Diet to Beat Fibromyalgia

We have a powerful and awesome God. He will help you overcome fibromyalgia and beat it. Fibromyalgia is caused by inflammation. Foods and beverages that we eat and drink cause the inflammation that causes fibromyalgia. The foods that we eat are so far away from what is natural and safe for us to eat. People have grown accustomed to eating food that is economical and fast instead of ALIVE.

To begin my journey to recovery I simply and mindfully stopped eating anything with gluten, artificial sweeteners, or msg (monosodium glutomate) in it. I read the ingredients on everything before I buy it and if I don't know what is in it I don't eat it. I basically eat fruit, vegetables, meat, and nuts. I have found gluten free food such as bread, cereal, oatmeal and protein bars but you have to watch out for msg and artificial sweeteners. Sugar and high fructose corn syrup also causes inflammation in a lot of people.

It takes seven days for gluten to get out of your body. So if you stop eating gluten today by next Friday you will notice some improvement. When you stop all three is when you will notice the most difference and be on the road to recovery. Eventually you will come off of pain medication. I tried a few fibromyalgia drugs. I didn't like any of them. They had side effects. I didn't want to cover up the symptoms. I wanted to treat the disease and be healed from it. And I have beaten it thanks be to God.

To begin your journey to recovery simply eat fresh or frozen fruits, vegetables, meats and nuts. It may seem like a drastic change but I promise you it will pay off. Eat this diet for two weeks and notice how much better you feel. You may need to make other changes but this is the absolute best to begin with. If you absolutely can not tolerate this diet than look for gluten free, artificial sweetener free, and msg free foods. Just watch the sugar intake. You want to keep the sugar intake at a low number. I'm trying to keep mine below 10mg a day. If you can start off with at least lower that 19mg per product that is a good start. Aim for less than 37mg a day.

I drink water, 100% juice with no sugar added, lactose free milk, black coffee and unsweetened black tea, and herbal teas sweetened with pure honey. If you are used to sweets try it for a while and you will see that your taste buds will adjust. I used to love soda pop, pizza, cheeseburgers and sweet tea. Now I love water, apples with peanut butter, nuts and juice. I feel so much better. I am so thankful that I got my life back. God will help you get your life back too. When we are weak, He is strong. He gives us strength to do what we need to do. He will take the desire to eat and drink unhealthy stuff away from you. 

I will update soon with information on supplements. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much at one time.  If you have any questions you can contact me anytime. If you would like to go ahead and start with some kind of supplements I suggest magnesium - 100 to 300mg a day, CoQ10 - 200mg day, and a B vitamin complex, and probiotics. Magnesium is critical for relief of muscle pain. CoQ10 and B vitamins increase energy. And probiotics treat some types of infections when used with a diet low in sugar.

If you want to try a natural pain killer try mixing 1/4 tsp of ginger in a beverage and drinking it down or eating something with ginger in it. Ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory but won't upset your stomach like anti-inflammatory drugs will. I will keep you in my prayers and email you again soon.

If you would like to check out my blogs go to http://sharingodslove.com/ and http://godislove373.blogspot.com/  I wish you the best on your road to recovery.

Sincerely,

Your Sister in Christ, Lisa Collier Clewis

P.S. If anyone would like a recipe using their favorite foods to help them better adjust to this new date I will help you. Just message/email me your request and I will get back in touch with you with a recipe.

God Is Still In The Healing Business

I have not had a life free from sickness, pain, and disease. But I have a God who has delivered me from it all. My life is one of miracles and wonders. I have seen God's power with my own eyes. I have seen his power in his protection, his healing, and in his guidance. We have a mighty and powerful God whom I will love to praise forever. 'When we've been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun; We've no less days to sing God's praise, than when we first begun.' Praise God. I have been healed so many times. When I was a small child I had high fevers that caused me to be delirious. My mama said that she took me from doctor to doctor and no one could diagnose me or help me. Praise God, he healed me. I was completely healed. The random fevers just stopped.  

 

When I was a few years older I got up out of bed in so much pain. I felt like I had to urinate but I could only pee small drops of blood. The pain was terrible. I cried and prayed and asked God to heal me. When I awoke the next morning I was completely healed. There was no more pain, no more burning, no more blood. I peed normally. I was completely healed with no sign of the illness that I had the night before. 

 

God is the master physician. He loves us unconditionally and has compassion on us. And when he heals us from something it doesn't come back on us. We are healed for life. When I was a teenager I was plagued with tonsillitis. Eventually my tonsils came out in pieces and thank God, I never had tonsillitis again. I had seizures for a little over a year. The last one that I had I was at my boyfriend's home. There were a lot of people there from church. I felt a seizure coming on and not wanting to make a spectacle of myself I went outside where I would be alone. My boyfriend sensing that something was wrong followed me. About the time he asked me what was wrong I was in seizure. My body stiffened like a board and I was unconscious. He took me in the house and laid me on the couch. The elders of the church anointed me with oil and laid hands on me. When I regained consciousness I could feel there hands on me and hear them praying for me. Praise God, that was the last seizure that I had.  

