Weird title, I know. You’ll see very quickly why I chose it.
The thing about me, first and foremost, is freedom. Specifically, medical freedom. Our freedoms period are being eroded, but I know of so many examples of people having to jump through hoops to get medical care. One example is someone I follow on Facebook, who had to fly 1300 miles away to get care. You do not have freedom if you do not have the freedom (over your body) to decide what medical treatment to use or not use.
Over many years, I slowly began researching more natural ways to resolve things. It began with recurring UTIs, probably 20 years ago. I knew on an intuitive level, without research, that you cannot just live on antibiotics forever. So, I slowly but surely learned more and more. I bought large books (they look like textbooks) that had various vitamin, mineral, herb, and tincture remedies for specific ailments. I loved it. I tried to eat very clean here and there, throughout the years, but that eventually made my rotation of eating disorders worse. I danced around this issue in a past blog post of mine which I’ll link below.
Several years ago, I came to the realization I was considered “crunchy.” That basically means you want to heal your own illnesses rather than go to a traditional Western medicine doctor. There’s also an element of “no one-size-fits-all” approach. In other words, a Western doctor would mainly prescribe a cookie cutter pill, whereas the crunchy thinking would be to maybe try eliminating a food you might be allergic to, then maybe a tincture. There is more to it than that, such as trying very hard to avoid toxins such as those in skincare, but that is the main premise. And I am very much still that way! Our healthcare (USA) has also gotten outrageously expensive, so there is definitely a financial incentive to heal yourself as well.
With that being said, I have never been a black and white thinker, and I love options. It’s great, in this modern society, to be able to research symptoms, solutions, treatments, maybe read articles on what has worked well for others, etc. It’s always possible that the remedy that worked for someone else may not work for you. Everyone is different. I am also very thankful for emergency care; a tincture is not going to work for a car accident victim for example. Or, maybe an ailment has gotten too severe and a doctor or hospital visit is needed for life-saving stabilization. Maybe someone just plain wants to use one type of treatment only…if you believe in freedom as I do, you understand that’s how it should be, whether you agree with their choice or not. And if they live, and are cured and health(ier), that should be all that matters.
The following are some examples of things I’ve heard, or seen on social media, that make me question how into freedom people actually are, and how much they value the health, safety, and healing of their friends and family: a FB post by someone stated, “there is NEVER a reason to get your wisdom teeth out, they are there for a reason,” and “EVERYONE gets wisdom teeth, even if not until you are 50 or 60 years old.” A gal mentioned having to get her wisdom teeth out, as they were so severely impacted they were becoming abscessed, active infection, and she couldn’t eat. The OP said something to the effect of “you were probably nutrient deficient, something in your diet caused that.” <insert eye roll> Others, like myself, mentioned knowing lots of people who will never get wisdom teeth; there is a genetic component. The OP blocked me over my “I know several people who will never get wisdom teeth” comment.
Another gal I know has admitted to struggling with pretty highly elevated blood pressure. She kept trying and trying different natural remedies to no avail. Kept getting migraines. Finally, one morning, asked for prayers as she was headed to the ER. She woke up with some very scary symptoms. Some of the comments were ridiculous; such as: “don’t take meds they give you, or if you do, only for a short time to get it under control then go off of them.” Seriously?! Common sense?? We ALL know at least a couple people who live perfectly normal healthy lives on many years of pharmaceuticals. My step dad has been on high BP pills since his 20s; his is genetic. My mother’s thyroid quit working completely in her 40s and she had to go on synthroid (there is no alternative when there is little to no function); she is now in her 70s. My grandmother lived well into her 80s while taking prescriptions the last 20 or so years of her life. Would you tell a diabetic they can find an “insulin alternative?”
Other smaller examples: thinking everyone that gets cancer should do natural healing such as “the anti cancer diet,” rather than surgery and chemotherapy. Thinking a healthy diet means the same thing for everyone, such as saying fruits and veggies are unhealthy for ALL. Using the last 3-4 years as an example, saying everyone should be REQUIRED to get \/accX’ed.
