Quest for Optimal Health – Facing the truth

IN Emphysema COPD Asthma
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  • Updated:3 years ago
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Taking back control

I write about this a lot because it’s what I’m researching a lot but this post will try and tie together everything I need because I want to:

  • First find out what I’m deficient in (based on my illnesses/mood and brain/body activity)
  • Second find the right combination of vitamins to meet those deficiencies vitamins/supplements, etc.
  • Third & Finally create diet & lifestyle ‘habits’ to replace the vitamins/supplements with real food sources as much as possible, so that I’m not a pill-popper, not at the mercy of pharmaceutical companies and the prices/dangers that entails, and that I am consistently moving towards optimal health and a happy mindset with the right solutions.

Phase 1: Facing the truth.

To look for what I need to improve, I need to face the truth about what pain points/problems I’m encountering and what the potential causes and solutions are.

If I study myself closely right now and observe myself and my lifestyle over the past 10 months, the problems I have to face are: chronic asthma, emphysema/COPD, depression, hay-fever stress, procrastination/lack of motivation, addiction (I quit smoking for 4 years and then took it up again and no matter what I try, I keep finding myself unable to quit), so maybe “self-sabotage” because I see no other reason why I would possibly still have trouble quitting when I know all the ways to quit, self-esteem issues, overweight, skin problems, insomnia.

 

Solutions & Dealing with Causes

Chronic Asthma/Emphysema/COPD

Cause:

  • Obviously smoking for the COPD, and it of course would not be helping the asthma.
  • Asthma is worsened by parasites, so perhaps a parasite cleanse would help both the asthma & copd.
  • Both are worsened by incorrect lifestyle so a diet/nutrition cleanup, house cleanup, product cleanup and a healthier lifestyle is also needed.
  • Asthma is worsened by stress.

Solution

Buteyko breathing + the research I’m finding on my “Cure Emphysema” page, quitting smoking.

Vitamins

  • Asthma – D, E, C, B5, B6, B12, Magnesium.
  • COPD – D, E, Selenium


9 Months Later Update (Feb 2nd, 2014):
I have alleviated all breathing problem symptoms. I no longer suffer or record “death, goodbye videos” thinking I won’t make it through the night. In fact, I don’t consider breathing on the top of my list any more.

What worked? The diet cleanup, toxin cleanup, and the mindset cleanup. I think all 3 were instrumental in alleviating COPD/Asthma symptoms. I could do an entire book on everything I changed, and I’ll do a post in the future explaining what I think worked for me (not enough room here), but if you find this page before I’ve created that post, you can get some ideas from the Cure Emphysema research page.

Depression

Cause:

  • Feelings of rejection / abandonment / betrayal by my partner, dealing with all the lies/ethical issues, facing the truth about the past 4 years, not knowing who to trust or believe, and feeling like a ‘victim’ for the first time when I used to be and think I was strong.
  • Anger / sadness / lack of trust in friends. Cause is following love/emotions instead of using my brain/logic.
  • Cause is also the business not taking off and everything going wrong, losing my house, losing my motivation, and finding that I hate what I do.
  • Feelings of sorrow for all I went through and loss for everything I missed out on and had to give up.]

Solution:

E.F.T + change of diet/right supplements/vitamins, mindset/goal-setting, exercise, meditation, forgiving the past, forgiving the current, gratitude.

Vitamins:
Depression – C, B3, B5, B6, B12, Folic Acid, Biotin, Zinc, Chromium, Omega-3, Lecithin, Tyrosine, NADH, Niacin, L-tryptophan, Flax Seed, B1.

9 Months Later Update:
I no longer suffer any of these feelings… that looks like it belongs to someone else. My life is happy, and everyday I am calm and content. Aside from a few work people who are miserable themselves causing “drama”, I ‘reset’ myself and send love out to everyone, I live in the ‘now’, and no longer concern myself with problems of the past, or worries of the future. I’m a completely different person than the person who wrote that.

What worked? The mindset cleanup, absolutely. The diet cleanup definitely helped. Time also heals broken hearts. But also 2 things were instrumental for either of those to happen. One, my friend mentioning meditation on the phone once – I thought she was crazy & I didn’t do it, but it did plant the seed in me to start researching into mindset again, and Two, my sister taking a lot of pressure off me, giving me room to breathe so that I could take my life back.