 

When I was twenty-three I was healed from endometriosis. I saw two gynecologist who wanted to do surgery. One wanted to do a partial hysterectomy and the other wanted to do a full hysterectomy. I wanted to have a little girl, not surgery. I prayed for God to heal me and to bless me with a little girl and he did. I was healed from endometriosis, everything was normal and when I was twenty-five I had a girl. Praise God for healing me and blessing me with a daughter. God is so powerful. He is more powerful than anything that we will ever face in this world. And praise God, this world is temporary because Jesus is coming back for his church and we will rise into the heavens and begin an eternal life with new bodies that will never be sick or diseased.  

 

When I was twenty-four I became very sick. I could not have a bowel movement and I got a high fever which at one time caused me to be delirious. My grandmother said that I had had lock bowel. I was alone with two children. This was after I had been healed from endometriosis. I got them asleep and I tried without success to have a bowel movement. I remembered hurting and being fevered. There was a length of time that I can not account for. I remember getting into the bed and praying. Something extraordinary happened to me. I was in a tunnel and could see a light at the end of the tunnel. I walked towards the light and I could feel a mist coming in from the end of the tunnel. I could feel the mist on my skin. Then a crib mobile appeared and I heard a voice say, "It is not yet your time." And then I woke up. I wasn't hurting anymore and my fever had broken. I went to the restroom and had a bowel movement. God is so amazing. He is always there to rescue us from whatever catastrophe that we face. 

 

Again God showed me his power and protection in the end of the year 2010. I had suffered a long time with excruciating pain. No one could find what was causing the pain. I later learned that they couldn't find the pain because damaged nerves were causing the pain to radiate down to a healthy part of my spine. After performing a task which caused the back of my neck to swell, I was given a MRI which showed three herniated disks, spinal cord impingement, spinal canal stenosis, bone spurs, and pinched and damaged nerves. I was sent to a surgeon who looked at my MRI and examined me. He said that there was no way the MRI was mine, it was impossible. And that if that I had been my MRI I would be having numerous problems. He said that my legs would be falling out from under me. I experienced that one time. He said that I would be urinating on myself. I experienced that one time. He said that I would be having difficulty picking up things like a glass and that I would drop them. I had that happen one time. The only problems that I had were pain and memory loss. Well, he sent me to get a myelogram. The myelogram showed that there was more wrong with me than the MRI did. I had spinal cord impingement in not one but two different areas and one of those was from a bone spur. And there was even more nerve damage than showed up on the MRI. I was given a neck brace to wear because a bump or a fall could cause me to be paralyzed from the neck down. I had a very successful surgery without any complications. Praise God. He protects us when without us even realizing it. Go to God with everything. Pray about everything and leave it in his hands.   

 

In 2011 I was diagnosed again with fibromyalgia but this time by a neuromuscular doctor who specialized in fibromyalgia. The pain was debilitating. I tried a couple of pain medications for fibromyalgia but could not and did not want to deal with the side effects. I got so sick that I had to start at five minute intervals getting up and moving around. Then I would have to rest. Gradually, adding another minute to my activity. Praise God, he has blessed me with the energy and stamina to go all day from sun up to sun down. Bless God, through research and information given to me by my neuromuscular doctor, and trial and error I have beaten fibromyalgia. At my last appointment my doctor said, "You have beaten fibromyalgia. There is a little bit left but you have beaten fibromyalgia. Continue your diet." I cut things out of my diet that contributed to fibromyalgia and I added certain supplements to my diet. Praise God. He led me to someone who could teach me what I needed to know about fibromyalgia and diet and taking certain supplements to beat fibromyalgia and he blessed me with the self control to stay on the gluten free, msg free, and artificial sweetener free diet.  

 

A few months ago a MRI showed a bone spur on C5 in my spine. I was considered for surgery again. Me and many of my brothers and sisters in Christ prayed for me to be healed from the bone spur and to not need surgery. The surgeon had me to get a myelogram. I went back to see him for the results. Praise God, when the surgeon walked into my room he said, "The bone spur is gone. You do not need surgery." I said, "God healed me." He said, "Yes he did." 

 

I do not know why my life has taken the course that it has but I do know that God is my protector, my healer, my redeemer, and my spiritual daddy. I have been kept from so much pain and sickness and death. I was hit in the head with the sharp end of an axe when I was four. I flipped out of a raft while white water rafting and was repeatedly sucked under the water in the falls but I did not swallow or inhale any water. A boat went over my head. And then, as though in slow motion I saw a raft coming and when it came over me I raked at the bottom of it with my hands and someone grabbled my hands and pulled me into the boat. I was not afraid nor hurt. Praise God I was ready to go ride the rapids again right then.  

