Updates from Adele!

To maximize our health, we are a gluten and *mostly* dairy free household here. I love to create EASY, fast, nutritionally dense food, and I also prefer to batch cook it too when I can. Since I work evening shifts as a nurse, there are just some nights I'm not around to cook. While the Hubs does a GREAT job managing the home too, batch cooking - or cooking double+ the amount of food one night so we can eat for a couple meals - allows me to make it just a little bit easier on all of us.

One genre I find easy to batch cook, and flexible on ingredients, is gluten free pasta dishes. Add in seasonally fresh/garden fresh ingredients, some kind of meat/protein, and VOILA! Quick, nutritious, one pot fuel for the fam! AND kid approved too! 

I have a pot large enough to just barely cook 2lbs of pasta at once, so that’s where I start. We need that much for our family of 6 to eat this meal at least 2x. So take whatever your family size would normally eat and plan to at least double it for this! The quantities are VERY flexible here. The goal is to use what you have, don’t overthink it, and keep it both tasty and healthy (I’ll help you with that!). Grab your biggest pasta pot and let’s go!

Summertime One-Pot-Wonder Pasta

~2lbs gluten free pasta of choice - penne and fusilli are recommended (we love Aldi’s options!)

~1-2 med zucchini, cut in bite-sized chunks

~1 lg or 2 sm tomato(es), cut in cubes

~2-4 generous handfuls of baby spinach

~Any other seasonal veggies you choose! Some suggestions: onions, asparagus, squash, beets, broccoli, etc! You really can’t go wrong here!

~Meat of choice. I use anywhere from 1-2lbs typically. Sausage is a favorite, but chicken, venison, and ground beef also work great! If you prefer to be meat-free, try some white beans thrown in.

~1 can black olives (optional)

~4Tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil!) or any other healthy fat you choose

~Fresh garlic, minced - I think 3 cloves is a great amount! But you do you!

~Additional seasonings as you prefer. Think about throwing in fresh, dried, or essential oil* forms of Oregano, Mountain Savory, Marjoram, Parsley, Black Pepper, etc. These herbs not only amp up flavor, but they all have great healing properties too. Keep in mind that the dried version will naturally have the lowest level of healthy constituents left though. 

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving about 1c of starchy pasta water.

2. While pasta drains, in same pot you cooked the pasta in, add a few Tbsps oil and meat. Brown in oil. Ideally for this step I’d use ground or cut into bite sized pieces, depending on the meat type, to keep it cooking fast, and to keep cost down. If going meat free, skip this step!

3. Once meat has browned, add in chopped veggies and saute roughly 3-5min. Do not overcook.

4. Add in minced garlic and give in a swirl. If using canned white beans, add them here and make sure they are heated through before proceeding.

5. Toss pasta back into pot and mix with “sauce.” Add olives too, if using them. Add reserved pasta water if needed to keep pasta/sauce moist and help disperse sauce. 

6. Add in herbs/seasoning/essential oils of your choosing. Adjust salt to taste preference.

7. Voila! One pot, yummy goodness you can eat over a couple days!

*I recommend looking for garden-fresh or organic options for all ingredients here if possible, especially meat and any produce on Dirty Dozen list (found HERE). Minimizing chemical exposure is a key for healing.

*For me, I like to take it easy on the carbs and grains (they just don’t serve my body well right now), so I like to do the toppings for this recipes over roasted spaghetti squash or cauliflower rice for myself.

*Ingesting essential oils may not be for everyone, but our household loves this option. We are VERY specific about using oils in this way, and I cannot endorse ingesting oils whose origin and growing practices are unknown. Please do your own research and take caution with essential oils you are using. While they can have great benefits, they are also very concentrated and powerful. If you’d like to discuss what I have learned and what oils I recommend, feel free to contact me!

If you’re looking for a wellness community for support and information while you heal, I’ve got you covered! Join us HERE!

Hippocrates, the “Father of Modern Medicine,” has often been quoted as saying “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Diet (as in: what we put into our bodies as food fuel) is one of the main components of healing from all types of illness, Lyme and tick borne illnesses most DEFINITELY included. 

Our diets are what fuel our bodies, impact the power behind our immune system, and keep every cell, DNA strand, and body system running at maximum and ideal capacity. 

Sadly, our American diet - the Standard American Diet - is indeed, well, S.A.D. The S.A.D. is notoriously heavy in saturated fats, partially-hydrogenated oils, refined carbs, and highly processed foods. Not to mention even healthy fruits and veggies (and other health-promoting foods) often have sub-par health value these days due to poor farming practices, pesticide usage, depleted soil, and many shortcuts taken to increase production over quality.

All of this S.A.D “food” (because let’s be real, some of it is definitely NOT real food) contributes to dis-ease and unbalance and toxic burden in our bodies. Healing WELL and staying WELL depends on nourishing your whole being. 

