Habits of Health 10 year graduate
I was at a place where I really let my health go in so many ways and actually had a mild stroke at 30 years old. Twelve years later, after all kinds of health issues, I finally got the diagnosis of autoimmune disease. I was looking back thinking I probably didn’t help my body heal itself and caused a lot of things that created inflammation instead of healing the body from within.
When I was dealing with autoimmune disease, I was at a place where I’d given up hope and was just doing my best to just get out of bed.
When I was dealing with autoimmune disease, I was at a place where I’d given up hope and was just doing my best to just get out of bed. I was sleeping very, very poorly. My husband said I had sleep apnea. My joints were hurting so badly, I was constantly tossing and turning, trying to get to a place where I could be comfortable. There were many times I took my kids to school in my pajamas and had to write a tardy slip. I can’t imagine what it was like to have a mom that was not living life, not having experiences, not having memories.
My sister-in-law showed up at my door and introduced me to a way to create health. I thought it was about a way to lose weight. But what I found was I could lose weight by eating properly, and I could start to exercise again without it causing a flare and putting me in bed for days.
When Dr. A introduced the Habits of Health, he wrote it based on people’s stories of creating health – not just losing weight, but getting the body moving and nourished, getting good rest, and then working on inflammation.
Not only did it start with getting my body moving again and incorporating fitness into my life, but it actually led to things like going whitewater rafting. I’d never done that in my life, let alone been able to enjoy it thoroughly out in the sun again, which was something I wasn’t allowed to do when I had autoimmune disease. I actually had my last symptom a year after starting my health journey. A couple of years after that, I went from extremely high positive blood tests for multiple autoimmune diseases to being a very healthy person.
Instead of just losing weight, I started really losing the emotional baggage that went with it.
When Dr. A talked about the healthy mind and Stop. Challenge. Choose., that was the introduction to creating a healthy mind that I wasn’t really up on. That’s where I really noticed that instead of just losing weight, I started really losing the emotional baggage that went with it. The more I realized I had the emotional baggage, the more I wanted to release it.
I remember Dr. A commissioning someone to do an illustration where there’s this guy drowning. He’s holding onto a rock, and you can see that he’s treading water like crazy, trying to stay afloat. He wouldn’t let go of these rocks, these limiting beliefs that were holding him down even though what he wanted was just over there at the dock leading to a pathway to create the vision of what he wanted for his life. I knew he was talking about me when they were talking about letting go of the rocks. I remember very specifically having an experience where I realized I was letting go of my rocks, and pretty soon, I was standing on my rocks.
I’ve gone from surviving to thriving, from victim to victor, and I’m so grateful for what Dr. A has given us in creating health. I’m so grateful for the healing of my body and even more grateful for the healing of my mind.
*Average weight loss on the Optimal Weight 5 & 1 Plan® is 12 pounds. Clients are in weight loss, on average, for 12 weeks.