With
6 types of arthritis I could have easily gone the route of the prescription pain
killers/bone builders but luckily for me, I did my research. I read every book
I could find on leading a healthy lifestyle with chronic illness. It took me
years and hundreds of books to figure it all out. And now that I have, I’m so
happy to share it with you! If I can save you the heart ache of being on
prescription drugs for your arthritis, then every email and blog post will be
worth it. 

Everything
changed for me when I upped my wellness practices with these highly effective nutrition
and eating principals I adopted through many books by authors such as nutritionists
Kimberly Snyder and Natalia Rose; Dr. Joel Fuhrman; arthritis specialists Dr.
Susan Blum and Dr. Eugene Zamperion; and endocrinologists Dr. Uzzi Reiss and
Dr. Diana Schwartzbein as well as my own integrative doctors. I’ve been able to
find my own path to wellness following their lead. I manage my symptoms with
diet and exercise, just like cutting edge specialists are now saying to do. No
prescription drugs, no OTC drugs, no NSAIDs.

Here
are three things you can do to get your health back; keep your energy levels
high and get the additional nutrition you need with chronic illness. 


GREEN JUICING

Smoothies
are wonderful too, but juicing has a much higher nutrient and enzyme count. Anyone
who has chronic illness will benefit from homemade green juices. These are not
to be confused with store bought green juice. Store bought juices have few if
any real benefits. They don’t taste anywhere near as good as my homemade. And
they’re up to three times the cost. My recipe is about $1.30 for a 20 ounce
juice.

I
use the Breville Compact Juice Fountain because it’s the easiest one to use and
clean. It’s available through Amazon for $100. There are better juicers on the
market that render a more nutrient dense product but I need to know the juicer
I use is something I will take the time to use. If I don’t do it consistently
it’s kind of a waste having it.

I
make two juices at a time, immediately freeze half and immediately consume the
other half.

A green
juice is not the same as a green smoothie and they don’t last as long as a
smoothie. The nutrients begin to diminish after about 15 minutes.

I’ve
included the recipe on my website www.shireesegestrom.com
. Scroll down to Morning Margarita. Don’t worry. There’s no alcohol!

Always
drink your green juice in the morning, at least 30 minutes prior to your first
meal of the day. You won’t believe the energy it gives you, or how delicious it
is. The apple and lime cut right through any bitterness from the greens to make
a delicious drink. We literally fight over them at my house.

I
consider my green juice to be my breakfast but on days when I’m still hungry
after drinking them I’ll have a big bowl of blueberries or strawberries and about
4 to 5 ounces of Cocoyo coconut yogurt with ½ to 1 teaspoon of real maple
syrup. This is also incredibly delicious. I feel like I’m eating a wonderful
Italian dessert for breakfast!

With
these two nutrient dense meals you won’t get hungry till lunch.

BIG
RAW SALADS

Big
raw lunch salads are another huge game changer for not only managing your
arthritis and other chronic illnesses but also for improving your skin, reaching
and maintaining your ideal weight, elevating your mood and your raising energy
levels.

There
are a few reasons for the big raw salad. First, by filling up on dark leafy
greens and raw vegetables you have less room for other foods that have less
nutrients; your food cravings lessen because you’re loaded up on foods filled
with fiber and water; and eating dark leafy greens and raw vegetables are the
highest ranking nutrients you can get, which also helps to keep food cravings
at bay. They’re high in micronutrients and enzymes.

EATING
LIGHT-TO-HEAVY AND COMBINING MEALS PROPERLY

I
talk about these basics in more detail in my free download Shiree’s FivePillars to Optimal Wellness .

Basically,
you have a freshly juiced green juice in the morning; and fresh berries and
coconut yogurt if you’re still hungry; a big raw lunch salad (recipes below);
and an early 5:00ish dinner such as wild salmon and a vegetable; or a super grain
like quinoa or millet and beans with a vegetable.

So
that’s “fish and vegetables” or “starch and vegetables”. You don’t combine fish
(or any meat for that matter) and starch. It’s very taxing to the digestive
system because the two foods digest at different speeds causes unwanted
fermentation and digestion jams. Know why beans cause so much gas? Yep, because
they are both protein and starch!

So you
want easy to digest foods and good food combinations so your body can focus its
energy on regenerating your skin and bones, not on digesting big, ill combined
meals. Make sense? And you’ll get plenty of high quality fat with cold pressed
extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil or flax seed oil on your salads, about 2-3
tablespoons a day. But for cooking at high heat, use grapeseed oil or coconut
oil. The latter two are both safe for cooking. 

RECIPES

These
are some of my favorite salads. I like to prepare my salads to not quite fill a
nine inch dinner plate. You can eat the whole salad for lunch; save half as a
mid-afternoon snack; share it or have it for dinner.

Strawberry,
Cilantro, Lime Salad