Phoebe Lapine - The Wellness Project: How I Learned to Do Right by My Body, Without Giving Up My Life

M y illness tale is pretty tame compared to most. There were no epic climaxes in the form of bodily collapses, misdiagnoses, or hospitalizations. My bodys unraveling consisted of subtler warning signs that didnt always capture my attention. But eventually they added up to the same narrative through line that all fifty million autoimmune disease sufferers have probably experienced at some point in their lives: why dont I feel well?

In January 2015, I launched a yearlong series on my blog, Feed Me Phoebe, to help me answer that question. Inspired by Gretchen Rubins best-selling book The Happiness Project, I came up with a dozen short-term experiments that would help me become the architect of my own health, one lifestyle change at a time. And the culmination of that project is the book in your hand.

Anyone whos been chronically ill will tell you that getting well does not always follow a linear timeline. My journey with Hashimotos thyroiditis started long before I decided to take on my project, but as far as this book is concerned (and to avoid confusing the bejesus out of you), Ive condensed the main action into a year of experimentation, while still being true to the ebb and flow of my experience.

Many of the wellness challengeslike my vice detoxlasted a very finite period of a week or month. Otherslike rehabilitating my backunfolded over the course of many months. At times, I discovered that the question I began with wasnt the right one at all. An experiment to eat for my hormones unearthed a bigger issue around birth control; an investigation into the effectiveness of probiotics caused me to grapple with the concept of what it really means to be clean; drinking half my body weight in water revealed how unclean what flows from our tap really is.

While I did treat myself like a guinea pig, I did not do it blindly. I had the help of a very qualified team of professionals. Professionals whose care I was in prior to deciding to write a book, and whose identitieswith the exception of my acupuncturist, Heidi LovieI felt should be changed to honor a unilateral physician-patient privilege.

Youll find some readily applicable advice at the end of each chapter. These Healthy Hedonist Tips are listed roughly in order of least to most intimidatingbasic to niche, point A to point Bto allow you to choose your own wellness adventure.

Which brings me to what I really want to say before we begin: I cant give you a perfect prescription for living a healthier life. You will need to do your own investigations to reveal where your pain points reside, and which benefits more than justify the tough work of changing deeply ingrained habits in order to realize them. Now that I am on the other side of my project, I can say with authority what Id always suspected: wellness is a journey that starts within. And its one I feel so much stronger for having taken.

So many people are battling their bodies and looking to others for answers. My story may not offer you a seamless solution. But its my hope that by following along, youll be better able to find your own sweet spot between health and hedonism, wherever it may be.

PREFACE

FROM FEEDING ON FADS TO FINDING BALANCE

On being sick, getting better, and paving a path toward healthy hedonism.

I d always thought that bad skin was just an unfortunate side effect of adolescence, that like mouth metal and experimental hair highlights, I would leave it behind with high school. But here I was, a year away from my thirtieth birthday, with a pink pixelated rash around my nose and mouth that refused to go away.

It was mid-December during the winter that spawned the polar vortex and led East Coasters to start sourcing their outerwear from Canada. So I could have simply blamed my faces distress on the subzero winds that came barreling off the Hudson River every time I left my apartment in downtown Manhattan. But this was a rash I knew well.

Perioral dermatitis had been more or less taking up an annual residency on my face since I graduated from college. Every time it flared up, Id pop into my dermatologists office for a few painful steroid injections and some medicated cream. Usually, this frontline attack would force my skin to surrender to its former (manageably flawed) state by morning. If it didnt, shed upgrade to antibiotic warfare.