Chronic Pain, Inflammation—Gone! She lost 30 pounds and transformed her life.
Cecelia followed my Real Food Plan and experienced life changing results.
“Following Erin’s recommendations, I lost 30 pounds, [and] rid myself of panic attacks, hair loss, massive pain in my body, numbness in my face, swelling in my neck and chronic inflammation! I was told that I had MS, but by just changing the way I ate, all the symptoms went away completely! I now have more energy than I have had in years and feel fantastic everyday.
“This isn’t a quick fix diet pill, but Erin teaches you what our toxic American diet does to our bodies and how to transform your health from the inside out. She teaches you the skills you need to transform your health and to get your body to crave good food so that you can get off the junk food train! You will not regret incorporating this information into your life. It will save you lots of money down the road in doctor bills and medications! Blessings, Cecelia Bruce.”
Read this testimony and many others in my new book, The Reclaim Diet.
Cecelia’s story
I have had a lot of loss in my life. One of the more significant losses have been my addiction to food, no, make that sugar.
I grew up in a household where white bread was never allowed. No pop could cross the threshold and everything was made from scratch.We owned a fruit/vegetable market and so our meals were always centered on vegetables and healthy items.
Along with all of that goodness, an addiction to sugary sweets was passed down through the generations. Myself and all my siblings have it. A love of sweets. I could eat three healthy meals a day but each one had to be washed down with some type of dessert. Homemade or candy bar, my love of sweets started early. I have always loved baking so that didn’t help my dilemma!
Every single thing I did in life was encompassed by food. When I traveled, it was all about the food we were going to eat. I show love to people by giving them food, I show hospitality to guests by feeding them a wonderful meal, I enjoy fellowship with friends by eating something sweet with them and a cup of coffee, and my quiet times in the day had to have sweets with them or they were not relaxing.
In the height of any of my stress, sweets were my emotional release. In the moments of celebration, sweets were my joy. In any times of sadness or despair, lots of sweets were my comfort.
When I started experiencing horrible pain in my body, I was taught by my mom to look for a root cause, not a Band-Aid. My youngest daughter had been diagnosed with food allergies at the age of 6. Knowing the symptoms now, she had them since the day she was born but they went undetected by doctors. Having worked with her to eliminate aggravating foods, I began to write down what I was eating every day to see if anything was consistent. After slowly eliminating aggravating foods, with each one – dairy, wheat, peanuts, I began the process of mourning the loss of the sweets that once gave me great comfort. I didn’t really know how to feel because I felt such a great loss, like my world had been taken from me because I couldn’t surround everything around the foods that I was used to.
When Erin suggested that I take grains out of my diet,I thought it would be easy as I had already eliminated so much.
What I didn’t realize was that grains turn into sugar and the euphoria that I would get from that sugar, would now be completely erased from my life.
The physical withdrawal symptoms were horrible to say the least, but only lasted a week.
I can handle that, but what I wasn’t prepared to handle was this whole new world of no sugar, bakery goods, pies, cakes and anything else that I ever laid my eyes on and considered my comfort. I would now have to find something else to give me my comfort in times of stress. I would now have to focus on the relationships in my life and the people in my life, instead of the food that we shared together. I had to be more intentional, more engaged and it was hard. I had to find new ways to show people that I care, new ways to demonstrate hospitality, and new ways to comfort thestress of every day life.
God has been so faithful, and brought such beauty from this pain.
My body feels better, my mind feels clearer and I see that there is so much more to life than food.
People and memories make life joyful, not our food.I can still share food with people, but in different ways. I can take a walk, ride a bike or go bowling with friends instead of sitting dormant and eating little Debbie snack cakes while we talk.
I took the grains out of my diet as a cleanse, fully intending to slowly reintroduce them back into my diet after my body was clean. But, I have no more cravings for sugary sweets. Even a full teaspoon of honey in my tea is too sweet for me.
My taste buds have changed, the way I look at food has changed, my health has changed. I now see food as fuel for my body, and when my body is full, I don’t need to add anymore to my tank. Before, I would be adding gas all day long, always choking out and never feeling satisfied, like I needed more. It was a constant battle.
The benefits of being intentional with your health are tremendous.
God created us to be used by Him for His glory. We cannot do that if we are sick and lethargic. We need to look different to the world, we need to look alive, to feel alive, to be strong and energetic and clear minded to do the work that God has called us to. To be lights to all those who don’t know him.
Take your health seriously. It will affect your life now, and it will affect your life down the road and you want to affect the lives of those around you, because they are watching! We need to show them how good healthy feels!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understand, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5