 

I was in a car accident. The car flipped three times and the battery was thrown I think they said 80 feet from the car. Praise God, I escaped with only a gash under my left eye that is barely visible now. Many more times than these God has come to my rescue. Time and time again God has protected me and healed me and through it all I have grown so much spiritually. I love God with all of my heart, mind and soul. He is my everything. And he will be yours too if you will only believe. John 3:16, 17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

 

The first covenant that God made was to give us a guide to live by and prove to us that we can do nothing without him. It is impossible to live completely without sin because we are flesh and blood. Every day we are faced with the battle field of life. We often react to situations and in our hindsight realize that  we weren't Christ like and that we could have handled it better. Eventually, we get stronger and stronger and react more and more the way Christ would have, but it takes a lot of growth and studying and learning how to apply God's word to ourselves and to our life and so many different circumstances. As long as we are in these flesh and blood bodies we will make mistakes. The new covenant that God made with us through Christ takes away all of our sin and  anoints us with the Holy Spirit who teaches, leads and guides us. But first we have to learn Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We have to trust God and give our heart to him.  

 

Throughout my life I have been faced with many challenges. I learned how to forgive others for my own peace of mind and heart and then I learned how to forgive myself for my shortcomings so that I can receive God's love and blessings which he freely gives to us. We can not do anything to earn God's love. He is God. He is the creator of the heaven and the earth. He is perfect. And when we accept Jesus Christ as our risen Lord and Savior that which is in us is perfect.  

 

If you have not already, I urge you to go to God in prayer and just bleed your heart out to him. Talk to him about everything. Be open and honest and  tell him that you are sorry for what you have done wrong. And then accept his forgiveness and forgive yourself. And if the devil tries to remind you of your past tell him to get behind you because God has set you free and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Speak the word to yourself. II Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Keep God's word on your mind. Think about things that are positive and true according to God's word. Try not to allow yourself to be negative or profess negatives. And look for a body of Christ that you can join so that you can fellowship and worship God with like minded believers. God bless you. 

 

Written By Lisa Collier Clewis 17June2014

'Young Is He Who Dreams' poem. Dedicated to my Dad.

Sweet dreams of life I had as a child;
To love, to laugh. to be wild.
I soared above the rain and clouds;
And pierced the stars with dreams renown.
As keen as a cat, as big as a bear;
As majestic as an eagle soaring through the air.
As an adult, life's strains got me down;
Lower then the fields on the wrong side of town.
Greener then the tobacco that grew;
I knew not what to do.
Then, alas, a child I did have;
An embrace, a smile, a laugh.
My dreams I did see in him;
My life did begin again.
You are never too old to dream 'tis true;
To soar above the clouds in the sky blue.
But, alas, when your dreams stop your day does end;
Because you forgot to live and you lost your boyish grin.

Written by Lisa Collier Clewis 22May1994
For my Dad's 50th birthday.

Published in 'The Best Poems and Poets of 2003,' Library of Congress.

Break Every Chain

God's love breaks the chains of bondage and self condemnation that prevent us from being the best that we can be.



http://youtu.be/pxxYqSwJRuU

MY GOD, MY CHOICE

I often wonder why people do not believe in God or why they choose not to serve him. I think back to all of the things that he has seen me through . Some people question his heart and ask, "If he is real why do bad things happen?" I am here to tell you that because of his love he has made a way to give us eternal life in a place where there is no sorrow, no sickness, no death, and no suffering. And he covers us with his wings and gives us strength to endure, strength to put ourselves in better circumstances, strength to make better decisions, strength to choose a life befitting a child of God. YES bad things do happen do happen but he hasn't promised us easy. He has promised us his love to see us through it all. Because he has promised us his unconditional love and eternal life in paradise we endure the trials of this life with our heads held high, putting on the mind of Christ.

The creation of the world and life was no accident. God consciously spoke it into existence. And God wanted from the beginning for us to live healthy, whole, and in peace. But men chose to disobey God. God being a just and loving God gives us the power to make choices, to make our own decisions, to live for him or caught up in the world that man has created for himself. BLESS GOD for being a God of love, patience and mercy because when we have gone on our own as far as we can and are broken he swoops in on his wings of love and not only forgives us but forgets our sins and remembers them no more. He gives us a fresh start. We are made clean and new and covered by his grace.

I do not know what I would have done, how I would have survived, how I would have turned out, or even if I would be alive and whole and well if it were not for me believing in him and accepting his gift of love and Holy Spirit which teaches, leads and guides us. So many times he has protected my mind and heart, saved my life by his protection and healing, been there for me even when I was living out in sin and chose to live for another in sin. My journey back to him has been a journey well worth the holes and rocks in the road. Because the holes and the rocks in the road were created by me and my stupidity and yet he led me around them and lifted me above them proving his love for me until I accepted his love and forgiveness.

So you see, God is a God of love. His love for us is passionate and will last forever. He is always there for us, waiting for us to remember him, to call him the way we call a friend when we are in need. Because God is our friend. [John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his live for his friends.]

Written by Lisa Collier Clewis 10June2014



http://youtu.be/5YWiH90AYhU

Family A Poem

Where were a woman without a mother?
Oh, how sad her life would be.
Where were a daughter without a father?
Oh, how empty her heart would be.
Where were a sister without a brother?
Who would her comrade be?
Where were a wife without a husband?
Who would her companion be?
Where were a life without these?
In the hands of those who don't care to be.

Written By: Lisa Collier Clewis, February 26, 1993