Tuesday Tip: Turn a “Failure” into a Success

For an introduction to my “Tuesday Tips and Thursday Thoughts” series please see the article “An Invitation to Embrace Your Journey and Follow Mine.”

These short thoughts/tips are meant to be a brief and efficient way to offer a quick touch of inspiration for the day.

Turning “Failure” into Success

“Failure” is OK. I was so happy that avoiding my trigger foods (milk, too many grains, soy and beans) helped me lose 20 pounds. As you can see from my Sanibel photos I was also enjoying a lot of great outdoor activities like kayaking and biking around the island. I was down to a size 14, which at 6’1” is almost as skinny as I can go (12 is my ideal). Then the unexpected hit (I’ll talk about this in a few days) – I passed out while shopping at a Whole Foods and discovered I had dangerously low iron levels.

The next 6 weeks I was confined to the house, had to eat all my trigger foods so the “tests would register correctly”, and could hardly function because of my extremely low iron. I was back to a size 18 by the end of two months.

I went through a lot of emotions – frustration, feeling like a failure, annoyed with myself for not seeing the signs, but in the end all the tests were useful. 8 uncomfortable tests later they confirmed that I am super healthy and there is nothing wrong with me except the low iron.

Going into the years beyond 50 it is nice to get a “baseline” on some of those things. The tests also confirmed a lot of what I had suspected – I’m not lactose intolerant (it is milk itself), I do not have celiac (I just can’t eat any grain in large portions), and my digestive system is in perfect condition!

So in the end “failing” was worth it because it gave me so much valuable information I can move forward with. Many mysteries have been solved. Now I’m back to “no milk, low grain” so we will see what happens.

Are you interested in learning more about traditional naturopathy, herbalism, homeopathy, iridology, nutritional well-being, reflexology or aromatherapy? Check our our classes at www.TheAvicennaInstitute.com.