on the blog . . .
Eating is Hard
In late 2007, I couldn't eat.
Seriously, literally, I was UNABLE to perform the act of eating food. Such a basic thing I never knew I took for granted, but there it was. I was in the hospital, unable to chew or swallow and my food was delivered through a tube in my nose, directly into my stomach. Forget room service! I had gastric service that would feed me while I slept.
I have been working on this blog post for months. I started 6 months ago and then it sat here. I would open it periodically and stare at my screen, type some things, delete them, type some more, delete those. This is a very personal piece of my story that i haven't shared publically, but I want you to know the real and raw parts of my story. Not just the polished bits that can take over when you share yourself online. So I never gave up on this post even though I was tempted to trash it completely. Finally the right words came, but it got really long, so I broke it up into two parts.
Look for Part 2 on Monday.In late 2007, I couldn't eat.
Seriously, literally, I was UNABLE to perform the act of eating food. Such a basic thing I never knew I took for granted, but there it was. I was in the hospital, unable to chew or swallow and my food was delivered through a tube in my nose, directly into my stomach. Forget room service! I had gastric service that would feed me while I lay in a coma.On Nov. 24, 2007 I was hit head-on by a drunk driver while driving from the airport to visit my dad in Nova Scotia.
The feeding tube delivered calories (because I can't really call it "nutrition") while I was in a coma and continued to feed me even after I woke up. The tube came out after a few weeks but my body had forgotten how to eat. I remembered what do in theory, but my muscles and reflexes didn't do what they were supposed to. And the empty space where my front teeth had been made it even harder.
In the hospital with a feeding tube, 2007.
My toddler who is learning how to eat for the very first time in his life right now, chews, swallows and drinks better than me at that time. I was severely brain injured, my swallowing reflex was gone, and I had to relearn this most basic skill.
It all began with thickened water.
This gelatinous liquid was supposed to help train my swallowing muscles while minimizing the risk of choking, but my god, it was vile. Solid food wasn't any better. My meat, veggies, and potatoes were delivered in pureed stripes of pink, green, and white, which in my unwitting state, I happily spooned into my mouth. And coughed. A lot. Nothing seemed to go down the right way.
Then came the cups full of paste-colored Ensure, or fluorescent-but-somehow-chalky pink Boost.
Then the day came that I successfully chewed and swallowed a bite of banana.
Oh, hooray! That was such a good day. It meant I could stop eating purées and I was allowed to eat soft foods! REAL food. My missing teeth and broken jaw made anything crunchy a no-no, but oh, BLISS, I could have FOOD!!!!
But it was still hospital food.
My doctors and nurses said I could eat whatever I wanted though, as long as it didn't require work to chew. After being fed through a feeding tube for weeks, and lying motionless in a hospital bed, my healthy, athletic, 6-foot-one-inch, 170 pound frame had dropped to a very skinny and unhealthy 140 pounds. I was officially given the green light to chow down as much as possible because I needed to regain that weight, and I was burning insane amounts of calories to heal.
My first request was for fast food.
There's no way I could bite into a burger, but my seriously loving fiancé would go out and pick up whatever I asked for (often in the freezing Canadian winter weather), come back to my room, and take bites for me, chew it, and feed me like a baby bird. I'm not kidding. Talk about love, and that greasy, salty food tasted so, so good.
My doctors, of all people, should have known the impact my nutrition could have on my healing, and especially the healing of my injured brain. But all they cared about at that time was the quantity of calories I was consuming. The quality didn't seem to matter and it certainly made my taste buds happy.
Now I know those fast food meals are engineered to excite our taste buds without providing the nutrition we really need, but back then, all I knew was that it tasted good, and made me feel more "normal."
In the hospital with 8 missing teeth
My Partial Dentures
When I left the hospital, I was still missing eight of my front teeth.
The ninth was so damaged it was just waiting to be pulled out. I finally had a partial denture made that made my smile appear normal at first glance, but it was anything but functional. I just wanted to feel like myself again so changing my diet was not at the top of my priority list.
Wearing my new partial
I ate mostly home cooked meals, but I still reached for processed comfort foods almost every day. Eating wasn't fun. My partial didn't stay put. One afternoon when I was out with a visiting friend, we went to a popular sandwich shop for lunch and I ordered the roast beef and cheese. When we brought our orders outside and I took my first bite, I found I couldn't bite through the meat and the pressure on my front false teeth would flip them off my molars where the partial clipped on. I ended up picking the sandwich apart and eating it with my fingers. Eating an apple? Forget it.
I wore the partial denture for 4 years and it limited my food choices in a big way because everything that went into my mouth had to be super soft, or cut up into small pieces. My diet gradually improved, but I didn't know how to eat for wellness and healing. I was wooed by health claims on food packaging and their loud, colorful promises. And my brain injury made me especially susceptible. And although I was injured when I was 23, I couldn't get dental implants until I was 27 years old.
I just wanted to stay home where I could take my partial out and eat comfortably with a fork or spoon, missing teeth and all. I couldn't think clearly or do much more than get through each day, so I just ate what was easiest. Almost everything had to be cut up like I was a small child. I handled it well enough and I laughed about it a lot. But eating was hard. I was miserable.
