HEALTH IS THE NEW HAPPY! Positive Vibes

Cleansing and Healing

BY TIFFANY McNEELY

My fingers began to itch so bad that I didn’t care what damage would happen: I had to scratch until it was relieved. Now bleeding and slightly burning, I felt satisfied but defeated because I wasn’t supposed to scratch. I run the cold water and allow it to cure the pain for just a moment. A week later I began to notice my skin dried out and now was peeling.

This vicious cycle continued for months. I couldn’t understand why I was suddenly dealing with a skin condition when I have never had issues. Most importantly, how do I heal my body from this? A lot of times we look for quick fixes or ways to treat the symptoms. That is always temporary. It is never going to treat the source, which is where a long-term cure can be found. I had to look outside of my own understanding in order to make this journey. It was hard for me because of my emotional state. I felt defeated and I was physically tired of my symptoms.

Once I looked in the mirror and told myself, “This is it, girl. Either you get better or you wallow in pity.” From that day on I made a choice first in my mind and the rest followed. Every day I searched for articles online. I went to different doctors to gain their opinions, I read books, I made sure to encourage myself by meditating and getting good sleep. I really focused my thoughts on being positive and getting better.

One book I read really changed my life. It is called “Medical Medium: A Cleanse to Heal.” It outlines meal plans and gives information on what foods to eat in order to heal your body. There are autoimmune diseases that attack our bodies without an apparent cause — and this book teaches how to use food to heal your body. I tried the mono cleanse: eating only steamed potatoes, lettuce, and lemon for a week straight. This type of cleanse where you only eat one food allows your body to heal. The potato is a binder and everything that needs to flush out of your system will attach to the potato and leave as waste. I would also drink 36 oz of celery juice on an empty stomach. This is very helpful to revitalize your gut. Your gut is like a control center of the body. I found during this process doubling up on probiotics twice a day helped to flush my body with good bacteria. My condition seemed to get a little worse before it got better. Then it went away and has not come back.

It was a learning experience for me — because I really thought that I was going to have to live with this condition. I think that there are a lot of people who end up with a health condition and feel hopeless or like this is their new life to live.

I learned that when I focused on achieving supreme health by using foods to treat my body, healing was obtainable. It took focus, determination, and an inner fight to keep pushing until I achieved my goal. I will say researching and joining online support groups were so helpful, because the more information you have the more power you have. It was empowering to learn as much as I could and apply that to my life. Knowledge is power and food is here to heal our bodies.