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When things were getting a little heavy in our household, there were still things to be thankful for.
When it comes to our health, we usually can handle it on our own- but in this moment, we felt a momentary sense of helplessness with our daughter's health. Thankfully she was able to recover, but it made me ponder how grateful I truly am that we take care of our bodies from the inside out. While our eating style does not prevent us from getting sick, we have seen it's ability to help us heal differently than those who do not share our diet. I have realized that sometimes I may make things look difficult, but the easiest part of our diet that helps us maintain our health is Juice Plus. I firmly believe that Juice Plus has been the catalyst for my daughter to have regained her health so quickly, and I urge you to consider the benefits it can have for you.
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 PAST As with most stories, let’s start at the beginning: my husband was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile onset diabetes, when he was 13 years old. His mother has the same disease, which is different than the more common and manageable Type II diabetes( adult onset diabetes). When our oldest daughter was two years old, I had that momma gut feeling that I wanted to have her tested. No, she did not have the typical symptoms of diabetes onset: thirst, wetting the bed, tired, losing weight, etc. Instead, we enrolled in a screening program called TrialNet. It looks for diabetes-related autoantibodies that signal an increased risk of T1D. The JDRF, ADA and Endocrine Society now classify having two or more of these autoantibodies as early stage T1D. Finding T1D in its earliest stage allows for prompt intervention aiming to change the course of the disease. Risk for people in the general population is about 1 in 300. If you have a family member with T1D, your risk is 1 in 20. The program’s goal is to identify the disease in its earliest stage and stop disease progression by preserving beta cell production. I still remember where I was standing, the long conversation, and kind of gloomy cloud over our family for the first couple of days we got that call that my daughter was not YET a diabetic but would likely develop type 1 diabetes in her lifetime. Actually the endocrinologists exact words were: “I actually can’t believe she is not having any symptoms and is not a full blown diabetic already.” She was two years old at the time when all 5 antibodies came back positive for type 1 diabetes.  PRESENT Three years later, we are happy to report that our daughter has not been diagnosed with Type I diabetes! We know there is an genetic component and likely an environmental trigger that has been pulled but….after many late nights researching about what could have been that environmental trigger, I have turned my focus on what steps we can take now to prolong or even PREVENT full blown onset. The JDRF official position is that “onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D, and—at present—nothing you can do to get rid of it.” I slightly disagree because there must be a reason that T1D is increasingly more prevalent than years ago (source and data). Y’all, lets keep it simple. With disease there is inflammation of the cells. To decrease inflammation, you need antioxidants. Antioxidants are found in plant foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, berries, grains). Hence, this has led us to where we are today. Passionate about a plant-based diet. Passionate about our easy button that allows my family to get 30 fruits, veggies, and berries in a capsule/gummy daily! Note the before and after picture above. Before we had this switch and eliminated dairy and gluten (both inflammatory foods as well), my daughter had dark circles under her eyes, running nose, chronic cough, easily fatigued, pale skin, enlarged tonsils, sleep apnea, and an unfocused look in her eyes. Today, she has none of that. FUTURE Is there research yet to support a plant-based diet can help with specifically T1D? Clinical research is beginning to demonstrate that adopting a plant-based, vegan diet without animal protein and fat will improve insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes (Clinical research here). If one is injecting less insulin, this results in less lipid, or fat, production in the body. That’s a motivating factor. But this momma is going to give it a try. What I do know is that we are almost 3 years and counting, my daughter remains NORMAL (5.1 A1C) and feels amazing! This way of eating has tremendously helped my husband manage his diabetes and seen huge benefits with his overall health since making this shift. LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE! UPDATE (January 2019): We are SO excited to share that Emmylou's numbers just continue to improve! Her A1C is now 3.9!!!!! Praise God! We are SOOO grateful for our easy way to flood her body daily with plant nutrition, and we absolutely believe her body continues to get the solid nutrition it so desperately needs to thrive!  Be sure you're following me on social media too & share your stories using #LauraAllenBlog  “For things to change, you have to change. For things to get better, you have to get better. For things to improve, you have to improve. When you grow, everything in your life grows with you.” —Jim Rohn For me and many people, change can be a scary word or concept. I have thought about why is change unsettling: is it because we are comfortable and a change may disrupt that feeling of comfort? Are we pessimistic and believe that change will necessarily bring unwanted consequence? Lastly, making a concerted effort to change would require our admission that the status quo is not enough or acceptable…. Once we come to the point of appreciating the need to change some aspect of our life, taking the first step can be daunting. I visit the words spoken by Jim Rohn often. During seasons of challenges and uncertainty, I ponder these words, which actually portray a fairly simple idea: to make a difference, you must actually do something different. Rohn goes on to say that change comes from two sources: desperation or inspiration. For me, it was a person of inspiration. A great friend of mine was living a life of graciousness, humility, generosity, and joy. She was an example of truly trying to live a Christ-like existence: walking that Life, as opposed to merely talking of its virtues. It was inspirational to me. I realized the status quo needed to be improved. The inner garden needed to grow, so I thought: how do I get what she’s got? The answer was fairly simple: I needed to grow in my faith, if I wanted everything in my life to grow. I started making changes.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13 My internal mantra changed. My daily actions changed. First and foremost, I began to pray often- In the car, at night, in the morning, stolen moments during the day. I began to give thanks often. My day begins and ends with a prayer of gratitude. Next, my church attendance became more regular, and I began to immerse myself and truly worship. Finally, I took a step back to see what I was absorbing in life. What I was listening to? Reading? Watching? I needed a simple concept: Good stuff in, good stuff out. Like a body that starts to get good nutrition, a shift happened for me. Other aspects of my life began to grow. That internal critic wasn’t so loud anymore. Through lots of “work” and some hard self discovery, tears, honest conversations, I have been on a journey to discover my deepest truths and gifts to live out a real purpose. Through my pain, I have found true meaning. I am doing the work. It is a DAILY commitment to surrender, show up , be humble, show grace toward others (and myself!), take notice of my internal thoughts and replace those intimidating and upsetting, destructive self-talk with positive, empowering thoughts. It’s a journey that is just beginning. Years ago, I would never have put this much out there for people to consume, but now, “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not see it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:18-19.  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