My Personal Journey To Total Body Nourishment

Rewind to 1989. I was born. Major life event, yo. And since as long as I can remember, I have been in pain. Stomach aches, ear pain, body aches, extreme fatigue, you name it. When I was a kid, I always felt sick. I remember waking up with the most painful stomach aches and not wanting to go to school. My pediatrician attributed my complaints of stomach aches to “wanting attention.” He ignored my health and passed me off as a kid who just wanted to be noticed.

 

Fast forward to high school.

I got plenty of sleep, but would still fall asleep in my classes. It wasn’t lack of sleep. I was experiencing chronic fatigue from undiagnosed food intolerances. The damage to my gut caused a host of problems. To make things worse, I felt major social isolation among my friends because I was the only girl I knew of who still didn’t hadn’t gotten her period. I was 17. Did you know Celiac Disease delays puberty? By the time I did get my period, the pain was so bad I could barely walk. And I broke out like crazy. Every PMS symptom you could think of, I had. So naturally, my gynecologist put me on birth control. Yaz to be specific.

Fast forward to college.

After my freshman year, I couldn’t handle the stomach pain, body aches, and fatigue anymore. I got connected to a naturopathic doctor who tested me for food intolerances. My test lit up. I also got tests that showed Celiac Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Okay so eliminate gluten, eggs, dairy, the other food intolerances, and get on thyroid medication. You’re good now, right? You’d think.

Fast forward to one year later.

 

Fast forward 3 months later.

I was sick constantly. My memory was failing and I could barely pass my classes. I had PTSD every time I got my period. I developed this hatred for my female reproductive system after I got TSS and wanted a hysterectomy. I was still on birth control to keep my periods as light and pain-free as possible. My therapist said I had the same mentality about my female organs as someone who had been raped. You can imagine what that kind of energy did to the healing of my body. Squat.

Fast forward a few months later.

I dove deep into nutrition. Started drinking green juice and experienced energy like never before. I became obsessed with food and healing my body. I changed my major in college and got any internship I could in the field of nutrition to get hands on experience. It consumed me in every way possible. And I felt better than ever.

 

This is just a brief overview of how easy it is for our health to spiral out of control. I’m 100% confident that my undiagnosed Celiac Disease is what started everything. If you don’t know what gluten does to the body if you have Celiac Disease, it screws with your entire being. Hormones, reproductive system, digestive system, brain, you name it – it impacts it. And that damage on top of the damage that birth control does, it was only a matter of time until it caught up with me. 

And during my entire life, I never skipped a beat. I pushed my body over and over again to do what I needed it to do despite how terrible I felt. Although I started truly focusing on my health when I was 20 years old, I never gave myself a real chance to heal. I have always had a jam-packed schedule.

During my young adult life I also experienced traumatic emotional events. Such is life, right? Well, I have this habit of suppressing my emotions and telling myself everything is “fine”. Sound familiar to earlier in my story? Not dealing with your emotions or processing traumatic events will do more damage to your health than any fast food burger will. And I was so set on always being strong that I ignored a lot of my feelings.

Until now. I made a decision. It’s time to fully immerse myself in my healing. In all forms, because stress comes in all forms. Physical, mental, emotional, etc. Our bodies can’t tell the difference between a bad breakup and a car accident. The physiological stress of food intolerances alone is bad enough not to mention everything else I mentioned above. And I have yet to mention what I’ve discovered about my health in the last 5 years.

But let’s just go back a few months…

A few months ago I started experiencing symptoms of what doctors know as MS. I would rapidly feel extreme muscle fatigue in my legs and couldn’t walk on them without feeling like they were going to give out. I also started to experience dizziness and vision issues. Out of nowhere my eyes would blur and I’d feel like I was rocking on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean. It freaked me out. And all of my education brought me back to the thought, ‘if you have one autoimmune disease you are susceptible to getting more’. And I already have three. So naturally, my brain took over and started to worry. I quickly knew worrying won’t solve anything, but when my naturopathic doctor referred me to a neurologist because SHE thought something could be up, I knew I needed to do something.

