I've decided it's time that I share a lot more of my story with you! I have, probably for too long, been putting it off not knowing if it was the right thing to do or knowing how best to share it. But for some reason I feel that it's just best to start sharing. I started this blog because I wanted to help others, especially Mother's. I think there are a lot of Mom's out there who will relate to bits and pieces if not all of my story. I know many of you have related to the story of my weight issue. Well there is more to it and I'm starting today to share another piece of the story. I hope to share even more in the near future and eventually my entire story.
For right now let's go back over 10 years ago! Ryan and I had been married for just over 4 years and we had two little kids. One was almost 3 and the other 6 months. I was working like crazy "Sweating to the Oldies" and depriving myself of all the food I loved to try and get a lot of extra weight off; With not very much success! We lived in a small basement apartment that only had
windows on the North side. So without much sunlight, being larger then I wanted to be, having a baby that wasn't sleeping good at night, a husband who worked at least 12 hours a day, who was also very busy with church callings, and just trying to take care of and be a good Mom to two little ones; I was overwhelmed and very depressed a lot of the time, to say the least! And to top it off in comes the dreaded February! By this point winter is already too long for me and now my kids are sick AGAIN! For some reason that February of 2000 was a turning point for me!
Winter 2000
For the most part I'm pretty sure it was because I was in the Doctor's office FIVE times that month! And February is a short month! Also I think it was because I was praying so hard! I was so very blessed and yet so unhappy. I knew things were just not right but I didn't know how to fix them! I knew God could fix them but I also knew I had to ask him before he could! So ask I did! It just didn't seem right that the kids should need to go to the Doctor so often. I didn't feel good about them taking round after round of antibiotics. My oldest had, had lots of ear infections and each time was given stronger antibiotics. Some of which she threw up! Both of my kids ended up with yeast rashes on their bums that were very hard to get rid of and to say the least we were all miserable! When the Doctor mentioned tubes for ears I was done. I knew this wasn't how it was supposed to be. Yes I knew that part of being a child and having a developing immune system meant getting sick sometimes but I was sure God didn't intend for tubes to be put in our ears and tonsils to be ripped out!
The funny thing was that I had been interested in herbs and health for a while now. It's probably another story but my Mom had had colon cancer at 33. That started her on the path of learning more about health. I had pretty much grown up with echinacea and garlic in the house. Along with Barley Green and Herbal Fiber Blend! Just a few months earlier for Christmas my Mom gave me a Book called "Dr. Mom" by Sandra K. Ellis. I had looked at it a little bit but I struggled with the idea of such a drastic diet change. However the more I read the more it rang true to me and it was like I was remembering something I had already known though it was all new to me! It felt right and I knew God was answering my prayers by trying to teach me.
It wasn't easy and took a lot of faith and trust on my part. But I tried really hard to listen to that still small voice. After all he was our Creator, I wanted to know His thoughts! But it was hard. I had been taught all my life about the 4 food groups and the amazing miracle of antibiotics! (Not that there isn't some truth there but I started to feel like more of a customer then a person and that we were being HEAVILY marketed too by a very large group of conspiring men!) In Sandra's Book she talked a lot about Dr. Christopher and the School of Natural Healing! For some reason I just ached to learn more I knew this was the place to start! I got scholarships and found a way to pay for the courses! Again this wasn't easy but I found I loved what I was learning! And even better it was helping! I was learning how to eat better and was starting to loose weight. We moved into a house with big windows EVERYWHERE! I was getting sunshine and my mood was improving! As I learned about diet, herbs and their healing powers I found, well..... I found we were all sick more often! Yep you read that right as our bodies began to be healthier they began to cleanse which caused us to feel sick quite a bit. I learned that the reason there is no cure for the common cold was because the cold was the cure and that if you let the symptoms happen you would actually get better faster.
Like I said it was a leap of faith and very different then I had ever thought. Many family members struggled to support me in what I was doing and many times I doubted myself! But I kept praying and listened for the Lord to Guide me! The thing is with what I was learning, even though we seemed to be sick quite a bit, I knew what I needed to do to do to support the body and take care of it! We stopped needing to go to the Doctor! This was so very freeing! I felt empowered with the information I had and was learning. And well since this part of my story has already gone on too long I will just say that we have not needed the Doctor in over 10 years! Yep we have not needed to go back since that 5th time in February of 2000!
