For as long as I can remember I have gotten headaches. The first one a clearly recall was when I was 13 years old. I was at the river with my family swimming in the summer time and I had such a bad headache that I couldn't help but cry (and I'm pretty tough). I remember thinking about how often I was getting headaches and how Tylenol and ibuprofen had no affect on them at all. Sometimes I was taking as many as 4-200mg ibuprofen at a time, but nothing would give me any relief from the pain of my headache..
Over the next 5 years I lived with nearly constant headaches, not being able to figure out what caused them. I went to 3 different doctors and all of them gave me the same diagnosis, Since there was no physical signs of something being wrong and all test results came back good - Nothing was wrong with me. However, I knew that couldn't be the case. I knew that my constant headaches were a sign of SOMETHING being wrong. So it was up to me to find out what.
For the next two years I tried all sorts of things to find the "cure" to my headaches. Anything from drinking more water to going gluten free, but nothing seemed to help. Then I learned about HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) from a few different documentaries such as King Corn and Food Inc. I discovered that this chemical was highly common in today's "modern" processed diet. So I started paying attention to what was IN the foods I was eating and sure enough, I discovered that nearly every food item I was eating from the grocery store had HFCS in it. This got me thinking, this is an unnatural chemical sweetener that my body was not designed to consume and process, was this the cause of my headaches? I immediately started eating foods that did NOT contain HFCS, which left me almost entirely with fresh fruits, vegetables and organic foods. I was surprised at how even a loaf of my favorite deli-fresh French bread had HFCS in it!
After a few weeks of this "clean" diet I noticed my headaches go completely away. Not only that, but I started to lose weight and go down to my lowest weight since I was 15. VICTORY! My life was changed! Right? Not quite.. In addition to not eating foods with HFCS, I had completely cut out sweets like ice cream, candy or pastries. I did this simply as a way to help me avoid HFCS since it is in practically all of today's sweet foods. However, a few months in to eating "clean" I went on a road trip to Dallas, Texas. We drove straight there, 3 days, not even stopping at night and then we did the same on the way back. This trip was a turning point for me, and not in a good way. If you've ever spent 3 days straight on the road, you may know that it is very easy to get caught up in the fast food stops and gas station junk food snacking. I didn't even realize at the time how drastically my life style had just changed..
One year later I found out I was pregnant with my daughter Emma, which meant I needed to go to the doctor. Because my life had been so hectic with a car accident, switching jobs twice and a busy summer I hadn't even noticed that I had gained nearly 50lbs since I had hit my lowest weight one year prior, to the day. (Crazy, Huh?) My pregnancy was perfect with no cravings or complications, I even started to eat healthy again! yet I managed to gain 20lbs by the end of my pregnancy. Since having her I have eaten healthy and cut out sweets again. I go about a week or so with out sweets and then have cookies or ice cream. I have noticed in the last month that when I don't eat sweets I feel good and have absolutely no headaches. But the day after I have sweets I get an extremely painful headache. I'm not sure which causes my headaches, the high amount of sugar or the high levels of HFCS. But either way, sweets will no longer have a place in my life. Now, I'm not saying I wont have a treat now and then, most likely homemade. However, I'm going to do my best to avoid them all together to decrease my pain and improve the quality of my life.
Life is an adventure and I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings!!
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