Showing posts from February, 2019

An American got sick in Taiwan. He came back with a tale of the ‘horrors of socialized medicine.’

Spoiler alert: it wasn't horrific at all. Taiwan has has a system people say works exceptionally well.

FDA warns Canadian drug distributor about sending ‘unsafe’ drugs to U.S.

But a CanaRx representative said he was baffled by the action, saying it facilitates sales of ‘American brand name drugs only.’

Water Fast Recap: 10 Days on Liquid + The Major Detox I Experienced!

Hi guys!! As promised… today I am going to fill you in on the rest of my water fast. I last updated you on Day Four, when I was beginning to experience the most intense part of my detox. I wrote it on Day 3 though, since I usually schedule a post a day in advance… so a lot more has happened since then!

The Major Detox //

So my third night was the absolute most difficult of all. I started feeling an intense low back pain during the day while my parents were visiting me, as well as leg pain and a pretty bad migraine. At night it only got worse, and throughout the middle of the night it got worse and worse…

What it felt like was my liver detoxing very heavily, so I tuned into my body and asked myself what I was detoxing. (I also asked my pendulum!) The answers were pretty clear to me. I have been on a lot of medications for the last 9 months treating Lyme disease and mold illness.

For the last 7-ish weeks before I got here I had been on an IV antibiotic called Rocephin (that’s really helping with Lyme!!) and I could feel my body working hard to break down those medications and expel them. Not to mention the inflammation and toxicity in my body from Lyme and mold to begin with.

I was up the ENTIRE night that night!! Not one wink of sleep. I was tossing and turning and literally whimpering to myself… and then I started throwing up. The nausea and acid reflux was extremely intense.

Around 4:15am I emailed my doctor and told him the detox was so intense I felt we needed to slow it down with some juice. So that day I had four juices: watermelon celery, apple celery, carrot apple, and watermelon celery again. Giving you guys the juice deets because I got a lot of questions on Instagram about what juices I was on.

Then I went back into the fast for three more days, and I didn’t go back into as heavy of a detox as I did on night 3. Thankfully I feel that my body had been through the hardest part of it by then. I have so much compassion for my body for pressing through that and for my MENTAL willpower and mental health for being able to withstand such a strong detox.

When you’re sick, you never know what’s going to come up during a fast. Emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually. That’s why I think it’s really important to note that water fasts should not be done at home. It’s safe to do them in the care of medical professionals in a guided environment so your needs are tended to. Had I been at home at Night 3, I would have totally given up and not continued fasting. (Slash would have been horrified at how intense my symptoms were.)

But because I was here, I had my doctors, got my vital signs checked and my blood work taken and cleared, and after a day on juice was able to hop back in. Then I got three more great days of detox, what I came here to do, under my belt before my body told me it was done.

Days 5 – 7 //

Days 5 – 7 were pretty difficult. I was very low energy, as to be expected, and it had been POURING & hailing here in Santa Rosa to the point where nearby areas have totally flooded and been evacuated. Without the option to sit outside in the sun and read my book or enjoy a change of scenery, I was going pretty stir crazy. This is important to take note of because sooo much of fasting is mental — I did not feel inspired at all being in my room 24/7 and it felt like every passing hour amounted to a week.

On Day 6 my parents came to visit, and on Day 7 my best friends came to visit. Having their company definitely got me through those days, as well as drawing inward and remembering my WHY of being here. Also all of the pep talks from you guys on IG and on my email have been very helpful.

Breaking the Fast //

On Day 8, I was feeling very much like it was time to break the fast. I didn’t have as much of an energy reserve as I had before my last fast, because when I was here in May I lost a lot of inflammation & some weight from the health and hormone issues I had been experiencing… so with my weight being what it is now I felt like my body was asking me to stop.

What’s the first thing I did when I felt that way? Listened to my body!! SO important. If anyone out there is fasting for health or for other reasons, my MAIN WORD OF ADVICE is to listen to your body. You don’t want to get into a position where your fast is super extended because your mental willpower keeps you pushing day after day but your physical body is just done.

I’ve had some questions on social media about why my fast was shortened, and listening to my body is exactly why. To be honest, I came into this fast with few expectations. If my body has been up for it I was signed up to fast for 16 days, but the moment I started I knew it would be closer to 10 days. When I stopped at 8, I felt nothing but total pride and love for myself. I pushed through 8 ROUGH days to get to this point, doing something beautiful for my body that I deeply believe in.

After that for two days I went on juice, the same combo that I was on on my 4th day. Then raw food, and now… I am introducing grains. Here at True North they take the re-feeding just as seriously as the fast, so I will be here for a few more days until I am able to eat all the foods again (legumes are last for digestion reasons and I’ll be able to have those in 2 days).

My first lunch back on food! Allll of the delicious randomness, haha!

Food Again & HEALING!! //

Eating again has been an experience!! The taste of food is BLISSFUL after you’ve been fasting. A watermelon celery juice tastes like cotton candy. Fruit with cinnamon (bananas are my fave, you guys know this) is AMAAAAZING. I love the appreciation I have for food after a fast. Eating becomes a spiritual experience — chewing slowly, no distractions, no phone, just being with the food and nourishing myself.

And guess what the best part is?!?! I FEEL LIKE I AM HEALING!!! Not just because of the water fast, but because of all I have been doing for my health for the last 9 months.

My mom noticed when she was here yesterday, during my first day back on food, that my energy levels are FAR & BEYOND what they were the last time I was here. Last time I was here, it took me about a week to regain my energy after the fast and after food. Yesterday was my first day on food and I already had energy to go on a long walk with my parents and felt totally myself energy-wise.

Being able to bounce back quicker is one beautiful benefit I have received this time around and I know it’s thanks to my Lyme treatment over the last 9 months. My incredible doctor (Dr. Erica Lehman!!) has had me on a rigorous protocol of herbs, supplements, hormones, medications when necessary, ozone, vitamin IVs, and more… and it’s thrilling to see that it’s all paying off.

Another great thing is that it is finally sunny here again in Santa Rosa so I have spent the entire morning walking around the neighborhood with my newfound energy (yay!!) and tonight will be going to dinner with my best friends who don’t live too far from here. (Don’t be mistaken, I am eating at True North since I am still re-feeding… but at least I can leave the facility and hang out with them!).