So to end today's post I want to mention our current health care crisis and all the "Obama Care" crap! (The politics of which I will spare you! Hopefully you have an idea of what I think about it! ;) I think it's more important than ever that we understand some very true and everlasting health principles that I started learning 10 years ago! I know that Dr. Christopher was a very inspired man and the things that he taught have been around for centuries! His hope was to see a Herbalist in every home and a Master Herbalist in every community! If that goal is ever reached I think health care as we know it will be transformed. And it won't be because big government fixed it! It will be because of people like you and me, most of us Mothers, who have the desire to learn TRUE health care principles! I hope each of you will pray about and consider furthering your knowledge of natural healing by learning these principles! They can be found when searched for in many places but I know you will be off to a great start by taking the Family Herbalist course through School of Natural Healing! They now have their courses available online for A LOT cheaper than what I took them for. The normal Family Herbalist course costs $495 the same course online is only $295 and because they are trying to meet their goal of a herbalist in every home and a Master Herbalist is ever community they are letting me offer it to you for only $195! I promise this is money well spent. We have saved so much money because we don't have to pay for Doctor's visits and super expensive medicines and I know those will only get worse under Obama's plan! I cannot recommend these classes enough! It's one of the Best things I've done by Far! (please note that when I talk about the best things I've done that does not count becoming a wife and a mother they are in a category all of their own) Even though it's been almost 10 years since I took the courses I still use what I have learned every single day! You can't say that about every class you take can you?! (I'm thinking specifically about my DOS class in college and Algebra ;) Okay maybe I use Algebra once in a great while, what little I remember of it! This education has stuck with me and more importantly it prepared me for what was to come just a few years later! But that my friends is a tale for another time!
To sign up for the courses just click on the link below! If you have questions please feel free to ask!
15 comments:
Hip Hip Hooray for the School of Natural Healing!
Hip Hip Hooray for your story!
Hip Hip Hooray for no doctor visits in 10 years!
Love ya Sis!
Thank you so very much for sharing just a little bit more of your story. It is so wonderful to connect with you in that way! I know it has been a long road for us, and it is still a challenge to eat healthier, but your blog has personally helped me see that there are better ways to making things my family does without all of the medical complications that follow. With my mom going in for tests, my uncle discovering bladder cancer, and diabetes and heart disease lurking quite closely to me, I need to open my eyes and find a balance. Words cannot describe just how greatful I am to you and a few other blogs that help quide me as I travel uncharted waters to a healthier me, husband and children.
Thank you...from the bottom of my heart, Tammie. I truly thank you. And today we made a green smoothie...well purple by the time the blueberries were added...it was soo good. I bet it was fantastic to meet up with Green Smoothie Girl! Fun FUN!!!
~Jes~
I am so proud of you for setting goals and sticking with them, for having the courage to keep going in the face of opposition, and for setting a good example for so many to look to. I love it that Moms teach their children, but they learn even more FROM them. I love you. Mom
Again, thanks so much for sharing. My Mom called today, and after reading your posts she offered to pay for the class for me. So I am signing up tonight.
She said that 25 years ago when my sister was a sick baby she looked to find something and didn't have much luck. So she is so supportive of me (thank heavens). I can't always say that about the rest of the family.
Have you taken all the classes?
Courtney I went as far as Nutritional Herbology.
Courtney: Hooray for supportive Mom's!!! I have one of those too! I may not have done a lot of things I have if it were not for her example and support!
Tammie,
It has been interesting for me to chance upon your blog today from your crock pot recipe on Passionate Homemaking. Interestingly, I am about to have my fourth baby. I had some chubby problems here and there through out my life, but marriage has helped me so much, to feel secure in my beauty, and I love exercise, and I make a lot of food from scratch. However I have gained more weight than any of the others with this baby, and so I am wondering if there are changes I could make, and so I am going to ponder some of these things I have read in your blog.
I have a few questions, I do know people who eat very healthy, but are still overweight...probably eating too much of a good thing, still. Do you have any tips on being able to eat in moderation even in stressful times of your life?
