I'm facing my fears!

Was this flare up a classic case of not practicing what you preach?

There are plenty of people out there who don’t exactly practice what they preach. Heck, look at how parenting generally unfolds!

I am no different from others...I am human after all. But, that is no excuse.

I build wellness protocols and meal plans for people with chronic digestive issues and we talk about the importance of food rotation a lot. So why did I allow myself to remain stuck in a vicious food cycle (having the same foods over and over) that I knew could be potentially harmful?

That question has been brewing in my mind for weeks now because I know it played a role in my latest flare up.

One word answers the question regarding how I got stuck in rotating less than a dozen foods for……….y-e-a-r-s. (well, that was really difficult to put down in writing and share with the world).

FEAR – I was paralyzed by fear. Fear of returning to the hospital, fear of being that sick again, fear of everything morbid and terrifying to think about it.

When I landed in the hospital during a massive flare up years ago, I committed to doing whatever it took to eat right and be well. I had to; my life depended on it.

I knew that there were a handful (maybe a few more) of foods that I could call “safe foods” and that if I just stuck to eating those specific foods, I could avoid another catastrophe. Fear trumps logic more times than not.

Despite all I know about the need to rotate foods very carefully, the dialogue inside my head would not allow me to push forward and introduce new foods.

I was trapped. I kept telling myself I needed to expand the diversity of foods I was consuming but every time I thought about it, I would cave and just keep eating the same foods, over and over and over and over. They were healthy foods, what could be the problem?

Well, I developed new food sensitivities and that’s a big problem.

Food sensitivities contribute to inflammation and that is not the goal for someone with IBD.

Well, it took this recent flare up to force me to move in a new direction. I have been fully committed (even though it is still very difficult) to adding a new food into my diet each week.

I have created so many new templates, tools, trackers and resources for people that need help organizing their food choices. I am in the process as we speak of also developing resources for people like me that have “food fear”, to help them slowly inch along, making progress towards a beautifully healthy and diverse diet.

All this and so much more is going in to my new program that is due to launch in a matter of weeks.

Rest assured, I am personally testing everything going in to this program and I can’t wait to share all the details very soon!

Stay tuned.