Hayfever/Allergies

Cause:

Change of weather, allergies to certain animals/plants/foods, parasites (potentially). Low immune-system.

Solution:

Diet, Parasites, EFT

Vitamins:

Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage)


9 Months Later Update:
I have alleviated all hayfever/allergy symptoms. I no longer suffer from allergies.

What worked? The diet cleanup which I think was instrumental in re-building my immune system. The toxin cleanup I think was important to help my body not have to fight “all the time” against toxins, so that I ‘could’ strengthen my immune system.

Stress

Cause:

  • Not feeling like I can do what I want, feeling trapped.
  • Breaking-up with partner
  • Business failed.
  • Losing house, having to stay with relatives instead of having my own place, loud noises, surrounded by people who do not support what I’m doing, not having anyone to relate to, not having anyone to dream-big with, feeling like I’m always having to defend myself, feeling ‘guilty’ if I smile because I’m not welcome
  • Lack of faith/belief, started to believe that my business will never take off and that I have to start from scratch, broke, having to sell everything I own and still having no backup plan.
  • Not showing gratitude for what I do have.
  • Lack of serotonin.

Solution:

Mindset + Goal-setting, Diet, Exercise, Sleep, Income, Business, Lifestyle, Support system, Gratitude, EFT.

Vitamins:

  • Stress – C, B1, B5, Tyrosine, Ginseng
  • Irritability – B5
  • Headache – B2, B3, Niacin, B5, B6, coQ10, Magnesium


9 Months Later Update:
Stress is not so much a problem anymore.

What worked? The diet cleanup, toxin cleanup, and the mindset cleanup. But the most significant improvement came from my sister taking pressure off me – when I felt like I couldn’t contribute, I couldn’t work, and that I was dying, and I felt like I was “in the way” by staying with my sister. She took the pressure off me and I believe that saved my life. I honestly don’t think that my situation would have improved without having a little breathing space to get my life back in order.

Procrastination/Lack of Motivation

Cause:

  • Overwhelmed.
  • Toxic.
  • Not knowing what I want to do with my life. Loss of belief in myself.
  • Realizing that I cannot trust my instincts and that I have to be careful about who I trust.
  • Loss of faith in human-beings. Loss of trust.
  • Feelings of worthlessness.
  • Wondering if my life will get any better. Sadness. Helplessness. Anger. Nothing to aim for anymore.
  • Not having things to look forward to. Not having a life-plan. Not knowing what I like.

Solution:

Mindset + Goal Setting, Self-Confidence building, Diet, Exercise, Sleep, Income, Lifestyle, Support system

Vitamins:

  • Brain – B1, B3, B6, B12, Lecithin, Ginseng, Niacin.
  • Clarity – B12, Omega-3, NADH.
  • Memory – B1, B2, B3, B12, Folic Acid, Omega-3, Lecithin, Tyrosine, NADH, Niacin


9 Months Later Update:
I no longer see this as an issue anymore. I used to live my life for the imagined future, always striving to become a millionaire and save my family and myself from poverty. Never taking the time to “be” present right now. I never had time, always felt guilty when I wasn’t working, etc.

What worked?
1.) Finding Purpose: When you think you are going to die soon, your priorities change. My goal changed from this big, ambitious, life-changing millionaire-like mindset, to someone who just wanted to leave her legacy. I just wanted to make sure that my nephews & family members could avoid the same fate as me, so I found a new purpose, and that was to learn everything I could about health, especially cellular health, so that I could leave my family with something more life-changing than money, I could leave them the gift of health & happiness. Through taking on that new goal, my life changed. My life had much greater meaning, my life had a greater purpose. And I got my motivation back because I was doing something “important” and “life-changing”. I found what I was meant to do with my life. And even though I’m “better” now as far as health, and I no longer think I’m dying, and I no longer fear disease, there is so much still to learn and grow from, and I see ‘this’ as my new purpose now, which is the motivation that I needed.
2.) Baby Steps: When you are moving ‘towards’ health instead of ‘towards’ death, your life improves dramatically.
3.) Diet & Toxin cleanup. It’s hard to get up in the morning if your body is filled with toxins and you are getting your energy from fake, processed foods. Switching to a mostly plant-based diet, and cleaning up the toxins I think was instrumental in fixing this problem.
4.) Confidence: As I baby-stepped out of my comfort zone & started to speak “my” truth, worrying less about what other people thought and more about becoming the best self that I can be. When I was not suffocating from others trying to make me into who they think I should be, and others trying to control my voice: “you can’t say that.. you can’t do that.. ” etc. When I deleted all my sites and created this one – a site where I can be my true self, speak my truth regardless of what the ‘world’ thinks, and have a place where I can do whatever I want because frankly, it’s my site and I should be able to do whatever I want. Basically – when I stopped being a mindless drone – trying to be like “everyone else”, and started to find “me” again, my confidence and courage grew. Life is so much easier when you are being yourself rather than what you “think” everyone expects you to be.

