Genetically Modified Food, Food Allergies, Health, Wellness, and Safety

Are you concerned about what you’re eating?  Do you have any medical issues, food allergies, chronic inflammation, diabetes, heart problems, or other diseases that have you spending money on doctor bills, medical tests and exams, and drugs to treat symptoms, but don’t seem to be finding solutions to get and keep your 100% healthy?  Don’t lose hope that you CAN restore your good health.  Or be even healthier than you ever imagined!  But you might be playing genetic roulette if the foods you’re eating are GMOs.

In 2009 I had my third flare of Optic Neuritis (inflammation of the Optic Nerve.)  Guess what happens when you’re optic nerve is inflamed?  Blindness!  Yep, for the third time in my life, my optic nerve was so inflamed that I lost my sight.  Get the pressure off the nerve and hopefully your sight is restored.  But as long as the nerve is inflamed, vision is impaired.  What’s the medical treatment for this problem… Mega-high dose steroids!  Normally a 15-30 day protocol and you’re good to go.  But for me I did the 250mg every 6 hours by IV for 3 days then down to 0mg over 15 days, but it didn’t keep the inflammation at bay.  I ended up on super-high dose Prednisone.  30-60mg. for 9 months with no end in sight!  Doctors indicated that I would have to be on some sort of anti-inflammatory medication for the rest of my life!  At that point, I started looking for alternative options and actually signed up for a detox program hoping to get off steroids and fingers crossed get my vision back.

Funny thing, when I asked the Rheumatologist if there were foods I should be eating or avoiding to help restore my health, she laughed at me and said my diet was irrelevant to my health problems!  SERIOUSLY???  ARE YOU KIDDING!?

Food is every bit as much of a drug as a pharmaceutical product!  Our body goes through chemical reactions to break down and utilize all the foods, pills, and potions we eat, drink, or slather on our skin.  How can anyone NOT see the relationship between what we eat and how we feel?

Armed with a little more awareness about my health, and what things were contributing to keeping me sick… the last couple of years for me have been interesting and insightful when it comes to what I’ve been able to eat!

After a lifetime of chronic inflammatory issues, it seemed like things never completely healed; joint pain, gut inflammation, thyroid issues, hormone issues, and depression. Then finally, my system “hit a wall” and I found food intolerable.  Nice when you’re wishing you could drop a few pounds…but not so fun once you realize you’re not sure when you’ll ever be able to eat again!

I’ve known since I was a kid that I was allergic to peanuts and the whole bean family.  But since I wasn’t “epi-pen” or anaphylactic shock allergic, I never took what I ate too seriously or restricted my food choices to skip peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bean soup, chili, or soy-milk in my smoothies.  And with a latex allergy, nobody had ever told me that there were FOODS to Avoid.  (Bananas, Mangoes, and Avocados)

But by the end of 2011, I’d been off steroids for a good year and a half, but was still not 100% healthy.   After extensive allergy testing and taking a peek at my digestive health, I discovered all the foods my body was having a negative reaction to.  Plus the fact that my colon contained ZERO healthy bacteria and flora to help me digest the foods I was consuming.  Quite the eye opening experience!

How do we expect to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle if the foods we’re eating are “killing” us?  I discovered that most the foods I was eating that I thought were “HEALTHY” my body was actually allergic to.  Basically everything I was eating was contributing to my poor health and chronic problems.

 After whacking all the allergy-laden foods out of my diet, my system quickly dropped almost 25 pounds, joint pain went away, physical strength and stamina increased, and  I now look better, and feel better than I have in my whole entire life!  Who knew the right food choices would make that much of a difference.  Wish I would have paid more attention  to what I was eating sooner… imagine all the chronic pain, suffering, and medical expenses that could have been avoided!

Good Foods or GMOs  (Genetically Modified, Genetically Engineered Foods)

It is really scary when you start reading labels and looking at what’s in the products we buy at the store, or eat at a restaurant.  Genetically modified foods have been so skillfully added to our diets.  I bet most of the time we don’t even know what we’re eating has been genetically altered!  And the top 10 things food allergens are the primary ingredients in practically every pre-packaged and prepared food on the market.  No one has really been paying attention.  If foods are cheaper to manufacture, are more bug-resistant, taste better, have a longer shelf life – profit margins are higher, and maybe prices are lower so the consumer buys more, everybody wins… Right?  Not Really… the repercussions of what we’re eating and how it affects the human system aren’t known without substantial testing.  Guess who the test subjects have been?  The entire human race!  Yep, we’re paying for what we eat by getting fatter, sicker, and spending more time feeling bad, then feeling well.

I’m sure that even now, with all the positive changes I’ve made for my diet, and the foods I’m eating that I believe are “safe” and “healthy” that I’m still probably consuming some GMOs or things my body isn’t equipped to process.  I feel so much better, but know that there’s still room for improvement.  IF we, as consumers, aren’t given a choice in what’s available for purchase – and consuming genetically modified foods is our only option, I believe, we can expect to continue seeing a rapid decline in the health of the nation.  Too many people are leading lives filled chronic health problems, increasing medical expenses, and early mortality rates.

Have you seen the movie Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey M. Smith?  Insightful, and scary – but it is possible to change our health with healthy, un-genetically modified whole-foods.  I am living proof of the benefits of making better food choices.  If you’re sick and tired of feeling sick and tired – get yourself tested for food allergies, make some perhaps hard, but healthy choices in what you choose to eat, avoid GMOs and enjoy the benefits of a healthier, happier, YOU!

Check out the movie Genetic Roulette and share this message with your friends and loved ones.  Let’s decide to eat GMO-free and enjoy optimal health and wellness!  Your life just might depend on it.