Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Expert in Gut Health & Plant Based Nutrition...Oh and Founder of Birch & Body Holistic Nutrition.

It all started my first year of University. I was beyond stressed, had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up (do any of us really know at 17 when starting Uni?) and at the time, I thought I had all the pressure of the world on me, (little did I know what being an adult was) needing to be perfect and please everyone around me. I was overwhelmed, it was my first time away from familiarity and just like every other teenager, I had the whole world telling me what to do and what not to do. 

At the time, I thought it was these shifts in my life, causing my digestive symptoms and like most I was embarrassed to discuss them with anyone. When I finally did feel comfortable talking to my doctor, she told me to just avoid the foods that bothered me and beyond that there was nothing else she could do to help...that meant eliminating entire food groups. Talk about disordered eating or what? Now if you have true allergies, of course this makes sense, but if not this truly isn't the way to go about solving your digestive issues. I remember thinking, my doctor is supposed to have all the answers and if she doesn't know, then I guess I'm at a loss. What else can I do? So I to gave up. It took years from that point and A LOT of expensive tests and guess work before I received a proper diagnosis (Celiac) and began finding real solutions to my symptoms. 

Had I known at the time that my SADiet (Standard American Diet) consisting of prepackaged foods, refined grains, meat, dairy, processed sugary snacks and everything in between was hindering my health and exacerbating  my symptoms, maybe I would have been able to stop living in chronic pain sooner. I never stopped to question whether the food I was consuming was helping or hindering my problems. Why would I? Everyone else around me was eating the same. The problem was, I was always in pain, fearful of eating out with friends or family, knowing I'd be uncomfortable, living in leggings for years because it's the only thing that fit when my stomach was distended after every meal. Daily, I dealt with symptoms such as, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, gas, abdominal pain, and more. I wasn't in control of my life anymore, my symptoms were. I remember one of my doctors actually telling me it was in my head and for a moment, I believed them, because if it were real, there must be a cure for it and they couldn't find anything to help me, so I must have been imagining it. 

Fast forward to my diagnosis and still no practitioner could help me with what to eat and what not to eat. All I was told was to avoid gluten. Seriously? What's gluten and what's it found in and who can I talk to about properly transitioning my diet? I saw every practitioner there was, GI specialists, naturopaths, homeopaths and more and not one could explain to me how to properly transition my diet nor that I needed to do serious healing with my gut after the years of damage I had done to it. How could all of these practitioners, who were supposed to have all the answers for me, not mention anything about gut health and it's role in healing my body. The reason being, most doctors only receive an average of 11 hours of nutrition training throughout their entire medical program. That's honestly nothing when you consider nutrition is one of the biggest factors in our  gut health and up to 90% of all diseases can be linked back to the health of our gut. So it wasn't their fault, but nor was it mine. Mine symptoms were absolutely real and so are yours. Just because this was my journey, it doesn't mean it has to be yours. You can take the path less travelled and find solutions early on in your journey to health and wellness. It's my mission to help those failed  by conventional medicine, to take back control of their lives and up level their gut health.  I have over 1000 hours of nutrition training and continue to learn more each day, so I can better serve you. I'm always looking for the newest research in order to provide my clients with the best knowledge to arm them with the tools for success and independence upon finishing a program with me. Are you ready to level up your gut health?