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Jamie Rose
Hello All! My name is Jamie Rose and I hail from the Midwest (Wisconsin & Minnesota) of the United States. Recently, I relocated to the Central Valley of Costa Rica where the sun is always shining, the rain is powerful, the food is healthy, and the people are compassionate. Hence the name for my blog is “Jungle Sunshine.”
About 1-2 years ago, I started to have brain fog during the day. It was difficult for me to concentrate on tasks, I couldn’t find words to express myself accurately, fatigue would just pop up out of nowhere and I often felt like I was floating. Mind you, at this time in my life, I was working out about an hour 5-6 days out of the week which included running 3 miles and completing exercises with light weights. After I noticed my productivity declining at work, a trip to the doctor was in order. Blood tests were first taken, and everything resulted in being in the normal range. I wasn’t deficient in iron, my hemoglobin wasn’t high, there wasn’t evidence of hypothyroidism, and I had normal vitamin levels. The doctor then suggested magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because of my family history of inflammatory diseases. The MRI came back within the normal range as well. It showed that I had T2 and FLAIR hyperintense foci in my frontal lobe, but the doctor stated that could have easily formed from a migraine or a prior injury. After visiting the doctor, I did not have any answers and my doctor confirmed my symptoms as being idiopathic. Now, not only did I not know what was going on with me, but it made me feel like I was crazy for having these symptoms. Was I making all these symptoms up?
After a couple months of feeling as though I was losing my mind, I decided to look at this from a different perspective. Even though there wasn’t a given reason for my symptoms, they were still there. The Western side of medicine couldn’t help me, but what about the Eastern side of medicine that focuses on the person as a whole rather than treating a person’s symptoms? I needed to help myself by starting with the things that I could control like diet, exercise, and meditation. This is when I decided to start the anti-inflammatory diet. Truthfully, my mother has been a significant aid in informing me about this diet. My grandmother had and my mother continues to suffer from inflammatory diseases. My mother wanted to find a way that might help her, and her daughters continue on a healthy path despite our family history. Long story short, I decided to give the anti-inflammatory diet a try. After a month, my symptoms were no more. I was feeling great and like myself again. I couldn’t believe how productive I could be at and outside of work! It seemed too good to be true. It was like getting over the flu, as I was so ecstatic that I was feeling “normal” once again.
In hopes to help others treat themselves as a whole (overall wellness) and not only look at their symptoms, I wanted to create the site “Jungle Sunshine”. This is a place where I hope to inspire and aid in growing healthy lifestyles by not only focusing on diet but positivity. Our world can seem very dark at times, and we all need a place to retreat in order to feel centered, calm, and happy. The ambitions for my site are as follows:
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Share anti-inflammatory diet recipes with a Central American flair. It is often easy to get your hands on dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free products in America, however, here in Costa Rica, it isn’t always easy. Enjoy recipes that are farm-to-table using Costa Rican staple ingredients.
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Share videos and pictures of travel that will inspire you to learn about other cultures, travel yourself and put a smile on your face.
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Share tips and tricks to living in Costa Rica. Some things we take for granted because we have always done them a certain way where we have grown up like buying a car, going to the bank, or taking the bus. I hope to help aid in instructional videos that will increase your knowledge of the country or put you at ease before traveling.
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Foster a community where diversity thrives. We are often scared of the unknown or what we don’t know. This is a safe place to ask questions of others and educate ourselves on cultures or diets that are different than our own.
Thank you for taking the time to visit Jungle Sunshine!
