A story of a mother and her pre-school age daughter working through the challenges of Celiac Disease. Learn how intuition and a mother’s love brought healing to a baby girl.

There is something inherently special about a bond between a mother and a child. There is a connection between the two that goes beyond understanding, beyond anything of this Earth—a spiritual connection. Because of this connection, mothers instinctively sense changes in their children that even a doctor can’t detect.

Meet Kelly Johnson, a loving mother to two beautiful children, Elliana 4 and Luca 2. Kelly is living proof that mother always knows best.

Kelly has always felt a special connection with her daughter, Elliana, from the moment she was born. Kelly believes that the two of them were meant to find each other and journey through this life together. “A long time ago, our souls agreed that she would be my daughter and I would be her mother,” she said. Looking at her daughter, she sees the inherent wisdom she held as a child and feels the tug of her heartstrings as her old soul resonates with her daughter’s.

“A long time ago, our souls agreed that she would be my daughter and I would be her mother.”

As a mother-daughter duo, the two share more than just similar sensibilities; their connection to one another was affirmed by genetics after a diagnosis of Celiac Disease; first in Kelly and then in Elliana.

After Kelly gave birth to her second child, Luca, she really started to notice an increase in her  symptoms. She had suffered for years from migraines, from gastrointestinal issues, frequent ear infections, sinus issues, and countless other ailments. Yet this time was worse. Her acid reflux became so bad that she found herself buying antacids in bulk, trying desperately to get rid of it. She also had issues with her bowel movements, leading the doctor to suspect Irritable Bowel Syndrome. All effort to remedy the issues, through medication and cutting out certain foods like meats, offered her no relief.

At a family gathering Kelly’s relatives began questioning the condition of her health. She had given birth recently and her weight loss had been rapid. The change was dramatic enough that her mother approached her, saying the family was worried she had an eating disorder. Kelly was devastated to hear these words come from her mother’s mouth. She knew she’d been eating and hadn’t realized her significant weight loss had become an issue, not realizing at the time that this was a symptom of Celiac Disease.

She consulted her doctor who ran further tests and discovered that her liver enzymes were high. Still, her doctor was short on answers as to what was wrong, leaving Kelly to search out answers on her own. A friend suggested that Kelly try cutting out gluten and willing to try anything to help ease the gastrointestinal issues, she gave it a shot. After just a week, her symptoms subsided.

A friend suggested that Kelly try cutting out gluten and willing to try anything to help ease the gastrointestinal issues, she gave it a shot. After just a week, her symptoms subsided.

This relief turned out to be the missing puzzle piece she’d been looking for. Armed with her new information, she consulted her doctor about Celiac, but wasn’t immediately presented with a diagnosis. The doctors still thought it was an IBS flare and were hesitant to test for Celiac disease. “It’s often the doctors and the people around you telling you it’s all in your head because you look okay,” Kelly said.  She was frustrated that they weren’t listening to her. She knew her body and, trusting herself, she kept pushing, kept researching, and kept seeing out doctors until she was finally tested for Celiac and diagnosed.

“It’s often the doctors and the people around you telling you it’s all in your head because you look okay.” 

Due to her own experience with Celiac Disease, Kelly was able to recognize an echo of her symptoms in her young daughter.  Because Celiac is a genetic condition, Kelly realized she needed to be on the lookout for symptoms in her children. “I honestly wouldn’t have asked to get my daughter tested if I hadn’t felt some of the symptoms myself,” Kelly said.

Like Kelly, her daughter, as a baby, suffered from what they assumed was acid reflux. She was experiencing frequent loose stools and would spend most of the day screaming. As a first-time mom, Kelly had a lot of self-doubt on how she was taking care of her baby, and having her constantly crying made her question her ability to parent. Her husband was a big help, but sleep deprivation and the constant crying pushed her to her limits. Her doctor recommended adding oatmeal to her milk, still unaware that gluten was the problem.