Water Fasting & Lyme //

I do feel like water fasting has been a key part of my healing journey from Lyme. I wouldn’t tell someone to water fast at the beginning of their Lyme treatment or AS their Lyme treatment… but once you’re well on your way to healing it’s a great detoxifying boost you can give yourself and the inflammation it releases is incredible. Letting the body fast & rest is a huge, huge gift… something we do not often give to ourselves.

Although being in bed for the last 10 days has not been the most fun, it has been what I needed. I have heard bursts of inspiration and been able to give my body deep rest and relaxation. I have gotten massages, chiropractic treatments, and craniosacral work on my body. My bod needed this. I believe we always know what our bodies need.

My first breakfast back! SO delish!

SOS-Free! //

And the most exciting thing? Being back at True North where they teach the salt-oil-sugar-free way of life has inspired me in a big way… to create more recipes and hopefully create an SOS-free cookbook for you guys not too long from now! Tell me below if you’d like that.

I don’t want to be known as any one thing or have any major label when it comes to food — but if I can help other people experience the benefits that I have from this SOS-free lifestyle throughout my Lyme journey, I am going to do just that. It’s not about being 100% SOS-free, it’s about incorporating those meals + recipes into your life for an overall healthier, more abundant life.

I am sooo happy to be in this place of healing and I am so grateful for the support & love from all of you & my amazing family and friends throughout this journey. It has been wild and there are some great things to come.

If you have any questions, leave them below. I will be doing a solo podcast episode on this soon too! Who has listened to this week’s episode with Jeannette of Shut the Kale Up?!

XO!

The Health 202: There are silent skeptics of Jayapal's Medicare-for-all measure

Only 7 of 42 House Democrats who flipped GOP-held districts in 2018 are co-sponsoring the measure.

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Anti-vaxxers face backlash as measles cases surge

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FDA takes fresh look at whether opioids are effective for chronic pain

But a critic says the agency has all the information it needs to curb long-term use of the addictive painkillers.

The Health 202: Drug executives may have to defend these expensive medicines to Congress

Think Lyrica, Crestor, Keytruda.

How to stay up-to-date on medical scams, quackery, deadly treatments

The FDA’s Health Fraud Scams features product warnings, criminal investigations, videos and other information.

Are all those medical screening tests really necessary?

Here are four questions you should ask your doctor before you say yes.

After hitting ‘rock bottom,’ some addicts and alcoholics find a road to recovery

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High syphilis rates linked to drug use, CDC report says

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Why crying over a terminal patient made me a better doctor

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For older people who stay in their homes, help is needed but often is inadequate.

Sixty percent of these seniors report they rarely go outside and 25 percent often remain in bed.

Sorry, ER patients. People with elective procedures get the hospital beds first.

Elective patients have attributes that make them financially attractive. But there are efforts to make changes.

Big Number: Diet drinks linked to 23 percent increase in stroke risk in women

Consuming two artificially sweetened beverages a day also connected to heart disease.

‘Every 30 seconds another alarm is going off’: Neonatal ICUs can take their toll on parents

They have higher rates of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Extended hospital stays can even make them less nurturing.

Weekend ‘catch-up sleep’ is a lie

This is the most exhausting story you will read today

Lawmaker promoting anti-vaxx bill suggests measles can be treated with antibiotics. (It can’t.)

Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler said that "with antibiotics and that kind of stuff," people are still dying from measles in the U.S.

A woman was shot at close range, but it was her underwire bra that nearly killed her

The force of the bullet pushed the bra wire into her body like "a scythe," doctors say.

A smoker writes his own obituary to stop others: ‘Quit — now — your life depends on it’

Geoffrey Turner, who died from lung cancer, used his obituary to warn others about the dangers of smoking.

Salt Oil & Sugar Free (SOS-Free): Why I Do It, What It’s All About, & Who It’s Good For

Hiiii guys! Writing to you from DAY FIVE of my water fast here at True North, the home of where I first learned about the SOS-free life last May. I have been eating this way ever since, and it has been one of my greatest healers throughout my chronic illness journey.

I get questions from you guys about SOS-free every day, ranging from “what does that even stand for?!” to “who is it good for?” to “how has it helped you?” and everything in between. I thought it was high time I did a new post breaking it down that I can refer people to whenever they want to learn more!

First thing is first, the reason I have kept this diet up for so long now is first and foremost because I enjoy it. I am in love with the way the food tastes and how eating this way makes my body feel. Yes, I have had lots of health benefits that I will get into, but I genuinely love eating SOS-free plant-based food and that is reason number one why I continue to keep it up.

I believe from the bottom of my heart that we have to enjoy the food we eat or else we are missing out on a very important and fun part of life. That’s not to say that eating SOS-free will be immediately delicious to everyone, especially people coming from the Standard American Diet. The doctors at True North tell stories about people coming in who are used to eating fast food & gagging on the SOS-free food!

But once you eat healthy for a period of time, your palate changes. So while I don’t advocate SOS-free for everyone (of course), I do advocate HEALTHY for everyone. That’s pretty much the only thing I am a stickler about! Life is meant to be enjoyed, and I believe we enjoy life most when we are healthy and when we feel amazing.

It excites me so much to share about this with you guys. It brings me back to why I started blogging in the very beginning… to normalize healthy, plant based eating. 6 years ago when I started it was still a very hippie, crunchy granola thing. And I am sure in many ways it still is.

Now, SOS-free is VERY hippie, crunchy granola. Most people who write and speak about this lifestyle are much older than I am and live a very specific kind of lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I want to share that eating this way can also be meshed with living a totally normal life, being young, going out and being social, being into fitness and exercise, etc.

Also, if you want to learn more about my personal SOS-free journey (since I will stick more to the facts in this post), you can read this post which is my journey to SOS-free & also breaks the diet down in detail.

So let’s get into it… so much to cover!

The SOS-Free Plant-Based Way of Life

SOS-free means salt, oil, and sugar-free. It goes along with a whole foods plant-based diet, meaning real food from the earth. Fruits, veggies, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds for the most part.

I think a big misconception about the SOS-free life is that it’s not filling or that fats and carbs aren’t allowed because it’s such a healthy diet. Totally not true. Since eating this way, I have eaten more of an abundance of carbs than I ever have in my life, and I feel amazing this way! Fats on the other hand are more limited on the SOS-free diet, but are definitely still part of the lifestyle.

