Natural Healing & Reducing Fatigue: I Cut Down Drastically on My Meat Intake

Fatigue and anemia go hand in hand. When I was in high school and undergrad, I fell asleep often on the bus, train, or even in class, as I was always so tired, and used every opportunity I could get to catch a nap. Last summer, I began looking into becoming a vegetarian or vegan, as I was hearing so much about the benefits of ditching meat and animal products. Back in the summer of 2012, when I had first began looking into natural alternatives to treat Sickle Cell Anemia, I heard about T.J. Brown, whose health and wellness experienced dramatic, positive changes when he became a raw vegan (his video testimony is below and you can read about him here). The changes that he experienced led him to write a blog and become an advocate for natural alternatives to sickle cell and he founded the Sickle Cell Natural Wellness Group. In 2012, I started to pay more attention to my diet, adding more vegetables, however, I didn't go meat-free. Adding Moringa to my diet in August 2013 really helped to increase my energy levels, however, I still felt fatigued often. In the summer of 2014, when I was doing some research about being a vegetarian or vegan, I decided to finally go meat-free, and see how that would work for me. Through experimenting, I found that being a vegan wasn't entirely working for me, because I still needed fat in my diet, which I got through eating a lot of eggs (3 a day usually). Being a vegetarian did help increase my energy levels, however, I still needed the iron, etc. that meat provides. I knew my body was really craving meat when I started having dreams about chicken!!! I still do eat meat, however, it's much less often than the amount I used to consume. I have meat maybe about once a month or so, but my diet is mainly vegetarian/pescatarian and foods that are high in thiocyanate (read about it here & here is a list of thiocyanate rich foods). My body always lets me know when I need to have it, I just start to crave it after a while and that's how I know. But without having meat on a regular basis, I feel that my energy levels are better and I don't find myself as exhausted as I used to feel. I also try not to overextend myself by scheduling too many things to do in one day. When I became a vegetarian, I was getting some protests from my mom, who said that I needed to keep eating meat regularly. However, I stuck to my guns, and a few months ago, she actually became a vegetarian herself in order to manage her high blood pressure, and it's been working really well for her. She also started exercising as well, which helped bring the blood pressure down, and recently (within the past week) she has been trying Cayenne Pepper (read about C.P. here), which I have told her is good for helping regulate blood pressure as well. My family eats a lot of fish to make up for not eating meat, and it works pretty well (and tastes delicious!).


Video Testimonials on Natural Healing for Sickle Cell Anemia

T.J. Brown's Testimony, in which he speaks about taking risk, something we must do in order to venture out into the world of better health! This young man is so inspiring, hearing his testimony (3 years ago now) really helped me to see that change was possible for my health as well.
 https://youtu.be/mM-BuTmLE-c

Here's a testimony of a man with Sickle Cell Anemia who became a raw vegan, lowered his meat consumption, and has seen benefits to his health: (Start at 7:15)
https://youtu.be/yUrS8d_VnMs?t=7m15s

This woman uses Coconut Oil, Oil of Oregano, and also talks about factors aside from Sickle Cell that can cause pain in Sickle Cell, and some of the side effects of Hydroxyurea:
https://youtu.be/_8vviO1N-bc

This woman talks about how she has kept her son crisis free through natural healing using herbs, etc.:
https://youtu.be/9CJKKhl3_zw

Here is a link to her website:
http://www.ssnaturalhealing.com/

Moringa for Sickle Cell Anemia

Ladies and gentleman, it is now time for my long awaited testimony about the benefits that Moringa has provided to my life. How did I discover Moringa? I read about it in passing on Facebook, one of the Sickle Cell awareness pages that I was following at the time, and briefly looked into it, seeing that some people used it to treat SCD effectively, before writing it off as impossible to obtain. Where would I get this foreign, exotic leaf that was so highly touted and had all these great benefits? I couldn't afford it. I put it out of my mind.

One fateful day, in August 2013, The Vitamin Shoppe sent me a coupon (those manipulators! lol jk) giving me 20 or 40% off if I were to go spend money at their store (see the manipulation?). That coupon proved to be a Godsend, and even the guy at the store remarked to me that the coupon I had received was very rare (yet again, a sign that it was the working of God Himself. Thanks, God :). I browsed The Vitamin Shoppe with my friend SSW (her nickname), and as I searched the shelves for something worth my hard earned money (I try to spend wisely always, lest I end up broke), I came upon a small, 8 oz can of Moringa. I was a bit intrigued, as I had previously read about this leaf on the internet, and here it was, before my very eyes in the store that had drawn me in with their lovely, rare coupon. Before I spent my hard earned dollars on this little can of green powder, I asked if the guy at the store would help me look up information about the leaf online, and he ended up letting me use the store computer because I needed more help than he could give (there were other customers to get money from). At that time, I didn't have a smart phone (that came along about 8 months later, when my poor dumb phone got damaged). After doing some research and talking about the Moringa with SSW, I decided I would purchase it. That warm day in August, I walked out of The Vitamin Shoppe with a can of Moringa and less money in my bank account.

