Real life wisdom from a woman who overcame depression and is living well with Celiac disease.

Figuring out that Celiac disease was at the root of many of my challenges was only half of the journey. Now that I am off of prescription medication, I am constantly balancing what it looks like to take care of myself and continue to heal. I have discovered there are a handful of tricks that help keep me on board when I feel the waves rocking me.

Below are eleven simple healing steps you can start doing today to improve your life mind, body, and spirit.

1. Eat Real Food

Eating clean, unprocessed and whole foods is key to self-love. There is something sacred and powerful in buying, cooking and knowing all of the food you eat.

The process of discovering the foods that are nourishing for your body can seem daunting but there is a ton of healing and grace that goes along with it. I like to view it as a game! For fun steps check out Rachel’s 8 Things I Learned that Changed the Way I Eat Food. 

2. Drink Water

Did you know that your body is 80% water? Something as simple as making sure I am hydrated is key in my energy and mood levels. Nourishing yourself in this way makes it easier to do all of the other self-care routines. Truly.

3. Exercise

Produce that serotonin and get moving! As a survivor of sexual trauma, I always found exercise difficult and triggering. Once I changed my diet, I found that exercise became easier and brought me tremendous release! I try to move my body for 30 minutes a day at least be it walking, yoga, running, hiking or stretching. 

4. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

It’s amazing what you are capable of when you are fully rested! Getting enough sleep is vital in making sure you have a clear mind and can take optimal care of yourself.

5. Get Outside

My favorite way to get my Vitamin D is to GO OUTSIDE. Vitamin D helps with inflammation and has shown to lower depression. Being in the sunshine helps you with sleep, gives you energy and boosts your mood. Not to mention being in nature is healing in and of itself.

6. Choose Spirituality

Making space in your life to nurture your relationship with spirituality will help you to remember what all of this is for in the moments when you don’t want to run, don’t want to cook another meal, or can’t handle the brain fog. There is something out there that is always able to fill you back up; something so deeply hopeful that you will be enriched and sustained through your journey. Finding spirituality that suits you can look many different ways and is entirely personal to YOU. 

7. Get Creative

Try drawing, writing, coloring, cooking, knitting, or anything that lights you up! Find ways to be creative in your life even if it’s in moments where things feel dull and lifeless. It’s a beautiful tool to help bring magic into the ordinary.

8. Choose Gratitude

Dealing with health issues can sometimes be a drag. In those moments when you want to have a cocktail with friends, would like to exercise but don’t feel well, or would dig having one of those double chocolate brownies. Practicing gratitude can be so inspiring and grounding. Try writing in a gratitude journal!

What are you grateful for right now?

9. Socialize

Being around people can be super uplifting. When I am feeling blue, I reach out to friends. There is something special and energizing about laughter and community. They can mirror back your progress to you, help you remember what you’re doing all of this or can simply get your mind off of things.

10. Honor your Aloneness

Healing at this level can bring up many different emotions and experiences. Taking time to be alone and to check in with yourself is key. I like to journal, meditate, hike, read, or get crafty

11. Forgive Yourself

When I shifted to an anti-inflammatory autoimmune disease diet, I also started working a spiritual self-study program that is all about changing your thoughts to ones of forgiveness. When you forgive yourself, you forgive the world.

Forgive yourself for everything in the past. It has created a beautiful you.

Forgive yourself for the judgement about your body, forgive yourself when you break and eat something you felt you shouldn’t, forgive yourself when you don’t exercise as hard (or as easy) as you feel would be best. Always remember to forgive! You’re doing the best you can.

I am currently still practicing my dance of balancing self-care and self-love by listening to my body and allowing clarity and peace to move through me. There are still days where I struggle and then there are days when I am so darn hopeful I feel like I am going to burst. This is what it means to be alive! I am so grateful to have gotten to this place I have always fervently hoped for.

I believe in the magic of self-love.

When we love ourselves we can more easily love others. I am so grateful to share my story and hopefully inspire others on their wellness journey. There is hope! You can absolutely do this!