The idea is that fats should make up about 10% of your food intake for the day, but that’s not anything to get stuck on. If you’re eating a balanced SOS-free diet that will probably end up happening anyway. Delicious healthy fats like avocado, coconut, nuts, nut butters, seeds, tahini, etc. are all totally fine. And as far as carbs, things like rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, gluten-free bread (if you can find salt-free), grain-free tortillas, etc. are all my go-to’s.

The idea behind the SOS-free diet is that salt, oil, and sugar are all highly addictive foods since they are all highly concentrated. Salt is concentrated sodium, oil is concentrated fat, and refined sugar is concentrated sugar. Their high concentration is the result of excessive refining and processing by food manufacturers.

When we eat these foods, the more we want of them. That’s why when we are eating a salty or oily or sugary dish at a restaurant, we sometimes eat until well after we are full. Our tastebuds want more! The more refined and concentrated and processed it is, the more we want. But even for someone like me who has not touched processed food in many years, I still went for the oil and salt in abundance before I switched over to SOS-free.

A question I get often is what about eating salt, oil and sugar in moderation. Yes, that is of course an option and I think that everyone should do what most works for them in their lives. However to reap the benefits of the SOS-free life (and there are so many!!), you gotta live that life. Basically eating them in moderation reminds your brain that they’re there, and because they’re addictive will just make you want more.

From a nutritional standpoint, we can get everything we need from simply eating a whole foods, plant-based diet. Salt, oil and sugar don’t give us anything nutritionally that we thrive off of. Yes, sugar gives us energy — but that’s because it’s a carbohydrate! We do need carbohydrates to thrive. Potatoes, fruits, rice, corn, beans, green and yellow veggies, those are all complex carbs that also give us healthy energy without the crash. Complex carbs have naturally occurring sugars that are good for us and are not addictive or inflammatory.

My delish SOS-free fudgy tahini brownies!! Ahhh!

SALT

Ohhh, salt. Salt is in everything. If you buy anything packaged at the grocery store, it definitely has salt. Even things you wouldn’t imagine. Everything from pasta sauce to soups (OMG soups are so salty) to crackers and chips to ketchup to bread to soy sauce to basically all snack foods that you can buy.

Also restaurant food uses a lot of salt. Now that I haven’t been eating salt for 9 months, even restaurant dishes that I used to LOVE in LA now taste like one thing & one thing only to me: salt. It’s almost wild to me that before I could taste the food beneath the salt, and now I cannot.

According to the CDC, in recent years 89% of adults have exceeded recommendations for sodium intake, and 90% of children. Down the line that can cause health issues from high blood pressure to increased risk of stroke and coronary heart disease to obesity to chronic disease and more.

The USDA Dietary Guidelines recommend a tolerable upper limit of 2,300 mg (about 1 teaspoon of salt) or less per day. And how much do you think is in a plate of food at a restaurant? Even in one mashed potato at a restaurant?! Or SALAD DRESSING? It’s SCARY how much added salt the Standard American Diet boasts as normal… even though a healthy amount of natural sodium is of course completely fine. Just not the way we as Americans consume it.

So if you’re cool with having a little salt here and there, go for it, but think about how quickly it adds up. I will say if there’s ever one thing I am not 100% strict on with SOS-free, it’s salt. Because I know a tiny bit every so often is okay, but I’m not talking a full blown salted restaurant dish. A tiny bit in a product however doesn’t bother my stomach the way oil and sugar do.

To keep my salt intake down, I eat out less often, and when I do eat out I tell the waiter about my diet and circumstances (and so does Jonathan and so does my dad — BYRON is my biggest health advocate!!!) and I order something like salad without dressing (you can use lemon or bring your own), steamed veggies with rice, a smoothie if its available, that kind of thing.

OIL

So oil is 100% fat. It is the most calorie dense food that there is, which I hesitate to say because I am a huge proponent of not counting calories. It’s not necessary. But because I know a lot of people out there are struggling with weight and looking to make healthier choices (which is where this blog post comes in!), I do want to bring that to your attention. You don’t get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to oil.

Also, since oil contains no fiber or water, which both help us feel full, we have a tendency to eat way more of it than necessary. I mean, I used to think I couldn’t even sauté or roast vegetables without it! It turns out, I can (with water or salt-free vegetable broth) and they still taste delicious to me. The thing about eating something like oil in excess is that it adds to excess weight, and excess weight adds to inflammation. Inflammation inhibits immune function and increases the risk for all sorts of disease.

For those of us who already are sick with chronic illnesses, inflammation is the last thing we need. It’s funny because I remember telling my parents when I was young that “OIL MAKES ME SICK.” I knew that every time I had something even remotely oily, my stomach would be reeling. Looking back now I believe that my body knew at a young age what didn’t make it happy.

Oil can also slow our circulation, build up in our arteries, and damage our blood vessels. The fat in oil has been extracted from its original food source, so it is now unprotected, making it more prone to becoming rancid through oxidation (prolonged exposure to oxygen), inhibiting freshness and degrading food. Oil that has been oxidized also contains free radicals, which can damage the body and contribute to cancers.

I am not trying to scare you guys! I just want to make sure you have the information you need to make an informed choice about your own diet. Would consuming less oil be a good thing? Yes. It’s up to you what less means to you, or how much you feel comfortable having.

SUGAR

Ahhh sugar! Sugar I feel is the most widely understood addictive food out there. It’s also the most inflammatory. For those of us with illness, we do not want to eat inflammatory foods! I don’t feel I need to work as hard to share with you why sugar is not good for our health, but I will still provide the information.

Sugar has the ability to gradually change the way our brains work, making us want more and more. Do you ever feel sluggish when you eat something that has added sugars? Foggy? Bloated? Yep. It does that. It can also lead to health issues from heart disease to diabetes to obesity — all major epidemics in the US.

The food industry really tries to confuse us. Products and brands have caught on that people are now turning toward lower-sugar diets, so they often get away with changing the name on their food labels. Here are just a few of the other names that sugar goes by:

– Yellow sugar

– Turbinado sugar

– Sweet sorghum

– Saccharose

– Rice syrup

– Panocha

– Muscovado

– Mannose

– Maltose

– Maltodextrin

– Grape sugar

– Glucose solids

– Fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate

– Free-flowing brown sugars

– Dextrose or dextrin

– Barley malt syrup

When reading labels at the grocery store… keep those names in mind! Just because it has a different name doesn’t mean its any different than regular sugar. I mean, for years I was chewing gum ALL DAY LONG, piece after piece after piece, that had Dextrose in it!! Not knowing even what it was!

