Independence: Take yourself out of their equation.

Just this morning I was letting my mind muddle over the crazy stats and scary truths of modern medicine and it finally hit me, We don't have to be a part of their equation.  It struck me as ironic as I thought about our goals to not be a statistic of modern medicine, we are coming up on our great country's celebration of its own Independence this week.

Our journey towards health began about eight years ago.  I had just had a very early miscarriage and was on a quest to be healthier.  My almost 90 year old grandmother was thrilled to have a compatriot along for the health ride and someone to help her find information and resources on the "inTOREnet", as she referred to the internet.  Grandmother was the healthiest person I knew and she was determined to find her way through all the swirling health and nature claims screaming from every corner and aisle at the grocery.  So off we went, buying only steel cut oatmeal, using the wholest of the whole grain breads.  Grandmother loved to forage for her greens and was the best gardener I have ever known, growing every vegetable she ever wanted.  Me?  At that point I hardly had a drop of gardening blood flowing through me, so I did my best to feed my husband and I mostly organic foods from the grocery and to refrain from processed foods as much as possible.

Then my husband began to get sick, often.  Bronchitis, Pneumonia, horrid, horrid coughing spells.  At a friend's suggestion we went to a "natural leaning doctor" and was asked to give a gluten free diet a try and see if he was gluten intolerant.  Bingo, a gluten free diet and things improved.  Looking back we laugh now that in my quest for health I was filling him with all kinds of whole grains that would aggravate his gut.  Unfortunately simply cutting gluten out of his diet did not "fix" everything.  He still struggled with endless coughing at night, ended up in the hospital a few times with desperately low oxygen levels, pneumonia, and multiple asthma scares and was put on a preventative asthma regime.

We kept researching true health, we added two sweet boys to our family, and went up and down in regards to our extent of healthy living.  Then almost two years ago my husband informed me that I was pregnant.  Well, THAT wasn't supposed to happen. ;)  Regardless, we accepted our extra little blessing and along with it, the mothering instinct in me to be healthier again.  Throughout my pregnancy, our awesome midwife encouraged me to research the Paleo lifestyle, which I did and was very intrigued and interested in the science and information Wolfe presented. Then at 37 weeks exactly, at a routine prenatal visit my blood pressure sky rocketed, and my midwife asked to observe me overnight.  Pre-eclampsia? Me?  I had never had high blood pressure in my life.  This resulted in an induction and our wee little 4 lb 14 oz baby girl came quickly 3 weeks early.

As we adjusted to being a family of five, my brain was in rebellion, horrified that my health was amiss and I started researching and looking to find answers.  Along with a goal to get my health back in line and to keep my husband out of the hospital with asthma and lung related issues, we wanted our little girl to have the best, healthiest, cleanest start to life.  Enter a pediatrics office that simply did not agree with our wishes and desires for our baby girl or our growing boys, and our desire for true health began to burn even more and we began our walk away from modern medicine, well baby visits, and non-critical care.

We have been blessed to have found amazing support in facebook groups, local health coaches, friends, and a tremendous chiropractic office that concentrates on healing our family's entire bodies as opposed to the modern, pharmaceutical mayhem that is today's medical profession.  As I look back over the last eight years and the ups and downs and round and rounds of what we have perceived as "healthy" or wise choices and I sway from outright laughing at myself to crying as I remember some crazy ideas I followed as well as medical or health choices that I wish we could undo.

But in the here and now, the reality is, that our health is ours.  Ours to take care of.  Ours to decide to care for wisely.  From the foods we put IN our bodies, to the products we use ON our bodies, and what we allow to be done TO our bodies-the decisions are ours, as are the rewards or consequences--INDEPENDENCE.