How My Health & Nutrition Has Come Such A Long Way in Just a Few Short Months

As a [newly diagnosed] Crohn’s disease and [long time] IBS sufferer, I am burdened with symptoms such as severe digestive irregularity, fatigue and the inability to properly absorb and digest the nutrients which I consume. My symptoms were so severe they became debilitating. Although I’ve dealt with feelings of defeat, disbelief, and denial; thoughts of “why is this happening to me” and “this is never going to get better,” I can say that I have made a complete 180 in the severity of my symptoms. I couldn’t be happier. There is still progress to be made but it’s not as bad as it had been.

 Let’s take a trip back in time to where it all started...

The beginning of my Journey to what is wrong with Rachel

I was first diagnosed with IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, when I was 15 years old. It was pretty controlled up until about 3 years ago after having my second child. It was about 6 months after having my second child that my symptoms became severe. I suffered for two years with stress induced and food triggered IBS. In January of 2014, it became so severe I had trouble leaving the house. My digestion was extremely irregular. I was exhausted and irritable all the time and I spent hours every day in the bathroom. There were days I couldn’t even leave my house, not even to take my kids outside to play. In September, I had suffered with the severity for so long I ended up having to quit my job. After a negative result for Celiac Disease, my GI doctor and I both agreed we would try to treat my condition as IBS.

 I had to try many different ways to reduce my stress and start eating healthier. I had to follow special elimination diets, various different medications for my stomach and for my anxiety, and try to implement yoga or other activity into my daily life,  I spent about a year doing this, to experience barely any relief! I did however see much personal growth from this.

When it came to eating, I could not absorb anything I ate. I lost about 30 pounds in one of the unhealthiest ways there could ever be to losing weight. Every time I ate, my intestines would become spastic and my body would completely flush everything out of my system; before it even had a chance to digest. I was literally getting NO nutrition. This left me with that wonderful (not) symptom of fatigue. When I say fatigue, I mean severe. I would get tired just from standing! While my boyfriend and I would have a conversation in the kitchen I would have to sit down on one of my children’s stools because my body just couldn’t even stand there. It was terrible; and with two young children (4 & 2 at the time) it was so mentally defeating knowing that I just didn’t have the energy to be the best mom I could be to them.

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This fall my daughter started school and it was those afternoons when my fatigue would be the highest and I felt such guilt that I was too tired for my daughter after not seeing her all day while she was at school. The fatigue symptoms were challenging because it not only made me tired but it left me irritable and with a very short fuse. I carried so much guilt, but I thought there is nothing I can do about this.

How Crohn's Disease Affects the Body

In October 2015 I finally decided “I can’t live like this,” continuing these “experiments” of reducing IBS symptoms to no relief and scheduled a colonoscopy for October and a cat scan for November 2015. During the colonoscopy they found ulcers and inflammation at the end of my small intestine, and the cat scan showed inflammation in the same area on the outside of the intestine. This led to my official diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. Directly following the cat scan, my GI prescribed me my first set of steroids (Enticorte) that were supposed to help begin the remission process. Honestly, they did absolutely nothing for me or my symptoms.

I finally got to the point where I was just like “OKAY, you know what? I am going to give this Shakeology a shot! If anything, I’ll at least know by body is getting some proper nutrition and I’ll be able to stop taking my probiotics. I’m sick of taking medicine and capsules of EVERYTHING!” I signed up as a coach and received my first shipment of Vegan Shakeology the second week of December. I personally chose the Vegan shakes because I have lactose intolerance and wasn’t sure how whey would affect me.

Shakeology has changed so much for me! 

I actually have the energy to play with my kids and spend enjoyable time with them without feeling weak or fatigued.

December 2015 was my first month of Shakeology! I did have to slowly introduce it to my system for the first 2 days. Within the first week my energy levels were higher and my fatigue was almost non-existent! I felt like my old self again! I had energy! I didn’t get tired just standing there and I had energy to be the mom I want to be with my kids.

I was hooked after that!

I spent a good two years thinking there was no end in sight to these debilitating symptoms. A very long two years wondering if I was ever going to feel better again, believing there was nothing I could do about it.

But there was, and it was as simple as drinking Shakeology every day, guaranteeing that I would be getting seriously needed nutrition and that my body and mind would be able to perform better in all of my roles.  I am currently (February 2016) entering month 3 of drinking Shakeology every day. It is still successfully demolishing that ugly fatigue symptom and I am seeing more regulation with my digestive issues. I do at this point still take medications for IBS and Crohns, but by far the Shakeology has had more effectiveness than the Crohn’s medication has. . I have seen more regulation in my digestion, I no longer have to take a multitude of probiotics, daily vitamins and other supplemental capsules, my body is absorbing the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and my energy levels have risen significantly. 

All in all, Shakeology has by far allowed me to see the most improvement with my symptoms. I am beyond thankful I found this amazing (and delicious) way to help properly nourish my body and relieve some of my worst symptoms! I cannot say it has “cured” me. I have Crohn’s and it is incurable. But I will say, with the honest truth, that Shakeology has made the biggest and most effective impact on my, my symptoms, my health and my life. 

So what exactly is Shakeology? Shakeology is an extremely nutrient dense shake. It's more than just a protein shake. As depicted in the picture above it contains so much more than your typical protein drink or supplemental drinks. Shakeology contains more than 60 natural ingredients from around the world!  The co-creator Darin Olien literally travels around the world studying, researching, and locating the most whole, nutrient rich super foods the Earth has to offer us. (I want his job!) Sadly, most of the ingredients are not from America because of the amount of GMO products that are grown here. However, this is reassuring, knowing that these ingredients are not contaminated and are picked in their purest, most natural forms. How often do you come across something like this? 

Check out Darin Olien on Shakeology here!! I love his passion!

If you are interested in learning more about Shakeology and would like more info follow the links below:

Contact me through my Facebook page

Check out Shakeology 

or email me at rachelina2317 at gmail dot com 

**Disclaimer: Shakeology is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. However we do have thousands of customer testimonials and success stories featuring a wide variety of health issues that have been helped. Please reference Facebook.com/Shakeology and Shakeology.com/results-reviews-success-stories for more information.**