Fructose however is not a bad thing. We want to aim for fructose in its natural state — fruits, starchy veggies, all that good stuff. Sugar exists naturally in most plant foods, so eating plant based will give you plenty of natural, from the earth sugars. You want something sweet? Bananas! Dates! Raisins! Mangoes! All of the delicious SOS-free desserts! You can definitely still eat dessert. I do every day.

Refined sugar is an empty calorie food, which means it basically has zero nutrients. There is also sugar found in almost all packaged foods, similar to salt. Even things you would never imagine like crackers and breads and pasta sauces and salad dressings… chock full of sugar.

The reason plant food sugars are so much better for our bodies is that they’re accompanied with nutrients like fiber and water, which ensure that the sugars will gradually absorb into our bloodstream and we won’t be immediately hungry again after eating.

When cooking, there are so many great things you can do to substitute for refined sugars. Bananas, dates, applesauce, apples, peaches, berries, and sometimes I use a little bit of maple. (Not sure if maple is traditionally included on SOS-free but I’m just telling you what I use!). You’ll be surprised what your taste buds get used to!

I could go on and on about sugar, but I think you get it.

My SOS-free French fries & plant-based nacho cheese mmmmm

Who is SOS-free good for?

I would say the only people SOS-free is not good for would be individuals who currently have an eating disorder, those who are interested in the lifestyle simply to lose weight and not for any other reasons, and anyone with a health condition that wouldn’t bode well eating this way (I don’t know of any but perhaps there is one).

The only other type of person I would say should not go SOS-free is someone who has eaten this way for a while and feels very deprived. No diet should ever feel depriving.

I am pretty confident that when you do start and maintain eating this way, and your tastebuds get used to the change, you will love it. You just need the right recipes! And there are plenty out there. I have a bunch on this blog, and there are other bloggers & SOS-free cookbooks out there that keep the lifestyle fun and delicious.

The diet is GREAT for anyone suffering from chronic illness, gut issues, obesity, heart disease, or a range of other illnesses. At True North they have case studies of people reversing and shrinking their cancerous tumors into remission with water fasting followed by an SOS-free diet (what!!???!!).

What are the benefits?!

I can only speak from experience, and throughout my battle with chronic Lyme disease, mold poisoning, and MCAS, this diet has been my biggest saving grace. I used to have histamine levels of 1300 (a normal level is about 40). After my first fast at True North I got those levels down to 600. After eating an SOS-free diet for 9 months I’ve gotten them down to 300. I still have Lyme & MCAS, so my levels are still higher than normal, but I am getting there.

I used to get RAGING bloat after every meal. I’m talking looking 9 months pregnant. This goes all the way back to middle school. In fact, in high school the lunch ladies at my school started a rumor that I was pregnant. How RUDE?! But also, I am fairly certain that I was just so bloated so much of the time that I must have looked pregnant.

(Don’t worry, Jane Younger marched into that cafeteria and told them how effed up they were for saying that and of course they denied ever saying anything.)

Now that I am SOS-free (and since my fibroid removal surgery), I hardly ever get bloated. And if I do, the bloating is very mild.

I used to also be wildly inflamed all the time. I mean, I had full body hives for 9 months straight. My inflammation has gone way down, which is an indication of much lower inflammation on the inside.

My skin has cleared up times a million. Because of Lyme, I have had cystic acne for the last few years, especially on my cheeks. Due to celery juice, a great facialist, and my SOS-free diet, my skin has massively cleared up over the last several months. I have heard the same from many other people who eat this way.

Because this is such a healthy diet full of whole, real foods, it helps you maintain your ideal weight. No, I am not saying that it’s going to make you skinny if you’re not naturally a skinny person. I am saying it’s going to bring you back to the weight that your body is meant to be, which is a very healthy place to be.

You will lose weight if you are at all overweight, and will feel very confident and radiant in your own skin. I think this is a huge benefit, as confidence is everything. We all deserve to feel our absolute best.

In my own personal experience, I have lost about 12 pounds going SOS-free. For me this was great because due to the hormonal changes I experienced with Lyme, I gained a ton of weight. I’m talking like 30 pounds. Living a healthy lifestyle pre SOS-free I got a lot of that off, but this lifestyle is what brought me back to my ideal body weight. It feels SO good not to have that extra weight, which is also extra inflammation in the body.

Lastly, this diet is preventative. It sets us up to be healthy as we age. I know that everyone reading this does not want to have a nasty decline in old age like many of us have seen with our grandparents and other people in our families. I want to set myself up for the best possible outcome of NO heart disease, NO stroke, NO cancer, NO Alzheimer’s, NO dementia, NO osteoporosis, and no unnecessary pain.

The truth is, a lot of those issues are the outcome of the way that we live. Yes, some of it is genetics, but the way that we live our lives has a lot to do with it. I was living a healthy life pre SOS-free, but then I learned that my body was riddled with toxins. Riddled!!! And that is largely due to the fact that I have Lyme & compromised detox pathways (MTFHR gene) — so I have to work extra hard to make sure I am not setting myself up for sickness as I age.

My clear skin now thanks to this diet & my lifestyle!

How Do I Maintain a Healthy Relationship with Food While SOS-Free, After Having Orthorexia?

I get this question a lot, and its a beautiful question. My long answer to this would be a novel, so I will try to keep this relatively short. (One day will share way more!)

When people ask me whether SOS-free is right for them in their eating disorder recovery, I usually say that it depends on two things. 1. Where are you in your recovery? 2. What are your reasons for going SOS-free? Then I say be VERY honest with yourself about those answers. I wouldn’t recommend this diet to anyone who wanted to do it ONLY because it sounded like a good way to lose weight (unless that person was obese and had no eating disorder history).

I think people have to use their own discretion. Generally, in recovery from an eating disorder I would say eat whatever you want. Get really comfortable with food. Get to a really good, healthy place with food where you genuinely feel like you can make decisions from a healed headspace. I ate whatever the heck I wanted for about a year after I realized I had orthorexia, and for mental health reasons I am so glad I did.

Then, for me personally, my journey really evolved from there. I was no longer a girl recovering from orthorexia. I was a very, very sick girl with no idea what was wrong with me. I spent YEARS after that trying to figure out how I could feel even halfway decent again in my body. I not only gained excessive amounts of weight and exploded with cystic acne, I had rampant gut issues, chronic fatigue, migraines, rashes, and lived in total misery.

