Tag: Self-care

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 Tips Toward More Self-Care

These five tips toward more self-care will support your path toward fulfillment in your life. The photo of my son and mother laughing during a lunch out is just one example of self-care.

Five Tips Toward More Self-Care

1st Tip: Start Small

Pick one area of your life to focus on. Don’t get bogged down in complexity. Remember that success starts with one small step and consistency creates long lasting changes.

2nd Tip: Focus on Past Success

We are all better at some things than others. Perhaps meditation is difficult for you, but when you walk alone in nature, you feel refreshed. Taking a weekly walk might be better than working on meditation at the beginning.

3rd Tip: Know Yourself

For instance, I’m a morning person. Therefore, I’ll choose to try new forms of self-care in the morning when my energy is high and I’m most likely to be consistent. If you feel rushed in the morning, it might be easier for you to start a new self-care regimen in the afternoon or evening time.

4th Tip: Enlist Support

Just by telling a family member or friend that you are experimenting with new ways to take better care of yourself, you may feel more encouraged to forge ahead. Furthermore, you can include them in your practice of emotional self-care by telling them how much you appreciate them.

5th Tip: Schedule a Weekly Check-in

Once a week, create a recurring appointment where you celebrate your successes the past week. You can also identify areas that need support. I have my recurring appointment on Sunday.

A Real Life Example

Last week I wrote about my Saturday morning nature walk at Bok Tower. During my Sunday check-in, I saw how helpful it had been to my sleep and resting heart rate. As a result, it was easy to plan another nature walk at Bok Tower for the following week. Similarly, I checked out the Self-Care Wheel, created by Olga Phoenix for more ideas to consider.

The idea that resonated with me is, “watch a funny movie.” My husband and I were talking about how much we enjoy the old Mel Brooks classic movies. Which one would you choose?

Now It’s Your Turn

Using my five tips toward more self-care, I’d love to hear what you plan to do this week! Leave a comment below or email me. Better yet, signup for my newsletter and we can have a weekly conversation.

Keep Smiling,
Dawn