050 The Healing Power Of A Plant Based Diet

You know, when I was thinking about 50%, that was my, like, that would be great. And I can safely say that I am at 50% now. Wow. You know, I still have issues. Don't get me wrong. I will have issues forever, probably because of the damage that's been done from surgeries, from medication, from procedures, from Lyme untreated for so long, probably. Yeah. But I'm alive for the first time in years. I'm happy. My energy level has greatly increased. My joint pain has greatly diminished. My cognitive function has returned back to a functioning adult.

Congratulations, Lyme Fighter. Today you had the courage to open your eyes and face another day. Welcome to Lyme Voice. This show's purpose is to help you put the puzzle pieces of Lyme into place. Each episode is designed to inspire, educate, and encourage you on your Lyme journey to wellness. Together we will fight. Together we will heal. Together We Will Live. Here are your hosts, Aaron and Sarah Sanchez.

Sanchez.

Sanchez. Sanchez.

Wishing your doctors could communicate and come up with a cohesive plan specific to your medical needs and genetics? At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach, giving you the opportunity to heal. In addition to a commitment of providing radical love and care for their patients, They are strategically located in sunny Arizona because Arizona offers the best integrative medical laws in the country. Call today to speak with one of their patient care coordinators. You can find them online at Invita.com.

Lion Voice thanks Invita Medical for the continued support. Please reach them at 1-866- 830-4576. Welcome, Lion Voice listeners. So glad you're here with us again. We've got a great episode today with Miss Heather. This is not Heather Getty that many of you have heard her past. This is a new Heather, and I think you guys are really— tell us more about it.

Yeah, we met on Facebook, um, I think like 3 years ago. So I've kind of watched her journey. We've talked through different things at different times, and I've been wanting to just feature people's stories, people who are coming out the other side, what they learned, what they gained. There's so much growth that has to happen in order to come out the other side of this that there's some really important lessons that you learn along the way. And not that any of us signed up for this, we're all being forced to participate but there is wisdom within each person's story and things that they really hung on to. And so Heather really just talks about her journey, years and years and decades of trying to figure it out and trying to heal and trying to do all these different things. And she really has an emphasis— we talk mostly about vegetarian and vegan lifestyle, and it's been huge for her. So I'm excited for you guys to hear this because, you know, people are healing in a wide variety of ways.

Yeah, it's such a big disease that it needs lots of different avenues to attack. And often we have to combine treatments. It's often what I see is it's not just the vegan lifestyle that's going to get you better. It's not just supplements that are going to get you better. It's, it's unfortunately, it's all these things.

Yeah.

But the key point is that people are getting better. And so these things are worth doing, even though they are not easy. It's not a pill you take once. And you're done. It is often years. But if you're going to survive this horrible, horrible disease, these are what we're seeing people succeed at. And, and I think Heather's message today is, is simply that it's just another way to succeed. So please enjoy this episode. If you haven't checked out limenvoice.com, that is our website, there's a lot of good information on there and Many of you don't know this, but Sarah posts her blog 2 to 3 times a month. So if you have not had an opportunity to read through some of her posts and her blog posts, please go to LionVoice and go to the blog tab, and you can find all those different posts. And there's lots of different information on the website, one of which is how to support LionVoice. If you've ever been benefited by LionVoice and you want to help us continue to get the message out there, there is a way for you guys to contribute a little bit of your funds to help keep Lion Voice on the air. So please go and do that and check out some of the free things that are already on there. Talk to you soon.

Hi.

Hi, we finally connect.

I know, I'm so sorry.

Oh, that's okay, no problem.

I have 3 episodes that we're recording today and they're kind of all back to back, but my first one this morning he was in a different— Arizona is only different from us 6 months out of the year, so we were on a different time frame. And so I was thinking, oh, I still have a half hour, not realizing I was 45 minutes late.

Oh, it's no problem. It's no problem. Not at all.

Well, I'm excited to talk to you. I've seen your posts, and I know that you went to a clinic in Mexico.

I did. Yeah, it's It's been the greatest transformation I've ever had, and I attribute it, like, portion of it to the clinic in Mexico, and then a portion of it to changing my diet and really figuring out how my body works. And my healing journey has just been amazing in the last 5 months. I never thought I'd be where I am today if you would have asked me a year ago.

Wow. And why don't you give me an overview of treatments and how far they got you, and then go into what you've learned. And I'm assuming, is it vegetarian that you're doing?

I am a whole food plant-based vegan now.

Ooh.

Yep. So it really cut a lot of things out that I normally would have eaten.

So yeah, just tell me about your journey. Tell me about the treatments you've tried and then what's really set you free.

Sounds good. So when I was 12 years old, and I'm 40 now, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I had all these problems in school. You know, they tried to medicate me and physical therapy to try to get me through, you know, being able to go to school. But that's when I initially got sick. And then when I was 15, a dermatologist put me on a year of antibiotics for acne because they have no problem doing that. And I started to feel better by the time I hit 16. I went to college early, led a pretty normal life until we got pregnant with our child at 25, and my health kind of declined rapidly. I had a PICC line for a large portion of my pregnancy because I literally was sick from the time I conceived to the time I gave birth. And I'm not kidding, like bucket in hand, that kind of sick the whole time.