Eventually I was diagnosed with Lyme, but for all those years I felt very terrified and alone with no doctor able to help me. I genuinely believed it wasn’t cut out for me to feel good in my body in this life… that I was destined to feel sick, foggy, exhausted, and in pain every time I ate.

Because of my journey, SOS-free for me is not optional. Since I got diagnosed, it is the only thing that has kept inflammation down so that I can feel good in my body. Every day I make the choice for my health to eat this way and to fight my chronic illness symptoms. The diet is part of my treatment, that’s the way I look at it. I can finally eat food without being in pain… basically ever!

Also, eating this way feels abundant and beautiful to me. It doesn’t feel restrictive at all. I have always loved “plain” foods, not a lot of dressing, nothing oily, so it was kind of seamless when I discovered this. Like… wait, this is how I feel I should have been eating my whole life!

Like I said, I am eating all sorts of carbs, healthy desserts, my favorite smoothie every morning, having so much fun in the kitchen, and feeling good. My gut has never felt this good. My lab work came back from my doctor and I have never had such nonexistent traces of candida in my blood. Ah. Maz. Ing.

And not to be totally confusing, but after learning that I was suffering from Lyme for all this time… I came to realize that an eating disorder wasn’t exactly my problem to begin with. One day I want to share a lot more about this, but it needs its own post. The short answer is that I was a girl with rampant health issues who was trying to find a way of life that worked for her. Being vegan wasn’t the orthorexic thing for me, it was being afraid of ALL foods because everything made me feel so damn sick due to my gut issues from deeper health concerns.

I think of eating this way as giving a gift to myself, versus restricting myself. I feel the opposite of restricted. I actually felt very restricted before I found this lifestyle, because I felt paralyzed by the thought of food making me sick. Because that’s what it usually did, unless I was eating in the way that made me happiest… which was SOS-free plant-based to begin with.

Eating SOS-free makes me feel good for the first time in as long as I can remember (if not ever). It is EMPOWERING as f*ck. Making this choice for myself and sticking to it for all this time not only makes me feel incredibly proud and happy, but it also makes me feel strong. I have finally been table to take my health into my own hands, and I am not going back from here.

AHHH!! OKAY!! Officially a very long post. I hope this was helpful and informative for you guys. Leave any questions and thoughts below. I would love to hear!!! I have so much more info on the subject to share, but for now here we are.

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Water Fasting Update & How to Keep Your Water Clean + Non-Toxic

Hi guys! Checking in from Day Four of my water fast, and I want to thank you all for the incredible support on this journey so far.

I am so dedicated to spreading the message of alternative healing with the world, so each and every time I hear from one of you who is inspired by my healing path I get so touched I could cry. We all deserve to feel our best, and it’s beautiful to turn back to holistic healing modalities in a world that has run rampant with quick fixes & corrupt pharmaceuticals.

More on that another day… but mainly I am so grateful for this platform and all of you!

Before we get into it I want to mention that this post was sponsored by the incredible family-run clean water brand Radiant Life, who is dedicated to providing clean water options for consumers (like me!!). I can’t wait to get into what they are all about (and know that you can use the code BLONDE to shop any of their products at a rad discount), but first, some updates for you!

Updates, Updates!

To be honest, I get a little nervous each time I share something like water fasting publicly. In the months leading up to this fast I had a few people asking me, “Will you really share that you’re going back? Don’t you think people will find that extreme?”

I get it, I do. Drinking only water for days on end and not eating any food can sound pretty extreme. But as the doctors here at True North say, it’s also extreme to overmedicate people, stick them with needles, hook them up to machines, eat fast food, eat meat ridden with chemicals and antibiotics, expose our bodies to toxins in alcohol + drugs, the list goes on with the extreme things we do in life + medicine, but people do it anyway… and in many ways those things are more accepted in society than fasting!

It’s very similar to when I tell people I eat a balanced salt-oil-sugar-free plant-based diet and they look at me like I’m insane. But I don’t look at anyone who eats burgers and fries from McDonald’s like they’re insane, so… shouldn’t we just be saying to each their own at this point?

I digress! I don’t ever want to come off as defensive. I have a deep love and appreciation for other people’s opinions and their care when it comes to what I am doing for my health. I also hope that my posts during this journey will help inform people that when a person is struggling with chronic illness or a range of other things, taking a break from daily life + daily food is a brave and deeply healing path.

So let’s get into it! Day One was pretty much a breeze. I got lucky with the weather in Nor Cal and got to relax and soak in the sun for most of the day, reading my books and catching up with my doctor from the last time I was here. (If you’re ever at True North, request Dr. Soler. He is amazing!)

I went to yoga to stretch it out in the evening and that felt heavenly. Sleep has been good, and I am filled to the brim with the overarching feeling of healing, expansiveness, and love. I know that I am having an easier time fasting this time around than my first fast in May because I have been following the SOS-free diet for 9 months now… so my body is easing into detox after a very healthy diet to begin with.

Day Two was another breeze for the most part, felt very strong, got a 1.5 hour massage that was heavenly, and slept really well.

Day Three it started to get a littttle harder. On a fast Day 3 is notorious for being pretty difficult. My leg muscles were cramping and my low back was killing me. My parents visited me (they’re the best) and we took a short walk around the neighborhood. I felt like I’d just sprinted my ass off at OrangeTheory! Then my mom & I watched Vanderpump Rules of course and it was great.

Now let’s see how Day Four goes. Will keep you guys posted!

Keeping Our H2O Chlorine & Toxin Free!

Ever since I wandered down the water fasting path about a year ago, I have been exploring the importance of clean, toxin-free water.

I was horrified to learn that tap water can be full of heavy metals, chlorine, and additional contaminants like perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid which are both synthetic compounds that are known to cause a variety of health concerns. Not to mention Mercury, Aluminum, Arsenic, and Lead to name a very few.

I mean… the level of heavy metals in my own system alone in the last few years have terrified me. I don’t eat fish or meat or anything non-vegan for that matter, so that means a lot of the heavy metal grossness I have in my system comes from the environment & the very water I drink / use to wash my veggies. (I get my levels tested through my functional medicine doctor & Lyme specialist, and you can do the same! Just request the lab work!)

In my body the influx of heavy metals and other toxins have made my Lyme disease & co-infections run rampant. Lyme and other autoimmune conditions love latching onto toxins in our bodies because it helps them grow and makes the symptoms they already cause absolutely rage.

