While managing an autoimmune disease, I struggled for years to figure out the role of food in disease treatment. I regularly found myself wondering... "Why does food feel like the ONLY answer for natural autoimmune remission? Why is food all the experts seem to talk about? Why does it seem like I nothing else I do is enough... unless I'm also eating perfectly clean?"

To me, it felt like there was this underlying message in the illness / wellness industry that said... If you're not eating perfectly clean, and even worse if you're struggling to eat this way, then there's something wrong with you as a HUMAN.

You must not value your health.
You must not want to feel better.
You must not have any willpower or discipline or commitment.

It took a few failed attempts at the Whole 30, a deep desire to blend the worlds of intuitive eating & Autoimmune Protocol plus three specific questions before I realized how to use food in a way that actually works for me. (Meaning, I saw results AND I enjoyed the road to those results.)

The other day on social media, I came across a post talking about the best strategy to use when you're trying to build a business and make more sales. SEO blog posts? Instagram? Facebook ads? Pinterest? Which strategy will give the biggest possible return? Which strategy will make the most money?

​To answer these questions, the author of the post simply said: "That's like asking... Pants? Skirt? Shorts? What's right to wear today?" (Essentially, she's inferring, what's right is whatever feels best... to you.)

As you can see, this stuck with me. Mostly because I'd never seen anyone put the conversation of "best strategy" into such a simple terms. It got me thinking... Is strategy really a matter of preference? So much so that the strategy I use to feel better and manage my autoimmune disease might be a matter of preference, too?

Exercise... Diet... Essential oils... Restorative yoga... Meditation... EFT... Could the best way to feel better and heal from autoimmune disease be a matter of choosing and committing to whatever feels right... to me? If so, how do I figure that out? How do I navigate between all of the things I should do or am supposed to do or have been told to do in order to find the strategies that will work the best? 

Here are 10 questions to ask yourself to uncover the best and fastest way for YOU to feel better when managing autoimmune disease or chronic illness. These are really powerful questions to answer BEFORE investing a ton of time, money and energy into a healing protocol, as they help make sure you're primed and ready for that protocol to work for you. 

​When we're trying to feel better with autoimmune disease, we often adopt a few lifestyle or dietary changes to complement the treatment we're receiving inside the doctor's office. We're looking at what we eat, how often we exercise, how much stress is on our plate, etc. 

But I've noticed there's one big element that's often missing. In between all of the dietary tweaks, product changes and emphasis on work-life balance, we forget about a part of our lives that impacts how we feel in a BIG way.

You see, most of the changes we're encouraged to make are designed to support the physical body.

We look at the food we give our bodies.
We look at the products we put on our bodies.
We look at the movement we're asking the body to do.

And don't get me wrong, looking at the pieces of our lives that directly support the physical body makes a lot of sense. After all, we're trying to heal from a physical ailment or disease. But at the core of our desire to heal is our desire to feel better. (For many of us, we. just. want. to. feel. better. And maybe, feel normal for a change.)

Yet, feeling good physically is not the only way to feel good. If you're doing everything you can to feel better, and it seems like nothing is working, try adding this into your life and see if you notice some really big shifts that might happen quite quickly!