I’m often torn about whether or not to share personal stories on my blog. While it’s relatively anonymous, there are readers who know who I am and I always feel a little bit vulnerable sharing things that are close to my heart.  But after thinking about this post for the past week or so, I decided that it was important to me and others who might be going through something similar to share – so here goes.

I got one of those phone calls you never really like to get from my health insurance company last week- my bi-annual Pap smear came back irregular.  The reason I get bi-annual exams is because I’ve been through this before (and I thought I beat it) and my doctor wants to watch to make sure my irregular cells don’t progress to cervical cancer.  Last time we watched it for 2 years, and when it progressed to CIN3, one step below cervical cancer, I had a LEEP procedure and cleared the offending cells. It’s been just over a year and one clear Pap since then, and here we are again.

And while the news isn’t that bad (in fact, many cases regress on their own or are stopped well before they become cervical cancer and there are so many people with such worse health problems that I feel very lucky), it’s still not fun.  Perhaps one of the most annoying aspects is the fact that there are things I can be doing to keep the cells from progressing to a worse state.  But having not done enough research and not been told about preventive practices by my physician (don’t get me started on our current American state of “health” care – it’s really sick care run by pharmaceutical companies, but that’s another post for another day), I’ve been sitting and waiting – letting things get worse. The good news is that all that is changing – I’m doing my research and I’m using my lifestyle choices to make this go away.  As Hippocrates said, “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”

Our bodies are amazingly powerful, especially when given the right fuel – and I’m determined to do just that. I’ll post more specifics on my diets and experience as I go, but the changes involve juicing; raw, organic veggies at each meal; folic acid, vitamin E, and green tea catechin supplements; multivitamins; aloe juice; lots of water; no coffee but extra white and green teas; dedicated yoga practice; fresh air; less stress and more love!

And the timing couldn’t be better -  I’ll finish my clinical nutrition certificate program in June and get my yoga certification by October, and we have some fun vacations with family and friends planned.  Here we go!