When she noticed that her daughter wasn’t gaining weight, she knew that something was wrong. Once again, doing her own research, she had to be an advocate. This time for her tiny daughter who couldn’t communicate for herself. The doctors, like with Kelly,  were again hesitant to test for Celiac, but her mother’s intuition detected what the doctors couldn’t see. Kelly insisted her daughter get tested for Celiac. When the doctor called with the results of her daughter’s tests, Kelly cried. She cried because she had known, and there was a sense of relief in confirming that her mommy instincts had been right and she was able to help her daughter. “Because of me, we caught it early and she is less likely to develop another auto-immune deficiency.”

Once again, doing her own research, she had to be an advocate. This time for her tiny daughter who couldn’t communicate for herself.

Elliana is now in pre-school and having a child that young with Celiac has been challenging. Kelly is teaching her daughter all about gluten and what foods she can and cannot have. She feels guilty at times because she thinks she’s denying her daughter Elliana a normal childhood. When other families are eating fast food, she has to explain about cross-contamination and why she can’t eat french fries.

Kelly often reminds herself that she’s giving her child the opportunity to nourish her body with healthier options. And Elliana has been a trooper throughout the whole process. She has learned to enjoy the foods that she’s allowed to eat and even reminding adults that she has to eat gluten-free when they offer her something she can’t have. “A classmate brought cupcakes for their birthday, and my daughter told them ‘I can’t have that’ and happily ate her grapes,” Kelly described, beaming with pride at her the wisdom of her four-year-old.

“In being a mom, I found the opportunity to love me and have a voice. Because through my love for me I can love them even more.”

As a parent, trusting yourself and your instincts can be hard. You’re going to make mistakes and challenging things are inevitably going to happen, whether that be discipline issues, arguments, or health scares. “But you can’t know the good without the bad,” Kelly says. You have to trust yourself, as she has learned to do, and love yourself for just being human and keep trying your best, no matter what. That is where the healing starts. Trust your mommy instincts—they’re never wrong.

You have to trust yourself, love yourself for just being human, and keep trying your best, no matter what.

The post A Story of Celiac, a Little Girl, and Her Mother’s Love. Learn the symptoms of Celiac Disease in your child. appeared first on LoveSelf.

In honor of a Elliana, introducing LoveSelf Chocolate Banana Paleo Pancakes!

Dearest LoveSelf’ers,

In honor of 4 year old Elliana, I created these amazing LoveSelf Chocolate Banana Paleo Pancakes. Elliana has Celiac disease and adores bananas and chocolate. What is more kid friendly than chocolate for breakfast?! I used all healing ingredients, including raw cacao and organic banana flours. So easy, gut healing, and incredibly yummy.

Add walnuts to keep your brain happy and healthy!

Here’s to a happy belly, loving heart, and inspired life.

XO! Rachel

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Just because you are dealing with autoimmune disease or leaky gut symptoms does not mean you have to sacrifice yummy dessert. Our Paleo Chocolate Fudge takes only five minutes and will have your heart and belly singing happy songs.

Check out our super easy chocolate fudge recipe. Our Paleo Chocolate Fudge is also refined sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, and grain free. Our recipe uses a coconut base your belly will love. Enjoy!

Paleo| Gluten Free | Dairy Free | Refined Sugar Free | Soy Free | Non GMO | Organic

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For the love of a happy belly and a plantain waffle. Did you know that one plantain is full of immune boosting power with almost half your daily recommendation of Vitamin C! It is also loaded with vitamin A, B6, Potassium, and Magnesium. Wow Plantains!

Paleo| Gluten Free | Sugar Free | Soy Free | Non-GMO

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Real life wisdom from a woman who overcame depression and is living well with Celiac disease.

Figuring out that Celiac disease was at the root of many of my challenges was only half of the journey. Now that I am off of prescription medication, I am constantly balancing what it looks like to take care of myself and continue to heal. I have discovered there are a handful of tricks that help keep me on board when I feel the waves rocking me.