And, how did you get your husband on board with the family changes? Especially on the meat front, my husband is the hugest advocate of meat. I believe it will be much healthier once we can buy a naturally fed cow and or chickens like we'd like to, but that still doesn't solve the answer in the Word of Wisdom about eating meat sparingly and in times of famine. And there is that other scripture talking about how we shouldn't exclude meat altogether found in Doctrine and Covenants 49:18 "And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;" do you have thoughts on this? My dream has been to raise our own chickens for eggs, would you eat eggs if you raised the chickens?
Also, the last interesting connection for me is that I have struggled with post partem depression in my last 2 babies, and one of the things I thought that I would like to do for sure in this child is to take a class after birth, make some time for me, and what I wanted to do was to take a class to learn healthy herbal type healing, I especially want to learn about the local herbs and weeds that grow in my area. So the information you have about healing will be useful to me as I study that, but also, maybe what I need to do is to take an on-line course with Dr. Christopher, which I have checked out one of his books before and have pondered somewhat. Anyway, thank you for sharing on your blog, it isn't easy to do! I am at www.grawberriesandnuggles.hazubu.com . Come visit me! I just moved to Minnesota, and my hubby just graduated from BYU. :)
Emily: Great comments and questions. I will do my best to answer them. Please know they are just my personal opinions and experiences.
I do know people who eat quite healthy and still have weight issues. I think there could be many reasons but the four biggest ones in my mind our.
1. They got on board the health thing later and a lot of damage had been done to metabolism, thyroid, adrenals etc. Although they are eating healthy now for some reason those I named above and I think emotial reasons they hang on to extra weight. I could talk a lot more about this and share some of my personal experiences but probably too long for a comment. Maybe a post sometime.
2. Those who really try to eat healthy and for the most part do. But when it comes to my ingredient list they cheat WAY too much. But are pretty much in denile about it.
3. Those who really eat quite healthy and pretty much follow my ingredient list but quite simply over eat and eat WAY too much COOKED food. Obviously I don't have issues with cooked food, as you can tell by looking at my blog, but I do think we need to be sure to have the large majority of our food be fresh. Again could go into more detail I'll take note to post about it.
4. Those that eat healthy but don't get enough are any exercise.
The moderation thing even in stressful times I think is best answered by do you best to work through and cleanse the emotions and/or food addictions. Some people simply live to eat because of issues like this but I think starting off dealing with it by finding healthy "comfort" foods will make it easier to deal with the issues eventually. I have some personal experiences with this as well. Added it to my list of things I need to post about! ;)
I will say we shouldn't beat ourselves up and just try to do better as we learn better.
Alright Husbands: I know I have answered other's questions about this but it's hidden somewhere in the comments. *sigh* I need to organize all those thoughts and make a husband post out of it. Also my husband has been saying he would like to post about it too. I'm going to pin him down to do that.
For now I think the saying "Inspire, not require" fits well here and I did ask him seriously study and ponder the scriptures you are quoting me. He was also an advocate of meat. ;)
My thoughts (and please remember just my thoughts we are all different and the Lord knows how to deal with each of us individually) on the scriptures are that I have NEVER forbid anyone from ever eating meat. But I am convinced that most of us especially those who eat the Sandard American Diet have not been raised to truly understand what sparingly is. It simply isn't part of our culture.
I really never even set out to become virtually vegetarian. I slowly started loosing a taste for meat. I basically didn't eat any animal products for about 7 years.
But my goal has been health and I continued and still continue to study and ponder God's laws of health. The "meat sparingly" thing has changed throughout different times of my life. I have found it has a very different meaning to me now though then it did before. Because I don't enjoy eating meat now I'm not looking for excuses and justification to eat too much of it. I find I am able to truly discern when it's something me and my family needs because I believe we all have those times of cold, winter, and famine even if just within our own bodies. Those are the times when we will have some animal products. (I of course only choose the best.)
And now to finish I will have to comment again! ;)
To answer your chicken question, we have good friends that have some chickens I know they take good care of them and feed them well. We do get some eggs from them once in a while. But again I don't really even like the taste of eggs anymore so I know we don't overdo. But we do eat some. If we had our own chickens I think we would only have maybe one or two and then sell or give a lot of the eggs away because I think the fall in close to the meat category and should be sparingly.