Here is where things got personal for me. I was getting tired of seeing so many so-called crunchy friends making posts and comments on Facebook along the lines of diet this, and diet that, being healthy is cutting out food groups, or healthiest way to lose weight is eating nothing but meat and butter and fats. I know from both personal experience and books/research, that this kind of thinking is the #1 reason eating disorders develop. (Not suggesting *everyone* develops an eating disorder, although you’d think that’s exactly what I was saying by the responses to a post I did).
I made a post about this very thing, then another one coming out of the closet as “ED healed.” I want to break the silence. I wanted people to know I am there for them, if they are possibly suffering in silence. You would think I had just admitted to being a serial killer. Here’s the thing: with very rare exception, the way to heal eating disorders is regular meals (no intermittent fasting for example), intuitively eating (your body may be craving something that has a nutrient you have been deficient in), and not labeling foods as inherently “good” or “bad.” Food is neutral, you just eat and enjoy your food. (The healed foodie in me loves this).
Quick educational halt: Eating disorders have a mortality rate, and it’s possible to get hospitalized on an IV, or worse. You can die from, or have residual organ damage. You can die from, or have residual damage from, a damaged esophagus. Etc. Also to add: I took an online class from the IPE (institute of the psychology of eating). The main takeaway for me was: if you constantly worry over what you eat and/or feel stressed while eating, you do not properly digest your food. And a stress response also lowers immunity and can make you sick, no matter if what you are eating is the healthiest thing known to man. In other words, simply being present and enjoying your food, whether it’s kale or cake, is the healthiest thing you can do for your body!
People had ALL kinds of opinions and nasty comments on my post. People I strongly suspect have no firsthand knowledge or experience with full-blown eating disorders. I say “full-blown” because there are people who *can* crash diet, say, before an event like a wedding and lose a few pounds, then be fine afterwards. They just resume eating like a normal person. Doesn’t mean they *should* do this; I am just pointing out that not 100% of people who go on a diet develop an eating disorder.
These comments ranged from simply saying “you’re wrong,” then blocking me, to mocking the wording, to laugh reacting. There was also talk of what one should NEVER be justified in eating, as well as an obese person (I know this because they have posted their height/weight for “keto” purposes) who wouldn’t leave the issue alone. Kept commenting ad nauseum on the 3 different posts I made about unhealthy/healthy eating. What the worst part about this all was, was these were ALL people who were on my friends’ list, but literally never before gave a like, a comment, a support on anything else of mine. (That speaks to their character, AND it also partly speaks to the divisive algo rhythm social media wishes to create, but that’s a separate topic.)
So, let’s break this down in several ways. 1) who wants to live the rest of their life not eating the birthday cake? Or going to a cookout or other function with food and not eat because you are too worried everything being served is “processed” or “has sugar or chemicals?” Or, when traveling, maybe miss out on that little family-owned, hole-in-the-wall diner that has amazing food for the same reason? Not me. 2) You do realize you cannot live a 100% toxin-free life, right? It’s just not going to happen. Even our airways get sprayed, and you cannot just hold your breath. 3) I am free; are you? Certainly not the folks picking apart MY eating habits. When I healed, I released my obsession with food, weight, worrying about every little morsel going into my mouth. People are so obsessed with food, chemicals, etc, they aren’t free to just live life. 4) Medical freedom? The thing the crunchy act so passionate about; finding a remedy that works for the individual. No one-size-fits-all. Yet I am not free to heal my ED by eating foods you don’t? 5) Where is the humanity, humility, and just plain common sense? You aren’t happy I survived? Further, we all have things to overcome, as no one is perfect. That’s where the humility should come in. And I don’t have to explain common sense; if a car is coming, you get out of the road…just like if you have something wrong with you, you find a way to fix it that works for you.
If you’ve made it to the end, I humbly thank you. This was longer than I anticipated. A favor….can we start a movement of #crunchycommonsense?
https://wordpress.com/post/explodingglitterbox.com/69
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics-research-eating-disorders
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Carpenter
https://psychologyofeating.com/
Exploding glitter box 