Monday, April 12, 2010

Susan’s Healthy Journey

The Charming and Beautiful Susan gave her blog a facelift over the weekend. Susan is a certified nutritionist. Healthy living produces results and she’s living proof.

A few years ago we served as missionaries in Sudan. While I worked at a Bible school, she would traipse all over the bush to different villages in 103 degree heat and teach women’s Bible studies. Often the village elders would attend to glean from her insights as she taught the ladies. Sadly, she had to quit going to the villages because the walk caused tremendous pain. Her joints were inflamed and muscles hurt continuously. When we came back to the States, things only got worse and she was diagnosed with Lupus. For six months she could hardly get out of bed. Doctors tried to regulate her symptoms with medication. The meds would provide some temporary relief of some symptoms, but their side effects caused other difficulties. Susan found that getting off the medication caused her less discomfort than taking it did.

Susan got radical. She started to research her sickness and look for alternative treatments. She turned her diet upside down and that brought some relief. She informed her doctor and he was on board with anything that worked that wasn’t illegal, immoral or fattening. The longer she stuck to it, the better she felt.

Nutrition and healthy living became her passion. So much so that she took a course in nutrition and was certified. From time to time she even teaches a few classes and is constantly consulting with friends and family on the subject.

A couple of years ago when we were living in Northern California, Susan had a physical. Her new physician was going over the results of blood work and Susan asked him if there was any improvement over results from a few years back when she was diagnosed with Lupus. The doctor told her that if she hadn’t told him about Lupus, he never would have known. She has a clean bill of health.

I’m amazed by that. I’ve tried to be her biggest supporter, but sometimes I gave her a hard time. But the proof is in the pudding. And when I’ve turned my diet choices over to her, I lose weight and keep it off.

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