I have been in remission from Lyme Disease for about 2.5 years and it feels so great to have my life back. You can read all about How I Healed From Lyme, but in this post I want to cover all the maintenance I do with my health and lifestyle to make sure I never have to deal with Lyme Disease again.

Healthy Diet

Diet is so key to being healthy. Our food Is medicine and when we treat it at such it is one of the first steps we can take towards optimizing our health and staying healthy. Diet was one of the first things I changed on my healing journey and at this point in my process it is a lifestyle. I feel so good eating the way I do that I would never go back to eating toxic and unhealthy food. I recently wrote my first cookbook called Wandering Palate. It is a 28 day meal plan of healthy travel inspired meals and I literally eat my book each month, so if you want to eat what I do to stay healthy, get your copy of Wandering Palate today.

Immune Support

Keeping my immune system healthy is the biggest key to staying in remission. Most disease happens when our immune system is not working right and after Lyme, my immune system was very compromised. I have worked hard to keep it healthy and rebuild it and that is something I continue to do to this day.

I like to do Thymus therapy every 4-6 months to keep it healthy and also like to get a 10 pass ozone every 2-3 months to keep my body optimized. We change the oil in our cars and service our cars, there is no reason we should not be servicing our bodies and keeping them clean and optimized.

I also get a Meyers Cocktail or glutathione IV here and there when I feel like I need the support if I am starting to feel under the weather with a cold or after a lot of traveling.

Support Detox

Our world is full of toxins this day and age and its too much for our body to keep up with. On top of that, in my Lyme journey I learned that I have compromised detox genetics so it is important to support my body and help it get toxins out.

I really love my infrared sauna and like to do that a few times a week, especially in the winter since its so warm and cozy. I also enjoy taking detox baths to help relax and unwind at night with some essential oils. I have also been incorporating a lot of lymph drainage lately since that is a system in our bodies that can always use a little support. Did you know in Germany, health insurance pays for weekly Lymph Drainage sessions and that if you do at least 24 sessions in a year, you get a stipend from your health care since you are taking proactive steps to stay healthy? That really makes me realize how important for our health supporting our lymphatic system can be. Make sure to check out my blog post on 10 Ways To Detox Your Life. These are all part of my every day life.

Listen To My Body

Listening to my body is something that was not part of my life before I was sick. I only listened to my mind that pushed and pushed me to be an overachiever and be non stop. Nowadays I still push myself when I am feeling good but I also have great communication with my body and rest when I need to.

Listening to your body can also come in the form of paying attention to what foods work and don’t work with your body and how you feel around certain people. Our bodies are incredibly intelligent and try to communicate with us on a regular basis. We need to learn to tune in and pay attention to what it is telling us.

Manage Stress

Managing stress is another item that is very important to be conscious of. Stress can creep in and wear our body down before we even know its happening. You can check out my blog post with with some of my top self care and stress management tips.

I also started doing heart rate variability and biofeedback when I was healing with stem cells and I this has been a huge help in learning to manage my stress. I feel like a different person and it is so great because it is a tool I can use anytime, anywhere to manage my stress. I also try to incorporate TM mediation when I can. Sometimes I even meditate in my sauna and you can knock out two self care tasks in one.

Optimizing Sleep

Sleep is another thing I prioritize these days. Ever since stem cell therapy, I have somehow become a morning person, which I have never been in my life. I also have really worked on my sleep to make sure I am getting restful and healing sleep. You can check out my blog post with my top 10 Ways To Optimize Your Sleep and I use all of these sleep hacks on a daily basis.

Routine Labs

I am to the point now that I can tell if something is off based on how I feel, but it is good to run labs every 3-4 months or so to track how things are looking, especially for things like my thyroid, iron, vitamin D etc. It is much better if you can catch things that are off early, rather than waiting years to start to tweak things again.

Managing Secondary Conditions

With Lyme it seems that everyone has acquired secondary conditions. Whether its an autoimmune disease or food sensitivities or something else, these conditions need to be managed to stay optimal. For me the two I really have to manage regularly are Hashimoto’s and Celiac Disease. I am so so strict with being 100% gluten free, but it is very hard since I react to cross contamination. I have to do the best I can and minimize my risk as much as possible.

For Hashimoto’s this was a very hard one to finally find a doctor that actually knew what they were doing. Fortunately, I have an amazing doctor now that has finally helped me optimize my thyroid and now we are just tracking and managing it to make sure it stays optimal.

Excercise

Exercise is part of any healthy lifestyle and I feel so thankful that I can work out and feel good again. I try to do a variety of workouts including yoga, pilates, HIIT and working with a trainer at the gym. I really do feel good when I work out, but this is another one where I listen to my body. If I am having a tired day or got glutened I might skip or take it easier in my workout to not stress my body out more. Need help sticking to your fitness routine? Make sure to check my blog post out with some tips to help you stick with it.

Making Sure My Environment Is Clean

This is a big one that is very important to stay in remission. I have seen and heard stories of so many people starting to feel well and then they crash and come to find out they have mold in their homes.

I am very careful with where I live and stay for extended periods of time. I don’t allow toxic chemicals in my home. All my cleaning and beauty products are clean. I don’t live near the freeway anymore. I eat organic and non-gmo food. I have a whole house water filter on my house. I only drink mold tested Bulletproof coffee. I try to live as clean as humanly possible to make sure I minimize this risk that can take me out of remission in a quick minute.

Avoid Re-Infection Risks

This is another big one that I have seen people struggle with. They might start to feel good again and want to go back to some of their old lifestyle hobbies like hiking or camping and then they start to feel off again. I can’t help but wonder how many people get re-infected but just assume they are having a flare of symptoms again.

I never saw the tick that bit me and to this day have actually not seen a tick! I know they are everywhere and I know how tiny and hard to see there are. It can be nearly impossible to be 100% sure you did not get re-infected if you are feeling symptomatic, no matter how careful you think you are.

I don’t walk on grass. I don’t go hiking. I don’t go camping. I don’t go outside anywhere that is known to be more endemic. I don’t sit on picnic tables or wood benches. I basically don’t do anything that has a remote risk of having a tick. If I do go somewhere that has a higher risk I use prevention techniques and repellent on myself and my dogs and check everyone when we are done or just avoid the area and activity all together. I know that each year the risk and diseases they spread gets worse and worse and to be honest it is not worth the risk of ever experiencing Lyme or Co-Infections again to risk it. I already lost 7 years of my life to Lyme and not going to give it a chance to take anymore or get it and a new set of co-infections again. Is that walk through the woods really worth it? Not for me.

Manage Emotions

This might be a strange one on the list, but emotional health is so critical to our overall health. I used to be the type of person that held on to things and didn’t let them go. I have done a lot of work, including incorporating EFT into my life and releasing trapped emotions so that they don’t wear my body down. I recommend checking out Amy B Scher’s work for info how you can do this. Also making sure you have healthy boundaries with people, especially toxic ones is key to managing your own emotions.

Community

This is another surprising one on the list but also so important. The people we surround ourselves with can lift us up or drain us. When you are trying to reserve your energy for things that matter, this becomes very important. I have made a big effort to weed out the people in my life that I had. toxic relationships with and did not respect my boundaries. It has been hard to separate from a lot of people, but at the end end of the day I feel healthier and happier and have made room for people that are respectful and make me feel good, not drained when I am around them.