So HOW then??

There’s no denying that there are many healthy ways of eating out there these days. From Paleo, to Keto, to AutoImmune Protocol, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Wahl’s, and allergen-friendly diets, as well as every “low” diet out there (histamine, inflammation, carb, nightshade, etc) - there’s something for every body and every food preference/need. 

And all have tremendous potential to help anybody’s body along a healing journey. 

“Really?” you ask. “ALL of these COULD help?!” 

Well...yes! I always say - in this healing journey there is FREEDOM. 

The bottom line is that ANY of these ways of eating could potentially be helpful to you. And every body and body need is different. So many factors are at play, including genetics, starting gut health, food preferences, etc. This is one area where working with a specialist can very much help (it definitely did for me!), but also, so can researching for yourself and basing decisions off of WHOLE, REAL food above all else. No one says you have to stick to only ONE way of eating to be healthy. And no one can tell you how to best eat for your body’s needs. 

But you wanna know a secret? Yes, all these gut-healthy changes and ways-of-eating are important. But even MORE important is sustainability - YOU sticking to healthy habits for long-term healing and health. 

That being said, my BIGGEST piece of advice is this - pick one way to better your diet TODAY. Don’t wait. Don’t overthink it. Don’t try to change everything all at once. Plan out some baby steps to get you to the end goal you desire. Chances are, you already know exactly what you could do to eat for your health right now. Maybe it’s giving up sodas. Or reducing/eliminating sugar (a true killer). Or adding in more of the foods that fuel your body. Or trying a new low-inflammatory food every week. 

Whatever it is, go set those goals and take that next step towards healing and freedom, my friend!

So you found a creepy crawling tick crawling on you...or worse - latched on you or a loved one. 

EEP! 

All this Lyme and co-infections talk, it’s EASY to be creeped out and down right panicky. 

No need! Let’s combat the panic with action steps you can take, both for tick prevention AND removal. 

Firstly, preventing ticks CAN be done very effectively in a natural, nontoxic manner. Remember, using harmful chemicals/toxins to keep ticks off can also work, BUT comes at a cost. A precious cost to your health. 

Chemicals like DEET and permethrin are recommended for tick prevention, but are known to cause skin irritation, headaches, dizziness, breathing problems, and seizures, to name a few side effects. I, personally, had an allergic reaction to permethrin, so it’s not even an option for me to be using. 

These chemicals are also DEADLY to aquatic animals and other, “helpful” bugs, such as bees. Essentially, DEET and permethrin are poison...poisoning YOU too when you are using them on or even just around you. 

So what are you to do for tick prevention then? Well I’ve explored the world of natural options and compiled a helpful list HERE of some of my FAVORITE products for tick prevention...and it even includes exactly what you need should you sadly have to deal with a tick bite (hint: the tools you need are SO basic and simple!). 

Say you DO get a bite. The sooner you get a tick off of you, the better, so here are some tips to keep your cool and excel at tick removal right from the start!

Firstly, DO NOT use anything on the tick to try to get it to “come off” of you other than TWEEZERS. Oils, rubbing alcohol, petroleum products, and other “irritants” to a tick can actually cause it to regurgitate MORE saliva into you, and consequently can worsen your chance of infectious transmission. No bueno! 

Instead, all you need is a pair of good tweezers. You want to firmly grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, trying to get the whole head, and firmly pull it out in the same direction it attached itself. Do not twist or jerk. Just pull firmly and steadily. 

Ideally, you want to remove the whole head and all mouth parts. There are times that is harder to do than it looks. In that case having a pointy pair of tweezers can be helpful to grab anything that may remain behind. 

Then, it is a good idea to clean the area with non-toxic soap and water, and maybe even a little rubbing alcohol. We also add some of our favorite healing essential oils around the bite site - Frankincense and Ledum are favorites! 

That’s it! Bye, tick!

At this point, we send our discovered ticks in for testing in order to report them and also check them for some of the more common tick-borne diseases. If you’d like to do this as well, check the ILADS.org website or Google for a list of tick test sites in your area. 

If you found this helpful, or if you are impacted by Lyme disease or other chronic illnesses, you may also like my community group over on Facebook.

Being diagnosed with any chronic illness really does make you rethink life A LOT. I know I play over and over again how I would do things differently if I knew then even PART of what I know now about life after a Lyme diagnosis. 

Maybe this will help you or someone you love take a deep breath and move forward choosing HEALING over fear, illness, or discouragement??

