Thank you for visiting my blog! I am happy you made it here.

A little bit about me, I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. I have the most adorable golden doodle and couldn’t be luckier to have found the man of my dreams and my number one food connoisseur, Adam.

So how did I end up with a food blog? It started in July 2015 when my life changed; I was diagnosed with two auto immune diseases. I went through so much emotion receiving this news, I couldn’t believe it. How could this happen? I thought I was healthy. Ironically, my New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to improve my quality of life. Was I not doing good enough? What caused my body to turn to disease? I immediately scheduled a second opinion but everything I was hearing was putting all of the unusual symptoms I collected over the past 10 years together into two names: Systemic Lupus and Sjogrens.

Lupus causes the body’s immune system to mistakenly attack healthy tissue in the body and can be very painful. Sjogrens effects the body’s immune system and attacks its own healthy cells that produce saliva and tears. When I learned this I became upset at myself and couldn’t understand why this was happening. I love myself. Why would my body turn on itself?

After my initial diagnosis my time was filled with doctor appointments and lots of blood work. There were weeks where I had up to 7 appointments in 1 week. Six months into my diagnosis I was off to see another specialist for neuropathy. Little did I know this appointment would change my life. The specialist shared a lecture he attended where a doctor who had Lupus spoke about how she successfully managed it through a plant based lifestyle.

She was in California but that didn’t hold me back. I immediately reached out to her and we started working together via Skype appointments. This was the start of my journey managing my Lupus through a High Raw Whole Food Plant Based lifestyle. I was in full immersion, I researched every food I consumed and was enthralled with knowing how its nutrition contributed to my health. I learned that the majority of readily available foods are processed and altered (ie. additives, preservatives, saturated in oil) adding unneeded compounds to the body essentially causing harm, confusing the body and causing disease. Eating in a High Raw Plant Based way provides an army of nutrients, and hyper nourishes the body to construct new cells and heal.

Two weeks into changing the way I ate with High Raw Whole Foods I started to feel results. My eyes weren’t dry anymore, my fingers didn’t tingle. As time went on I could bend my fingers, the chronic fatigue dissipated and I no longer had episodes while I was in the sun. I feel great! I am still monitored by my rheumatologist and am off all medications. I also keep in touch with doctor I met from California.

In addition to changing the way I ate the other areas I worked on improving were:

• Sleep; so essential for healing, recovery and renewing your body for the next day. I try my best to get at least 8 hours a night. Remember once you miss a nights rest you never get it back.

• Exercise; get your heart and blood pumping to flush out your system and relieve stress. Even a brisk walk around the neighborhood counts.

• Stress Management; we all deal with stress differently. Managing stress is key since it can trigger auto immune activity. I settled into guided meditation yoga (not workout yoga), reading romance novels (thank you Nicholas Sparks), a cup of warm tea under a blanket, and guided sleep meditation.

• Loving Yourself; learning that I had multiple auto immune diseases wasn’t easy to hear. Loving yourself through the process and knowing that you are doing your best (even when clumps of hair are falling out) is what you have to focus on. Know that you are investing in your future health with each step you take in the right direction. Even if one day doesn’t go as planned or you fall off track, know that it… is… OK. Love Yourself,  give yourself the tools to heal and know that your Body Wants to Heal. The body is a powerful thing.

I decided to start this blog to help others that are going through a similar situation or know someone that is or simply wanting to improve their quality of life. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspirational and motivating. Welcome and enjoy. Leave me questions, reach out to me, I am excited to hear from you.

Eventually I will write a book about my story, for now I will share my happenings here.

Until then, Love Yourself. 💖

Xoxo

Danielle