When I first broke out in full body hives, my Ayurvedic doctor first asked me where I was getting my water, and what kind of water I was showering in. I thought I was doing a good job of drinking purified water from my refrigerator but honestly I didn’t know the half of it.

That’s where this blog post comes in! I don’t want you guys to be in the dark about how you can get clean water the way I was. We are lucky to live in a place where we have access to clean water, but it’s not as easy as drinking out of the tap or buying a filter off of Amazon. Sorry, I thought that too!

How to Ensure Clean Water?!

In steps Radiant Life. I only wish I would have discovered them sooner. Radiant Life sells a variety of water systems for your home from the affordable & easy Countertop System, which I have and is an absolute life saver, to their more intensive systems like their Direct Connect, 14 Stage Drinking Water Purifier, & Series 4 Whole House Water Filter.

When J & Huddy & I move into our first home, I will 100% be installing a water filter for our full house, which is designed to remove the broadest spectrum of contaminants that may be present in your incoming water supply.

But for those of us who currently live in apartments or rent our homes, the smaller systems are great too and WAY better than nothing. I am obsessed with our Countertop System, which is affordable, efficient, versatile, and just acts like a water pitcher of sorts — except it’s way cuter and it’s stainless steel and sits on our kitchen counter with our plants! A.k.a Hudson’s favorite place to hang out.

The important thing is that it removes chlorine, chloramines, fluoride, heavy metals and VOCs from our drinking water and its filters also use a proprietary anti-bacterial system.

There is no installation necessary, it fits in with our minimalism decor, and its made in the USA.

For a full list of the contaminants Radiant Life protects against, head here. I am so fascinated by how major this list is!! I haven’t even heard of some of these contaminants and I absolutely do not want any of them in my fragile, healing body. ASBESTOS jumped out to me on this list… holy F, that is something I want to protect against to no end.

There are so many other toxins in tap water that we don’t even realize. Or if you’re anything like me for the last few years you realize it, but you think, “Well, if everyone’s still drinking it, it must be okay…” Learning to question that very statement about everything in the last few years is the gift that chronic illness has given me. But it shouldn’t have to come to that!

As outlined in the EPA’s List of Drinking Water Contaminants, long term exposure to chemicals in water called THM’s and HAA’s can also result in liver, kidney or central nervous system problems and an increased risk of cancer.

This post is not to scare you, but to help you make effective choices for your home and your health. And I know a lot of you reading have similar health conditions that I have, and we definitely need a leg up when it comes to healing our bodies and not introducing anything toxic into our homes and daily lives.

Plus… we want to be drinking water!! At least 8-10 glasses of it a day. Hydration is KEY in healing, longevity, sleep, being able to stay active, etc. So if we’re drinking lots of water, we’ve gotta make sure it’s pure.

You can use the code BLONDE at checkout with Radiant Life to get 10% off of any of their systems. The countertop system we have is so cute and it starts at $180… so that’s like 18 trips to Alfred Coffee in the morning (lol, if you’re me). It adds up, and it’s so worth it. ALSO FYI: this countertop system is out of stock for the next week or so but will be re-stocked VERY soon — so just keep it on your radar!!

Check them out and read about their approach. They are a family-run business and they use an ancient approach to modern healing. I am all about it and I am so excited to support them.

ALSO they have an in-house water expert who reviews home water quality reports to recommend the best system (even if it’s not a system they sell)—for free! You can check that out here. (How cool?!)

Now, off to… drink more water!! I have been doing a ton of relaxing and also spending this time catching up with dear friends and loved ones on the phone, while I still have the energy. I am doing a lot of intention setting & meditation as well. Fasting is such a nice time to get quiet.

Any questions for me?! I am so here for all of them! Can’t wait to hear how you like this water system if you give it a try. XO

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Why I’m Water Fasting This Time Around

I am off to Santa Rosa for another water fast tomorrow, ahhh! It seems wild to think that it’s been about 9 months since I was there last, when I did a two week fast and learned all about the SOS-free vegan way of life I have been living ever since then.

That means it’s been 9 months that I have been free of chronic hives and the absolute worst of my Lyme symptoms! After the water fast I started a very rigorous Lyme protocol with my doctor here in LA, but the water fast itself was the first catalyst to my healing. At that time, I wasn’t sure if I would end up doing another fast or not, but my intuition (and my awesome team of healers) has lead me back for round two.

I wanted to write about my decision to water fast again here because I feel like anything related to water fasting needs to be explained in great detail. The process that has gone into me knowing that water fasting is right for me is both complicated and wildly simple. Complicated because it takes a lot to know whether something like this is right for you & your circumstances, and wildly simple because my intuition just KNOWS.

The first time I heard about water fasting I thought it was crazy. I couldn’t imagine how someone could live off of water and only water for any extended period of time. It also sounded miserable!

But as my body deteriorated and my chronic illness symptoms RAGED, in my gut it started to sound more and more like a realistic option with every passing day. And when I say symptoms, I’m talking about: chronic hives (full body for NINE MONTHS), extreme eczema, extremely severe chronic fatigue, brain fog to the point where I would forget my own name, lack of motivation, depression/anxiety, super high inflammation and histamine in my body, the list goes on.

(Otherwise known as… Chronic Lyme disease, mold poisoning, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, parasites, and more — but at that time I had yet to be diagnosed.)

I believe it was a team of angels who eventually guided me to True North Health Center for my first water fast. It was a combination of my own research, input from my doctors, stories from my readers (you guys!), and honestly some intervention from above (my angels + spirit guides + the universe + God, whatever you most believe in) that landed me there last May.

When I ended up there in May, I felt entirely hopeless. I was just coming off of a monthlong solo trip to Bali where my health was drastically worse than where I began. I had done testing with my Lyme doctor but didn’t have the results back yet, and was struggling with so many severe issues that at that point had zero answers. My parents dropped me off at TN and my dad’s exact words were: “If ANYTHING gets weird here call us and we’ll come pick you up immediately.”

We were all scared and didn’t know what to expect. It ended up being a very healing and eye opening experience, despite the fact that Lyme was slowly killing me at the same time so I had a harder time than some other patients may have because I was so sick. I did a lot of resting and relaxing which at that stage in my journey was EXTREMELY needed. I watched the entire series of “Bates Motel” (will always feel like Norman Bates is one of my dear friends because of how much company he kept me during that time, lol).

You can read all about my first experience at True North here.

