If you have listened to episode 3 on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you heard Alejandra Currell discuss how reading on the of Medical Medium’s books kickstarted her healing journey after suffering from chronic illness for over a decade. The Medical Medium’s advice was also influential during my healing journey.
At the end of summer 2018, I was feeling pretty hopeless.
At the start of the summer, I was motivated to take back my health. I had two months that I could dedicate to my health and well-being before I had to go back to work as a 7th Grade English teacher. I wanted to lose weight, improve my mental health, and get clearer skin. I decided to this by cooking more healthy meals at home, training for a half marathon with a friend, receiving neuro-emotional technique from my holistic health practitioner, and using expensive face wash.
I was confident that I could lose at least eight pounds in two months. I mean I’d done it before.
However, throughout this same summer, my best friend, Trish, had gone through six rounds of chemotherapy and was eventually told that the treatment was unsuccessful. I was also in an emotionally draining, long distance relationship and taking difficult graduate school classes. Even though I was receiving treatment for some of my emotional distress, the stress from these circumstances was a lot of a 23-year-old to handle.
On top of that, I was upset with myself because I only lost a few pounds throughout the summer, and I didn’t see much improvement in my skin. I felt like that there was something wrong with me.
Thankfully, in August, my mom sent me a book by a man named Anthony William, or Medical Medium, called Liver Rescue. The title made me laugh because after four years of undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland, my liver could definitely use some rescuing. My mom is very involved in the holistic health world, and she had heard that the teachings in this book helped people heal from chronic conditions like acne and autoimmune disease. My mom also sent a copy of the book to Trish because at the time, doctors had diagnosed her with the rare autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis.
Because I was desperate for something that would help with my skin, and Trish was starting to look into holistic methods of healing, we both decided to read the book (or the sections that pertained to us) and put some of the Medical Medium’s advice into practice.
My mom suggested that we start by eliminating one food at a time from his list, Foods to Avoid for Healing Chronic Illness. Most of the foods on the list were pretty easy for me to cut out. These foods included pork, soy, farmed fish, eggs, and corn. I thought that many of the food additives would be easy to eliminate as well, but I quickly learned that products like canola oil, citric acid, natural flavors, and artificial flavors/sweeteners were found in almost every processed food product – from chips to minced garlic to yogurt.
It was also very difficult for me to cut out dairy and gluten. My absolute favorite foods combined these two mouth-watering ingredients: pizza, grilled cheese, and quesadillas. After learning more about dairy, I have come to realize that I had an addiction and emotional connection to it, but that is a story for another time.
However, I was convinced that I needed to try my best to eliminate gluten and dairy after reading in the acne section of Liver Rescue. The Medical Medium said that acne is caused by the strep virus and that the virus feeds off of gluten and dairy. I knew that if I really wanted to commit to healing my acne, I had to eliminate gluten, dairy, and any processed foods that contained the additives listed above. Once I did this, I was able to find delicious and nutritious alternatives. I list many of my favorites in my book, We Can’t Change What We Don’t Know – How I Started to Think of Food as Medicine.
Along with eliminating these foods, I also started to add plants and supplements into my diet that the Medical Medium stated would help heal acne. Some of these foods included chaga mushrooms, hibiscus flowers, lemon balm, and cat’s claw. To incorporate chaga mushrooms, I started drinking Four Sigmatic’s products that infused chaga mushrooms in the mornings (you can learn more about Four Sigmatic in episode 3 because I interview their Omnichannel Education Manager, Danielle Ryan Broida). I would also make Medical Medium’s Hibiscus Lemonade and drink it throughout the workday. Sometimes I would take a few drops of lemon balm and cat’s claw by mouth, and sometimes I would add them to water, tea, or other drinks. Additionally, because I was eating an almost completely plant-based diet, I started taking some vitamins and minerals like vitamin B12, zinc, and vitamin D.
In addition to adding some of these amazing dietary supplements to my daily routine, I also started to follow the Medical Medium’s morning recommendations. I started the day with lemon water and celery juice. Then for breakfast, I would make a heavy metal detox smoothie. In episode 3 of Connecting the Dots, Alejandra and I explain why detoxing heavy metals is imperative for our health and healing.
After eliminating the Medical Medium’s foods to avoid; incorporating nourishing plants, supplements, vitamins, and minerals into my daily routine; and following Medical Medium’s advice in the mornings, I started to notice the changes that I was yearning for in the summer of 2018. I lost about 15 pounds in three months. I saw huge improvements in my skin. I had so much more energy and vitality. And, my anxiety was almost non-existent.
Once I experienced these changes, saw Trish’s improvements, and talked to Alexandra about how she was able to heal, I knew that food could be used as medicine. I have been dedicated to learning more about how we can optimize health and heal using food from the earth.
If you would like to know more about foods that heal or harm us, please check out my book on Amazon.
Additionally, if you are looking for a well-balanced diet that is based on the advice in my book, the Mediterranean diet, and USDA’s MyPlate, check out my 7 Day Meal Plan.
I hope that after reading my story and listening to Alejandra’s story that you feel like healing from chronic illness is possible.