Below are eleven simple healing steps you can start doing today to improve your life mind, body, and spirit.

1. Eat Real Food

Eating clean, unprocessed and whole foods is key to self-love. There is something sacred and powerful in buying, cooking and knowing all of the food you eat.

The process of discovering the foods that are nourishing for your body can seem daunting but there is a ton of healing and grace that goes along with it. I like to view it as a game! For fun steps check out Rachel’s 8 Things I Learned that Changed the Way I Eat Food. 

2. Drink Water

Did you know that your body is 80% water? Something as simple as making sure I am hydrated is key in my energy and mood levels. Nourishing yourself in this way makes it easier to do all of the other self-care routines. Truly.

3. Exercise

Produce that serotonin and get moving! As a survivor of sexual trauma, I always found exercise difficult and triggering. Once I changed my diet, I found that exercise became easier and brought me tremendous release! I try to move my body for 30 minutes a day at least be it walking, yoga, running, hiking or stretching. 

4. Don’t Skimp on Sleep

It’s amazing what you are capable of when you are fully rested! Getting enough sleep is vital in making sure you have a clear mind and can take optimal care of yourself.

5. Get Outside

My favorite way to get my Vitamin D is to GO OUTSIDE. Vitamin D helps with inflammation and has shown to lower depression. Being in the sunshine helps you with sleep, gives you energy and boosts your mood. Not to mention being in nature is healing in and of itself.

6. Choose Spirituality

Making space in your life to nurture your relationship with spirituality will help you to remember what all of this is for in the moments when you don’t want to run, don’t want to cook another meal, or can’t handle the brain fog. There is something out there that is always able to fill you back up; something so deeply hopeful that you will be enriched and sustained through your journey. Finding spirituality that suits you can look many different ways and is entirely personal to YOU. 

7. Get Creative

Try drawing, writing, coloring, cooking, knitting, or anything that lights you up! Find ways to be creative in your life even if it’s in moments where things feel dull and lifeless. It’s a beautiful tool to help bring magic into the ordinary.

8. Choose Gratitude

Dealing with health issues can sometimes be a drag. In those moments when you want to have a cocktail with friends, would like to exercise but don’t feel well, or would dig having one of those double chocolate brownies. Practicing gratitude can be so inspiring and grounding. Try writing in a gratitude journal!

What are you grateful for right now?

9. Socialize

Being around people can be super uplifting. When I am feeling blue, I reach out to friends. There is something special and energizing about laughter and community. They can mirror back your progress to you, help you remember what you’re doing all of this or can simply get your mind off of things.

10. Honor your Aloneness

Healing at this level can bring up many different emotions and experiences. Taking time to be alone and to check in with yourself is key. I like to journal, meditate, hike, read, or get crafty

11. Forgive Yourself

When I shifted to an anti-inflammatory autoimmune disease diet, I also started working a spiritual self-study program that is all about changing your thoughts to ones of forgiveness. When you forgive yourself, you forgive the world.

Forgive yourself for everything in the past. It has created a beautiful you.

Forgive yourself for the judgement about your body, forgive yourself when you break and eat something you felt you shouldn’t, forgive yourself when you don’t exercise as hard (or as easy) as you feel would be best. Always remember to forgive! You’re doing the best you can.

I am currently still practicing my dance of balancing self-care and self-love by listening to my body and allowing clarity and peace to move through me. There are still days where I struggle and then there are days when I am so darn hopeful I feel like I am going to burst. This is what it means to be alive! I am so grateful to have gotten to this place I have always fervently hoped for.

I believe in the magic of self-love.

When we love ourselves we can more easily love others. I am so grateful to share my story and hopefully inspire others on their wellness journey. There is hope! You can absolutely do this!

