Eliminate Chemicals, Eat Organic!
Posted on November 7, 2007
Guest Author: This article was written by my wonderful wife Beth.
A little over three years ago I started to have migraine headaches. Not just a really bad headache, but the kind that would start off with my eyes having black spots and blurred vision. The blurred vision would last about 15 minutes and was then followed by an excruciating headache. These migraines would strike me at work or while I was driving and I would actually have to pull over or sit down and stop everything I was doing. Since I had never experienced anything like this, I decided to go to the eye doctor to have my eyes checked and make sure I did not have anything major wrong with me. The symptoms scared my husband and he insisted that I see someone. Up until that point the only way I could cope with the pain was to take 4 Ibuprofen as soon as I started to experience any symptoms. I was having to do this once or twice everyday that I had one. I would experience these headaches two to four times a week.
Doctor’s Advice
I went to my regular eye doctor and told him my symptoms and described what would happen and the details of when and where. He examined me to make sure I did not have some sort of tumor or any internal eye damage. He came to the conclusion that I should see another doctor, a specialist. I went to the specialist and he immediately recognized the symptoms as being a migraine and told me that “…there is nothing we can really do except put you on medication the rest of your life or you can continue to take the 4 Ibuprofen daily…”. At that point, the doctor lost me. I knew that I did not want to be on Ibuprofen or any kind of medication for the rest of my life. I had to do something.
My “light-bulb” Moment
After going to the doctor and talking to my husband about the advice and options that I had, I began to rack my brain to figure out why I was having these headaches. I remember that they had started around 3 to 4 months prior and I ran through every thing that I did daily to try and find the “smoking gun”. After several days, I narrowed my search down to one particular thing. About that time, my husband began the Atkins diet and I started using and cooking with Splenda. Splenda was his preferred artificial sweetener and I did not mind it either. He had great success on the diet and still to this day believes in controlling the amount and type of carbohydrates he eats. After I discovered that Splenda was what I had changed in my diet, I immediately stopped using it. My headaches almost stopped completely. I had 2 the week I stopped and have only had 3 in the past 3 years. Also the ones that I had after stopping were not near as bad and did not last long. I am so happy that I used my brain instead of taking a pill the rest of my life.
Going Forward
Since that moment I started to do research on artificial sweeteners, which lead to natural and organic books and research. The books I have read opened my eyes to what I was putting into my mouth and body. I have since then started to eat organic foods almost 100%. I still eat at restaurant and occasionally have some type of snacks that are not organic, but for the most part I only eat organic foods. Over the past three years, my husband and son, have also been eating organic foods the majority of the time. Also in the past three years I have not had to go to a doctor, except to have my pregnancy check ups and to have my son. My son has only been to the doctor twice, once for a elbow injury and once for the chicken pox. He is really healthy and active, and never gets sick.
I really have learned a lot about the chemicals and foods that we eat in the United States and I really am happy that I have went organic. I am not the only one, you can see the trend picking up momentum by just looking in the major grocery and super markets. Next time you are at the market take notice of all the major brands and the number of organic options that you have available. Some may say that organic foods are too expensive, but I believe that you prevent disease and being sick by converting to organic. I know that the money I spend on organic foods more than makes up for the pills that I would have to be taking. Also a doctor visit is not cheap and my family has avoided so many that the cost of our food is negligible.
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Comments
4 Responses to “Eliminate Chemicals, Eat Organic!”
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Nice debut Beth. You are absolutely right. Our bodies are meant to exist on whole and natural foods, not chemically saturated conglomerations. Thanks for the testimonial.
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Beth:
Hi! Your husband might have told you a little about me but if not, then I’ll come right out and introduce myself. I’m Stephen Hopson the author of the Adversity University blog. Your husband and I have become blogging buddies along with Chris Melton. I am a fan of his blog and it was nice to see you make your debut on here.
I read your article with great interest and would like to ask you to make a list of recommended organic food that people like myself who aren’t familiar with it. I would be very interested in the possibility of going organic down the road but don’t know how to start or where to look. Fortunately, I do not suffer from headaches or anything of that nature but I do want to explore alternative eating habits.
So if you could do another post on that, that’d be great!
[...] This article is written by guest author Beth. The article is a follow up to the previous Eliminate Chemicals, Eat Organic post. [...]
[...] There is so much more that I want to tell you about whole foods and the benefits for your children that I am going to split this article into 2 parts. I will post the second part in a couple days with much more information and details. In the mean time, check out the articles that my wife wrote, Eliminate Chemical, Eat Organic and How to go Organic for more information. Tags: Kids+and+Nutrition, Whole+Foods, Organics+for+Kids [...]