That is exactly how my first pregnancy went as well. I knew I was pregnant almost instantly because I felt like my body was allergic to it. It was so awful.

Mine too. We only have one child. It was that hard. Well, that and then we had some fertility issues down as My body just kind of shut down in all different areas. So we, after our daughter was born, I thought I was just a tired working mom and I was struggling through the best I could, but I knew something wasn't quite right always. And then fast forward to February of 2011, I woke up with the most excruciating spine pain I could have ever imagined. Just literally one morning, nothing changed in my life previous to that. And that led me down a long journey of, 3 major spine surgeries, lots of medication, trying to solve, you know, deadening the nerves in my back. I've had an 8-level thoracic spine fusion, 2 cervical fusions. It's nothing to mess around with. But I was in so much pain that I was so desperate, I would like let them do whatever they wanted because I needed to get better. I needed to not feel this pain. And through this whole thing, I progressively got worse. You know, weird things happened. I started losing my vision. I got lost in an area when I was out driving that I, had been multiple times, like I was at the stoplight and I literally could not remember where to go or what I needed to do or how to even get home. Super scary stuff like that. Bathtub overflowing in my house, leaving the stove on, all these things that my husband would just get annoyed with me about. And I knew something was continuing to happen in my body, but I just didn't know what. And doctors dismissed it saying, I was crazy, it's all in my head, I was depressed, and you know, take this antidepressant and you'll feel better. Unfortunately, that didn't help me. I got to a point May of 2014 where I got this terrible rash all over my back, like big sores where it hurt to wear clothes even. And I went to my primary care doctor and I said, hey, like, let's, you know, help me figure this out. Like, you know, I can like get, live with all these other things right now, but let's focus on this one thing. And at that point he's like, I need to do more tests. And so they ran a bunch of blood work and he called me and said, you have Lyme disease. And I'm like, oh great. At least you know what we're dealing with. They gave me a prescription for the 28 days of doxycycline. But then the next day he called me back and he's like, just kidding. You don't have Lyme disease. Your Western blot came back negative. What? But you can take the medicine if you want, he said. What? So at this point, and I had a few other people that mentioned Lyme to me. And so at this point I couldn't ignore it anymore. And I started doing my own research. Well, and you're in Minnesota. Yeah, but you don't hear a lot about Lyme disease here.

Really?

I mean, if you're in the right circles you do, but the general population and my understanding of it was that it's, you know, easy to treat and not a big deal and the tests are fine. Nobody— I didn't know that the tests weren't accurate until this point. They're just true. There wasn't that awareness.

True.

And I trusted the doctors at that point. I was, you know, thinking Western medicine was the way to go and trusted what the doctors told me. But then I watched the documentary Under Our Skin and I literally sat there and bawled because it was me. It was me on that screen and this was my life. And then my husband and I decided we need to find a Lyme doctor. That led us down another whole journey of despair, looking for a doctor and finding out that insurance isn't covering it. And, and honestly, I couldn't on my own find a doctor here in Minnesota. It's so hard to find doctors, and I didn't have the resources that I have now, you know, the organizations that I know about. But just like being a newbie to Lyme, I, I was distraught and devastated. And so we were prepared to go to the East or West Coast because that's where I could find Lyme doctors that were actually like, you know, advertising their services.

Yeah.

But my husband's like, well, just do a search in Wisconsin, honey. Like, let's try the state over. So I searched, and I was actually able to find a doctor there that I treated with for a year and a half. Who was very good. He right away clinically diagnosed me with Lyme disease and co-infections and started me on oral antibiotics at my first visit. And then 2 and a half months later, I had a PICC line and I had that for 2 and a half years of treatment. So I had a cocktail of antibiotics for 2 and a half years in a PICC line along with orals and supplements. You know, we did the different diets, the paleo, the ketogenic, all those things. After about a year and a half with the doctor in Wisconsin, I wasn't getting better. My husband and I decided we needed to do something a little more drastic. And so we went to the West Coast and found Dr. Stephen Harris at Pacific Frontier Medical. I thought was my best bet at getting better. So I continued to treat for another year with him, totaling up to my 2 and a half years of the PICC line with IV antibiotics.

And then, Heather, let me ask you this: how is your body doing with the PICC line for 2 and a half years?

Like, is it— is it making a dent? No.

Wow.

No. And so I, and I say no, I say no with a little bit of hesitation. So if you would have asked like my nurse, I had a nurse that came to our house every week. And if you would have asked her, she would have said, Heather, you've made progress. The progress was I was getting dressed instead of in my pajamas. And, you know, I was a little more up and about in my house, but I wasn't living a life. Yeah, I was still very much incredibly ill up through the whole thing, and the PICC line brought different challenges. I mean, I didn't have problems with the actual line or anything, but you know, it wears your body down.

Oh yeah.

