Alyssa Staley

Charlotte, NC

26

74 Following 26 Followers

I fully believe that what you put into your body directly effects your health. I don't believe in fad-diets, I just make healthy and wholesome foods. And I don't think that healthy food should taste like cardboard. My experience in making raw food dishes started as a long-shot solution to a serious health crisis and turned into a passion.

I've had Fibromyalgia since I was 19. My symptoms include all-over body pain with tenderness in my inner knees, hips, lower back, behind my shoulder blades, my shoulders, neck, and jaw. I literally always had a headache that sometimes turned into a monster migraine.

I quit my job as a cosmetologist, hoping it would help. It did not. I tried physical therapy, trigger point injections, muscle-tendon injections, and boxtox injections. I've tried alternative treatment with anti-virals. I've seen more pain management specialists, internists, physiatrists, etc. than I can count. I've traveled to different states to see different specialists and I have spent $7,000+ out of pocket to pay for treatments.

I've been on a lot of medications, including Gabapentin, Topomax, Elavil, Cymbalta, Maxalt, Tizanadine, Metaxalone, Phenagrin, butrans-patches, Norco, and more that I can't remember.


I got really, really depressed after a while. Being in constant pain with no breaks in sight for the rest of your life, indefinitely, had me very down. I cried constantly (something that only my husband knows.) Pain affects every aspect of your life and I mourned the life that sickness took from me. Moments that would have brought me unimaginable joy before Fibromyalgia were tainted by pain and I couldn't be as happy as I used to be. I tried several anti-depressants. Mostly, because they do ease pain and act as a sleep aid, but I secretly hoped they'd help me to be less sad.

In June of 2012, I got super fed-up and started a completely raw, vegan diet. I had read a lot about it but wasn't convinced that it would work to ease my pain. I proceeded anyway in hopes I would drop a few pounds that medication had caused me to gain.

The first 2 weeks were awful- I had a searing migraine the whole time. But, about a month in, I noticed my back pain had reduced significantly. I dropped my anti-depressant and the pain stayed at bay.

At about 2.5 months in, my headache stopped. I have/had chronic headaches and migraines. For 2 straight years, I literally always had one. It stopped and my jaw pain lessened. I dropped a few more medications.

I started swimming 3 times a week at the gym, which is something that would previously had caused me to have increased pain.

Then, 4 months in, I had gone from 9 medications to 2 medications. My pain had gone from an 8 to a 2. Now, some days, I don't even have pain.


This diet is one of the only things that, in hindsight, has made a lot of sense as a treatment option. I've always eaten a "healthy" diet, by American standards (as in, a lean, low-fat diet). But it was not a clean and nutritionally-dense diet.

I can't expect my body to function properly, heal properly, and perform the house-cleaning functions that it needs to sustain health if I don't feed it proper fuel. If I stuff my body full of processed foods with minimal vitamin or enzyme content, my body will fail. And it did.

I believe my journey to health with most likely be a life-long one. Eating a clean, whole-foods, vegan diet has completely changed my life, though.

I still have a sweet tooth and I started making these treats so that I could stay on track. Everything that I make has more nutrients than the typical American meal. I can indulge my sweet-tooth and improve my health at the same time.

I think that if we all changed the way that we looked at food, we could change our lives for the better.