Addiction/Quit smoking/Self-Sabotage

Cause:

  • Not sure, really not sure why I keep sabotaging myself with smoking. There is absolutely no plusses to smoking; none. There is nothing good, the only thing it does is cause the pang/craving of nicotine addiction to go away, and it’s the “cause” of the craving if I stop smoking, I won’t get the nicotine, and I won’t get the cravings, and then I won’t need to smoke to get rid of the cravings.
  • Why I smoke is beyond me, I’ve quit successfully before and I felt like superman; I could achieve anything.
  • I think it’s an excuse that keeps me from succeeding.
  • I think it’s self-sabotage.
  • I hope that an improvement in my mindset, diet, and lifestyle and happiness, will be the answer.

Solution:

Research. Mindset. Goal-Setting. Diet. Lifestyle. Exercise. Self-Confidence. Re-learning not to hate myself.

Vitamins:

  • Addiction – C, Zinc
  • Smoking – E, B12, Tyrosine, L-tryptophan.


9 Months Later Update:
I have not resolved this issue yet. I didn’t think I was ready for it, but I think I was on the right track with what I thought the solution was above. I need to follow my own advice, and start working on the steps I laid out for conquering this poison.

Self-Esteem

Cause:

  • Failure to quit smoking over 50 times.
  • Feelings of disgust with myself. Self-loathing.
  • Business failing.
  • Relationship failing.
  • Losing everything.
  • Feelings of worthlessness.
  • Weight-gain / feeling ugly / disgusting / unlovable.

Solution:

Quit smoking, Mind-Set, Goal-Setting, Support network. Exercise.


9 Months Later Update:
All of those have been resolved with a mindset & diet change.

Overweight

Cause:

  • Not having a choice of what I eat due to finances.
  • Eating cheaper meals instead of organic fruits & vegetables.
  • Eating the wrong foods.
  • Eating the wrong portion size.
  • Not exercising. Not moving. Not getting out of bed. Not moving from one spot.
  • Choosing the easy/lazy way.

Solution:

Diet, Lifestyle, Mindset, Goal-setting. Exercise.

Vitamins:

  • Weight-Loss: Chromium, Apple Cider Vinegar, Lecithin, D, B5, Flax Seed
  • Energy – E, B1, B2, B12, Magnesium, Zinc, Chromium, Tyrosine, Ginseng, NADH, coQ10
  • Fatigue – C, E, NADH, Magnesium, Selenium, Tyrosine, Ginseng, B2, CoQ10, GrapeSeed


9 Months Later Update:
I am now a normal weight and still ‘normalizing’

What worked? The diet cleanup. Eating a mostly plant-based diet, flooding my cells with nutrients that had been depleted over the years has been the key to this. I didn’t do any of it for weightloss – all I wanted was my health back, so I didn’t focus on losing weight – I focused on giving my cells as much vitamins & minerals that I could naturally give them, and the weight has been slowly dropping, completely naturally, over time. I was a size 18 when I wrote this post, and now I’m a size 12. Now that I feel much healthier, I could probably drop a bit faster if I would add more exercise to my regime. But frankly, losing weight is not really a big priority. I just like feeling healthy..

Skin Problems

Cause:

  • Smoking
  • Perhaps parasites
  • Lack of nutrition.

Solution:

Diet. Quit smoking.

Vitamins:

  • Acne – A, C, B2, B3, B5, B6, Niacin, Probiotics, Flax Seed
  • Look younger – Grape Seed Extract, Apple Cider Vinegar, E, C, B1, B2, Folic Acid, NADH, Niacin
  • Skin Infections – Tea-tree oil. Apple cider vinegar. olive leaf extract, oregano oil, grapefruit seed extract, turmeric, garlic, ginseng and iodine.


