Hi, my name is Eileen.  I am a mother, nurse, and very busy person every day.  Earlier this year I was transferred to another medical department.  To my surprise I found that it was severely understaffed.  I was getting home and making dinner late.  Take-out food became regular part of our schedule to remedy my tiredness, swollen legs, and lack of time to prepare food when I got home.  Four months later, I began suffering from an array of symptoms including back pain, migraines, stomach upset, foot pain, and trigeminal neuralgia (facial nerve pain).  I was distressed about the way I felt physically.  I questioned why I felt the way I did.  I tried to help myself by drinking large cups of freshly pressed juice from the Juice Place each morning before my shift.  I picked the "healthy" options from take-out.  I even did stretches before and after work reduce the effects of being on my feet all day.  I visited several physicians including colleagues in the clinic.  They all pointed me to the same direction:  medication, pain relievers, anti-this and anti-that-sedating pills.  As an exception my neurologist did mention that stress could contribute to facial nerve pain.  My primary physician was concerned about my blood sugar being borderline diabetic.  My cholesterol was also high.  My blood test revealed inflammation of the thyroid.  I was sensitive to the cold and had increased fatigue.  At that point I was taking 8 pills a day just to keep going.  Nothing was being resolved.  I have a teenager and a 10-year-old at home.  I was concerned about my being there for them.  I did not want to be taking a handful of pills each day.  I did not want to be in pain.  I did not want to be tired all the time. My stress level of 10 was coupled with anxiety about what would become of me.  I had to make changes.  And there was no better time than the present.  Not tomorrow.  Not when I found the perfect diet plan.   I had to make better choices right away.  I took some time off to figure out how to create a less stressful environment.  I made changes to my meals and those of my children.  I eliminated cheese, fast foods, candy pastries, and cake.  To every meal I added 2-3 vegetables.  We had fruits and grains twice a day.  I started a journal that evolved into several notebooks.  During the first month my symptoms got worse.  My skin broke out and off and on I felt sick.  I continued the course I had set, drinking more water and replacing animal protein with plant protein.  We had chicken or fish 3-4 times a week and lentils, chick peas, and beans the other days.  Red meat got the ax.  I got creative with recipes and invented some incredible dishes.  My skin cleared and my symptoms lessened.   By the end of the second month my thyroid levels were normal and my blood sugar no longer fell in a diabetic range.  I felt more awake and alert.  I decreased the gabapentin and the other pain medication.  I developed a craving for salads, fruits, and grains that I never knew before.  Pastries and fast foods were not missed.  Suddenly their unhealthiness became quite obvious.  In addition, I had minor ankle surgery.  By the third month my back and facial nerve pains had disappeared.  I stopped taking gabapentin and the other medications.  My cholesterol had dropped to normal.  My skin tone had improved to the point that I did not need foundation makeup anymore.  I even slept better at night.   I never realized how simple the solution was, nor how the solution had always been there, even from the very beginning.