Living well; It’s your choice

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Cherri Crockett is pictured here on the right in September of 2011, before making the choice to live medication-free on the Hallelujah Lifestyle. On the left, she is living Crohn's Disease-free and experiencing freedom from dieting for the first time in her life.  

Editor’s Note: Have you been thinking about getting healthy but just don’t know how to get started, or are you in the middle of a weight removal journey and seem to have lost your motivation? Over the last couple weeks we have run the stories of local people, who, just like you, are on a mission to find a healthier way of living.

In this third and final part of the health series, Cherri Crockett will be sharing her story of how she cured her Crohn’s Disease by living well with the Hallelujah Lifestyle.

BETHEL- What would you do if one day you were given a choice of living pain-free, medication-free and could lose weight, or live a life of illness and lack of energy that prevented you from enjoying life to the fullest?

I learned almost a year ago that each of us, does, in fact have that choice and it’s up to us to take that big step forward and make a commitment to ourselves in order to change where we are.

It all began in October of 2010, when I met Jackie Dupuis and she told me about the Hallelujah Lifestyle. We spoke extensively on what it was about, what you should and shouldn’t eat, the belief to why you should eat that way and how a person could begin the Hallelujah Lifestyle.

I have to admit, being from a family of hunters and being told that animal products weren’t good for you to ingest was difficult for me. What about my cheese, yogurt and eggs. I couldn’t imagine what I would eat. How would I survive? No wonder I was going to lose weight.

I spent the next year cutting out animal products slowly and watching how my body reacted to their absence. I found my skin clearing and not looking so red and blotchy. My joints weren’t aching as much (a side effect to Crohn’s Disease, as with any inflammatory disease). I had a lot less belly pain and I was losing weight.

After my appendicitis in June of 2011, which forced doctors to remove 20 inches of my intestine due to infection, and being told that even with that section gone, I would still need medication, because an inflammatory disease lives in your body forever, I decided I needed to get serious and started attending wellness meetings with Jackie in July.

By November, I had heard enough testimonies and seen enough results in others to convince me that this was going to be the right move. With the guidance of our health minister, Bill Irwin, I made an appointment with my doctor to let him know I wanted to go off all my meds and try a natural way of life to help heal my body.

Of course, he was against it and had listened to me for a couple years tell him that I didn’t like the meds and how I couldn’t really afford them, but he really didn’t want to see me back in the hospital anytime soon. He had my best interest at heart, I know this, he’s been a wonderful doctor, but I had to see what my body was capable of.

I stopped taking my Humira injections, I stopped taking all medications I had been on for the past several years, stocked my refrigerator with colorful, living foods and began my journey with the Hallelujah Lifestyle.

With the constant support of my wellness group on Facebook, our monthly meetings, Bill being a phone call away, and knowing that I could pray to our Heavenly Father anytime I needed Him, I felt I was on track to better health.

In the first three months, I was feeling more energetic, I had removed several pounds and was living in a pain-free body for the first time in years. I didn’t have to mask my pain to be active.

On August 8, 2012, after living with Crohn’s Disease for 15 years and living the lifestyle for nine months, I went for my bi-annual gastroenterologist appointment and he was speechless. He didn’t know what to say, there was no sign of my Crohn’s Disease that had wreaked havoc with my intestines for more than a decade.

The first question from many concerned with my well being was if I would continue with the lifestyle or go back to the SAD (Standard American Diet). If there is one thing you can take from my experience, it’s this. There is no going back. When you educate yourself as to what is better for you, you don’t turn back. You look ahead and do your best.

I’m not saying it’s easy by any means, but I do my best to remember why I wanted to change in the first place. And, that’s what each of us has to do on a daily basis. Remind yourself why you want to be a better person.

My daily self talk consists of praising God for the wonderfully, miraculous, self-healing body I live in. Being grateful that I enjoy drinking carrot juice and eating so many delightful and delicious raw foods, not to mention, my love for the outdoors and being so active.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my story and so many others’. Thank you for reading and I pray that you will seek out the knowledge you need in order to live a disease-free, active, and joyous life.

You can find Part 1 of this series by visiting http://www.rumfordfallstimes.com/featured-sports/story/055-part-1-lifest... and Part 2 is available online at http://www.rumfordfallstimes.com/news/story/055-lifestyle-part-2-39.