Health is Wealth

One of the most valuable things that money can't buy and how I’ve journeyed to obtain it.

There’s a saying Alex and I like to throw around to remind us of the important things…

“There are two things you can’t buy: time and health.”

Of course there are other things you can’t buy more of, but in our experience these are two of the most valuable.

Our days are numbered, as we all know. Those sands of time really do slip through our fingers. Time that allows us to live, to love, to do the will of God. We don’t know how much we have. We can’t go to Amazon and pick up more. We can maximize what we have been given.

While health is something we can influence by our choices, environment, and other factors, it is something elusive as well. One minute you’re in a meeting at work and the next diagnosed with a brain tumor. At least that was in our case. When you have it, you don’t really think about it. When you don’t have it, that reality rules everything else.

Over on the gram this week we’ve been chatting all things health. I also wanted to talk about it here, to share a bit of my own health journey and share a bit of the general health practices I’ve adopted (along with Alex and our kids) to ensure we are the healthiest we can be.

The three types of health.

There are three types of health: physical, emotional, and spiritual.

They are all separate and yet connected, for our beings were fashioned together as was the Body of Christ - all parts are influenced and affected by the others. When one is sick and hurting, it all is sick and hurting.

Spiritual health is nourished by the Sacraments, by daily prayer, by virtue, and so forth. It is broken through sin, spiritual warfare, and negligence, among other things. We talk a lot about spiritual health here so I won’t touch on it too much today. But it’s the foundation of mind/body/soul. When our soul is sick, our body suffers. Whereas if our body is sick, our soul can still be pure.

Emotional, or mental health, is crucial for well-being. It influences our thoughts, habits, patterns, and even our physical health. It can be broken through trauma (big or small), genetics, infections (true story), poor choices, and more. Poor mental health can also make us very physically sick. However, while poor mental health can make it difficult to pray or even practice virtue, there were many great saints who suffered from various forms of depression and anxiety. These crosses can very much unite us to Our Lord’s Passion in particular ways and, while quite difficult to bear, can also be a means of sanctification. I chatted about this quite a bit when I wrote about the one thing I needed to heal to be a good wife and mom.

Physical health is what I want to talk mostly about today. I sure have been through my fair share of physical trials and, while I won’t spill my life story, I will share what I’ve been through and how I climbed my way out of the trenches to a place of incredible well-being.

My own health journey…

In health, as in life, I’ve been through hell and back.

I was undiagnosed Celiac as a kid (found out in my early 20’s), suffered from anorexia as a teen which left me with gastroparesis (which randomly resolved with the pregnancy of my first baby), and then found myself increasingly sick again as the years went on. I saw conventional doctors and naturopaths and was left was misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis. It got to the point of so much pain I threw myself into the hands of anyone who’d offer relief and, as a result, I found myself in surgery, unable to have more children.

But it didn’t stop there. I increasingly became more ill and in pain. Of course my mental health also took a hit from all the physical sufferings (especially the fact I couldn’t have more babies…I can’t even begin to describe that anguish). But instead of throwing myself at more doctors, I finally threw myself into the arms of God. I wept and sat in that hole, spiritually and mentally, and begged to be delivered. I prayed for wisdom. For God will always grant wisdom. And I believed He would finally send me the right people. I was willing to do the work, I just needed that extra bit of grace.

And He sure followed through. The thought hit me that I might have Lyme disease. And so I prayed for a doctor and one from California came on my radar. And I was tested and it was confirmed I had Lyme (and about 6 other co-infections). After 8 months of 5x daily pills, detoxing, lifestyle changes (it was basically a full-time job and thank you to my incredible nanny/second mom, Emrey, who jumped in and saved me then and in the future) I finally hit remission. I remember that call with my doctor - I was standing in our rental condo just having moved from our home. Mike’s business was on the upswing, I was finally healthy mentally and physically after all those years, and the baby we were chosen to adopt was just 6 weeks away.

I also remember thinking, I haven’t had more than two weeks without something big happening, I wonder what’s around the corner? And I also thought, we’ve been through everything under the sun except for cancer…but there’s no way it could be that.

And yet there was more.

What was around the corner was brain cancer. And caregiving. And death.

Then grief.

Then new life.

And then more healing needed, as I talked about a couple weeks ago. Healing from the trauma of so much loss. Healing my nervous system and anxiety from so much going wrong.

And in the midst of that healing, last August 2023, I was struck with more news.

Breast Cancer.

I started writing about my diagnosis and treatment in depth in this letter, but then deleted and saved for later. For all that deserves its own space.

But after a doctor, literally sent by God, fell into my lap, and two rounds of non-conventional treatment (the first from September-January where my CTC’s reduced from 1.8 to 1.5 and this next round, of which I will receive results within a week or so) there is one thing I feel.

I feel incredible.

Inside and out. From my nerves to my muscles, my cells to my synapses, I feel the best I’ve ever felt. The health practices I’ve adopted over the past couple of years, refined by my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, have ironically enough left me in the best state of body I’ve ever been.

If you are lucky enough to have a healthy, pain free way of life, you best be praising God for it! I know I sure am!

And if you are sick and struggling, still praise God because you will learn so many things through it: humility, reliance on God and others, wisdom to sort through the toxic noise of this world, union with Jesus’ Passion and His own pains, refinement in life choices, and the fact that God wants to heal you inside and out, in this life or the next.

While I am not cured of my cancer (my results could be opposite of what I’m feeling) nor am I spared from any future health ailments (I know I will struggle with more, I’m sure), I do know one thing. It’s that not having health is a monumental cross and yet one that draws us close to Jesus. While, at the same time, having health is what we should be striving for, with the simple gifts from God’s created world, in order to be able to live our vocations to their fullest.

