wild rice varaieties that are slighty sweet)
• Chorella (get it in bulk here) (good for everything and is highly dense with nutrients)
• Green drink ( I like this one because of what’s mixed in it, find out here) (main ingredient should be either Wheat Grass or Barley Grass)
• Frozen fruits for the freezer (buy items like bananas or berries this summer when they are cheap, wash them and make gallon size mixes for quick smoothies at anytime)
• Quinoa (a South American grain, high in protein)
• Organic chicken broth (just add seasonal veggies like Chard and mushrooms)
• Coconut milk (great to cook with and is high in good fats and good energy calories)
• Dried herbs of all types (during the summer I try to grow my own fresh ones, it’s easy, you just add water a few times a week)
• Miso soups ( you can get the real deal by venturing out to the natural food store and in the refrigerator section they will have a container of fermented miso soup, just add a dolap to boiling water and you have INSTANT miso soup)     *If you are sensitive to soy, don’t eat it or you might pay dearly!

These are just some examples.  I’m also a big fan of raw milk and cheese unless you are intolerant to them. I would suggest getting RAW milk and cheese. The least amount of processing for your food, the better it will be for you!

It’s a pain to change your way of eating when you’re ill, but if you make baby steps in the right direction, it becomes a wonder why you never made the switch earlier in life! When you’re ill, you just have to make these types of changes. Going and eating out or eating convenience foods just won’t cut it.  I hope by giving you a glimpse into my pantry that you’ll understand that I really do practice what I preach and hopefully you will find the same benefits in these foods that I do.

See Ya Later, Tick Slayer!

Perry

 It goes something like this: they’re sick, they think they have tried “everything,” they are upset at their doctor who they think should “know everything” and should be “curing them,” they’ve tried miscellaneous things here and there and when something or someone “fails” them…it’s FRAUD.

 I really get annoyed at hearing people who have been sick for years and years talk about people being FRAUDS or products being FRAUDULENT. That’s a serious accusation to make. Either something WORKS or it  DOESN’T  WORK. I find many things will work for one person and do work for other people on a consistent basis. Yes, our body chemistry is sometimes different, but human is human. And LYME is LYME.

 The attitude of everyone trying to “get one over on you” is dangerous thinking. I never felt like I was a victim of FRAUD. I felt like a number of healthcare providers who I used were limited by their knowledge and ability to do certain treatments. I may have tried things that didn’t work so well, but I never thought that people were out to get me and let that fear keep me from moving forward. The worst part of Lyme is spending time doing things that may or may not work as much as you hoped and that it can be costly. 

*Just know when I mention anything in a newsletter, take it seriously. I really do mean it WORKS. Don’t try to be cheap about it and don’t send me emails with lengthy research that indicates FRAUD to you. It’s just ridiculous to be telling me these things.

 I see a lot of people with Lyme Disease(and this goes with other diseases as well, most notably cancer), who literally have paralysis due to fear. They will see one healthcare professional (even if it’s for major surgery) and let that be the final say…whether it works, doesn’t work, or it ends up killing them.

Perhaps it’s easy for me to talk about this because being an athlete I have had to get over the fear of failing and I think many people are scared to know whether their BEST is really good enough. 

 I do know that there are some people (more than you think and hopefully it’s not you) who can’t move forward simply because they are afraid. 

 …And some people just don’t want to get healthy. I’ve met many people with Lyme Disease who make Lyme Disease their identity.

 If you have an email address that says “ticklady” or “lymebitch” or something to this effect, you might want to get a new email address. Supporting the cause is one thing, BEING the cause is another.

 I think the biggest problem right now with people getting healthy is:

 1) Procrastination- because maybe next year the magic pill will come out and we will all be saved. I’m not feeling soooo bad right now, I will wait to see what happens…maybe it will go away.

 2) Cost- because my body and health is not number one, I won’t worry about making it happen financially so I can move on.

 3) Fear – I get a lot of sympathy and I kind of like it. Will that continue when I get healthy?

