My name is Sally and I would like to share my experience with a product called Isagenix. I was introduced to Isagenix by a friend several years ago, but really didn’t give it much thought. Then, another friend, Jackie, started using the product and shared her results via Facebook.
I have been the kind of person who has had weight issues most of my adult life. But they were mostly related to having children. I had 8 children. After my 6th baby, I had a bad skin condition in 1991 that required me to go on cortico-steroids for a very long time. I ended up gaining about 70 pounds that year before learning that I was expecting baby number 7.
I have struggled since then, because my metabolism was ruined by the steroids. Additionally, I developed Fibromyalgia, which made exercise very painful. I also lost my Thyroid gland due to hyperthyroidism when I was 42 years old in 2000. This also made losing weight very difficult.
In 2003, I found a program that helped me lose 85 pounds. The basis of the program was to only eat foods in their naturally occurring form….no processed foods. No dairy, no wheat, no added fat, salt or sugar. And, to eat these small meals 6 times a day. I also found that after the first 20 pounds were gone, I was able to walk and do light strength training to build muscles.
I kept that weight off for over two years, until I started my own business. I make wedding cakes. I was developing recipes, that I had to taste to insure excellence in my product. And, there was always cake around to tempt me.
The business grew and grew, and so did the stress. I stopped taking care of myself. I would skip meals consistently, and when I did eat, I wasn’t eating nutritional food. Most days I spent all day and evening in the kitchen. I did not continue my exercise, there just wasn't time. I gained back 40 pounds that first year.
After 4 years in the business, I learned that I had a very aggressive Stage IIIC breast cancer. It was not a hormone, or genetic based cancer. Simply random. My body was ripe for developing cancer because of the lifestyle I was living. Inflammation and high blood sugars (yes, I am also a Type 2 diabetic) fed the cancer cells and my tumor was 9 cm. That is the size of a small newborn baby’s head.
I underwent months of chemotherapy, double mastectomy and a full blow radiation treatment. I have had 6 surgeries since October of 2009, and still have one more to go.
I was able to loose about 20 pounds since my cancer treatments, and decided that I would just try to embrace my 53 year old body and do the best I could. The other 20 pounds or so just would not come off although I tried more conventional plans that increase fiber, reduce fat, etc.
Four weeks after my most recent surgery* in January 2012, I noticed my abdomen became hard and swollen (inflamed) literally overnight. I was doubled over in pain for the first few days. I gained 6 pounds, again literally overnight. I called my surgeon and he said that I should just be patient, and that with that surgery it wasn’t unusual to have swelling for several weeks after.
But, the swelling and inflammation did not go down even a month after that. I started doing some research on the internet. This is when the name Isagenix popped up again. I know that many people use it for weight loss, but that was really the least of my worries. I just wanted my mid-section not to look like a 6 month pregnant belly. Isagenix reduces inflammation in your body. EVERYWHERE in your body. It is a total body cleanse. A cellular cleanse, not just a colon cleanse. It helps clean the toxins out of your body.
So, I called my friend Jackie, and asked a lot of questions. I wasn’t doing this for weight loss. If I happened to lose weight, it would be a perk. But I knew that if anyone was toxic, I WAS!! All the chemotherapy poisons, radiation, surgeries, antibiotics, steroids, narcotics for pain from 2 1/2 years were building up in my tissue, my cells, my skin, well…EVERYWHERE. And, I felt TERRIBLE.
It is time for me to feel good. So, I purchased the 30 day cleanse package and decided to see what it could do for me. This blog is a way to journal my experience in hopes that it may help others.
*the surgery I had was the DIEP Flap breast reconstruction
