Stroke Recovery - my Food Philosophy
I’ve struggled to write this post for a long time now. Mainly, because I want to ensure that what I am writing is clearly not to be taken as medical advice or recommendations. I hope my journey inspires you to recognize that there is hope to improve your quality of life and to research the possibilities for your own health journey!
Often times, after going through a serious medical condition, or suffering from a chronic medical condition, we can feel stuck, hopeless, or exhausted from trying numerous approaches to find relief. It sometimes seems as everyone on the block has advice or a recommendation for you to try. Whether it’s an essential oil to relieve migraines, supplements to restore your gut, a chiropractor down the road who works wonders, a new favorite doctor who can run all sorts of lab work… the list goes on and on and on. Recovery, especially when pursuing an integrative/collaborative/functional/holistic care model, can be incredible overwhelming and exhausting… not to mention the financial burden and stress it adds to your monthly budget.
Let me tell you, I’ve been there, I understand, and it is the opposite of fun.
In this post I want to dive into the first of five topics that made a tremendous impact on my health after my stroke. AND spoiler alert, the first topic is my first line of defense. It can be applied to just about anyone. It does not cost extra money although there is some budget rearranging and priority setting. And although I have researched many many many practitioners recommendations, studied medical institutes research on the topic, and am currently in an educational institute to learn more about this topic, I have been in complete control of this for myself my entire recovery. Are you curious?
What I eat and how I integrate movement is my first line of defense when it comes to stroke recovery
Some of my favorite resources that have taught me an abundance of information on this topic are:
Weston A Price foundation
Kresser Institute
Primal Endurance and Primal Blueprint
… and honestly a numerous amount of podcast and other practitioners specializing in a realm of topics.
How did my diet change after my stroke?
I’ve mostly avoided the standard American diet the majority of my life. About 10 years ago I became even more aware of foods I was eating and did my best to eat a cleaner, more whole foods based diet. After my stroke I worked with two practitioners.
My functional neurologist recommended I cut out all grains and refined sugars especially during the critical months of recovery as these foods specifically feed neuro-inflammation.
My craniologist tested my body against a wide range of different whole foods to see which foods my body spiked an immune response to. I learned that for a period of 3 months I needed to cut out foods I never would have guessed were causing inflammation such as avocados, tomatoes and about 30 other foods. After 3 months we would reevaluate and found that as my gut healed, I was able to tolerate more of these food groups.
If this approach above sounds crazy to you, research leaky gut. Here is one of my favorite podcasts on the topic: How To Tell If You Have A Leaky Gut
Just about every type of medicine practicing (even Western medicine) today recognizes leaky guy as a REAL metabolic disorder. When you combine leaky gut with a traumatic brain injury, or really any neuro-disorder, you end up with an extremely delicate and underperforming brain.
After my “strict” period of eating only select types of whole foods I was able to relax my approach a little and focused on eating the 80/20 rule. Meaning, eat 80% as nutrient dense whole food as possible, and 20% don’t sweat when I’m at a friends house or eating out. Over time, that 80/20 rule has become more like 95/5 as a delicious cupcake just isn’t worth the headache i’ll suffer the next day.
How do I eat today?
Today, I often feel as though the only foods I can eat is bone broth, plants, farm raised animal product, and certain fruits without triggering a headache. It can be a frustrating road of constant trial and error. But for me, this is the most important aspect of preventing another stroke and giving my brain the nutrients it needs to fight against cognitive degeneration. To me, it doesn’t make sense to eat however I want, whatever I want, and then spend a bunch of money trying to get a diagnoses or medications. FOOD is the fundamental aspect of health. In this post I don’t want to write too much about food… But, here are a few examples of my favorite ways to approach food:
I’m feeling sluggish and tired today - I make a smoothie with an entire bunch of fresh parsley harvested within the week from the farmers market into bone broth or a smoothie and CHUG it or adrenal support.
I feel a lot of head pressure or brain fog - I make a fresh ginger root/fresh tumeric root/coconut oil/lemon/honey tea to help reduce the inflammation.
I’m getting several headaches this week - I’m going to up my beef liver intake in hopes that the increase of Riboflavin (B2) helps soothe the headache.
I feel bloated and my gut just doesn’t feel good - I eat bone broth for breakfast, lunch, dinner mixed with other nutrient dense whole food.
I notice I’m having trouble remembering people’s names, or with balance, or I fail my finger to nose test - I increase the amount of egg yolks I eat to increase my bodies choline intake which is an absolutely incredible neuro-support.
I also constantly have my vascular integrity on my mind. Your vascular integrity is ensuring that your red blood cells move seamlessly and smoothly by each other. Avoiding sticky and clotting blood cells and free radical injury to the cells. Although, I am not an advocate for getting nutrients through supplementation, I do recognize that for specific circumstances we do need to supplement micronutrients. For me, the single most important supplement I take daily is my Xymogen Mono Pure Omega 3. The amount of clean and absorbable EPA and DHA is essential for me. I can almost immediately tell when I fail to take this for a few days in a row. Fish oil is a controversial topic in the integrative heath realm (as I am learning in my Health Coaching program). There are SO many fish oil supplements on the market today that actually do more harm than good for your body - so much so that a lot of practitioners recommend AGAINST taking any fish oil. I’m confident in taking Mono Pure for my specific scenario and have discussed this protocol with my practitioner.
If this feels overwhelming…what are some next steps?
If eating like this feels overwhelming and you’re not sure where to start, I suggest checking out Chris Kresser’s book, The Paleo Cure. Don’t let the word “Paleo” turn you off. Although paleo has developed a variety of stereotypes in the food marketing realm today, it ultimately is a word that represents a whole food nutrient dense diet. In Chirs Kresser’s book he outlines a 30 day reset plan and then guides you through the process of discovery what foods your body does and does not tolerate to create a customized and sustainable template for eating.
Find a dietician/functional medicine practitioner/Chinese medicine practitioner or another type of practitioner you feel comfortable working with (trust me, it’s WORK for both YOU and the practitioner… and it is HARD work) who can help guide you in making food choice changes.
If you feel you have a lot of the information swirling around in your head and you’re just looking for support in making lifestyle changes, talk to a Health Coach!
If you have ANY questions or are curious about my health coaching practice, fill out the form below! :)