“I know that God put everything in order, and all the events in place. If I hadn’t taken Med Missionary’s training, my mom would be on prednisone right now. Now she has no pain, and lives her life normally.”

These are the words of Tere Stepper, a childbirth educator and lactation consultant living in Portland, Oregon. The events she refers to all started when her mother, Elsa, flew from her home in Peru to Tere’s home for her annual visit.

It was September of 2021, and Elsa had just taken her second dose of the C-19 jab prior to her travel. She arrived in the picture of health―or so Tere thought.

One morning, her mother did not come out from her room. Tere went in to check on Elsa, and finding her still in bed, asked if she was okay.

“My mom started to cry and showed me her hands,” Tere shares. “They were so stiff and painful and heavy. When I looked at her hands, they looked like two balloons. They were so sensitive to the touch.”

Elsa’s hands were taking the brunt of what appeared to be an autoimmune reaction. Tere observed her mother and noted the pain that Elsa was experiencing. 

“It was very interesting, the pain in her middle finger,” Tere describes. “She felt a running electricity to her elbow and then to the vaccination site in her left shoulder. I had never seen her suffering in this way before.”

Tere called her brother, an ER doctor. “I’m sorry to tell you, but that’s the jab,” he told her, and recommended they get an ultrasound and see a rheumatologist.

Tere tracked down all kinds of natural remedies to try to help her mom. Next, Tere called Heather, a nurse friend of hers. Together, they researched until they found data through the American Society of Rheumatology linking the jab as a trigger for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Elsa went for lab work, which showed off the chart results confirming an RA diagnosis.

“And it happened overnight,” Tere marveled.

Tere made these observations of her mother’s pain on a Wednesday. Just four days later, she began Med Missionary’s six-week online medical missionary training course.

“It was everything about being anti-inflammatory,” Tere recalls. “That’s when I told my friend Heather, this is God sent. I realized that all of these classes were about an anti-inflammatory diet, so I told my mom, that’s it, we’re starting over. We’re cooking in a different way now.”

Tere started what she describes as a whirlwind in her kitchen to purchase the tools and ingredients used in the anti-inflammatory diet from the training course. 

“The first thing I got in the mail was the Autoimmune Plant-Based Cookbook,” Tere shares. “I was so happy that I started to make the recipes.”

Tere found some of the recipes simple and easy. Others, she noted, required more work, and needed certain ingredients soaked and sprouted beforehand. She resolved to faithfully follow the recipes, saying, “that’s okay, I’m doing this for my mom.”

Just three days into following the anti-inflammatory diet changes, Tere took pictures of her mother’s hands.

“It was a huge difference,” Tere shares with a mix of relief and delight.

After just a week, Elsa’s hands had returned to normal. The anti-inflammatory diet had transformed her hands from puffy and swollen to healthy and able to move without discomfort.

“From that day until today, she takes no meds, nothing,” Tere states. “Just the diet.”

During her travels back to Peru, Elsa had an experience that further solidified her commitment to stay on the anti-inflammatory diet.

 “She ate out and ate meat accidentally,” Tere recalls. “Both her knees became so painful and stiff that she was not able to walk.” 

The pain and swelling in Elsa’s body resolved completely once again as she continued eating her anti-inflammatory diet. For both Tere and her mom, eating out no longer holds the same appeal.

“I noticed that when she sees food outside, she says, ‘No, no,’ because she knows that her body is reacting immediately,” Tere shares. “Her doctors asked what she’s been doing because her blood work numbers dropped so dramatically that they’re now normal.”

When doctors hear about the simple changes she made, they respond, “Keep it up.”

Tere’s Chronic Anemia Resolves

And keep it up they did. After months of following the diet, Tere began taking note of compliments she herself received about her skin when out with friends or FaceTiming family.

“Your skin looks better!” Tere recalls them saying.

Her son told her, “Mom, you have red cheeks!”

And sure enough, the pink in Tere’s cheeks were returning―something she had not experienced since high school following a diagnosis of chronic anemia.

“I’m 45 years old,” Tere shares. “All my life, I’ve taken iron supplements as a pill that gave me constipation or as a syrup.”

Tere recalled her memories of her mother trying to save money due to the cost of the iron supplements, and how whether she was eating meat or not, her iron levels were always low.

When Tere was pregnant with her son at 30, concerned doctors urged her to make changes―though resting more was the only advice that brought her slight improvement.

At times, her hemoglobin level dropped down to 8. When faithfully taking her supplement, the level increased only up to 9.5. She always felt tired and not sure what to do.

Right before starting the Med Missionary training, Tere had blood work done by a naturopathic doctor who attributed her anemia to being vegan.

The week after her lab work results, Tere started the anti-inflammatory diet. During the training, she heard mention of a nutritional pesto sauce that caught her attention.

“This pesto was different,” she recalls. “It didn’t have oil and had all kinds of greens.”

“When I tried making the recipe, I said, ‘this is so good!’” Tere shares.

She started to add the recipe to many of her meals, a habit that continued for months. After a time, Tere’s doctor saw her again for a follow-up that included more bloodwork.

This time, her hemoglobin levels were 12.

“I realized it was the pesto,” Tere shares emphatically. “My body was craving it. My doctors used to comment that my hands looked pale and yellow. Not anymore. My hands look healthy.”

For Tere, the concentration of greens added to her daily meals made a huge difference.

“It is something so simple, but I wasn’t eating them in the right quantity,” She shares. “It was so simple! I started to cry when I saw the bloodwork numbers.”

Tere, her mother, and now her son, all three have adopted the anti-inflammatory diet as their lifestyle. All three take turns cooking for each other when they’re together.

“We’re in the same boat together,” Tere says with a smile. “I praise the Lord for that.”