Raina O’Dell: Ulcerative Colitis Warrior finding the silver lining in every day (E61)

In today’s Crohn’s Fitness Food podcast interview, Raina O’Dell shares her journey with Ulcerative Colitis, talks about the growth and transformation in her life from @rainavsfood to @its.just.raina, and how she’s been able to stay positive – always searching for the silver lining.

While Raina struggled with symptoms for about a year before diagnosis, she found herself pushing through and just attributing the symptoms to either nutrition or stress. Finally, in the early part of 2016, she started searching for a doctor who could give her answers and eventually found one who performed a colonoscopy. She immediately came away with a diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis, medication, and no knowledge of what IBD was.

After returning home from the hospital, she poured over research and learned as much as she could about what was happening with her body. Drawing upon her background and experience as a health and fitness coach, she was determined to help her body heal without the use of medications. She refocused her efforts in diet and exercise, using the tools and knowledge she had, and succeeded in achieving remission by October of that year – just over six months after being diagnosed. She stuck to the foods that made her feel good (“eat good, feel good” was her mindset), cut out inflammatory foods, and took the same approach with fitness.

But remission didn’t last and the stress in her life wreaked havoc on her IBD. Her previous efforts of diet and fitness were not enough to overcome the stress and flare up this time. Her IBD journey escalated quickly and in February of 2017, she was in the hospital. A few months later in May, she had a total colectomy and temporary ileostomy. In July, she went in for the j-pouch surgery, but knew immediately it wasn’t working. Despite knowing what her body was telling her, she left the hospital that summer and was back in February of 2018 with abscesses on her j-pouch and an infection. The next step was a permanent ileostomy.

But two and a half years later, she’s more vibrant, healthier than ever, and thriving. She’s spent the last few years focusing on reducing stress, becoming more mindful, and using movement and nutrition to intentionally care for her body and become her best self. Both meditation and mindfulness help to reduce the noise in life and allow her to take a breath and slow down. During her flare ups and surgeries, she took the time to listen to her body and allowed it two full years to heal, unable to even do yoga as she battled fatigue. Fast forward to today and there’s nothing she can’t do now. With the green light from her doctor to workout again after her last surgery, she slowly and steadily built up her strength and she loved every aspect of getting back into fitness. From bodyweight workouts and lifting to fitness bands and yoga, you won’t find her skipping a day of movement now!

Today, she finds the silver lining in being able to serve as an inspiration to others. Her journey has made her stronger and being able to help just one person to feel better keeps her motivated to do more, share more, and enjoy life more. To everyone out there with an ostomy, IBD, or anything else that might currently be holding them back, she dares you to talk about it and to search for the silver lining in every single day.

@its.just.raina
@letsputtheradinradical
https://www.instagram.com/its.just.raina/
https://www.instagram.com/letsputtheradinradical/

Want to get the shorts she wears when working out:
https://honeyathletica.com/
Use code: raina10