9 Months Later Update:
My skin has improved so much, wow. I no longer have these problems.

What worked? I think it’s both the diet & toxin cleanups that got rid of the acne & sebaceous cyst. As well as understanding my body more. If you are getting acne or cysts, your body is ridding itself of toxins via the skin, so eliminating excessive toxins getting into the body will mean less acne. Just letting my body do it’s own “cleanup” job, what it knows how to do ‘naturally’, rather than trying to get rid of the acne (by adding more ‘chemicals’ to them), allowed all the toxins to finally release and skin to improve. I needed to love my acne for what it is – my cells doing it’s job at eliminating toxic waste. As long as I stop putting more toxins in my body (either ON my body or IN my body), my acne is under control because there are no toxins to release. So now I only get acne if I am “naughty” on my diet, like normal people. Rather than living a life of consistent acne. I also regularly put manuka honey & coconut oil on my face, and I’m not sure if that helps with acne or not, but my skin looks great – the best it’s looked since I was young – and I’m even starting to lose a lot of wrinkles. But diet is definitely the most helpful as not using chemical products including limiting the amount of makeup I wear and never using ‘acne’ or any pharmaceutical creams.

Insomnia

Cause:

  • Drink too much coffee.
  • Too upset to sleep.
  • Too busy to sleep.
  • Not enough exercise. Laziness.
  • A sense of control/stubbornness, i.e. “I’ll sleep when I’m tired, I’ll wake up when I’m no longer tired”.
  • Feeling forced into normality. Pressure from society to sleep certain times.
  • Being more productive in the evening.
  • Mind not stopping, too many thoughts.

Solution:

Try to sleep earlier. Quit/cut-down caffeine. Remove stress. Remove depression. Exercise. Diet. Lifestyle.

Vitamins:

Insomnia – B5, Magnesium, Ginseng, L-tryptophan, B12, Tyrosine, Folic Acid


9 Months Later Update:
I have not alleviated this problem, and feel some of the causes have changed. I still drink too much coffee, I’m still more productive in the evenings, my mind is still active. I get less sleep when I’m trying to resolve a problem with work.

Summary

Good reality check exercise for me. I don’t feel too good about writing this, I’m embarrassed, ashamed, and annoyed.

Vitamins that I need to incorporate into my diet: B5, B12, C, B2, Tyrosine, Ginseng, E, B1, B6, NADH, Niacin, Magnesium, B3, Folic Acid, Selenium, Lecithin, D, coQ10, Flax Seed, Chromium, Omega-3, Zinc, L-tryptophan, Grape Seed Extract, Probiotics, Apple Cider Vinegar, Biotin, Lysine, A.

9 Months Later Update:
I eat a mostly plant-based diet which contains a lot of vitamins. I do occasionally add Tyrosine, Magnesium, Olive Leaf Extract, & Probiotics, and I regularly take Vitamin C powder, Apple Cider Vinegar, Brazil Nuts (for Selenium), Flax seed oil. I also “leave the sun on my skin” and do not use sunscreen to attempt to try and absorb more vitamin D.

So it seems that most of my problems can be ‘cured’ by:

  • cleaning up my diet
  • having something to look forward to (cleaning up my mindset/having goals)
  • surrounding myself with the right people
  • living a healthier, fitter lifestyle


I knew that already but now I can “see” the truth for myself. It’s right in front of me. And even though I’ve already started on my journey, I’m even more motivated now to finish this quest.

9 Months Later Update:
Yep, I was right about all 4 points above. Except I didn’t need to surround myself with the right people as long as I was being true to myself, and then the right people found me. I would also add toxic cleanup and mindset cleanup to the list if I was re-writing it again today.

And stage 2 of the plan to get back my life, can now be put into action.

Penny... on Health
Penny... on Health

Truth-seeker, ever-questioning, ever-learning, ever-researching, ever delving further and deeper, ever trying to 'figure it out'. This site is a legacy of sorts, a place to collect thoughts, notes, book summaries, & random points of interests.

DISCLAIMER: The information on this website is not medical science or medical advice. I do not have any medical training aside from my own research and interest in this area. The information I publish is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, disorder, pain, injury, deformity, or physical or mental condition. I just report my own results, understanding & research.