When it was finally time to get oral surgery and install my dental implants, I was so happy that I didn't care that I was having invasive, reconstructive surgery. My surgeon removed metal plates, rebuilt my jaw, removed my wisdom teeth, and installed titanium posts that would eventually hold my new teeth. I was given some serious drugs for conscious sedation that made me so loopy and relaxed, I remember seeing chunks of bone leave my mouth and thinking, "oh, there it goes."I. DID. NOT. CARE.
It was pretty amazing stuff but the elation I felt was completely real and independent of any drug. Throughout my recovery period, I remember being amazed as I ran my tongue over my implants, feeling the new posts that would give me my smile back. My whole face was in agony but I was smiling already.
TEETH. I would finally have teeth again.
READ PART 2: How Eating Became Easy...
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5 Steps To Perfect Kale Chips
Making kale chips is so easy to screw up.
They're the easiest thing to make but I see so many recipes online that give terrible directions! Recipes all over the internet completely butcher the nutritional value of this amazing snack so I'm going to tell you how to do it correctly.
Prepared kale leaves for making kale chips.
Making kale chips is so easy to screw up.
They're the easiest thing to make but I see so many recipes online that give terrible directions! Recipes all over the internet completely butcher the nutritional value of this amazing snack so I'm going to tell you how to do it correctly.
I love kale chips even more than potato chips when I'm craving something salty and crunchy. They really are crazy easy to make, so there is no reason to pay crazy prices for them at the health food store, but you need to do it right. Here's how:
Step One: Get a large head of kale (preferably organic) or two - here I used a full head of lacinto (dinosaur) kale and a full head of curly kale - and tear it into bite sized 1 1/2 inch pieces, removing the ribs and stems. Rinse and dry thoroughly. Toss kale pieces into a large bowl.
Step Two: Coat the kale leaf pieces in extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil. Use 1-3 tablespoons of oil, you want every piece coated but not swimming in oil. Massage the oil into the kale with your fingers.
Step Three: Season with sea salt and garlic powder to taste. I used 5-8 full grinds of sea salt and a light dusting of garlic powder, no measurements. Start with a light seasoning and add to it as needed.
Step Four: Lay seasoned kale pieces out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Try to avoid any overlapping pieces! If they overlap, they will stay soggy.
Step Five: Place in a 200 degree F oven and allow the kale to dehydrate (NOT bake) until crisp. Check the kale after the first hour and then as needed. The oven isn't hot enough to burn them quickly but you don't want to leave them under even low heat any longer than you have to.
Serve as finger food and enjoy your chips! My favorite thing about kale chips is how they disintegrate and melt in your mouth. So yummy.
*** Keeping the heat in the oven low helps to preserve the nutrient value of the kale. High heat destroys vitamins. High heat will also burn the edges of the leaves.
*** If you have a dehydrator, use that instead! Your chips will be even better and will retain most of their nutritional value.
*** Organic kale is important because it is a crop that consistently lands on the EWG's Dirty Dozen.
*** Using oils like extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil add healthy fats to your chips instead of the inflammatory oils high in Omega-6 essential fatty acids typically used on potato chips. Their flavors also work well with the kale!
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The Secret To Whole Health With Wellness Expert Danny J
“I am here to show up, and help, and love, and serve people.” - Danny J
REST, REBUILD, RECONDITION: Danny J healed herself with those 3 key actions. While her words are different, it's not too far removed from the food, mindfulness, and movement that I used to heal after my injuries. Danny Johnson or "Danny J" is a wellness expert with over a decade of experience and first-hand knowledge of achieving wellness herself... I am so excited to share her interview with you!
“I am here to show up, and help, and love, and serve people.” - Danny J
REST, REBUILD, RECONDITION: Danny J healed herself with those 3 key actions. While her words are different, it's not too far removed from the food, mindfulness, and movement that I used to heal after my injuries.
Danny Johnson or "Danny J" is a wellness expert with over a decade of experience and first-hand knowledge of achieving wellness herself after her body stopped working properly, she gained weight despite doing everything "right," and she had to give up and give her body what it was crying out for. She is the creator of the Find The Money Project, is the co-creator of Social Academy, and she has coached me in taking full advantage of social media so that I can better reach and help you!
I am so excited to share her interview with you! We talk mindfulness, adrenal fatigue, money, and what really matters, so sit down and enjoy our half hour chat. I broke it into two 15 minute parts so it's easier for you to watch. Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
“I feel like I’m constantly learning, and I’m constantly pushing myself to see more and expand more, and to be whole I just think you need to address all those sides of yourself."
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What My Full Recovery From A Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Looks Like
On Nov. 24, 2007, I survived near death when I was hit head-on by a drunk driver. I fell into a coma, my body was a broken mess, I had to be resuscitated in the ambulance, and I was hospitalized for three months.
But after working hard to heal for over seven years, I achieved a full recovery.
On Nov. 24, 2007, I survived near death when I was hit head-on by a drunk driver. I fell into a coma, my body was a broken mess, I had to be resuscitated in the ambulance, and I was hospitalized for three months.