So not only was I sick with Lyme, but then I had all the different antibiotics, antimalarials, antiparasiticals, you know, the list goes on and on, antifungals, and all being either pumped in my body or put in by a pill. But there was time when I counted, I was up to like 60 pills a day plus IV stuff. Wow. And I have a picture of like at my highest treatment what my day looked like, and it's just insane. It's insane what I did to my body. But again, I was desperate. I thought this was the way to get better. And for some, it might be the way to get better. And I don't know what role that played in my ultimate healing, but I do know that during that whole time I felt terrible. I felt like I was still dying. And that's what happened. So January of 2017, I just decided that I had to have it pulled and I had to stop the antibiotics. And I just wanted to stop all treatment at that point. I was to a place where I was feeling poisoned and toxic and hopeless. And literally my husband and I would fight about my life ending because I wanted to. He was, he made a promise to me in the beginning, like, when I was down and desperate, like, just to get me through, I think he's like, when it gets to that point where you can't go on anymore, I'll help you. But, you know, through this whole thing, he was saying, you're not to that point, you're not to that point. And I was so mad at him because I just wanted to die. And we have— I mean, at that time, I had a 13-year-old daughter. I have a great life, you know, besides being sick, you know, I'm very blessed. And it's not a place where I would normally think anyone would end up being suicidal, but the pain, the pain is so much that just continuing on thinking about having to go through that one more day was like debilitating for me. It just was, it was horrific. And so through all this, he's been my rock and said, you know, there's more to try. We just haven't found it yet. There is definitely more to try. And at this point, Dr. Harris's office started talking to me about a clinic in Mexico. That some of his patients that had very much stories like mine, you know, that were sick for a very long time, that couldn't get well with anything else, had gone there and actually started to feel better and had major improvements. And I kind of like was like, yeah, but I don't know if that's for me. And so the first couple times it was mentioned, I blew it off. And then it got to a point where I just didn't know what else to do. And so that next month when I had my call with them, They started talking to me again about this guy they'd like me to talk to that was a patient that had gone to this clinic and just to see if it would be, you know, because I was asking more questions at that point. So I talked to Scott on the phone who was the patient that had been to this clinic of Dr. Harris's, and Scott's story was amazing. He was sick for 14 years. He, you know, had chronic migraines for the whole time pretty much, and After a 2-week stay at this clinic, I talked to him 2 months after this stay, and he was— he hadn't had a headache since. It's just a remarkable, remarkable success story that he was sharing with me. So I got off the phone with him, and I went to my husband, and I started to try to tell the story, but I'm, you know, crying so hard because I felt so emotionally like this might be my chance. And so when I was done telling him everything Scott told me, he said, well, you just have to go. And I think it was about a month after that I was in Mexico.

And, um, and what is the clinic called?

It's called Clinica de la Luz. Translated, that's Clinic of the Light. And the doctor there, Dr. Marsden, is just an amazing naturopathic doctor. They do a lot of stuff that's not FDA approved. That's why they're in Mexico. But it's all holistic stuff. Um, they're using vitamin— they're using stuff that comes from the earth, vitamins, minerals, nutrients. Seawater was a big part of it, fermented vegetable juice, just different things that we don't do here. They focus on gut health and they focus on your cells. And so this clinic is 4 hours south of El Paso in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, and it is like a sanctuary there. It's just— it's peaceful. You're away from everything. And the first day I sat down with the doctor, She didn't have any of my medical records before this. She didn't ask for anything. She looks at disease as your cells, not like I have cancer, I have Lyme disease, you know, whatever you're fighting. She looks at how your cells are doing. And so the first day there, she took a live blood analysis, which is just, they pinpricked my finger, dropped some blood on the slide and put it under a high-powered microscope. And just from looking at that, she was able to tell me pretty much everything that I had been experiencing that was wrong with me. That I had like over— you know, tried to explain to other doctors, but she was actually sitting there telling me this without ever knowing anything like this about me. So it was—

were you so relieved even?

Yeah, I'm like, finally, yeah, I'm in the right place, you know? Like, somebody's looking at me and they're not trying to group me into what co-infection I have or whatever. They're just looking at how my cells work, are doing, and how my body's working. And she could tell that my body You know, and I can share with you guys, I'm fine sharing the slide of like the first day and then the last day, 'cause there is a drastic difference that you can see that what happened to me. And so the whole, the process was long and hard when I was there and I was sick the whole time. You know, it was about 8 hours of infusions, 8 to 10 hours of infusions a day. They did neural therapy, lots of fasting, cleansing, and then colonics, coffee enemas, massage, cupping.

But no antibiotics. —so all holistic. So you're doing trans— are you doing like hydrogen peroxide, high-dose vitamin C, or what is it?

Yep, high-dose IV vitamin C, lots of minerals, ozone, hypertonic. It's a pretty lengthy list and I don't have it on for me, but that's all, um, if phosphatidylcholine— they did things with butyrate. So just a really large amount. And some of the stuff like hypertonic I'd never had before. It's, um, and I might not be describing exactly right, but hypertonic is like a mineral from the sea And when they infuse it, it's like the best drug ever. It feels like your whole body— I describe it as like your body's like warm melting butter. Whoa. You get warm, you get relaxed. It's like the best feeling. And I wish I would have had that through all my treatment. It was amazing. But so she just every day would muscle test you and, or the, their staff would muscle test you and see what you needed that day. And you'd go in for your infusions and, and all this stuff. So it was 18 days of that. And then I was, During that time, I started to tell that my body was changing. I could tell like the first week that my body, certain things were definitely getting better. This is a lot to share, but you know, Lyme affects your whole body. And so one of my symptoms was that I wasn't able to go to the bathroom for a couple of years on my own. I had to use an enema every day. And my bowels after 4 days started working there. And doctors here would just write it off and, you know, didn't make a big deal of it. That's a huge part of like daily life, you know? Yeah. And so my bowel started to function, my mind started to clear up a little bit. And through this, I could feel that the inflammation in my body was going away. I could feel that my body, it's the weirdest thing. I just, I could feel like this release of tension every day a little bit more. And so much so that I decided as I was there that I could lessen my pain medication. And so I was slowly easing off the opiates down there and—

And what are you eating at this point?