What Went Into My Decision to Go Back //

Fast forward to NOW, and I have high hopes again for this second go round. I started feeling like going back to True North would be a good idea for me around December, and their first availability was February. I told myself that whenever they could take me is whenever the universe most wanted me to go back, even though I was initially disappointed because I wanted to go in January to kick off the year. (But think about it… if I had gone in January, I wouldn’t have been able to do Ayahuasca when I did! Everything happens for a reason.)

Plus, now that I have been back to work for the last 3-4 weeks, I know this is the universe planting the water fast in my life now because I need to rest again. I took two months off from all work completely and then absolutely hit the ground running the moment I started to feel some semblance of energy + feeling like a bit of a real human.

Now with the fast it’s time to get back to myself, and really practice what I learned during my time off this winter: putting MYSELF first. I am healing in a real way now for the first time throughout my recovery, but I still feel I have about 70% to go.

I am excited because I feel I am in a much healthier place now than I was last May, so I have a feeling some of what plagued me last time (crampy legs, juicing on a few days because I was so weak, etc.) may be easier this time. But to be real it’s still a water fast, so I am game for whatever crops up.

Where I am With My Lyme Healing //

As far as my Lyme treatment over the last 9 months, I have been getting rigorous treatments every week of IV ozone, Rocephin IVs, Myers Cocktails, B12 shots, Glutathione injections, and not to mention my daily supplement, herbal tinctures, and medications. All of those things have boosted me big time and my doctors & I feel it is time for my body to rest + digest it all now… and really spend the time on the internal healing.

ALSO I had a very encouraging appointment with my Lyme doctor earlier this week where I learned that many of my Lyme markers are going DOWN (!!!!) which is the best news ever. I still have raging Babesia, a co-infection of Lyme, and working on getting everything else balanced out, but compared to where I began — it feels like night and day. I am getting some energy back and feeling like a human again, which is the absolute best feeling.

But I also have days like today where even getting out of bed feels impossible… and I am hoping the additional bacteria the fast kills + the additional rest & healing time my body will get will put me in a much better position with that.

Just having the ability to rest and HEAL is what I am most excited about. Doing that in our daily life becomes pretty much impossible, because the duties of life call! Not to mention, our bodies spend about 70% of their daily energy on breaking down and digesting food, so that leaves only a small percentage to focus on healing + restoring from the inside. Our bodies have the innate capability to heal themselves, but we don’t often put ourselves in the right situations for that to happen.

More About Water Fasting //

What I want people to know if they are learning about water fasting for the first time is that fasting is not some new and trendy fad. It has been around for CENTURIES and has been used for deep and therapeutic healing on many levels. A huge misconception is that people water fast for weight loss or outer appearance, when that is not the case for those of us who are hard at work healing our bodies from chronic disease.

In fact, it has nothing to do with anything “trendy” for those of us who are practicing it for the deep healing benefits. People turn to water fasting when they need deep healing. Deep sickness calls for deep healing — a wake up call of the deepest kind.

I don’t take offense to those out there who misunderstand because we are all at a different place in our journeys and our understanding of others. That doesn’t mean it’s not hurtful to have an onslaught of anti-diet campaigners attack my Instagram (that’s what happened during my first fast), but I am used to the judgment and criticism of others when doing something wildly alternative when it comes to health. I feel comfortable taking one for the team and being the guinea pig in a sense for our community — because I have seen the healing benefits for myself and that’s what I want for everyone.

As far as the history of water fasting, the ancient Greeks spoke of fasting for healing and theirs are some of the original quotes and texts on the subject. I think anyone who decides to do a water fast should look into what they had to say about it to learn more and to gain inspiration from some of the great healers of our human history.

The famous physician of Ancient Greece, Hippocrates, said: “Instead of using medicine, rather, fast a day.” When an animal, such as a dog or cat, is sick, its natural instinct is to refuse food — so why not humans? Plato and Socrates frequently fasted for 7–10 days to gain physical and mental efficiency. Pythagoras fasted 40 days before his examination at Alexandria and required his students to fast before entering his classes. It was normalized in their culture but for some reason (for so many reasons) in our culture it can be frowned upon simply because it is misunderstood.

I believe anything that scares people is quick to be judged + looked down upon. I really hope that our culture will shift away from this about alternative healing treatments and EVERYTHING for that matter, but to make that happen some of us have to be change makers. We are all change makers in our own way. And if this is part of my path, I am into it!

Speaking of Pythagorus’s 40 days… the fabulous doctor of our time Joel Fuhrman has a great book called Fasting & Eating for Health (where I first learned about fasting), where he chronicles his 40 day water fasting experience healed from a traumatic foot injury, and then began leading people through fasting for healing. Once I read that book I was hooked on the idea and was officially convinced that for many cases, it works.

My Goals This Time Around //

To drastically simplify it, here are my goals this time around:

1. To reduce inflammation in my body. I still get huge itchy patches of eczema & the occasional flare up of hives. Also the acne on my face is a sign of the inflammation inside of my body. I can’t wait for those inflammatory & histamine markers to go down. Last time my histamine levels jumped from a 1300 to a 600!

2. To allow my body the time & space to rest and use my body’s energy to heal rather than digest/run around.

3. To kill Lyme bacteria & parasites by starving them out.

4. To kill any existing fibroids or small tumors in my body by starving them out. Last time I was unable to do this because I had a fibroid in my body the size of a grapefruit! But now that it has been surgically removed my body can focus on smaller tissue masses if there are any left.

5. To put my body into the healing state that fasting induces, and get the deep rest & healing benefits it deserves after the roughest year of my life.

6. Spiritual reasons — meditation, intention setting, time with myself, tapping into my inner strength, and healing from the inside out.

So, there you have it! There is my water fasting update. I envision this time around to be a more spiritual journey than the last… i.e. more self reflection and less Netflix – LOL! But no rules. Whatever I have energy for, I will do.

I will keep you guys very updated here on the blog and on social media. Subscribe to the blog to stay very up to date & get these updates straight to your inbox.

Love you guys! Thank you for your support as always. Would love any & all thoughts below!

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Sunday Evening Musings + Healing Musts

Happy Sunday evening! I wanted to write this tonight for anyone else who isn’t into watching the Super Bowl and is just perusing the internet while your significant other / friends / family are watching the game… like me.

When I first started blogging these posts were what it was all about for me, and I want to get back to those this year. Just sharing when it’s EASY and spilling what’s on my mind.

