Be Your Own Science Experiment

Be your own science experiment. Did you loathe science in school? Yet your body is all about science. Chemistry abounds. For instance, how does the food you eat become the building blocks of nutrition? It’s complicated… very complicated.

And when you add stress along with choosing foods that your DNA recognizes as foreign, you are in for a whole lot of hurt.

Be Your Own Science Experiment

Let’s go over some basics about science experiments first. According to thought.co, these are the steps.

  1. Make observations
  2. Formulate a hypothesis (an idea you want to prove)
  3. Design and conduct an experiment to test the hypothesis
  4. Evaluate the results of the experiment
  5. Accept or reject the hypothesis
  6. If necessary, make and test a new hypothesis

Where am I in this?

Step #1, for sure with an idea of step #2.

My current hypothesis is:

By removing the foods that are identified in my Cyrex Array 10 test, my inflammation and pain will reduce.

If you read my post on June 4th, you saw my observation of the current state of my body. It hasn’t changed much. Furthermore, I have many observations from the past. For instance, I received my first Cyrex lab report in December 2015. This report measures food protein in your blood. They are viewed as foreign bodies and result in inflammation.

Cyrex posts an online video explaining their Array 10 test. Warning, it’s like being in chemistry class, but highly informative. Furthermore, you can read more about my excitement and high hopes in the 2016 blog, Grateful for Changes in my Diet. The gratitude was short-lived as I wasn’t truly ready to make the life-long changes needed. Now the pain is worse, and I still can’t take NSAIDs to ease the inflammation and pain.

What dietary restrictions were and likely are still needed? All dairy, wheat, and rice were no-no’s. There were some other foods removed from my grocery list too; cooked almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, peanut butter, and flaxseed to name a few. Thankfully, I could still eat all meat, fresh seafood, vegetables and fruits. Yeah!

Finding Help

Although you can order the Cyrex test, there is so much more involved. I needed to find someone who could guide me through the process of forming the complete hypothesis of my personal human science experiment. Two weeks ago, the Universe brought them to me.

On June 16th, I called my beloved, extremely booked, massage therapist, Brynne Nowroozi, and casually asked if she had an opening the next day. Brynne texted back, “I had a cancellation tomorrow at 10:30 am.” That made my day! During the massage, I mentioned my 6-month challenge and the Cyrex test from years before. She said, “I’ve had that test.” What?!?

Before I arose from the massage table, Brynne had placed the business card for Dr. Joleene Anderson on my folded clothes. She has a long list of capital letters after her name, but essentially, she is a chiropractic doctor who is also an expert on nutrition and more specifically, gluten.

More Observations in Progress

Tuesday, I had an hour-long discovery Zoom with Dr. Joleene. It was clear we could work together.

Dr. Joleene believes in forming the foundation before determining the hypothesis and I wholeheartedly agree. Currently, I’m working on the intake form… on my health life story. Since I’m a writer, it’s hard not to write a memoir. Today I’m condensing my tome sort of like the erroneously attributed words of Sergeant Friday in Dragnet, “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Furthermore, with Dr. Joleene’s help, we will find the likely root cause of my inflammation and work toward healing this foundational cause. That means more hypothesis. Fun!

Parting Thoughts

The photo of shrimp and pasta at the beginning of this article, uses coconut milk in place of dairy and gluten-free pasta. It’s highly possible the gluten-free pasta may disappear from my plate since it has rice flour in it. Finally, I had no idea that gluten-free means there is no more than 20 ppm gluten in the product. I always thought if ‘-free’ was attached to a word, it meant it didn’t have any. You can read all about gluten-free in Dr. Amy Burkhart’s article.

Next month I’ll let you in on my progress. Perhaps you will want to be your own science experiment too! I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Love and hope for a healthier life,
Dawn

Five Days into a 10-day Detox

As of today, Friday, I’m five days into a 10-day detox. There have been some revelations and amazing health improvements already.

My Why and Resulting Goals

When I started my 10-day detox, I answered this question.

Why am I doing this detox?

    1. I am hoping the change in diet will reduce my joint pain.
    2. It would be nice to lose a few pounds.

I really didn’t think much past that as I was coming into this with a curious mind. But the detox journal also included a goal section where I delved deeper.

What are 3 specific goals I have for these 10 days?

    1. I will adhere to the diet 100%.
    2. I will be open to try new foods.
    3. I will take all the supplements.

Do you find one or all of these goals difficult?

Probably the the #1 goal to adhere to the diet 100% made you mumble, “Good luck with that one!” The second, trying new foods is generally easy for me, but seeds and raw nuts, odd nut butters, kale, arugula.. those didn’t appeal at first. Finally, taking supplements has been something very difficult for me. I would be totally on board with a new health plan, purchasing all the supplements only to throw them away unused. Perhaps I see taking supplements like taking any other pill.

But this time is different. On day 1, the smell of fresh brewed coffee hit me as I walked up the stairs after my 30 minutes on the stationary bike. It smelled good, but didn’t tempt me. If I could avoid a caffeine craving, the rest would be easy.

On this detox, there are recipes for the breakfast shakes, soups for lunch, and a choice between easy (core) or adventuresome dinners. Unlike my usual cooking style, it’s core dinners all the way.

I decided I would dive right in and get all the ingredients for the first few days. It’s gone pretty well. Even my mom and husband haven’t complained about the dinners.

There is a journaling component which got me thinking. Why am I able to meet my goals (so far) this time and not in the past?

The Value of Small Steps

I’ll agree that a detox is NOT a small step.

In contrast, I had been taking many small steps in my personal growth for months; finding the confidence to take an airboat ride,  setting monthly intentions and goals , taking small steps for a year with a fitness trainer, meditating daily, finding joy in my finances, and booking hypnotherapy sessions.

Seems like, these small steps since the start of 2020 have led me here.

Lots of Tracking

Do you dread getting on the scale when you are on a diet?

With this detox, I’m actually excited about my morning scale check-in. Furthermore, I look forward to measuring my waist, hips, and thighs along with taking my blood pressure daily.

Drum roll please…

  • 6.5 pounds have left my body
  • A total of 3.75 inches are gone
  • My blood pressure went from 156/94 to 121/79

Big Disclaimer: Certainly, I have never had results like this from other detox diets and the book, The Blood Sugar Solution 10 Day Detox Diet, doesn’t talk about results anywhere near mine even after ten days.

Once again, I come back to those many small steps over the last year. Perhaps they setup my whole system for this amazing response to a detox.

What’s the Revelation?

Evidently, I was using alcohol, sugar, and caffeine to pump up my mood, distracting me from what I was really feeling. As the toxins left my body during the first three days, I exhibited irritability, impatience, lethargy, teary eyes, and feeling worn out!

Even today I don’t feel like my old self. Rather, five days into a 10-day detox, I feel better than I have in years.

The photo is the dinner from Day 1 – Grilled Salmon with Onions over greens. I’d love to hear your comments below or you can follow my progress on my Facebook page, Best Health Dawning.

Smiling,
Dawn