Hi! I’m so glad you are taking an interest in your health. Exploring the option of working with a health coach is a great first step. Or maybe this is your fourth or fifth step. People often find health coaching when they are feeling stuck. Helping you get un-stuck is one of the things I do best – because I was once stuck myself.
My own health journey began about 13 years ago. Well, it was actually long before that, but I’m going to try to shorten this for you a bit. Let’s just say that I was sick with some sort of mysterious illness for a long time. Fast forward to 2006. I have a two year old and a newborn and I am miserably sick. Every night after dinner, all I can do is lie on the sofa in agony. I try changing what I eat. I see every doctor I can think of. I get all the tests. Then I get them all again. No answers. Nothing is helping. They are throwing acid blockers and Tums at me in lieu of any real solutions.
Ten years ago, I hit a crisis with my health. The pain in my abdomen was so intense, I knew I needed to go to the emergency room. After a middle-of-the-night surgery and some pathology tests, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I hate capitalizing that word, Crohn’s. It was named after a person so it’s a proper noun, but in my mind, giving it that capital letter gives it some added power. But that’s an aside.
All these years later, after much study and much hard work restoring my health, I know that autoimmune diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose. It’s just the nature of that condition. With autoimmune disease, there is some trigger that turns on an immune reaction in your body making it attack itself in some way. There isn’t usually a clear path and symptoms aren’t cut and dry.
Did you know that current statistics show that about 20% of the American population has a diagnosed autoimmune disease? And 75% of those are women. If you know you have an autoimmune disease, think about how long you went undiagnosed, as I did. That means that really, those numbers are probably much higher. Also interesting to note is that autoimmunity is only 25% genetic. That means it’s 75% environmental – this is what you eat, what you drink, what you breathe, what you put on your skin, etc. Some of this you can control and some of it was done to you when you were too young to make your own choices. I don’t mean that to say your parents intentionally poisoned you. We just didn’t know the impact of all the chemicals in our environment. But we do know now and we can do something about it.
About four years into my diagnosis of Crohn’s, I learned about the Paleo diet and decided that I wanted to try to heal my body with diet rather than continue to take the very dangerous drugs I was currently taking.
My doctor was not on board. At all. In fact, he fought me pretty hard. But my health, my lab tests, my colonoscopy, all showed that I had no signs of the disease that had me crippled by pain just a few years earlier. With his endorsement, I got off all of my medications and I’ve never looked back.
I found a functional medicine doctor who could guide me down this more natural approach to health and can honestly say that I am thriving today.
Ten years ago, I was miserable. I was in an unbelievable amount of pain. I was not enjoying my family. And I was frustrated because I was seeking help everywhere I knew to look and nothing was changing. Then I found a natural way to total and complete wellness and it only involved changing my diet and some lifestyle factors.
I meet people everyday who are suffering with rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, psoriasis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and many more. There are currently over 100 conditions either known or thought to be autoimmune in nature.
This is my area of expertise because it’s my own life. If you are interested in reclaiming your health, not letting your autoimmunity control your life or beginning the task of working with your doctor to get off of medicine and heal your body naturally, I am here to help. This is my passion and how I want to spend the rest of my working years – helping people who are suffering just like I was. It really is possible to live with an autoimmune disease and truly thrive.
Some doctors say my disease is in remission. Some say I am merely asymptomatic. I like to think that I don’t even have this disease anymore. I have zero symptoms of Crohn’s disease so why continue to carry the banner of that condition? I eat real, whole foods, even some really delicious treats now and then, I exercise every day, even if it’s just a stroll around the neighborhood, I make time for family and friends and I do all I can to keep the stress to a minimum and my sleep a priority.
I’ve just told you the secret!
Food
Movement
Stress
Sleep
Relationships
Those are the secrets to Total Wellness.
Do you have some goals in mind for your own health? I can help you achieve them. You have the power within you to do it. We all do. Sometimes it just takes a little coaching to get there.
A little fine print in case you like these sorts of details:
I graduated from North Carolina State University in 1996 with a Bachelor’s of Science in zoology (pre-med) and genetics.
Then I completed my Master’s of Science, also from North Carolina State University, in 2000, specializing in physiology and more specifically, reproductive endocrinology.
In January of 2019, I graduated from the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, a coaching program in association with the Institute for Functional Medicine. I am also a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.
I worked for four years with LipoScience as their head of clinical research. LipoScience pioneered the testing of lipoproteins (the carriers of cholesterol) as a marker of heart disease risk. This was functional medicine before that term was widely used.
For the past 15 years, I have been home raising and homeschooling my two children.
Four years ago, I started a website dedicated to super tasty Paleo recipes. Last fall, I transformed that blog from a simple recipe website to a membership community for people who are seeking to manage their chronic disease with functional medicine. You can read more about that option at www.autoimmunefreecookingclub.com. Enrollment in the coaching membership is open quarterly, but you can always join the Free level or Recipe Only groups.
And last, but not least, in late 2017, I joined Beautycounter as an independent consultant. We sell safe and high-performing skincare and cosmetics. Their products are the ones I finally found to be effective and safe and so I am proud to be associated with that organization.
There’s my resume in a nutshell.
