MY STORY
I am immensely thankful to have found out about functional medicine! The Functional Nutrition Alliance and School of Applied Functional Medicine have contributed to healing my digestion, mental health and autoimmunity and enable me to effectively counsel people outside of the unhealthy default reality that includes the Standard American Diet (SAD). Given the epidemic of chronic illness and the failure of the conventional medicinal system in helping those with chronic illness to get better, I am on a mission to employ natural approaches to cure illness utilizing a holistic framework that specifically looks toward gut function and the healing power of food. I think it's important to emphasize what you can add to your diet and not to think about a wellness diet as all about restriction. Wellness diets recommend eating 6-9 cups of vegetables a day! Think of the endless creativity in preparing many nutrient dense meals. That's one of the ways Dr. Terry Wahls kicks her MS to the curb.
Many people comment on my decision to follow dietary protocols for wellness. I frequently hear, "you eat so healthy." I often think to myself, is eating "healthy" really so novel this day and age? As Pilar Gerasimo states in her book, The Healthy Deviant: a rule breaker's guide to being healthy in an unhealthy world, “In a world where following the norms makes us sick, sad, and exhausted, the principle of Healthy Deviance is a powerful, beautiful game-changer—one that can help us radically transform our lives and our world.”
For me it's a way of life to stay clear from the toxicity of big Agriculture and Big Pharma. The amount of artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils in processed foods are alarming. Our immune system reacts to artificial ingredients because they are not food. The patriarchal colonized notion that we are separate from nature, with the over emphasis on left brain logic and sympathetic dominance of multitasking, quick fixes, high stress hustles and disposable everything are no longer a way I chose to live. My sensitive and easily dis-regulated nervous system thanks me, daily.
I had the unfortunate trauma of watching my father's illness, MS, take hold of his life throughout my childhood (boy did he drink a lot of Fresca and Tab, smoked Paul Malls and drank too much red wine in his dark NYC apartment). There were not many treatments for MS back in the 70's and 80's and his MS diagnosis ended his life in eleven years. I also sadly witnessed my mother's downward spiral in her health due to chronic illness (chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoarthritis, IBS, depression) that in large part was exacerbated due to pharmaceutical companies. She was definitely of the "take a pill" generation. She took a lot and even encouraged me to take them. Opiates and benzodiazepines had such a negative effect on her. It's so sad how many lives are destroyed by addiction to these pharmaceuticals.
Knowing my genetic predisposition to autoimmunity and having an autoimmune condition makes it that much more important for me to find what keeps me healthy and what makes me ill. Autoimmune diseases are multifactorial with environmental and inheritable factors. Autoimmunity reflects an altered immune status, therefore the presence of more than one disorder is not uncommon. I know if I slipped back to the Standard American Diet (SAD) my health would deteriorate. I know because if I do get caught up in the weeds of not managing my mindset, stress, not balancing my blood sugar, eating dairy and too many unrefined sweets and drinking alcohol I can feel it. I sense my genetically predisposed hyperactive immune system revving up and becoming more symptomatic. I get flares, digestive upset, and feel more anxious and melancholic.
As a certified functional nutrition counselor/health coach I am on a mission to help others reverse their autoimmune processes and feel better. Maybe you can't be "cured" but you can be the cure to what ails you by knowing your mediators. You can't know them unless you try different things in your life and that begins with removing the most highly inflammatory and often addicting foods commonplace in the Standard American Diet. These eliminations and reintroductions ought to be tracked so you can learn about yourself and find out what agrees or disagrees with you. Symptoms are your body trying to tell you something. It's begging...Won't you listen?
It is sad and anger provoking to know how sick the largest food companies, and the toxic chemical and pesticides they use in their food products are making people in modern society. I highly encourage people to empower themselves toward healthy deviance and learn more about how their digestion, genes and inflammation are related to their overall health. If you are motivated and willing to invest in yourself (you are so worth it!) and/or you know someone who is fed up with the status quo of their chronic illness not getting better, and are ready to make personalized and modifiable changes in diet and lifestyle, you are my people and I want to help you.
Check out my website for more information in the button below or give me a call so we can talk about how I can partner with you in a therapeutic alliance toward better health. Your future self will thank you!
