Friday, February 12, 2016

Interlude : The Glowery

Please consider helping me fight my battle against Neuroborreliosis. I am five months into one year of intensive and incredibly expensive treatment. Absolutely nothing is covered by insurance and the expenses have become impossible. As a thank you, I will write you a written thank you card in the mail, and ship you a freshly picked, handmade sea-glass necklace if you request one. Please click the yellow donate button on the top right column. And thank you. 

@theglowery
Not long after being diagnosed with Lyme disease, I became very trigger shy when it came to searching the internet. Personal accounts of people living with the disease are pretty spooky, filled with broken marriages, bankruptcy (insurance does not cover treatment for Chronic Lyme) and some pretty extreme suffering. The amount of information is overwhelming but any consensus, from diagnostics to treatment, is vague and hotly contested. The medical community is fiercely divided between those who acknowledge Chronic Lyme and those who do not. Those who acknowledge it are further split on whether or not it can ever be cured.

I needed to find a website or a book that documented all of the different ways that people can live with and recover from Lyme, without scaring the pants off me. I needed it to be glossy, poppy, and sort of fun. Light reading. Easily ingested. I needed this to accompany, not replace, the books (Stephen Buhner's Healing Lyme and Why Can't I Get Better by Richard Horowitz, MD) the forums (Healing Well has an excellent forum on Lyme that I highly recommend) and the websites (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, 10,000 others.) Needless to say I didn't find it, so I decided to create it.

I chose Instagram as my platform, because it's as glossy and emotionally lightweight as it comes. Ingesting information one bright square at a time is the electronic equivalent of being spoonfed. The original intent of this account, the glowery  (@theglowery) was to document my own experience with Lyme disease, but not long after creating it, I came to a startling revelation: I'm not the only one who is sick. Woah. And Lyme is not the only misunderstood and disabling disease out there.

In all the research I've been doing about nutrition and alternative forms of medicine, I keep running across these chronic diseases that share a set of symptoms, probable mechanisms and possible treatments as lyme: chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and lupus, to name some of the hard-hitters. In fact, people suffering with Lyme Disease, which has been called "The Great Imitator," are often misdiagnosed with one (or many) of these conditions.

There is a growing community on social media of people living with invisible illnesses (spoonies), connecting with one another, swapping information and hope and horror stories, documenting the doctors appointments, recipes (the autoimmune paleo protocol is all the rage right now) IVs, acupuncture, oils, exercise plans, mystery rashes, crystal therapy, insurance battles, injections, ultrasounds, juices, herbs...

And a good deal of it could be very useful to anyone who wants to (gain a deeper understanding of chronic illness, develop empathy over sympathy, help a loved one, be a good friend, all that but also) live healthier, feel better, have more energy, and look great. Paradoxically, people living with invisible illness often look very healthy, they have nice thick hair (a result of drinking collagen powder and bone broth) and luminous skin (juicing, essential oils, detox rituals) and are in excellent shape (following a whole foods diet, yoga). In many ways, getting sick forces you to become healthy.

What I mean to say is, what The Glowery is no longer just about me, or about lyme disease. It's also about living healthier, feeling better, having more energy, and looking great. Often, served up with a twist of Lyme.

In the past few days I've received a few questions on the Instagram feed about juicing, recipes and oils. I'm going to post responses here, since typing anything lengthy on IG will make you crazy.
@theglowery

Juicing 101 and Celery Juice 

I invent my own juicing recipes based on whatever specific vegetable or nutrient I want to be consuming in large doses that week. You don't need a recipe for juice: there, I've come clean. Just buy a juicer, cram it full of vegetables, add a little bit of fruit for sweetness, then drink up. But if you're new to juicing, this might be helpful to you.

Celery juice keeps coming up in my research lately, so for the past few weeks I've been drinking a lot of it. Celery is soothing and alkalizing, and it's a nutritional powerhouse, filled with the coveted B vitamins (B1, B2, B6) folic acid, potassium and phosphorus. It's mild, refreshing, and cheap, so it's perfect for creating a high volume of juice, to which you can add smaller quantities of other veggies and herbs.

If you are experiencing mysterious stomach pain or any sort of gastrointestinal issues (if you're treating Lyme with high-dosage antibiotics you may fall into this category) I recommend starting your day with a big glass of straight celery juice. Nothing added. Unless you hate celery, you get used to the taste very quickly. It's very calming, and the trace salts and micronutrients work with the hydrochloric acid in your stomach and aid in digestion all day long. If you're not up for straight celery juice, fair enough. Try one of these recipes:


The Detoxer
1 Bunch of organic celery
1 handful of parsley
1/2 an apple

Hawain Surf 

1 bunch of organic celery
1 whole bunch of romaine lettuce
1 slice of fresh pineapple

The Refresher 
3 Stalks organic celery
1cucumber
1/2 bulb fennel
1/2 an apple

Super Green
3 stalks organic celery
1 cup spinach
1 cup kale
fresh mint leaves
1/2 an apple

Tips:
-Put the ingredients that will be harder to juice, such as parsley, mint, and spinach into the juicer first.