Yeah, so not much. You're doing a lot of cleansing. And that's the thing too, and I, you know, I look at food, I started to look at food a whole, in a whole different light down there. So they do a lot of cleansing. So you would go like 3 days where you're basically eating papaya, grapefruit, papaya and grapefruit. And then you're drinking a fermented vegetable juice, which is good for your gut bacteria, infused with seawater. So it's like a salty rotten vegetable juice that tastes terrible. Sounds so good. But you would drink 2 quarts of that a day and then 2 quarts of a salty lemonade. So basically fresh squeezed citrus juice with purified water, a little bit of stevia, and then seawater as well. So you're drinking a lot of this cleansing liquid and you're eating a lot of papaya. And once you drink that fermented vegetables, it takes your appetite away, at least it did for me. So like food was never something that I was craving down there. And it was just, you know, you'd be hungry but you'd also feel icky 'cause you're drinking all this stuff. And so you'd go 3 days basically eating just fruit and drinking these juices and then you would have a colonic and then you'd get to eat a little bit of bone broth and avocado and then they did eat, they did have us eat some eggs and butter and then vegetables and fruit. So, but just small amounts because then again, you know, you're the next— you get maybe one day to recover and then you start another cleanse. And so it was a lot of just drinking the vegetable juice and the lemonade and not eating much. So the doctor down there, she did talk about like the dangers of processed foods and what's that— what that's doing to our bodies and to to our society. And one thing that stuck with me is she said the way that we're going now and eating as Americans, the generation being born now and the generation after that will not be able to conceive without medical intervention because of the way it's affecting our reproductive system. The processed food is basically, you know, playing a big role in how our bodies work, and that's a scary thought. When you think about it, but then you think about how many people are, you know, I'm in 40s, so like in their 20s or 30s now that are having problems conceiving, and that is just gonna continue to grow.

Wow, I have never heard that, but it makes a lot of sense. It does.

And so this whole time, so at the clinic, like if you're a caregiver and you go and you stay with a patient, they do have a wonderful kitchen staff and they make fantastic organic meals, and the meals there are definitely centered around fruits and vegetables with small amounts of meat and then a little bit of butter. But there was never like, I never saw a day where they were eating like a big piece of steak or a chicken breast. That's just not how their meals were. So the clinic there believes in a whole food ketogenic, modified ketogenic diet. And so when I left the clinic, I knew that I was better than when I went. But I wasn't where I hoped I would be. Yeah. I still felt dead. I still felt really tired. I had terrible joint pain in my hips and my knees and the bottom of my feet hurt really bad. My spine pain was present. It's been present through this whole thing and I don't think that'll really ever change because of all the surgeries and stuff I've had, but I still had pretty bad spine pain too. So I left the clinic thinking differently about food, knowing that I was gonna come home and clean out my pantry and my fridge of anything processed and change my diet to that eating plan. So I did that for about a week and a half when I was home. We ate the modified ketogenic diet. I didn't eat hardly any meat because my stomach was still pretty small from 18 days of not eating much. And meat just didn't settle in my stomach. So I did have some dairy and, lots of fruits and vegetables. And so I stuck with the modified ketogenic. I had some butter too, you know, like at the clinic down there they put butter in the smoothies for additional fat and stuff. So I was doing that here when I got home, but I still was not feeling great. And then one day, about a week and a half after I was home, my daughter, who is a vegetarian, wanted to watch the documentary What the Health. And I said okay. She'd been wanting me to be a vegan for a long time. She— not me, but she wanted to be a vegan herself. And I kept saying through this whole thing, I'm too sick, that's too hard, I can't do that. Like, no way. Like, it's bad enough you're a vegetarian and we're not. Like, this is hard enough for me. I cannot do the whole vegan thing. I'm sorry, you can go— you can do that when you go to college, was my answer to her. But then we watched— sat down and watched What the Health. And to this day, like, everybody that I talk to, I encourage them to watch What the Health. It is the film, "Like Under Our Skin," that again changed my life. And I get goosebumps saying that because it really did change my life. We watched the documentary and I learned about what, you know, I already had an open mind from Mexico thinking about how food was affecting me on a cellular level. And so I was already trying to eat, being very conscious of what it was doing to my cells. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the right information at that point. To understand that I could even improve my cells even more than I was by cutting out all animal products. And so after we watched that movie, we got up from the couch and we again went through our pantry and our fridge. My husband is at work at this time. We went through our pantry and our fridge and we cleaned it out again, getting rid of anything that had animal products. So now we are— we're down to nothing processed and nothing with animal products in our house. And my husband came home from work about 6 o'clock that night and I'm like, guess what, honey? We're going to be vegan. And he looked at me like, uh, you're kidding, right? But then, you know, I started to explain to him what I had learned. And, you know, he's, through this whole process, he's never said no to me with anything I've wanted to try and been very supportive in anything that he could do along with this with me.

