What Does Healing Truly Mean?

“It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in so doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility.” 

-Albert Einstein 

I've been sharing quite a bit lately about "healing" in reference to gastroparesis. It honestly feels like a double-edged sword at times, using these terms together. Your reaction may be one of hope and excitement. Or you might feel that healing is impossible and want to laugh at the idea of that word used with the awfulness of what you are dealing with. That's totally understandable. It's all very confusing, I know. So I'm going to shed some light on what healing truly means and how this has impacted my own life, when dealing with nearly a decade of living with a pretty severe case of gastroparesis and health challenges.

Book Review: The Gastroparesis Healing Diet

A few months ago I was curious what else was out there on the topic of "healing gastroparesis." As some of you know, I've been writing for the Healing Gastroparesis Naturally website for some time and working on the book this past year (to be released end of May!). To my surprise, the image for The Gastroparesis Healing Diet came up with its upcoming release date in March. I could not be happier to see we were not alone when it came to using the word healing. Not to mention the cover looked so delicious and inviting! 

I contacted the author Tammy Chang, a nutrition coach and cook living in the San Francisco Bay area. While she does not have GP herself she has knowledge of how the gut functions and experience with creating nourishing meals to help heal the body, having worked one-on-one with clients and wrote her first book, The Nourished Belly Diet. She admitted this was not an easy task, finding GP to be the complicated disorder that many of us know firsthand. But she shared in her book that she "found the GP community, along with it's taking in people's harder days, is also extremely loving, supportive, and strong." Between the medical research plus interviewing and talking with those who live with GP (some of whose stories you will find in the book), she was able to get a good understanding of how to create ideas for a healing diet. 

Hope and Inspiration Part 2 - Essential7 Oils and Support

In the previous post I shared some pretty amazing stories of recovery and as promised will share more in a moment.  I woke up with some thoughts about how to talk about these approaches, being I myself still struggle quite a bit.  The last thing I want to do is provide false hope or offend anyone. So, just a brief idea of where I'm coming from as five years of blog posts may be a lot to review or remember!

Re-Post: When Being Positive Isn't Enough

Back in March, I shared this post below when going through a rough time.  We can all relate to having bad days, both mentally and physically.  When we are tired of trying so hard or feel frustrated and overwhelmed with what we have been forced to live with.  Well, I've had one of those weeks, even though I choose to keep a positive outlook, eat the right foods and practice living a healthy lifestyle (breathing, exercise, time with loved ones...).  Why is this?  Because, despite all of this, I still have gastroparesis and days like these are a part of it. 
This blog, as well as connecting with others like myself, whether through the FB page, clients or personal contacts, reminds me that I'm not alone and neither are you.  Thank you for being a part of my journey and supporting this blog, it truly feeds my soul. 
Continue reading for a look at how I felt last spring during a challenging time, as well an additional  book recommendation that has been helpful.

Book Review: Living Well with Gastroparesis, by Crystal Saltrelli CHC