So let’s set the scene. J & I are in Ojai, having a romantic rainy getaway at the Ojai Valley Inn. We are getting married here in exactly 9 months, ahhh!! And he just told me that baby koalas are the size of a jelly bean when they’re born (we are full of random info tonight hehe) and now I want to sob because I want one!!!!

If you had told me a few years ago that in 2019 I would be getting married, after years of rocky and awful relationships, I would never have believed you.

But more on that on another day. It still just blows my mind that we are getting married this year, and that I get to spend my life with my best friend. And being HERE in Ojai thinking about the wedding is a trip!

When we got into our room tonight Jonathan fell asleep (did anyone see the video on my Insta Stories of him videoing me on the sly while I climbed up on some planter boxes in the Farmhouse where we are getting married?!?! If not, you’re missing out on laughing at me, haha) and I took a bath, and in the bath I was thinking of a million different musings I felt like sharing with you guys.

So here we go!!

TBB Sunday Night Musings //

1. Yesterday on Instagram I shared about the new #JORDANRISING, after someone asked me the other day on Insta Stories about who the new Jordan Rising is. The person who asked me came up with the name, by the way, which again proves that you guys are the actual best. I loved that question so much because I feel like I have been rapidly changing over the last few years, and especially the last several months. And the new me is RISING !!

Being sick will really do that to you. If you missed the IG, check it out. I won’t repeat myself entirely since you can read it there, but it feels really, really good to get clear on the person I am evolving into. I feel such huge things on the horizon. I have had major visions of where my brand is headed and what I will create for you guys in the very near future.

When I was on Ayahuasca, I had extremely clear visions of myself on a stage speaking to thousands of you at a time (!!!!) about intuition, manifestation, opening up psychically (which is available to all of us), being an empath & thriving as an empath, overcoming chronic illness, and reaching new levels of consciousness where we are all love and where we all have the power to heal ourselves and our bodies.

Along with those visions I saw myself writing tons of books and poetry (my forever dream of life), having three kids with Jonathan, and shifting my branding to reflect these new changes. So you can expect some of that in the near future. The branding part at least! The rest I will take slow and steady.

2. I cannot believe that in 15 days I will be water fasting at True North again! The last time I water fasted I had a very transformative experience, released tons of inflammation in my body, learned a TON from the doctors there, & discovered the SOS-free way of life. I have to be honest and say I very much look forward to the day when I don’t have to do so much to manage my health and keep my symptoms at bay, but for now I am embracing that it’s all part of my journey.

I also consider myself a guinea pig for you guys. So while I would never flat out recommend a water fast to the average healthy TBB reader, when other chronically ill people read about my experience and come to me and say it speaks to them, and they know they should do it, it makes me happy to open their eyes to something that could really work.

Before I leave I will do a full post about water fasting & why I am going back, and I will document my experience the whole time I am there! Way more than last time, when I had so little energy I could only write about it afterward!

3. I. LOVE. READING. and cannot wait to reactivate the TBB BOOK CLUB posts!! This book by Michael Pollan is one of my current favorites that I highly recommend, especially for people interested in Plant Medicine. It’s just so intriguing to learn about. I also just picked up a book called The Dreamers this morning on the way to Ojai, so I would have a fun fiction book to read while we are here!

If you have book recs, comment them below & I will add them to the next book club roundup!

4. I have been thinking a lot about my style lately, and that I really only wear yoga clothes… lol. Being sick has only made that even more of a thing, because when I do leave the house I want to be so comfy that I often just wear the same sweatpants I wore to bed and throw on an Alo sweater.

As far as the clothes that I like, I have had a pretty particular “Jordan” look since middle school. It’s somewhere between bohemian / flowy dresses / Free People vibes and skinny jeans with checkered vans and band t-shirts. Is there a name for that?! I always think if I would have started my blog in middle / high school I would have named it “The Bohemian Blonde.”

Anyway, I am at the point where now most of my jeans are two sizes too big for me and I haven’t bought new clothes in ages (except for yoga clothes and my consistent Alo Yoga supply), mostly because of being sick and the idea of going shopping sounding awful for that reason.

So… where should I shop when I finish my water fast and finally decide to purge my old clothes / get some new ones for a fresh start? I am feeling big fresh start vibes coming on… slowly healing and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as I start to get a little more energy and go out into the world again.

It is so weird to barely leave your bed for a year and a half straight. But more on that later too!

5. It feels very good to be podcasting again, but I definitely overdid it last week. After not doing a single interview for 2 months, I did five interviews over the course of five days. It was too much and by Friday my voice was halfway gone, and I was asking myself, “WHY DO I HAVE TO BE SO EXTREME?” But also I am trying to get ahead because of the upcoming water fast, and taking another 3.5 – 4 weeks off!

I totally believe that this water fast is coming at this exact time because the universe is telling me I need to keep resting. Just because I am being gifted with some energy and mental clarity and strength again doesn’t mean I need to dive full throttle back into work. Taking it slow still feels extremely important, and I am so glad the water fast is going to give me that time and space to heal.

Anyway, if you ever see me recording 5 episodes in a week again (or more than two in one day), please call me out. Nobody needs to be doing that, especially someone in the early stages of healing from chronic Lyme disease.

6. Hands down the best addition to my healing toolkit in the last few months (other than my Aya journey) has been GETTING A CLEARLIGHT SAUNA IN MY HOME! I know this is not an option for everyone, so you could also find a local spa / gym / sauna place that offers infrared sauna in your area. In LA there are so many, from Sweatheory to Shape House to Stretch Pro to Pause Float Studio.

If you are interested in getting a sauna in your home (ours is all over my Insta, also sharing a photo below), go to HealwithHeat.com & use the code BLONDE! You will get a big gift & $450 off total. And shipping will be free! Plus you will be supporting incredibly kind people. This is not an ad — simply a healing tool I feel is a must for people suffering from chronic illness. SWEATING releases so, so many toxins.

Also… as I mentioned, if you are unable to get one in your home which is very understandable (I had to badger Jonathan for about 6 months before we carved out some space to stick this bad boy), find a place where you can go use a sauna once or twice a week! I use mine daily now but before I had it in my home I just went as often as I could.

Okay that’s it for tonight. You know I could go on, but this feels perfect. Jonathan will be shocked that I legitimately kept this at five!!! (ADDENDUM, I ADDED A SIXTH.)

And I told you these topics were random… all of my bath tub musings. Let me know your thoughts below & your Sunday eve musings!