3 Tips I Wish I Had Known When I Was First Diagnosed with Lyme

1. Don’t Panic! 

I know I know. Easier said than done! But truly - do. not. panic! You will need your head screwed on straight and your mind focused to move forward into healing. Panic creates chaos, and THAT, my friend, is the last situation you need right now. Take some deep breaths (I mean it! Oxygen is one of the BEST healing treatments you can give to your body right now!). You get to come up with a plan and you get to own your health and wellness RIGHT NOW. You have every reason to embrace and believe in healing for yourself. Instead of panic, practice healing affirmations. Words are powerful. Do not waste them on negativity and disease - rather use them to speak healing over yourself, now and always.

2. Get You a LLMD!

A very smart first move is to get to a Lyme Literate MD (LLMD) or Lyme specialist. This will NOT necessarily be just any doc out there, nor necessarily and Infectious Disease specialist, rheumatologist, etc. Unless a doctor has TRAINING in Lyme and tick-borne illnesses, they are NOT a specialist in that area. I say this lovingly. I am a nurse. I love doctors. I work side-by-side with them to the benefit of many many patients. BUT, we are not all knowing of all things. In other words, this is a case I firmly believe time is health, and wasting time NOT going to a specialist is what cost me years of my life, more money (LOTS more), and longer-term health issues to overcome. Learn from me, all. Seek the specialist ASAP. (Visit ILADS.org or ask around to find one in your area.)

3. Maximize my body’s natural immune system!

As I mentioned, I am indeed a nurse. A critical care nurse, in fact. I have seen miracles in the world of traditional medicine. But I have also acutely seen the need for preventative “medicine,” which in my mind, is best demonstrated in natural, holistic wellness endeavors. Natural and nontoxic wellness breeds HEALTH and a robust immune system. I’m talking working on gut health (skip the sugars, my friends, and read up on different, more primal ways of eating), stress-reduction (lower that cortisol and balance those hormones!), key supplements, sleeping properly, detoxing regularly (I don’t just mean good ole colon cleanses here, folks!), and so much more! I even use essential oils and regular myofascial release/lymphatic drainage to help my immune system naturally thrive. 

This topic, immune boosting, is so huge, in fact, that I’ve created a Guide all about 5 Ways to Maximize Your Immune System. Grab it HERE free, and know that you can start working on the steps TODAY! 

(Pssst - there’s also a bonus SIXTH suggestion for immune boosting in there that I SWEAR by and has changed my health more drastically than almost anything else I’ve tried!)

Until next time, beautiful friends! 

One of my favorite ways to unwind and improve my health simultaneously is by utilizing detox baths routinely. Part self care, part HEALTH care - detoxing your body from toxins and ‘yuck’ during whatever healing journey you’re on is an easy, cheap, relaxing way to help the healing process move along.

Think about it: if your body is all gunked up with toxins (official terminology there! ;) ), die off from dis-ease fighting, damaged/dead cells, heavy metals, chemicals, etc, how well do you think it can keep up the healing processes you want it to be focused on? 

Never mind that relaxing and rejuvenating is also healing! And the components of a detox bath can offer additional healing properties as well, beyond just drawing toxins out of your pores. They can reduce inflammation, provide key mineral nutrition that is hard to get just through food alone, balance the pH of your body (necessary for maximum health!), and improve immune function...and more! 

Here’s a simple Base Recipe for a bangin’ detox bath! Don’t like soaking in the tub? Cut ingredients in half and do a foot soak instead! 

• 1c Epsom salts - a source of Magnesium and other key minerals for your body; hugely helpful detoxer. Yes, you can absorb that goodness through your skin!

• 1/4c Apple Cider vinegar - helps with inflammation, and helps you sweat out impurities

• 1/2c Bentonite clay - pH reducer - a good thing!, pulls toxins, heavy metals, and waste OUT

• 1/2c Baking soda - pH balancer, boosts liver function (huge detoxing organ!), and supports digestive and immune systems

Now as I will ALWAYS tell you - listen to your body! Start with much lesser amounts of these ingredients and work your way up gradually. Don’t feel like you need to use ALL ingredients in every bath. Many baths I make I just throw some Epsom salt in and call it good enough! If you feel bad while in the bath - nauseous, overheated, dizzy, etc - that can happen and is a sign to get out, hydrate, and rest. You overdid it a bit. I’ve heard that 10-20min in a detox bath can be plenty, especially at first, but up to 40min can help you maximize the health benefits of the soak. Keep the bath water as hot as tolerated so you can sweat the junk out effectively! Yes, sweating is part of the key to success here. 

Be creative - there are plenty of ways to spice up the recipe! Wanna hear some of my personal tips and tricks?

Head over to my community HERE! 


**Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional here to diagnose, treat, cure, or otherwise influence your medical journey outside of the guidance of a medical professional. I am simply sharing my own journey and what I have learned along the way. Please find a doctor you trust and discuss any medical concerns or treatments with them. Also, please know, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases through my site at no extra cost to you.