I also developed cystic acne what seemed to be overnight. Not to mention hives spontaneously showing up on my chest, stomach, and arms. And my psoriasis that used to be localized to my scalp creeped around my entire neck. I went from having smooth, beautiful skin to this red, inflamed, itchy mess. Nothing changed with my diet, I didn’t start any new supplements, my skincare didn’t change. The only thing that was different in my life was that I experienced a couple of traumatic emotional events. Looking back at the last 6 months, it was like a pot of water getting ready to boil. Our skin is the largest organ of our body, and my skin is now screaming at me to do something.

The last reason is something I have known about for some time. My hormones, specifically the reproductive system, which I briefly mentioned earlier. I’m coming to terms with the part of my body that I ignored since I was 17 years old. And 11 years later, I am facing my reality head on with boxing gloves because I am not giving up this fight.

I kept telling myself I could do it all. Run a successful business by myself, work multiple jobs, be a support system for family, have a solid relationship with my boyfriend, keep up a social life, travel, and take care of my health (which is a full-time job in itself with a chronic illness).

After many breakdowns of feeling totally overwhelmed and exhausted, I knew I needed to break the pattern. Last week I told my clients I’m taking 3 weeks off. It was scary, but health is the most important thing because without it, I can’t serve others in the capacity that I want to. So taking time off wasn’t a choice at all, it’s a necessity.

During this time off, I am detoxing, resting, and rebuilding. Not only in the physical sense, but in the emotional sense as well. And I’m SO excited to see where these three weeks take me.

When I shared this info with my Instagram community they all expressed interest in seeing what my detox protocol consists of. I’m sharing it ALL with you!

You can learn more about my detox protocol here.

Please please please realize that you can have the most pristine, perfect diet in the world, but if you don’t take care of your entire being, complete healing won’t happen. Subject: ME.

So why have I not shared these things until now?

For one thing, it’s hard. When you are a nutritionist and have a successful business helping others get healthy, you constantly have people looking at you. Judging how healthy you are based on what your skin looks like, your body shape, your energy. And the truth is, I became a nutritionist at one of the most ill times in my life. I was healing myself and dove right into helping others because I couldn’t wait until my health was perfect to start making an impact. I know how to help people, and more often than not, my energy goes into healing others instead of myself. And one of my strengths as a nutritionist is that I can truthfully say, “I know how you feel” when I work with my clients. You can’t learn empathy in a textbook. And I know I was given my mountains to show others that they can be moved.

 

 I tell you all this because this is my journey. Healing is not linear. And sometimes it takes years for damage to show up.

But after all this, keep in mind that food has allowed me to get where I am today. If I didn’t focus so much on eating a plant-based diet full of fruits and vegetables, I would be in a VERY different place right now. I have never taken a medication for any of my autoimmune conditions – nor will I ever. The fact that I am not overweight, constantly sick, or dealing with paralyzing digestive issues is directly related to nutrition. So although I am not where I want to be with my OVERALL health right now, I know that without a doubt food has been my medicine all along and saved me from being in a terrible state. This is true for my clients as well. Many clients that come to me have autoimmune conditions and their symptoms are drastically improved purely through diet. 

But it’s all about balance. The physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, everything. We are not just physical beings so we can’t treat ourselves like one. It took me 28 years for life to scream at me loud enough to realize that. 

I plan to go into more detail about the different areas of my journey to allow you to learn from it. We learn best from others who have gone before us – and I’m not afraid to be vulnerable and put it all out there. Because what’s the point of me living this life in silence? We are meant for community and as humans, one of the ways we connect is through joint experiences. If sharing my experience can help us relate to one another, I’m all for it.

Thank you for being a part of my community and a part of my journey. YOU ARE FREAKING AMAZING. So whatever you’re going through, keep going. I promise the journey is just as special as the destination.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you’re currently struggling with, because you are not alone and I’d love to support you!

 

With joy and health,