For nearly 2 decades, Invita Medical Center has been leading the way with the latest in personalized treatment options designed for patients dealing with Lyme disease complex.. At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach and the latest technology regarding treatment and testing at an unmatched radical love and care environment for their patients. Call to speak to one of the patient care coordinators today to learn why hundreds of patients choose Invita Medical Center each year.

You can find them online at invita.com.

From the creators of Lyme Voice and Disappearing from Society comes a brilliantly simple idea, but this time it comes as a book. Imagine a world in which birds can talk like people. You'll get a bird's-eye view of life with Lyme disease. As one bird family must unite to overcome the obstacles of life with Lyme disease. Guaranteed to make you laugh and cry. Written in a way that helps you articulate the losses you are experiencing as a household while simultaneously empowering you to keep fighting. Little Bite, Big Trouble is available today at Amazon.

He was definitely apprehensive. He was a guy that grew up on meat and potatoes, and I don't think he had a vegetable besides corn, beans, and peas before he met me. He was not a vegetable eater. He was a traditional American eater. He had already come a long way up until— we were married for almost 18, 19 years at the time. He begrudgingly, I will say at first, said okay and started doing it. I think he was thinking he'd go to work and eat that way and whatever and then come home and eat our way. He likes to tell people he's just too lazy to do the shopping and the cooking himself, so he'll eat whatever is made. He'll deal with it. I did have him watch What the Health with me because I wanted him to be on the same page. I wanted him to be excited like my daughter and I were about this new lifestyle because it wasn't a diet for us. It was gonna be a lifestyle. I knew that going forward just because what I was learning. Not only for my health but for the environment and for the animals that were suffering. So I kind of, it opened my eyes to a whole new world. I had suffered for so long that I knew what deep suffering was. And so when I thought about it, like, how could I inflict deep suffering on another living being when I knew what it felt like to live in misery? Hmm. So for me, it was kind of the mind-body-spirit awakening. Yeah. You know, realizing how my body works, realizing the effects that I can have on my health by making a simple change, and then also realizing there is a bounty of amazing food that I still can eat. And honestly, so 4 days after I started this diet, my bottom of my feet pain went away, my hip pain went away, and my knee pain went away. It was remarkable. I, you know, when you suffer for so long, you don't know what it feels like to not have joint pain. Yeah, you know, and so I just, at that point, I knew this was— I was never going back. I knew this was my way of living, and I knew that we had really caught on to something amazing. Wow, that's so awesome. Yeah, I'm 5 months since that point, and I feel— I still feel like I'm way better than I ever thought I'd be. When I first met with Dr. Harris in San Francisco, they said that I would probably be, you know, I could probably recover up to about 50% because I had so much scar tissue in my body from all the surgeries I've had. And what they explained to me is that Lyme lives in the scar tissue and it's really hard to eradicate from that area. And so when I was thinking about 50%, that was my, like, that would be great. And I can safely say that I am at 50% now. You know, I still have issues. Don't get me wrong. I will have issues forever probably because of the damage that's been done from surgeries, from medication, from procedures, from Lyme untreated for so long probably. Yeah. But I'm alive for the first time in years. I'm happy. My energy level has greatly increased. My joint pain has greatly diminished. My cognitive function has, you know, returned back to a functioning adult.

I mean, you look healthy.

It is, you know, and I looked, people before said, oh, you look so good. You look so good. And I used to be like, don't say that 'cause I'm so sick on the inside. But now I'm like, yeah, you know what? I am. I am finally feeling like I am alive, which to me is the greatest gift ever. And so when my husband now, you know, he goes to work and people will talk to him about like, oh, you're doing that vegan thing. And he's like, you know, he defends it as like, why wouldn't I? My wife is back. Like, this is a whole new world for us. Our life is completely different. If people that knew me before and people that know me now, it's just a whole, a whole new blessing, a whole new world that opened up for us. And so he will gladly pass up the cheese pizza at work, or, you know, go out and order a salad without any animal products on it when he's out with his coworkers, because he realizes the importance of what this has meant to our life.

And wow, yeah, that's so neat. And you, I mean, you touched on it in a sense of first comes awareness, but then comes either a humility or a willingness to do things differently. And that's, that's what I'm hearing you say he's, he's done for you is like, okay, let's do whatever works. And when you struggle so hard to find something that works, you hold on to it.

