Hi, I am Cheryl.
I’m just starting to work on a certification in nutrition, and I’ve started my PhD in Psychology in January. Hoping to some day do this for a living,
help people, specifically around diets and other healthy living subjects.

While doing all this I spend an hour a day at the gym and cook all my foods from scratch. I am really excited to have our own blog, as we are both passionate about helping people.

We tend to compliment each other with different strengths. One is a fantastic listener, genius-level intelligence, kind and caring and understanding. Being really good with supplement information, blood sugar info, low carb and pregnancy, and a myriad of health issues.

My information in nutrition is usually weight-loss or candida-centric, as I have not has as many health issues to deal with. I definitely try to focus more on the motivational and psychological aspects. It’s great if you can find a diet that works for you, but if you don’t stick with it it doesn’t do you much good.

I’ve managed to turn things around for myself and have a different perspective with food. My only concern for my food is that it’s edible and super-nutritious.
I’ve managed to really seperate my emotions from what I eat.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want things that are off plan.. the want never goes away.. but I know that those emotions are fleeting and will go away a lot
sooner than the consequences if I do decide to stray.

10 minutes of pleasure eating cake can set me back months.. literally. I won’t trade 10 minutes for a few months.

I’ve had candida since age 1 and have been overweight since age 6. I’ve struggled with my weight all my life and finally started getting into low carb in 1994 when I first got on the net.

I felt like I had finally found the truth, and I was definitely on the right track. I became obsessed with the subject and read information on it quite
regularly.

As I learned I found out lots of good information on how to refine low carb so it was even better quality.
Better fats, better ratios, cutting out things like dairy and fruits and fake foods.

However knowing and doing are two different things.
When I found myself after having my son at 380 pounds, barely functioning and afraid I was going to die any moment, that was my wake up call.

With some help from many sources, I finally got my head straight.. I got out of denial that I could eat off plan at any time, that it would ever be OK with my body.

I made that decision and decided I would do what ever I could to stick to what I decided, including pre-planning my foods, avoiding situations that might compromise my peace, and more.
I haven’t done any cheating on low carb for almost three years now. Not a bite off plan. However I did have a few low carb items like fruit and cheese here and there but this happens very rarely and usually with extenuating circumstances.

My last “cheat” was with some pumpkin soup with cream on christmas. I totally understand what it’s like to struggle with cheating. I was on and off the wagon for like 10 years.

It took me a long time to see the cost of what I was doing, to face that no food flavor was worth that, and to see all of the things I gained from better health by giving up a few minutes of pleasure each day.

Q: I am considering getting pregnant soon.
I have had a lot of healing on the diet and am just wondering if there is any specific recommendations for someone considering pregnancy, or for when you are pregnant.
The thought of bringing a healthy baby into this world really excites me.
I hope and pray that I can hold onto my “abstinence” during pregnancy and not pig-out on junk like I did in my other pregnancies when I didn’t
know the importance of diet. I tend to get mild nausea and in the past the only stuff I could eat was deep fried junk.
Does anyone have any tips for this???

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A. Everything on MOVES is perfectly healthy for pregnancy. The only thing I would say is that you should not try to lose weight during pregnancy. Though, I have to say that I did lose weight, wasn’t trying, during the first few months of both of my pregnancies. I ate low-carb (wasn’t on MOVES yet) and had very healthy babies.

If you think about it – all the foods on MOVES are extremely good for you – and baby. You do not NEED cookies and cake and potatoes – neither does the baby. Just make sure you get plenty of fluids (you know that having had babies before). Keep you fat level up – that keeps you feeling full. You may need to increase your veggies and/or total food intake.

I have received this request – can anyone provide a reference?

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I’ve been dealing with anal fissures on-and-off for 7 years. Writing this down helps me 
feel less alone and embarrassed about this debilitating condition.

When the condition started I didn’t know what was wrong. I went to three doctors, one
who was a colon-rectal specialist, and even had a mini-colonoscopy, which I now realize
probably made the condition worse. After all that, the doctors kept telling me that they
couldn’t figure out why I was so uncomfortable. Needless to say, I’m extremely angry at
these doctors for practically dismissing the agony I was in. I was young, embarrassed and
naive, so I didn’t pursue the issue further and tried to figure out how to live with the
extremely uncomfortable symptoms.

I’ve had long periods of time in the last 7 years without suffering from the symptoms. But
the fissures are back with a vengeance. I gave birth 9 weeks ago. During the pregnancy I
had horrible morning sickness. The only thing that helped to reduce the nausea was a
medication that made me constipated. Anyway, by the end of the pregnancy I had anal
fissures and the vaginal birth only made things worse. During the pregnancy, I kept
complaining to my OB about pain and spotting during BM’s. She told me it was
hemorrhoids and there was nothing I could do.

I was finally diagnosed 2 weeks ago as suffering from anal fissures. While I was grateful to
finally know what was causing my symptoms, I’m extremely concerned that I may never
recover from the fissures. I’ve been using the nitroglycerin ointment for about 1.5 weeks.
There is some improvement but I doubt that the ointment will heal everything. The doctor
said that if I didn’t see a significant improvement after using the ointment for 2 weeks,
then I’d need surgery to get rid of the fissures.

The idea of a surgery that could leave me flatulent or incontinent is absolutely terrifying.

I’m going to get a second opinion in a couple of days. I live in Seattle. Does anyone have
recommendations for doctors, acupuncturists or naturopathic doctors that can help with
this condition?

I would like to take a quick moment to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know my story. I’ve been dealing with candida for sure since ’01 (when I became pregnant with my first child), although I’ve been overweight all my life. (Maybe I had candida sooner and I just didn’t know.) I discovered the Atkins diet in 1997, but for a myriad of reasons, I wasn’t able to get serious about weight loss.
I’d go on and off plan, and I lost and gained the same 40lbs more times than I can count.

When I got pregnant it was impossible to ignore the symptoms of systemic yeast, but I hadn’t put all the pieces of the puzzle together to deal with it. I didn’t eat well during that pregnancy, and I was VERY unhealthy. I weighed over 270 by the time I delivered her, and I was ridden with candida.

I did some research, and I discovered that I needed to follow the anti-yeast version of Atkins, but because of addiction, I just couldn’t give up the foods that were keeping me sick. I took Nystatin for a while, but the die-off symptoms were too severe, so I just came to accept that I had a yeast problem but wasn’t really in a place mentally to do anything about it. (I was in denial, BIG time!)

Early last year, I finally came to terms with the fact that I was going to have to buckle down if I really wanted to feel better. In March, I started following a very strict anti-yeast diet (meat, oil, veggies, eggs), I discovered the wonders of coconut oil, and I started a supplement regimen that worked well for me. I started feeling better, and I lost about 25lbs (down to 213 in July), but I feel victim to my addiction again, and it took me quite a while to get back on track.

When I became pregnant again in January though, I KNEW my health depended on getting healthy. Due to some circumstances that are out of my control at the moment, I’m not eating as strictly as I need to be, so I’m having some candida issues, but I’m so much healthier than I’ve been through any of my other pregnancies (including the last one where I did follow a low-carb plan but ate whole grain and fruit).

I’ve got a lot of experience with what DOESN’T work, and I’d love to share that knowledge with others so that they don’t have to learn the hard way
like I did. I’m quite certain that I’ve stumbled on what DOES work though. I’m loving the journey to health (even when it’s hard sometimes), and I’d love some company along the way.