On the label of the kombucha that I have just really bonded with, Big Easy Bucha, barely noticeable, it says simply “James 1:17,” referring to one of my favorite bible verses – and I feel like the one that was meant for me this week. (And, also, thank you, Lord, for the Bucha BOGO at Publix too 😀 )

At our women’s conference at church last weekend, I honestly prayed for the Lord to please send me what it is that I am supposed to do, as my whole life has changed, and I know God isn’t done with just because I’ve become disabled as a nurse. I’ve had some amazing writing opportunities starting to come in (thanks be to God), but I really just felt like I needed direction, like there was something for me, particularly with my training and skills and knowledge.

I also prayed for guidance with my health, to know what would be best to do to help myself.

And, oh my word, did God ever show up big. And I am so so thankful!

I am so excited to report that I’ll be spending the next month or so studying to get my Paleo Nutritionist certification! 🙂 I feel that it will be a great compliment to my Integrative Nutrition training and I am so excited!

Of course, as I’m working on that, I’ll be writing here daily – which I am loving SO much – and experimenting in the kitchen and learning new things. It’s just wonderful.

And I actually have several things I want to share today as well.

First, in our home today, after I set up my Paleo training (yay!), my older daughter did my makeup and got me all ready to go out (she is so talented):

I have to say that I can tell my skin is brighter already. The good fats in the Paleo diet tend make our skin look fabulous!

After our activities for the day, I did some cooking: turkey breasts that already come pre-prepped (thank you, GJ!), oven cooked bacon (yum!), roasted rainbow baby carrots, and my very first spaghetti squash.

I enjoyed everything – but the rainbow baby carrots (sale alert – $4 for 2 bags of organic at Publix!) and spaghetti squash were ahhhmazing. So stinkin’ good!

I have also been just thrilled with my blood sugar:

This was taken after eating – also ahhhmazing. 😀

Something else that is really on my mind that I want to share about briefly is celiac disease.

Last night, as I was geeking out, I watched the documentary “Love Paleo,” that is included with Amazon Prime. It shared the statistic that there are approximately 3 million people in the United States with celiac disease and 97 percent of them are undiagnosed. This is so serious, not only because it is affecting their quality of life, but also because the inflammation associated with undiagnosed celiac disease brings with it a 4x increased risk of death. It’s really that serious.

With my celiac disease, it was discovered in 2012 when I was found to be profoundly anemic due to a GI bleed. In fact, I was so anemic that I was having difficulty breathing.

Celiac disease can present in so many ways.

Here is a post I did some time ago on my diagnosis and celiac journey:

https://autoimmunehippie.blog/2017/05/03/my-one-awareness-month-post-because-im-flaring-like-hell/

One thing I did notice in the post was that I was trying to go vegan when I wrote it – and accidentally, unknowingly, making myself sicker with all of that soy I didn’t know I was allergic to and whatnot. #fixitjesus   As always, once we know better, we can do better.

I share all of this to say: if you are having unusual symptoms that you can’t seem to shake, please don’t just write them off. Be aware of what is going on with your body – and what you are putting in your body. Take care of you please.  😀

Whew!

Today was a big one. 🙂

Now it’s time to geek out for a little bit longer and then get some rest.

Tomorrow’s plans include studying, cooking, and a (tiny) tomato planting project.

Be well, everybody.

Grace and Blessings.