But after working hard to heal for over seven years, I achieved a full recovery.
Not every victim of traumatic brain injury can say that. I think most probably can't. These photos are just a peek inside what my injuries looked like in the early stages of my recovery, and I know that NOT achieving anything close to a full recovery was a very real possibility.
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and I hope my story can inspire others and perhaps be a stepping stone to the next level of recovery for anyone who is a victim of TBI like me. Instead of writing about it, I made a video so I could just talk to you. This is by no means a complete account of what I experienced following the accident, or what I still live with every day. But I think it helps me connect with you in a more personal way and shows a more accurate picture of who I am now.
After making this video, and even trying to write this little post, I know I thought of things to add, and promptly forgot them again. Like exercise (the aerobic type)! That helped me in a huge way. And I forgot to talk about it and only just remembered it now two days after recording the video. So there you go.
We've all experienced trauma, but it's what we do with it that defines us. Watch the video and let me know in the comments how you transform your trauma! Share this post if you found it helpful and let me know if you have any questions. I'm here for you.
xoxo
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The Perfect Outfit For Your Health and a GIVEAWAY!
PACT is a company that not only makes clothing that I feel cute and stylish wearing, they make everything with fairly traded organic cotton, grown on family farms in India and sewn in factories by real people under humane conditions. No sweatshops. Ever.
I used to put toxic chemicals on my skin on a daily basis. And you're probably doing the same thing right now. Most clothing is dyed with terrible chemicals and our skin absorbs what we put on it! Did you know that?
Every time I got dressed, I was putting those chemicals on my skin. And that doesn't even account for chemical residues left in GMO cotton or synthetic fabrics. Luckily, there is a company making clothes I can feel great about wearing.
PACT Apparel makes scrumptious organic cotton clothing that is a dream to put on. To be my whole healthy, I firmly believe that what goes on my body and how clothing, products, and food are produced, all matter just as much as what I eat and how I move.
PACT is a company that not only makes clothing that I feel cute and stylish wearing, they make everything with fairly traded organic cotton, grown on family farms in India and sewn in factories by real people under humane conditions. No sweatshops. Ever. PACT even gives us a peek into how their clothes are made through their website and social media!
I recently got my hands on some new PACT items, so I want to give you a more detailed review.
And give you the chance to win a $50 PACT gift card!!!
I'm still nursing my baby and one of my daily go-to tops that I love for this is the PACT shelf-bra camisole. It's not designed for breastfeeding but it works perfectly for pull-down nursing. The organic cotton is buttery soft, the shelf bra gives me support but still allows for easy breastfeeding, the straps are adjustable, and the perfect amount of stretch keeps the camisole's shape intact despite being repeatedly pulled down and grabbed by little baby hands . I also never have to worry when Baby J decides to suck on my shirt because PACT uses only non-toxic dyes!
I actually own 6 of these tops now and I wear them ALL THE TIME, but this latest one I got in black is perfect for layering under other tops when it gets chilly, and black has always been a classic color choice in my wardrobe. I also work out in it! It's really the perfect basic, all-around, wear-everywhere camisole.
I also got to try out a pair of organic cotton boyshorts in the new limited edition squash blossom print. I own a lot of organic PACT undies already, but I always opt for the bikini cut so I was really excited to try the boy short style. They are extremely comfortable and the extra coverage makes them perfect for more active activities because they stay put and don't ride up. They also add a little extra bum coverage when you want to feel less exposed, but they're still cute and sexy. No granny panties here! It's not really in line with My Whole Healthy or my personal values to post revealing photos of me in my underwear on the internet, but there are plenty of photos of how these babies fit on the PACT website and you can trust me when I say the comfort is off the charts! I'll definitely be adding more PACT boy short styles to my underwear drawer.
The last new item I tried out were the organic cotton knee socks in the limited edition print, desert sky railroad stripe. Living in San Diego, I don't get much opportunity to rock knee socks because I basically live in flip flops, but I love the fit and feel of these socks so the next cool day we have, these socks will be perfect! They really stay up, the print is versatile to work with different outfits, and the organic cotton is soft and comfortable. I wore them around my house all day, and maybe took a few more pics of my feet in the air just for fun ;) Nothing like kicking up your heels to brighten your day!
So here's the best part. PACT is giving you the chance to win a $50 gift card to use on wearpact.com! This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. ... AND CANADA! I got you, my fellow Canadians. I made sure you could get in on this, too.
Enter below! The giveaway runs from March 1 - 6, 2016 so make sure you enter THIS WEEK! When the giveaway is over, one winner will be randomly selected and I will announce it on social media. Make sure you are following me! The winner will also be informed directly with the email you provide below.
ADDITIONALLY... (I'm so excited to give you all this stuff I can't help it with the all caps) I have a discount code for you!
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST SO YOUR FRIENDS GET A CHANCE TO WIN AND USE THE DISCOUNT CODE, TOO!
DISCLAIMER: This is a sponsored post written by me, Maggie Yount, in partnership with PACT Apparel. All opinions are mine alone.
This post may contain affiliate links.