The long and short of it is, I am a holistic health coach who believes that our gut is the key to health. I also believe that what we think impacts our health and our health impacts how we think.
I have helped countless people regain their health, often when they didn’t know where to turn.
The philosophy that I use is simple. Our bodies are designed to be efficient and amazing and give us tons of clues when things are off. It is up to us to support our bodies, by listening to our bodies messages and to give optimal nutrition to support as needed.
If you want to know HOW I got to this point, here is my story….
Growing up I had an incredible childhood, except for my stomach. It hurt every single day. As a kid, I thought it was normal to have an upset stomach. When I was in 5th grade my stomach hurt so badly my mom thought maybe the wives tale of warm milk and bread would make me feel better. Within minutes of tasting it I promptly threw up. It was from that point on the doctors realized I had an issue with milk.
As I grew and avoided milk, my stomach was better, but I seemed to struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome (which most people never knew since my personality is quite energetic and upbeat) and reoccurring sore throats. In college I had more energy, but would often sleep in on the weekends until 2pm, missing breakfast and lunch entirely.
It wasn’t until my husband and I moved to Australia in my late twenties and I began cooking for someone who experienced MS that I realized food made a huge difference to my body. When I cooked fruits and veggies for her I felt great. When I made spaghetti for my husband and ate it, I threw up.
Soon I realized that wheat and I were not that great of friends. Then something happened that really changed my world…
The winter of 2015 my husband and I had twin boys!!! Our lives were a busy whirlwind, but then something happened in that ultimately changed my life course.
As I was talking on the phone to my dad, one of the twins started crying. The cry was frantic and strange, something I had never heard before and something that even as a new mom I knew meant I was needed immediately.
As I sprinted over to the basket where our twins were snuggling together I saw one of the boys struggling to breathe. His head thrashed side to side as he attempted to get air in his lungs. Even at 2 weeks, I could see the fear in the eyes of his twin next to him.
Immediately I picked him up and within moments his airway opened.
Little did I know at the time, but this was the start of a long journey down acid reflux, projectile vomiting, screaming in pain and other digestive health issues for him.
For months he would projectile vomit, sometimes up to 10 times a day, losing most of his milk. His liver count began to get off. We couldn’t lay him down for diaper changes as he would immediately throw up and gag. We would cry in pain for hours at a time.
I went in crying to my doctor saying something was wrong. He informed me that many babies spit up. I knew this wasn’t normal spit up as he had a twin brother for me to compare what “normal” was.
After some prodding, the doctor gave him Zantac. At first it was great, he felt better, but then he started having repetitive motions with his right arm and the reflux came back. This concerned us so we stopped (I actually poured the Zantac down the drain I was so frustrated).
By this time he was loosing weight. Fast.
We saw doctors and a gastrointestinal specialist who suggested a feeding tube. When my husband inquired if the feeding tube would fix the reflux, projectile vomiting and liver issues the doctor admitted it wouldn’t but would only get more in his stomach.
We knew that more in, meant more out!
Then an angel appeared. 🙂
I was teaching violin lessons at the time and asked my student to not come that day as my son had thrown up 8 times before 10am and was getting to the point that loud noises made him puke.
Little did I know at the time that his mom was a speech pathologist who focused on holistic health.
She asked to bring some jars to our steps and that I give him a drop of the liquid.
I was desperate and I trusted her, so we did.
Within 24 hours our son stopped screaming, he stopped projectile vomiting and started gaining weight that week so quickly that we actually took him to the urgent care because we thought he was swelling!
This transformation was testimonial enough for me to realize that our bodies do indeed give us messages that something is off and that through mainframe (being open) and nutrition we can change our paths.
My passion for health had me reading countless websites and books at all hours of the night and day and ultimately lead me to enroll in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a holistic health coach.
I am here today as a holistic health coach because of the healing power of food and the power of a positive, open mind frame.
I am here as a holistic health coach to help you regain your health!
Much love,
