It’s Giving ‘Holistic Glow Up’
If you, like me, live in America it’s a fair assumption that you grew up eating processed foods, living among environmental pollutants, and enduring a toxic social culture saturated with microaggressions. It’s really not a reach then, sis, that you might have some health issues. Let’s be realistic - the lack of nationwide health initiatives compounded by personal and societal trauma takes a toll. It’s not a judgment on you that you might have taken a few hits.
Some of your health issues may have been out of your control, but your treatment is on you.
Dieting and exercise alone is not a cure-all for feeling better in your body and mind. Yes, it’s an important part of a healthy lifestyle - but that’s not going to ease the vicious bully in your head or the time you spend groaning in the bathroom.
Yeah, that’s right. I went there.
Let’s get really real about the health issues you keep to yourself. The ones you write off as ‘oh I must have eaten something foul’ or ‘sometimes you gotta break down to break through’. You think going to the gym, meditating, and eating boiled okra will solve your problems when you really need to go to the doctor.
I get it. There are stigmas attached to having a diagnosis. You feel like you are the only one in the world having to deal with what you deal with, and you feel embarrassed. You think of it as something being uniquely wrong with you. I’m happy to inform you that, no, you’re not alone, and actually everyone is walking around with a body or mind that works against them sometimes. The more I talk to my girlfriends the more I see a pattern of health discoveries - especially as we age.
Take inventory of yourself - is there a hurt in your body or emotions that you’re sweeping under the rug?
Don’t dismiss the way you’re feeling, thinking it will just go away. Pay attention when you get headaches, chest pains, irregular bleeding, pain during sex, unyielding fatigue, frequent bloating, etc. There are so many things to consider and we are not taught how to monitor our health or what to look out for that might be common to our upbringing or genetics. But Sis, that is not reason enough to stay ignorant about your healing.
I follow the Instagram account @candice, which is hosted by a dancer, beauty advocate, and apparel owner that recently opened up about her journey with PCOS. PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and it affects 1 in 10 women of a reproductive age (that’s a lot) yet is frequently undiagnosed. I had never heard of it before Candice told her story. She describes what she was going through with her extreme moods, hair loss, and weight gain, and her doctor shares that PCOS increases the risk of infertility, obesity, depression, and anxiety. It made me wonder: how had I never known to watch for PCOS the way I know to watch for breast cancer?
In the last year, two of my friends were diagnosed with PMDD - premenstrual dysphoric disorder: a condition classified as ‘severe and chronic’ that affects 3-8% of women. PMDD is another condition that is underdiagnosed and in many cases, misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder. It’s often confused with PMS but it’s different; it causes severe anxiety, depression, and mood changes - some women with PMDD become suicidal.
Both of these conditions have treatments. Both of these conditions have a method for relief.
Enough is enough. You deserve to walk through life feeling good in your body and mind. Have you normalized your pain and told yourself it’s too inconsequential to put effort into resolving? Are you really going to let what is probably a treatable illness box you into a poor quality of life? I get upset thinking about this because I know that as women, in some ways we neglect our own light to stoke the fire in someone else's. The love and care we give others we sometimes withhold from ourselves, and in doing so we forfeit our own lives.
You owe it to yourself to invest in your health - especially if you are a black woman or a woman of color - because the lack of consideration for our pain is well documented in the medical field. Take the steps to be an informed health advocate for yourself. In the words of women everywhere: ‘If I don’t do it - who will?’.
Schedule a dietitian, a dermatologist, a therapist, and a chiropractor. Research different blood tests to uncover vitamin and nutrition deficiencies and food intolerance. Get regular massages to ease those stress knots along your spine before they cripple you. Find out what conditions are common in your culture - like the vitamin D deficiencies for black people. What are the health issues that run in your family? For me and mine, it’s mainly ADHD and anxiety.
It is so important to know yourself, Sis. Don’t take for granted that you have the biological burden of carrying a species. Your body is designed to house and nurture an entire human being. As incredible as that is, it comes at a cost. The thought crosses our minds every month - it’s hard to be a woman. There are a host of health issues that you are susceptible to just because you have ovaries. Please don’t let the misplaced shame of something being ‘wrong with you’ keep you from taking the steps towards feeling better.
Imagine a world where you don’t need coffee to feel energized: you just snap awake as soon as your alarm goes off. Imagine knowing your body so well that you know what foods to avoid because you know how it reacts. Imagine, being two weeks into your treatment plan and thinking to yourself - Wow, so this is what life is like for people that don’t have these issues? There should be a grain of self-respect in that - for managing as long as you did undiagnosed. But now is a good time to want something different for yourself. Knock out those diagnoses’ and get the treatments that will get you feeling good again.
To learn more about Candice’s PCOS story check her out on YouTube: Living with PCOS | My Story: Episode 1
What are some non-mainstream health screens that all women should know? Write them in the comments below!
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