I almost just feel like that most of us really have to give it up completely for a while. That way we learn to cook without meat as the center of the meal. During our time without it I came up with a lot of the recipes on my blog. I had to if I wanted to eat something besides salad. ;) I got in the habit of using all the wonderful do's of the word of wisdom. And I feel like we totally broke out of the Standard American Diet Culture and are able to see more clearly so to speak.
I think your idea of a class is GREAT. I do highly recommend Dr. Christopher's Family Herbalist Course to start with. It's a WONDERFUL starting place. Also I think lots of green smoothies durring and after preganancy really helps with Post pardum. And I also found I like using St. John's Wort for the depression and the after birth pains!
I hope you found my thoughts helpful. If you have more comments and questions don't hesitate to ask. If you want to email me feel free to do that too!
Tammie,
Thank you for your very comprehensive answers! I wrote a comment back this morning that didn't go through, so hopefully you don't get two.
I am certainly excited to hear about some of your experiences such as cleansing emotions and food addictions, and using healthy comfort foods to begin this process.
Recently I read the book Heidi to my daughter and the idea of Kara being nourished back to health from fresh creamy goat's milk who were fed lovingly on healthy mountain herbs, enhanced my desire to some day raise goats or a cow for milk, or meat, and the chickens like I mentioned. However at this point we haven't been even able to afford buying fresh cow's milk/ verses pasteurized in the store, nor fresh eggs, or grass fed, friendly raised meat. Doubtless we have all sorts of bad hormones or toxins. I know the Lord made bodies resilient but how irresponsible it would be to live like this longer than is needed. What I am looking for is to do the best with what I have got to work with. I am trying sprouting with wheat, beans and lentils to start out! Any suggestions for eating on a 'starving student' budget?
So your comments on the chickens was interesting to me, especially as I do believe animals are given to help us: as companions, and when needed to help nourish and protect us. But after hearing your comments, who knows just what we really will crave when we live in harmony with the best laws of health. That is hard to determine when you have been steeped in a certain culture your whole life. But it makes sense as at one point we began buying turkey burger instead of red beef meat, and I was so surprised that my husband got to where he actually PREFERRED the turkey burger. So a palette can change. :) It will almost be trippy to me really if running into your blog was guidance from the Lord, because my husband said to me the other day, we have just so and so amount for groceries, maybe we can do beans instead of meat! I stupefiedly said "You said it!" I am excited to try those yummy looking veggie burgers...
So, also interestingly enough I just was counseled to eat green shakes, both during and post pregnancy, and began to make them. I too have used St. John's wart for post partem after much praying, but I never heard that it helps with the after birth pains! How much and or how consistently did you take it as a help in post partem feelings, and when did you take it to help with the after birth pains, right after labor?
Thanks again, Emily
Tammie, could you offer any advice on where I could find the Dr. Mom book. I'm actually reading the second one which I was able to borrow from the library and am absolutely in love!!!! I'm going to order some herbal treatments to keep on hand and work towards getting off meds. Also, I'm the loving mother to two young kids...what would you recommend for an herbal first aid kit? I was thinking that the cayenne pills, bf&c ointment,kid-e-cep, x-ceptic tincture, lobelia tincture, and mullein oil would be a good start but I'm new to this. Any tips or suggestions? Sorry about all the questions, I wish you knew how much I rely on the wisdom that is shared on this blog. Thank you so very much. ~jes~
Jes: If you are local I know I have seen the books at The Good Earth Health Food stores or Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop in Springville carries it. Sometimes Amazon has it or you can order it through this link. http://www.christopherpublications.com/Ellis_Dr_Mom.html
All those things would be great in a first aid kit! I would for sure add cayenne tincture and black ointment. I have seen black ointment take care of blood poisoning. I actually have a couple of stories about that I really should post them. It's a great drawing ointment and it draws out toxins in infected sores, boils and probably snake bites. Also I would have Plantain ointment it is great for bites and stings!
You can see a list of what Dr. Mom had in a first aid kit she used to sell at this link http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1318479
Hope that helps! So glad you like that book and that you found it at your library! It's a great one worth owning! Pretty much has changed my life! ;)
I could not find the link to The School of Natural Healing you mentioned in your "My Story" post. Is the course no longer available? Is the discount you mentioned still being offered?
Sue: The link is on the sidebar...The Square that says The School of Natural Healing with the Gray Mortar and Pestle just click on that. Yes the discounted course is still available!
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