This is a personal letter that Hannah's sister, Kelly, recently sent knowing she was struggling with energy issues and had been diagnosed as having Fibromyalgia. It was so good, I edited out the personal details and got permission from Kelly to post it.

There are a lot of diet tips and ideas that will interest those of you who want to improve your energy levels through better eating. Some of these ideas will not be applicable for everyone and could even be dangerous for some people. Please check things out and get medical advice from a trusted doctor if you need it.

Dear Sis,
I have attached here some helpful reading for you with some ideas for how to convert some of your eating to a higher protein, less processed food diet. I can tell you from my personal experience that this really works for a lot of issues including losing weight, inflammation, food allergies, and low energy as well as brain fog.

I think that you can modify this to what you want to do. If you don't need to lose weight, no need to cut out on starches or fruits, but I would recommend that everything you put in your mouth have some good quality to it.

I have found that if I eat more consciously with the intent to fuel myself I do a lot better. Getting rid of the caffeine, sodas, etc. actually helped my energy level increase once I got over the withdrawal period!! I did for about two weeks and felt awful as I was detoxing from all the junk but then it was like I woke up one day and my brain cleared. It was awesome.

I also recommend at least 20 - 30 minutes of some kind of exercise 4-5 times a week. Make it part of your routine. You'll see your energy levels go up and your stress levels decrease.

There are some very good protein bars etc on the market which are actually good for you and really taste good too.

In some places, a brand called Ezekiel bread is available. They make sprouted grain bread without preservatives that is very high in protein. They also make a cold cereal that I find very good. Though it isn't gluten free, if you find you are not allergic to gluten, this is a great alternative for breakfast and very filling.

I love making stir fry and the kids enjoy it. I also make everything I made with hamburger with ground turkey and have cut our sodium way down by looking at labels. Sodium makes you feel awful, and if you start reading labels, a lot of the canned diet foods and lean cuisines are completely full of the stuff. It's no wonder people are dying of High blood pressure.

Look at grains that you have available. Quinoa, millet, and steel cut oats are great sources of amino acids, protein, and fiber. Combined or by themselves, they make a wonderful hot cereal in the rice cooker that you can sweeten with agave nectar, blueberries, almonds and it's wonderful. I got mom and dad hooked on this stuff and dad's problems with his blood sugar have really significantly improved.

For elimination diet to see what you might be allergic too, I would definitely get off of any red meat or pork right away and get wheat out of your diet first. Start there and see what happens. If you are trying to lose weight, lose the milk products too and get your calcium from other sources. Goat cheese is awesome and does not have the high rate of allergy that cow products do.

What else… really ridding your kitchen of anything with high sodium, high fructose corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated oils is so important. They are in everything. You have to be super vigilant not to buy things with it because they hide it in everything from your loaf bread to children's apple sauce. It's really horrible.

Since they started adding the HFCS to everything in the '70's we have begun having the epidemic of obesity in the US and also ADD and ADHD in children. Just removing HFCS from kids' diets seems to help tremendously in calming them down as I have definitely seen with my son. I was horrified when I found out how much he was getting each day even though I thought he was eating pretty healthy. It was in the Peter Pan PB and the Smuckers jam, it was in the white bread, and it was in the applesauce. Also in the juice box. So… kids take only water bottles to school now. They get unsweetened apple sauce, peanut butter without the junk in it (I read the labels), jelly that is actually fruit without the sugars in it. Phew, what a difference in their attitudes, energy levels, calmness, and even concentration in school.

Well, this is getting very long. I'm so sorry, but I am so excited about what changing our eating has done for my family I just want you guys to get excited too and whatever you do, don't get discouraged. It was so hard for me at first because I had to undo everything I had ever learned about cooking and eating (no offense, mom!). I prayed daily that the Lord would show me yet another way to cook chicken. I really don't like to cook so this has been a challenge. He did help me and after about 6 weeks, it got so much easier because we were getting used to it and my taste buds didn't want all the sugar anymore. Coffee actually tastes horrible to me now and daddy said the same thing. Now I used to be a huge gourmet coffee fan. Grinding etc. I love my herbal teas now and try to drink plenty of green tea hot or cold.

I am convinced that maintaining a healthy vital "temple" is the foundation for being able to truly be effective for God. He brings sickness to our lives to help us grow spiritually, but a lot of our problems we make for ourselves. I knew that if I didn't get this area in my life under God's control, I would not be able to go on to further effectiveness in His service. Once this area of my life came under His control the doors started opening for me to go back to school and the rest is history. It was so funny because our professor actually commented on this very area in one of my counseling classes. I was so grateful that God had already dealt with that in me.

Please call me if you have any questions, or if you get discouraged. I am so eager to share anything that I have learned to help others get more healthy. We are killing ourselves with our fast food, fast paced, overly committed lifestyle and little by little with God's help we can get things back into balance.

Love and prayers,
Kelly Stephenson BSN, RN, CCRA