Years after delivering our twins, I had stubborn extra weight to lose, struggled with exhaustion, extreme afternoon fatigue and my GI symptoms progressively had gotten worse. I found myself not feeling confident in my own skin and had realized that my exercise habits and routine that I had in place prior to kids had been put on the back burner. I essentially realized that I needed to pour into ME and that my health was just as important as taking care of my family.  I knew something needed to change if I wanted my health, weight and energy to change. I needed to “find a way” rather than “continue to find excuses”. 

I decided to break things down in small steps. First was to try new healthy recipes that I enjoyed, cut back on the number of nights I drank wine and committed to working out 3-4 days a week even if it was just 20 minutes. I told myself to trust the process and to keep going even on days or weeks where it didn’t go according to what I had planned and was far from “perfect”. Within a few months I had lost the stubborn 15 lbs post kids. I fell in love with all the new habits I had built and the energy and confidence that I gained. I learned to love cooking through the process and to give myself grace and love. 

Along my weight loss journey however, I noticed my GI issues had gotten worse despite all the healthy shifts I had made. Super frustrating right!? Shortly after, I pursued training in integrative and functional nutrition to help get to the root of my own issues and help others with a more deep and personalized approach to address their health issues. 

It was during my own training that I finally learned where to even begin with getting answers to my own unwanted GI symptoms.

During my functional and integrative health training, I realized I had a ton of food sensitivities. I removed my reactive foods and within days, the afternoon fatigue, gas, bloating and stomach pain that I had been dealing with since I was a young kid were drastically reduced. I’m talking 90% improved!

During the course of my training I continued to dig deeper into why I had developed these food sensitivities. Through a functional microbiome test I found imbalances in my gut that had led to the food sensitivities that I developed.  I implemented targeted herbal, diet and supplement protocols to restore and rebalance my gut. I was eventually able to add back many of the foods I had been reacting to after addressing the underlying issues and now have a passion for helping other’s do the same. 

Today, I live a life where I enjoy eating healthy, nourishing foods 90% of the time and indulge 10% of the time. I’ve maintained the weight loss through a realistic, balanced and healthy mindset and relationship to food approach and I don’t feel tied down by my GI issues that had caused humiliation, anxiety and pain in the past.

There is a way to find relief to your gut issues. No, IBS is not normal and there IS a root cause to what is driving it and I’d love to help you along your journey of getting rid of those GI symptoms once and for all!