How did I get here?
Hi! My name is Lil. Nice to meet you. Why start a website?
It’s a good question. I don’t have time to start a blog, let alone probably keep up with it. I started this because what a neat domain to have (Bakers of Baker – credited to my one of my good friends, Stephanie).
I found myself meeting new people when I moved here. The first friend I made moving here, Paige, told me that she knew someone who milled her own flour and made bread. I thought the concept was interesting and I didn’t mind venturing into a new hobby. What I didn’t expect is to have my entire world change completely.
You see, for over 13 years I struggled with inflammation from a certain “medication” I was given in 2007. My once healthy body was never the same. I had stiffness in my knees, lower back, my shoulders were tired all of the time. I described to my first rheumatologist that I felt like I was an 80 year old woman. The doctor ran bloodwork and “couldn’t find anything wrong”. He said I have symptoms of arthritis but no genetic markers for it. So I started taking medication and the medication made my symptoms worse. One night while visiting my dad, my body cramped so bad, I couldn’t drive home. My husband came and picked me up and I finally decided to get a second opinion of my diagnosis, which was a big question mark.
The second rheumatologist ran more bloodwork, and she couldn’t find anything wrong either. The doctor put me on muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory. I was better in 6 months but still had lower back stiffness, I couldn’t straighten my spine. I was worried I had Ankylosing spondylitis. The symptoms of that disease all sounded the same of what I was experiencing.
I just dealt with the pain. Lack of energy. I made it through and even went on to have a kid.
In 2018, after applying for life insurance, they scoured my medical records and asked what was the diagnosis of “reactive arthritis”. I hadn’t ever received a diagnosis from either doctor. I started to connect the dots and realized it was the certain “medication” I was given.
In December of 2021, I came across a recipe for golden milk. My husband told me to try turmeric years ago, but I didn’t listen. I finally tried turmeric and I fixed my inflammation within days. It hasn’t ever came back.
So why bread?
The last thing to fix was digestion which has always been an issue since I remembered. As a kid, I definitely didn’t drink enough water. I ate rather healthy. As an adult, many doctors told me to fix my gut. I tried everything from drinking a gallon of water, exercise, leafy greens, figs, prunes, prune juice, apricots, dried apricots, figs, fig syrup, miralax, psyllium husks, celery.
After finally meeting Nancy (the one who mills her own flour), I told her my story and she told me to give it a few months but by making my own bread from fresh milled grain, I should see a difference.
I did.
So now here I am, retelling my story, sharing my successes, failures & recipes, and introducing the amazing benefits of fresh milled grain to anyone who will listen. Whether it be cookies, bread, or muffins, eating these from fresh milled flour has fixed me. Not only am I a believer, I meet other mamas and people struggling with their health or kids’ digestion and when I make them bread, they turn into believers too.
I am a FT mama, PT network security engineer. The last thing I need is ANOTHER hobby of a site.
But I love to help people.
And that’s how I got here…