That was the beginning of yet another new lease on life. Moringa has changed my life dramatically, as it helps my blood cells to stay round and healthy, which is all that you need with Sickle Cell Anemia in order to have a higher quality of life. When I first began taking it, I started to feel better. About a month later, I went to work at a daycare with kids ages 6 months to 4 years (that position only lasted 6 weeks, I love kids, but the position was too physically demanding for me). Since I was working with little children (germ machines) I started taking more Moringa in order to boost my immune system. I think that I originally started with 1/2 a teaspoon daily and I upped it to 1 teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half. I also would take Vitamin C, and I'm telling you, the combination helped me to kick some colds that would have turned really nasty had I not been taking it. I have asthma as well (due to the SCD), so when I get a cold, the cough tends to stick around for ages, which makes it even more unpleasant.

Since the day I purchased my first can of Moringa, I have gone never a day without taking it (I think. I might have missed 1 or 2 days when I ran out and was waiting for a new order). The reason why I take it so faithfully is because I notice that when I take it, I feel stronger. My body feels better, less achy. It's been so long that I've been taking it, it's become such an important part of my diet that I can't remember what it's like to not take it. During the winter time, I take less painkillers because the Moringa helps my blood cells so much. My blood cells don't speak to me, they don't tell me they're staying nice and round, but I know they are because I feel less pain overall, and I'm better able to bear the cold. I do NOT do well with cold weather; in fact, this winter, with having hurt my tail bone and with the mounds of snow, ice, sleet, rain, and slush that have been falling from the sky, I've just been staying home whenever I don't have to go out. But, when I do go out, I can deal with the cold weather better and with taking fewer painkillers. Also, I rarely ever get colds since I've been taking Moringa (also since I stopped drinking milk, but that's a different story).

Honestly, Moringa is such a huge benefit to me that it's extremely hard for me to sum it up in one little blog post. I'm trying to put it into words, but words fail to express how much this little leaf powder has helped to turn things around for me in a healthier, better direction. Moringa HELPS with Sickle Cell Anemia, my life is a living testimony to it. It helps to reduce the sickling, whenever I feel my body going into crisis mode, I take my painkillers and I also take more Moringa. My body bounces back a lot faster than it used to. Last semester I missed two days of school from having Sickle Cell pain, and it was pain in my hip that made it hard to walk. It wasn't pain that required a hospitalization. I managed at home with Tylenol Extra Strength and that was good enough. When I was working last year at a school, I never missed a day of work from November to June (I was late plenty of times, but that's a different story. MTA troubles >.<). I haven't had a lingering cold in ages and I used to get them quite frequently.

And the pain!!!! I haven't had a serious Sickle Cell Crisis requiring hospitalization or emergency room treatment since October 2012 and the Moringa has only helped me in that direction.

The cost for my healthy Moringa habit? $17.99 for one pound of the stuff, and I get it with free shipping on Ebay.

I cannot stress enough how much this little leaf powder has changed my life. This little leaf is now a staple in my diet, I take two teaspoons of the stuff daily, and it helps keep me on an even keel. Don't get me wrong, there are still those days when I need to rest and what not because I still have the disease. But because of my dietary changes, and because I've added Moringa, it rules my life less and less, and I get to have a more normal quality of life more and more.

Moringa has been a tremendous blessing to my life and there are a ton of links throughout this post that attest to the benefits of this plant. Look into Moringa, see what it can do for you. I hope that this post will encourage someone to give this green leaf a try. It can work for you too!

Benefits of Moringa:

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/moringa.html
http://moringaphilippines.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-moringa-can-reduce-sickle-cell.html
http://ssnaturalhealings.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-miracle-plant-moringa.html
http://imaginezambia.org/3281/sickle-cell-anemia-moringa-news/
http://www.moringasource.com/pages/moringa-health-benefits
http://moringa4health.com/Moringa_-_Benefits.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/037735_Moringa_superfood_health_benefits.html#
http://www.reshapeyourbody.org/incredible-moringa-nutrition-story-sickle-cell-anemia/