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My Thoughts Personal

Thoughts on Food Justice

Yesterday I learned an ugly truth about someone I previously thought worthy of admiration, and am grappling with what ugliness this reveals about me. As I wrote in my initial reaction to this revelation on Instagram , the racism this person expressed and the shallow apology that followed didn’t actually surprise me. Though I had not […]

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Crohn's Disease My Thoughts Personal

2019 Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week

The year isn’t quite over, but since the first week in December is always Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week, it feels like a good time to reflect on the previous year and take stock of how well I have achieved my goal of “living well” with Crohn’s disease. Indeed, it was quite a good year… […]

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My Thoughts Personal

How I ate in Italy and maintained my autoimmune health

First, let me preface this by saying that while all of the recipes I post on this blog are compliant with the AIP elimination phase, I have personally moved beyond that phase and reintroduced many foods from all of the AIP stages, so this post will include discussion of foods that may not work for […]

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My Thoughts Personal

Looking back on 2018

As the year comes to a close and I reflect back, I have just one thing to say: 2018 was a BIG year! Personally and professionally, it was eventful and mostly positive. And of course, it was delicious! Here are some of the month-by-month highlights from the world of Gutsy By Nature… January In January […]

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Crohn's Disease My Thoughts Personal

My IBD Story for World IBD Day

Since I started Gutsy By Nature as a blog in 2013, I’ve written several times about my personal story of diagnosis with Crohn’s disease and healing, but I’ve never actually written out the entire story, from its beginning to where I am today, May 19, 2018. In recognition of World IBD Day, I thought it […]

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My Thoughts Personal

Reflections on another year of living well with chronic disease

As I write this, the final hours of 2016 are winding down and we are all looking ahead to 2017. It has been an interesting and eventful year, to say the least! I will leave the retrospectives about politics and pop culture to others, and just reflect on my own life and on the virtual […]

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Book Reviews My Thoughts Personal

Store Bought Bone Broth – When you don’t want to make your own!

Store bought bone broth? Just a couple of years ago the only way to consume the nourishing concoction some call the “elixir of life” was to make it yourself. Today there is a dizzying array of options, both in stores and by mail order, making it easy for anyone to add this healing food to their […]

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Crohn's Disease My Thoughts Personal

Why I needed an AIP reset

Thirty days ago I decided to give myself a virtual reboot. I was fed up with feeling less than stellar and decided to start a paleo autoimmune protocol (AIP) reset. Like a computer that had stretched its resources too thin and had been running for too long without a break, I was in danger of coming […]

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Book Reviews My Thoughts Personal

In praise of the audiobook!

Gasoline may fuel the engine, but audiobooks are what keep me going behind the wheel on my long drives for work and pleasure, so I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites with you readers… and ask you to help me re-fill my Audible library! The idea for this post was […]

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Crohn's Disease My Thoughts Personal Science

Do I have chronic Lyme disease?

First I blamed it on the shoes. Just a sprain? Or something more? I bought totally cute but ridiculously impractical, high heeled, red patent leather shoes to celebrate my 40th birthday in July, 2015 and insisted on wearing them for three straight days, even though they made my feet and ankles hurt like hell. I thought the […]