The post How to Love Yourself in 11 Simple Steps. Healing with autoimmune disease. appeared first on LoveSelf.

The connection between celiac disease and depression. Beth’s story of depression, celiac disease, and finding hope in the midst of despair.

Treating my autoimmune disorder and Celiac disease at its roots has given me the space to create deep energetic healing in my life that I never thought was possible. It has brought me to a level of wellness I wasn’t always sure could be mine.

My name is Beth and I hope you find my story inspires you to greater healing.

I was diagnosed with Celiac disease when I was 16. Every time I ate my stomach would get upset. After the diagnosis, I was given pills and told to stop eating gluten. Naturally, I continued to eat gluten because who would be WILLING to give up waffles? I lived in an average town in Texas where nutrition wasn’t valued so had little motivation to believe that what I ate could have any sort of impact on my life. I justified that I could handle an upset stomach. Not knowing the ramifications of what was actually happening to my health.

There was a lot more than an upset stomach going on in my life. When I was a child I often felt sick and struggled with depression and anxiety. By the age of 8, I was experiencing full-blown panic and anxiety attacks. When I was in junior high and high school I was taking anti-depressants, self-mutilating and toying with the idea of ending my own life. I was hospitalized at 15 for severe depression and suicidal thoughts.

When I was 21, I was sexually assaulted and was hospitalized once again for more of the same. The continued trauma, self-hatred, and hospitalization, kept my mind and body feeling broken. Despite being in therapy all my life, I was constantly struggling with self-love and self-worth. I kept trying to have a self-care practice. I always desired to be off medication and to treat my depression, trauma, and anxiety naturally with exercise and diet but it felt too big. Being in my body felt awful. I used substances like alcohol and nicotine to assuage the pain. My life often felt unmanageable.

Throughout all of this, I desired to fight for my well-being but I didn’t always know where to start. The cloud that covered my life kept me rooted to the spot. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to live and live well. What then was my next step toward happiness?

By the time I was 22, I moved to Colorado and that was where I started to get an education about different ways to take care of your body and soul. At the time a nutritionist explained to me the effects that gluten can have on your body and also on your mind.

After years of Celiac denial, I finally decided to give up gluten and see what would happen.

I felt better than I ever had in my life. I experienced a layer of clarity and happiness I never thought was possible for me. I could move and be present in my body in a way I had never imagined before. Deeper energetic healing was starting to occur.

When I was 25, I got Mono and I desperately needed an additional layer of healing. While giving up gluten felt amazing, I knew more could be done because I was still always getting sick. I started to consider hidden sources of gluten and cross-contamination. I decided to give up dairy and coffee since they were potential “cross-reactors” to gluten. I experienced an additional layer of healing in my body and mind but still knew more could be done. I now had proof that nutrition directly affected how I felt.

By 27, I was researching the relationship between mental health and Celiac and decided to follow a Paleo anti-inflammatory auto-immune diet and get off of medication for depression and anxiety.

Because your immune system and mental health are directly linked to your gut, I learned that Celiac is often considered a neurological disorder instead of solely a gastrointestinal disorder.

I started to dabble by taking out a few ingredients here and there such as grains, nightshades, legumes, corn and soy. I discovered that the medicine I was taking had ingredients like lactose, potato starch and corn in it. I was at a crossroads, I had to give up Western meds to be fully compliant with my Paleo healing program. By April of that year, I was off of medication. I am still medication free to this day.

My mental health is better than it has ever been. I have so much clarity and the ability to really explore self-love in a way that didn’t seem possible before. 

It doesn’t mean everything is always rose petals. I can still struggle with mental health, have days when I don’t want to move my body and get pretty foggy. The difference is I now know I can have that peace and that there is nothing wrong with my spirit.

I now have the fuel to seek and experience what I want and deserve in this life. 

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship,” Louisa May Alcott

The post Celiac Disease and Depression. A Journey to Find Healing and Self Love appeared first on LoveSelf.