Yeah, and I understand being skeptical because I was the biggest skeptic ever. Honestly, a couple of years ago, my aunt gave me some information on the whole food plant-based diet, and I read like the first 2 pages of this booklet she gave me, and I just tossed it away. Like, that could never make a difference for me. Like, that is not the problem. This problem is bacterial infection that this won't matter about. And honestly, if I would have been open then— but I was still thinking Western medicine was gonna fix me, you know— if I would have been open, I don't know what I would probably be better off than I am now, but I wasn't there. And so I get people thinking that I'm crazy. I get people thinking like, this is crazy, they could never do it, it's too hard. But then I think, you know, I would like travel with a suitcase full of antibiotics and IV stuff, and that was harder than packing apples and oranges to go somewhere now, you know? Right. It's all about where we are at, and you just have to be ready for it. So I understand like skepticism, I understand the whole people thinking I'm crazy because I'm saying this, but you know, it just— it was what worked for me when nothing else did. Wow.

And that is so important. And you know, there are people healing in a variety of ways, and we hear about all these different ways, but like what I sense from you is you're, you're living. You just—

yeah, you get to live. Yeah. And I'm still very conscious of my body. I'm still really listening to my body. I mean, I'm still detoxing on a daily basis. But I'm not fighting the infection with pharmaceuticals anymore. I am looking at it differently, like I am preparing and giving my body the tools that it needs to fight this infection and this— whatever I'm dealing with, with food. I'm using food as medicine to heal my cells, and then my body will naturally be strong enough to fight off whatever I'm battling.

You know, for me, I had— I've talked about it in previous episodes, but I had read the Gerson therapy book, and you said how when your aunt gave you that book, if you had been open to it, it might have changed things. But from my experience and from what I keep hearing is, even for me, when I was reading— like, I had read the Gerson therapy book, and it took me about 2 years. One, because I was too fatigued to actually implement it by myself. But I was going to my doctors who I trusted and had been seeing and was saying, hey, you know, these people claim to treat chronic fatigue, and they've been doing it for decades, and You know, I was told over and over again that it was completely false, that I could drink all the juice I wanted, it was never going to impact my life. And yet, and so like, that held me back for a couple of years just because I thought, if there's something that's really helping people, wouldn't my physicians know about it? And now I know that they have no training in any of that stuff.

They do not know. They don't understand the correlation between nutrition and our body's wellness. Like, the food industry pays no attention to what healthcare is doing, and healthcare industry pays no attention to food. And that's just the greatest crime, I think, committed almost, in that what is— you know, you wouldn't buy a brand new expensive luxury car and put standard gasoline in it. You put the good gasoline in it because you know it's going to make the engine run better, right? You wouldn't You wouldn't invest all that. And so why would we do any less for the most precious thing we have? Yeah, why wouldn't we put the best fuel in our bodies? Because we should not be eating for, you know, emotional reasons or, you know, comfort food. We should be eating to fuel our bodies. You know, I don't want to make any more mistakes in that area. And so I'm so glad that my daughter is now 13 and is just eating this incredible way that I hope is gonna set her up for continued health in the future. And you know, you think because, you know, we were— I was very sick when I was pregnant with her, like, you know, and you hear how Lyme can be passed on and, you know, she has had symptoms and there's been things in her life that haven't been quite right, but we've, after consulting doctors, decided not to treat her, which I'm so glad we didn't, with antibiotics or anything at the time. And, you know, now we're using food as medicine for her as well. And it gives me a whole level of happiness knowing that I'm not damaging her, but I'm improving her cells. Wow.

Yay. I'm so happy for you.

What a long journey it is. And I, you know, the thing I would like, the takeaway that if anyone could hear this, that, you know, because I volunteer for for the Minnesota Lyme Organization here, and I, I don't— this isn't— I have to separate myself completely from that. But I hear all these stories of people that don't have money to treat and don't have any hope. And I would say, if you can't do anything else, clean up what you're eating, eliminate animal products, and do some simple detoxing like coffee enemas, charcoal, and chlorella. I think that everybody could improve on a cellular level if they just give their body a little chance, a fighting chance at this. And It's not hard, it's not elaborate. I mean, make a baked potato, eat some vegetables with it. You know, meals can be simple. And even when you're super sick, you know, I think that that is what I would want anyone to try or what I would say, like, if you can't— if you're at your end of your rope, try that. Yeah.

Well, and you— I mean, we talk about fighting as a mindset, and that's what I hear you saying. Like, it's not that much harder to prepare a vegan meal than it is a standard meal. If you have the mindset that you're talking about. Like, if you're okay with being different, if you're okay with putting your body's needs above your taste buds. And when you put yourself in that position, even mentally, to be open to it and say, okay, obviously what we're doing isn't working. Let's, let's look at ourselves as a society. Let's look at our obesity rates, our chronic illness rates, and realize what we're doing doesn't work. Right.

No, we are the sickest. I mean, we consume the most animal products and dairy, and we are the sickest. We are the most obese and the sickest society. And so that has to tell us something, you know? Yeah, our food system is just— it's just very, very sad. And that's one thing too, when I came back from Mexico, I went to Walmart the first time after I got back, and I walked in the store and I had like this moment of panic because I'm like, oh my gosh, everything in here is gonna kill me. As you walk down the aisles past that produce department, you know, like everything else I thought was just gonna poison me. And, and it's just— it's getting to that place, you know. But I don't know if I would have gotten to that place as quick if I wouldn't have been removed from it. Hmm. So I understand why people think it's crazy, and I understand why people think it's too hard. Yeah.

And yet this illness drives you to a place where you have to think outside the box. Mm-hmm. You do it over and over again. You do.

