Chopped!

Today I was on Chopped!!! Well, not at the Food Network (In my wildest dreams), but here in Houston! This isn’t a food post, but something so BIG for me that I have to share with the World! I have struggled with an auto immune disease since I was 9 years old, by looking at me you’d never guess anything’s wrong because I have perfected the art of hiding my illness. I have alopecia areata, and it’s an incurable disease that affects 6.8 million people in the U.S. As a child I’d cry in the shower because I didn’t understand why my body hated me and why my hair would just fall out. Doctors at the time weren’t certain if that’s what I had, so they ran several tests and during one visit even asked me if I was self harming…it got to the point to where my Mom had to tell my elementary school about it so that I’d be allowed to wear headbands or bandannas to cover the hair loss. It’s really difficult to explain, because you don’t have cancer, but at the same time your body is confused and the hair follicles just attack themselves, which causes the hair to fall. It’s mostly cosmetic, but as an adolescent and as a teen I always worried that people would judge me once my illness became visible, so only doctors, family, and my closest friends knew. My treatment isn’t easy, I have to sit in a chair while a doctor injects my scalp with needles, sometimes it’s 100 times, sometimes it’s 20. There was a point when I became so self conscious because I felt like my body hated me, and so I had my days when I hated myself too. 

As an adult, I’ve learned to love myself and my body regardless of my autoimmune disease. It has taken me 27 long years to get to where I am today, regardless if I have a full head of hair or not. I focus on taking care of myself by exercising, eating well, and surrounding myself with strong women who love me for me. I’m so lucky to have a boyfriend who knows all of this, and from the very start of our relationship, has loved me unconditionally.