 4) Implementation – I’m lazy. What all is involved?  I cannot be hassled.

 5) Self Esteem- I’m not that important so it doesn’t really matter if I get healthy or not. I’m doing okay and that’s fine with me. (Wow, this is big one!)

 6) Mental Issues- Nothing works! I’ll be sick forever with this. There is NO CURE.

 So which one are you?

 Now for something happier….

 I’ve recently been coaching a girl in New York City (and she knows who she is). I’ve personally know that she has gone through a lot of the problems listed above and has moved herself beyond all of it. In fact, she has been so adamant about implementing the plan without the support of her family and friends (as you know with Lyme, many people like to call you “crazy” and they leave you for dead) that I find her impressive.

I was introduced to her back in mid summer. In her own words she has already done “a 180.”  Although she is cleaning up the last part, she will be one of those people, like me  to recover 100%. She has remained cheery (despite family drama) and willing to do what it takes since this past summer and her progress has been off the charts. It’s only been 5 months! To put that in perspective her case was extremely bad. She had numerous health issues beyond Lyme and she said that she “was grabbing onto buildings as she walking down the sidewalks.”

 It took me several years of “experimenting” to do what she did in 5 months with coaching!

I’m thrilled for her and glad she will be able to move on with her life.

Probably the worst part of having a disease like Lyme is the time you feel like you lost. I lost 5 years in total. I really lost athletic years, but I gained years in wisdom, patience and all of that good stuff. It was a trade off…a forced trade off.  If you’re sick, you just have to be steadfast in your recovery and realize that the experience can make you a much better person.

If you’re lazy the experience can be “fuel for the fire” for whatever your passion in life may be or what it used to be. Obviously you don’t need to have a Lance Armstrong insane will to win, stick it in your face all you “haters”, like what I’m prepping for, it could be more subtle.

 Health News: Don’t Let Free Radicals Bombard You While You’re Fighting Lyme! The Cheap and Easy way to fight back!

When you’re trying to get better, it’s easy to get worse…simply because your body is overloaded with free radicals. I know I’m not the first to inform you of this. During my battle, I remember there would be times when I would go to the grocery store and come back with dark chocolate, red wine, teas, blueberries and an assortment of other goodies with HIGH antioxidants.  I was listening to my gut. These were probably times that my body was high in free radicals.

Unfortunately, with our lifestyles I believe our bodies can’t keep up with the constant assault. Illness and pollution are just two stressors which cause an overload. Part of my after-Lyme maintenance is to free myself up of any problems. It means detoxing well and keeping antioxidants high.

Since I came to altitude I’ve been taking Green Tea Extract. With training I know I’m breaking myself down in a way similar to having an illness. Everyday I’m creating free radicals by training hard. Besides eating as well as I can I’ve been supplementing with Green Tea Extract.  SO far it’s been a blessing.

Green tea has properties that help reduce blood pressure, inhibit pathogenic bacteria that cause food poisoning, and block the actions of carcinogens; UV light and metastasis (think cancer). These are all SERIOUS problems that Green Tea can improve.

Some people take it for weight loss and while I have no idea how well that works (you can read up on it), I’m taking it strictly from a keeping the cells healthy standpoint.  I must keep oxidative stress down.

Oxidative stress = Disease

Keeping Cells Healthy = Recovery

Running Fast and Feeling Good = Recovering Well

 Check out the Wikipedia entry for Oxidative Stress Here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxidative_stress

Right now I take anywhere between 250 mg a day to about 300 mg. I have it in a cost effective bulk pouch that is lasting forever (so far months). I like to take the powder and mix it with hot water in the morning before working out.

Get Your Green Tea Extract In Bulk Here  (power up!)

 Because the ORAC value is so high (a way of measuring antioxidants called: Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) sometimes I can get the jitters (and not from caffeine as 250mg of Green Tea Extract contains only 11 milligrams caffeine). So I know what my limit is with this extremely powerful antioxidant.

More info on Green Tea Extract

 So far…running strong and feeling good.

See Ya Tick Slayers!