And you know, the more I've been wanting to connect up now with plant-based doctors and just hear their take on the different diseases and just learn more about it because, you know, it's not just autoimmune diseases that you can help with this. It's, you know, diabetes, it's heart disease, all— the list goes on. And I think there's like 14 of the top killers of Americans, you know, as far as health-related deaths, can be reversed or cured with a plant-based diet is what I've been learning.— and it's just so amazing that it's so simple. You know, it's so simple as just shopping in the produce department and getting your whole grains and, you know, your plant milk and whatever it is, you know, you're gonna substitute out. But I thought it would be, you know, an unsatisfying way to live and eat, and it is the most fulfilling, satisfying way to eat. And the food honestly tastes amazing if you just, you know, get a little creative with it. There's— I have never been hungry. I've never— and the best thing about being a plant-based diet, whole food plant, is you can eat as much as you want, right? And you're going to lose weight or you're going to be at your optimal weight, you know. I mean, it is— you're, you're eating things that, you know, you're going to be overly stuffed by the time you get past your calorie amount if you're eating the whole food plant-based way. Yeah. And so, you know, there are multiple I was never doing it for weight loss, but it is, it's definitely something that, you know, if I know a lot of people with Lyme are, have issues with, either you gain weight or you lose weight, and this is the best way to reach an optimal weight too.

So can you talk to us about what you guys are doing with your Minnesota group?

You mean with the Minnesota Lyme Association? Yeah, yeah. Yep. So we are working right now on planning our gala and walk for next year. Our goal with the Minnesota Lyme Association is to raise awareness and prevention, help spread prevention information and support. And so we are trying to— we're in the works of getting our gala and walk at the Mall of America slated for the beginning of next May. And we're just trying to get the word out that the testing is inaccurate and that, you know, you don't have to have the rash to be sick. And we connect people with Lyme literate medical doctors and naturopathic doctors locally. So we are that resource that I was so desperately needing in the beginning that I just couldn't find. And so I'm hoping people find us so they can have less tears and get to the right place sooner. Hmm. Yes. Again, I just— yeah, I just need to say that my views are my personal views and in no way are the views of the Minnesota Lyme Association. They're two separate I just, you know what I mean? I want to make sure that, that I'm clear on that. It's just, this is my personal opinion and it's not medical advice. It's just, it's what's worked for me and what I want to share with other people. Awesome.

Well, thank you so much for telling us. And I'm— I've never actually met you in person, but I could tell just from your presence on Facebook and stuff that you were feeling better. Yeah. And I think what is one of the most remarkable things about this Lyme community, it's a hard community to be a part of because people are very, very sick. They've tried a lot. A lot have been abandoned. Like, there's a lot of toxic stuff going on in people's lives and in their bodies. And yet I see people wanting to give back immediately, in the sense of, I have suffered so much, I don't want anyone— because most of the people who are advocating aren't even well themselves. And, and yet The suffering is so immense that I see people just time and time again reaching out and trying to change it for the people who are coming behind us.

I think we have to because no one else is going to. We must. It's, you know, something bad has to come out of all— I mean, something good has to come out of all this badness and suffering. And if we don't make that effort, nothing will change. So at my sickest, even, I was just as passionate about sharing what I knew at that time, you know, and at the same place that I am now, you know, I just think that we must keep talking about this. We cannot be silent. Well said.

Well, awesome, Heather. Thank you so much for sharing that. That'll— yeah, that'll be huge. It's funny, I haven't seen that documentary, but I keep hearing people talk about it, and I have to watch it. Yeah, I will. I'm gonna go watch it right now. My daughter has been a vegetarian for years, and we've watched a lot of I've watched most of them. Um, Food Matters is one of my favorite, um, that I tell everyone about. But when you start talking about that, I'm like, oh, I gotta sit and watch.

Yeah, I mean, I just didn't realize— and, you know, being so open to like learning what I'd already known about myself, like, I could tell that I had more power than I had given myself, you know, that I never believed before after that stint in Mexico. And so it just like— oh, it spoke to me in a way that nothing else had. And I guess it's about right time and everything, but I think that film, from what I've heard, has helped so many people change their life. And it's not months that it's taking them to feel better. It's literally days, weeks that people are improving their health, which I don't think pills do. They just mask it all. They just, they cover it all up and they destroy us slowly, especially when we're treating with the long-term antibiotics. So, wow, I'm excited. You'll have to let me know what you think of it.

I will, I will. I mean, yeah, and I've even watched little clips and stuff, but I will definitely sit down and watch it because, yeah, I know it's a big thing. And we're in the same boat. I have two kids with Lyme and we made the choice not to treat with antibiotics. And so we do a lot of juicing, but I can tell we're just gradually moving. We're still not at a place where we can afford to feed everyone the way I want.