-Make sure and juice the leaves as well, they contain a high dose of vitamin A

-Juice is quickly digested and the nutrients hit your bloodstream very quickly....as does the sugar. It's easy to ingest a lot of sugar without realizing it, so be as sparing as you can with the fruit. Begin with what's listed here and then reduce as you get used to the 'green' taste.

-I use this centrifuge juicer. It's worked great for years, but when I eventually buy a new one, I'll invest in a Masticating Juicer (sounds dirty.) It's much more expensive, but it's more efficient at juicing leafy greens, and the nutritional integrity of your juice lasts longer, so you can make one batch and keep it in the fridge.

-If you use a centrifuge juicer, drink the juice immediately.

@theglowery




16 comments:

Jessie said...

These sounds delicious! Will definitely be trying these. Does fennel have a strong taste when juiced?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the juice recs! I definitely need to invest in a better blender. Can you explain why you chose the name "from lyme to emerald"? I feel like I should understand the meaning, but it's escaping me. Lime green and emerald green are all I can think of.

Melina said...

Lime green and emerald green is it! It was kind of my play on 'lemons to lemonade. And, my acupuncturist later informed me, emerald is a very healing gem.

Melina said...

Jessie, fennel has a distinct licorice taste. If you don't mind licorice, it's really delicious. Not overpowering but not exactly subtle.

Deb said...

Just curious why juicing instead of blending, which would leave the fiber in there. Is it a personal preference, or is the fiber harder on a GI system that may already be wracked by antibiotics?

Melina said...

@Deb that's a good question and I want to give you a real answer. First of all, both my husband and I drink a LOT of smoothies. We live by our Vitamix. I have a whole set of posts to come about blending. We consume about 3 cups of greens a day in our smoothies, mostly kale, spinach and collards. I should have written this, but all the juicing I do is in addition to blending. My guess is that overall, it's the healthier of the two options and the cheapest, since you don't spend endlessly in produce like juicing can lead you to do.

However! Juicing is really really healthy as well, and helpful for recovering from lyme, because it hits your bloodstream and virtually floods your body with nutrients. Fiber (present in smoothies but mostly removed in juice) makes it slower for your body to absorb the nutrients, and some of the nutrients gets absorbed and remains in the fiber. In juice, with most of the insoluble fiber removed, you get 100% of the nutrients. Blended greens are easier for your digestive track to absorb than anything whole that you have to chew, but juicing is even easier, and requires less energy, giving worn out bodies more energy to accomplish other things. Anyway, sorry for nerding out on you!

Pam said...

Thank you Melina for recognizing those of us with fibromyalgia as like you we sometimes get swept under the rug! LOL
Thanx for all the information you provide and I'm looking forward to the smoothie recipes as I do not have a juicer. Please take care and You are an amazing young Lady.

Pam said...

Thank you Melina for recognizing those of us with fibromyalgia as like you we sometimes get swept under the rug! LOL
Thanx for all the information you provide and I'm looking forward to the smoothie recipes as I do not have a juicer. Please take care and You are an amazing young Lady.

Melina said...

Thank you, Pam! I know many people with Fibro, and unfortunately yes, their experiences offer mirror my own when it comes to healthcare.

Smoothies are a passion of mine: I LOVE coming up with new recipes and I will share some very soon. Thank you for reading!

Anonymous said...

This is so awesome!! You have another follower on Lyme to Emerald and I look forward to each "bright square". You are doing a remarkable job on this journey. Bravo!

Deb said...

I appreciate the nerding out! Thanks for a thorough answer.

Sian said...

This is so helpful. I have fatty food intolerance which means I'm not absorbing a lot of nutrients and essential fats. Juicing and blending help so much. I'm always researching and looking for new recipes xxx

Maria said...

Melina~you are amazing. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia years ago & have been chronically ill with numerous ailments forever. It's been so frustrating that I'm sorry to say I've sort of given up the fight & just gotten used to living with chronic pain. It's not been easy. The pain & fatigue continues & as I've aged, it's gotten worse. I can't really afford a lot of the treatments that I truly believe will help me but I've been a long time reader of your blog & I am so inspired to pick up the fight again. Maybe I don't have to live with chronic pain. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to find the strength to kick chronic pain & fatigue to the curb. Thank you for your help & insights. Sending prayers, love & light your way. xo

Jody Britton said...

So glad to have found your site! The entire first paragraph so resonated with me!

Sharon Smith said...

Hi Melina. It's me again. Sharon from @wakeforart. Beginning this chronic lymes process. I appreciate and need your every word. I have much to think about research and to not get down. Sleep is so hard to come by which also brings mood down. Anyway gonna try these juices and bone broth soups today. Thank you.

Sharon Smith said...

Hi Melina. It's me again. Sharon from @wakeforart. Beginning this chronic lymes process. I appreciate and need your every word. I have much to think about research and to not get down. Sleep is so hard to come by which also brings mood down. Anyway gonna try these juices and bone broth soups today. Thank you.