- THIS IS -
MY STORY
My challenges, my struggles and why I do what I do
- Where I've Been -
My interest in health began in high school when my Dad had a massive heart attack and underwent quintuple bypass surgery at only 49 years old. In addition to a much improved diet, his recovery plan included an exercise program at the rehab center’s gym. In an effort to help him stay motivated I joined him at the gym and began helping out at home by cooking more healthful meals. Watching him exercise, eat better, lose weight, and gain strength beyond what he’d previously had all while blowing the doctors away was my first experience seeing the huge impact lifestyle can have on health.
In college I discovered running and eventually became interested in eating to fuel my performance. For the next 15 years I was healthy, I easily maintained an ideal weight, and I had a great strategy to cope with stress. A typical Type A, I love to challenge myself and over time after several 5- and 10-K’s I graduated to half marathons, and then finally in October of 2012 I ran a full marathon. I was so well prepared that I completely smoked my goal time! I was the healthiest and most fit I’d ever been!
Only I wasn’t. I thought something had felt off in the days before the marathon when I noticed my body seemed to be holding onto weight but I had dismissed it. But by January I was positive something was wrong. I was sleeping a lot and never felt rested.
"I had been steadily gaining weight and losing my hair, and my eyes were so dry my eye doctor gave me prescription drops. Work was becoming unbearable, my brain wasn’t as sharp as I always knew it to be and I was really irritable."
It was winter in Chicago and for the first time in my life I couldn’t tolerate the cold. I had started cancelling plans with friends and was spending my weekends home on the couch with my pup and Netflix. I was depressed, lonely, and scared.
During my physical that spring I begged the doctor to check my thyroid because I was sure that was the issue – it was the only thing that made any sense – but she told me my levels were normal. She recommended I eat less and move more and offered me a prescription for an antidepressant. Frustrated, exhausted, and now questioning my own mental health I took a trip to visit my best friend.
On the flight I was paging through a magazine when I stumbled on an article that described me to a T. After suffering the same list of symptoms I had a functional medicine doctor diagnosed the author with an autoimmune disease. She recommended finding an integrative or functional medicine doctor and when I returned to Chicago that’s exactly what I did. By chance I found a fantastic integrative doctor who actually listened to me, ran a bunch of bloodwork, and in April of 2013 I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
Yay – a diagnosis! And a prescription that was going to make me feel better – Hooray! Right? Wrong. The medication did help and my doctor really was awesome in putting me on the right medication from the start, but I still wasn’t fully back to myself.
- How I Changed -
At this point I began to learn that autoimmunity is a special kind of illness. Medication would help, but it wouldn’t stop the war my immune system was waging against my thyroid so I was going to continue to have symptoms. And if I let my immune system continue attacking my own body tissue it would eventually find additional targets and I would collect other autoimmune diseases. Naturally I wanted to know how to stop the autoimmune attack and that’s when the real learning began.
I devoured every book and website I could find about Hashimoto’s, hypothyroidism, autoimmunity, leaky gut and food intolerances. When I found the autoimmune paleo diet I dove right in amidst a demanding work schedule and plenty of travel.
"Finally with the combination of medication and a healing diet my brain began to clear and my energy came back, and the weight started coming off, too."
About a year later that same doctor attributed my lingering symptoms to adrenal fatigue. It was time to get back to my research only this time I was coming up short – there was nothing to DO. The gist of what I was seeing was that I needed to NOT do – I needed to slow down, rest, and sleep. Now, I’m a person my Mom affectionately describes as living my life “going 90 miles per hour with her hair on fire!” I prided myself on my ability to get things done and achieve. I had already given up gluten and I could swap a yoga class for a run here and there, but slowing down was not in my skill set!
Eventually fate intervened and I found myself on my knees in a workshop at a yoga studio learning about chakras, meditation, intuition, and the very physical manifestations of emotional energy in the body. I started drawing new connections between my life and my health and more pieces of this intricate wellness puzzle came together.
- Where I'm Going -
I realized it was time for real change. I had been working in the corporate world for 13 years and while I absolutely loved my job I was feeling a strong pull in another direction. Several events converged in a very short period paving the path for me to follow my passion for health and use my personal experience and everything I had learned along the way to help other people on their own journeys.
I found the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy and began my formal studies in health coaching with some of the most renowned doctors and practitioners in the field of functional medicine. Additionally I enrolled at the Primal Health Coach Institute to study the science behind the diet and way of life that I had found so healing. Honoring the non-physical, energetic component of total health I also studied Reiki and gained certification as a practitioner. Late summer of 2017 I left the corporate world, moved to Atlanta, and founded Healthbent.