Um, but, but you know, that's another misconception that I think too is like, if you can't even afford like organic produce, buying conventional produce over buying any kind of animal product is way better for your health long term. So even just conventional produce, making that switch, it doesn't have to be all organic. And I don't even do all organic. I mean, I do as much as, you know, probably about 50 to 60% organic, but the other part is it's conventional produce and there's just nothing like it. The, the main thing to focus on out of all the, like, nutrients is fiber. And when you're eating a whole food plant-based diet, you're eating a ton of fiber. And so that fiber is going to make you have bowel movements. And the thing I learned in Mexico too is, like, the bowel is super important. We have to move those toxins out. Like, they can't sit in our body for, you know, 8 to 10 hours. We've got to get rid of it. And so when you're eating this way, you are eliminating more toxins than you could any other way.

Yeah, well, and what— huge. And what we have found, like, when we're eating really well, it doesn't actually cost us more money because we don't buy ice cream or we don't buy chips. And so it's the illusion that it costs more, but really it doesn't, right?

Yeah, yeah. And you know, you just buy soy ice cream, you know, and, and I just buy chips that are whole grain if we're We wanna have chips and salsa. So it's just rethinking about what it is. Literally, I mean, we eat lots of potatoes and a baked potato with salsa is so satisfying. When I give talks locally here and share my story, I always bring pictures of the food we eat because it looks like real food and it looks like super satisfying meals and it's not, I'm not eating salad every day. I'm eating salad a couple times a week but I'm eating lentil meatloaf with mashed potatoes and vegetable broth gravy and beans or something. It's, it's really good nutritious food. Do you have a specific cookbook that you recommend, or is it just any plant-based? Yeah, I just, I use a lot of Pinterest and I just kind of search for what I'm looking for. And, you know, I've watched like Plant Pure Nation, and that's a really good documentary too that a researcher put together. And they talk about, you know, different meal things, and they have a cookbook. I don't have that yet, but I I, I've— cooking has always kind of been something that I've enjoyed doing, so I'm not one that always follows recipes, and I make a lot of things up myself. Yeah. So I don't have one cookbook or anything that I would say. I just say, you know, Google plant-based whatever you're looking for, whether it be plant-based vegan meatloaf or things like that. Get creative in the kitchen. Awesome.

One of the things that I was thinking as you were telling your story is really how hard you've fought. And even, you know, when you're at that place where you're like, oh yeah, I'm totally ready to die, I cannot keep going. And yet you still push forward even in pursuing more options. And I feel like what I see, I see people just quit stuff all the time because they're like, oh, I had a bad reaction to that. Or like, I had done a ton of posting this week on coffee enemas that's had lots of conversations and people are like, oh, I can't do that. I'm allergic to that because I didn't feel good afterwards. And I'm thinking, you're never going to get better if you—

No, I agree. Don't push through the discomfort. Right, right. And being sick is uncomfortable, you know, like, so learning to not have cheese on your pizza is not going to be easy. But when you realize that the casomorphins in cheese are more addictive than heroin to our brains, you know, when you realize what food is actually doing to our body, when you take the time to investigate things, I think, and educate yourself on things that we as Americans have not been educated on before. Yeah. Your mind opens up and you're more willing to accept some things that might be uncomfortable. I think coffee enemas, and I don't have to use them anymore, but I think I don't want to go a day without them because I think they're so good for us. Yeah, I know. So yeah, and I think coffee enemas with phosphatidylcholine in them, Makes it even more better— not more better, but even, you know, a little more potent and better for detoxing our system. So simple things that we can learn about that make a big difference. And, you know, being willing to not be so focused on what you think is right because you've just been told it this way.

Yeah, awareness is a huge part of that, but then fighting past the discomfort.

Yeah, it's, I mean, it's, it's a whole different thing to go out to a restaurant for dinner, but we do it, you know. You just, you learn as you go how to get through situations, and then you still think about what's really important. Like, I don't have to drag an IV pole with me anymore, you know. Right.

So I know it's those little things. I've been, I've like Halloween for years and years, you know, I was too sick and then I was too sick to walk, and we ended up just running kids all around Yesterday, like, till late at night because they went with different friends. And I was like, I'm just so happy that I can do this. Like, yeah, I can just be present with my kids. And if they want to go a mile down the street to their friend's house, I can take them.

Like, no big deal. Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing how when you get a little bit of health back like that, you realize you don't take it for granted, I think, you know? Yeah, because it's so precious to us, those little simple things are so precious to us, you know?

Yeah. Well, thank you. Thanks for sharing everything.

Wishing your doctors could communicate and come up with a cohesive plan specific to your medical needs and genetics? At Invita Medical Center, they offer a team-style approach, giving you the opportunity to heal. In addition to a commitment of providing radical love and care for their patients, They are strategically located in sunny Arizona because Arizona offers the best integrative medical laws in the country. Call today to speak with one of their patient care coordinators.

You can find them online at Invita.com. Disease is contrary to life. Therefore, wherever disease exists, life must also fight to exist.

Good job fighting, Lyme fighters. Keep it up.

We'll see you next time. Lion Voice contains general information about medical conditions and treatments. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. Okay, Lincoln? Okay. The medical information on Lion Voice is provided as is without any representations, warranties, expressed or implied. Okay? Okay. Lion Voice makes no representations or warranties in relation to the medical information on this podcast. You must not rely on the information on this podcast as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. If you have any specific questions about your medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. And for you, you consult your parents, okay? Okay. If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention. You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice, or discontinue medical treatment because of information on this podcast. Got it, Lincoln? Got it.