The post How to Love Yourself in 11 Simple Steps. Healing with autoimmune disease. appeared first on LoveSelf.

The connection between celiac disease and depression. Beth’s story of depression, celiac disease, and finding hope in the midst of despair.

Treating my autoimmune disorder and Celiac disease at its roots has given me the space to create deep energetic healing in my life that I never thought was possible. It has brought me to a level of wellness I wasn’t always sure could be mine.

My name is Beth and I hope you find my story inspires you to greater healing.

I was diagnosed with Celiac disease when I was 16. Every time I ate my stomach would get upset. After the diagnosis, I was given pills and told to stop eating gluten. Naturally, I continued to eat gluten because who would be WILLING to give up waffles? I lived in an average town in Texas where nutrition wasn’t valued so had little motivation to believe that what I ate could have any sort of impact on my life. I justified that I could handle an upset stomach. Not knowing the ramifications of what was actually happening to my health.

There was a lot more than an upset stomach going on in my life. When I was a child I often felt sick and struggled with depression and anxiety. By the age of 8, I was experiencing full-blown panic and anxiety attacks. When I was in junior high and high school I was taking anti-depressants, self-mutilating and toying with the idea of ending my own life. I was hospitalized at 15 for severe depression and suicidal thoughts.

When I was 21, I was sexually assaulted and was hospitalized once again for more of the same. The continued trauma, self-hatred, and hospitalization, kept my mind and body feeling broken. Despite being in therapy all my life, I was constantly struggling with self-love and self-worth. I kept trying to have a self-care practice. I always desired to be off medication and to treat my depression, trauma, and anxiety naturally with exercise and diet but it felt too big. Being in my body felt awful. I used substances like alcohol and nicotine to assuage the pain. My life often felt unmanageable.

Throughout all of this, I desired to fight for my well-being but I didn’t always know where to start. The cloud that covered my life kept me rooted to the spot. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to live and live well. What then was my next step toward happiness?

By the time I was 22, I moved to Colorado and that was where I started to get an education about different ways to take care of your body and soul. At the time a nutritionist explained to me the effects that gluten can have on your body and also on your mind.

After years of Celiac denial, I finally decided to give up gluten and see what would happen.

I felt better than I ever had in my life. I experienced a layer of clarity and happiness I never thought was possible for me. I could move and be present in my body in a way I had never imagined before. Deeper energetic healing was starting to occur.

When I was 25, I got Mono and I desperately needed an additional layer of healing. While giving up gluten felt amazing, I knew more could be done because I was still always getting sick. I started to consider hidden sources of gluten and cross-contamination. I decided to give up dairy and coffee since they were potential “cross-reactors” to gluten. I experienced an additional layer of healing in my body and mind but still knew more could be done. I now had proof that nutrition directly affected how I felt.

By 27, I was researching the relationship between mental health and Celiac and decided to follow a Paleo anti-inflammatory auto-immune diet and get off of medication for depression and anxiety.

Because your immune system and mental health are directly linked to your gut, I learned that Celiac is often considered a neurological disorder instead of solely a gastrointestinal disorder.

I started to dabble by taking out a few ingredients here and there such as grains, nightshades, legumes, corn and soy. I discovered that the medicine I was taking had ingredients like lactose, potato starch and corn in it. I was at a crossroads, I had to give up Western meds to be fully compliant with my Paleo healing program. By April of that year, I was off of medication. I am still medication free to this day.

My mental health is better than it has ever been. I have so much clarity and the ability to really explore self-love in a way that didn’t seem possible before. 

It doesn’t mean everything is always rose petals. I can still struggle with mental health, have days when I don’t want to move my body and get pretty foggy. The difference is I now know I can have that peace and that there is nothing wrong with my spirit.

I now have the fuel to seek and experience what I want and deserve in this life. 

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship,” Louisa May Alcott

The post Celiac Disease and Depression. A Journey to Find Healing and Self Love appeared first on LoveSelf.