That being said, we can hold our health with two different hands, like St. Augustine said. We should “take care of our body as if we are going to live forever; and take care of our soul as if we will die tomorrow.”

Sorting through the noise…

So, how do we do this? What are some simple things I can share with you, to help you sort through the noise in order to find health in mind/body/soul??

While I’m not a doctor nor is this a comprehensive list, I wanted to give you a few points of consideration, to pull into your own life. Most of these are free and given to us by God in order to life a healthy life. I guess money can buy health in the sense we can all buy things like pills and IV’s and better food, but at the end of the day our days are numbered just the same. Whether I have cancer or not, my life expectancy is the same as before my diagnosis - one that is known only to my Creator. I just want to make sure I am able to do God’s will in its fullest with the time I do have.

Here’s my list of health practices I incorporate daily and the one’s I’ve seen the most benefit from, especially as I recovered from Lyme and take on breast cancer. If you can’t do them all (like with that precious newborn baby in your arms or caring for a husband with brain cancer) then offer to God what you can and He’ll supply the rest!

1. SUN. Regulating your circadian rhythm will set your entire body up for success. From hormones and gut bacteria to melatonin production and weight maintenance, the sun is our greatest gift. What an irony?! The SON and the SUN are our greatest gifts! How do I do this? Every morning (rain or shine) I grab my coffee and head out to the front porch. I get my eyes in the light for about 5-10 minutes BEFORE I look at my phone or any blue light. If it’s dark out or I’m up early, I’ll wear blue light blocking glasses and I definitely won’t look at my phone. And minimal phone/TV after dark. This one practice has transformed both my sleep and my waistline…

2. Eat REAL food. I have tried every diet under the sun (no pun intended) from vegan to carnivore to low-FODMAP and everything in between. Healing diets have their place but and everyone’s physiology is different, but I’ve found that a diet consisting of approximately 1gram of protein/lb body weight combined with seasonal fruits and veggies and well prepared grains (the sun makes our gut bacteria depending on light so what we can digest in the summer is different than the winter and varies between hemispheres) is the best way to go for both health and normal weight management. Women, especially, are chronically underfed and under-proteined. Nourish yourself. Eat pro-metabolically. Limit vegetable oils, flavorings, sugar, stuff not from this earth. Sure, have a treat now and then (ice cream and tequila are my go to’s) but eat simple and save the feasting for heaven. There is a reason we are much sicker than previous generations and food is a huge source of that.

3. Stay active. Don’t burn yourself out but don’t sit around. People were much more physically active “way back when.” And they were healthier because of it. I used to go crazy and kill myself in the gym. I’ve done cool stuff with my body, too, like run ultramarathons in the mountains (50 miles for my 30th birthday lol) and dance competitively and train with amazing trainers. But I’ve finally settled into a simple routine of health and fitness that leaves me energized, strong, and capable to handle my life in all ways, even during treatment. Personally, I like to lift heavy weights 2-3 days a week and walk. That’s it. To each their own, but I can’t do things like HIIT or high energy workouts without burning my adrenals and packing on the pounds. Point is: we don’t need to diet and workout like crazy to be healthy and fit.

4. Keep stress as low as you can. (not easy I KNOW.) Do your duties of your state in life (wife/mother, husband/father, priest, single person) to the best of your ability and learn which things belong in your life and which don’t. Play and have fun! Laugh. Build community. SLEEP. Learn how to sew or build something. Sit around and drink a cup of coffee. Stop “grinding.” Let go of FOMO. Don’t wait to be happy until “that one more thing is done.” It’ll never be done. Learn how to stop and live in the moment no matter that life brings. There will always be storms, just make sure you stay in the eye of that hurricane, wink wink.

5. Cultivate JOY and a good attitude!! This one has carried me further than anything else. I may not be able to sleep or keep stress low or even eat well one day (or one season). But I can be joyful. And joy tells the body that everything is OK. Joy will signal to your brain that, even though life is hard, it’s not threatening. joy will be your witness to others. Your body will be able to laugh off what’s thrown at it (like climbing into an oxygen chamber during cancer treatment or dealing with the stress of another teenage meltdown). With all my health issues, you’d think I was cursed. And I sought out priests for this very reason. But in the kitchen one day God whispered, “you’re not cursed…you’re BLESSED.” Blessed to know suffering and want and sustenance in God alone, indeed.

6. Incorporate targeted testing, supplementation, and treatment as needed. If you’re not well even after doing the above, find a doctor your trust (prayer works, trust me!) and get some testing done. Gut testing (like a GI MAP), micronutrient testing, comprehensive bloodwork, and maybe mold testing is a good place to start. Annual screenings. Your doctor may recommend other things but avoid chasing symptoms with treatment, get to the root cause and target that (for example, my breast cancer was being fed by an infection in my mouth aka: root cause).

7. Lastly, nurture your spiritual and mental health. Be in a state of grace, frequent the Sacraments (Confession and the Eucharist, food for the soul!!). Pray! Practice mental prayer. Forgive others! Pray for God to help you heal any inner wounds. Live virtue (for that brings immense peace to the mind and soul). Cultivate resilience and healing in your mind, with any mental health issues you may have. Stand firm in the face of addictions. Offer to Jesus your state of mind, body, and soul and let Him transform you!

This is just a basic list, but I pray you either know or can find health, as I have! I hope this is helpful. At least it’s a good jumping off point to continue this conversation at a further time. And I promise I’ll share my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment story soon!

And if you need a Saint in your corner, here’s a great list you can turn to.

May God bless you abundantly in all areas, soul, mind, AND body!

Love, Kristine