In 2015, at the age of 42, I found myself at a rock bottom, both mentally and physically.
I never felt good.
I was ALWAYS in pain from one source or another.
I lived with several diagnoses including: Crohn’s disease, migraine headaches, malignant hypertension, chronic allergies, sinus infections, ear infections, pneumonias, gut infections, debilitating back pain, neuropathy, trigeminal neuralgia, GERD, duodenal ulcers as well as depression and extreme anxiety.
I took 12 medications daily. I’d been subjected to more surgeries, hospitalizations and procedures than I care to remember.
As a healthcare professional myself, I had complete faith in the medical system.
I trusted that they would help me feel better eventually. But my health just kept getting worse.
Reaching the Tipping Point
At this point in 2015, I had just undergone the last surgery I hope to ever have, a partial ovary sparing hysterectomy. At my 6 week post-op doctor’s appointment, I stepped on the scale to reveal a whopping 40 pound weight gain since the morning of my surgery.
My gynecologist was quick to blame this on a huge hormonal shift related to the surgery.
I was terrified. And also confused, as I had begged to retain my ovaries to avoid such a reaction of my hormones. My first question, of course, was…. “What do I do?”
The doctor’s response?
“Don’t worry, it will all even itself out”.
I don’t think I heard one other word that the doctor said during that appointment.
Of all the health struggles and things I have battled, this was the scariest moment for me. I had never felt more alone.
I felt like it was such a simple question. I was asking for help and it was so easily dismissed.
I was merely asking a question about my weight. And I couldn’t even get an answer about that.
I had worked in healthcare for 20 years. I entrusted my own health to “the system”. And now I couldn’t even get this one simple question answered.
Making the Decision to Take Charge
Suddenly it all came crashing down around me.
I was the only one who could fix all of this.
Not just fix the weight. But fix ME.
I needed to fix what was going on with my own body and my own brain.
It was time to take responsibility and to stop relying on things that clearly weren’t working for me.
Why was I taking all of these medications and continuing to become sicker, more addicted, fatter, more tired, more anxious and more alienated from my own body and life?
Embracing the Paradigm Shift
My weight and eating habits had been an issue since childhood. I could never “control” my behaviors around food.
I was a binger probably by the ripe old age of 8 or so, and attending Weight Watchers with my mother at the age of 10.
Following the food pyramid and governmental guidelines, the ADA, the American Cardiology Association, The American Cancer Society recommendations that I wholeheartedly believed in, as a nurse, got me absolutely nowhere.
That come-to-Jesus moment in the doctor’s office was a rude awakening for me.
But also a really exciting one because I knew things could only get better.
I was going to take control in all the ways that I could take control. I was scared to stop leaning on others to help me.
But they weren’t helping me at all. Everyday I got sicker.
And I knew, after caring for oncology patients for years on end, how things would ultimately end for me.
That day in the doctor’s office was my last awful day.
I was going to trust Me.
Finding The New Path Forward
If I was going to make this major lifestyle change, I had to have full faith in my new approach. I had to see the numbers, the research, the studies. So I started with months of reading.
I was immediately convinced that decreasing carbohydrates was the way to go.
I had been walking the halls of hospitals at night for years, injecting my type 2 diabetic patients with their bedtime insulin after eating their carb heavy meals ad nauseam.
It didn’t take much convincing for me to understand that if they weren’t eating those carbs they wouldn’t require that insulin!
This started me on quite an introspective journey.
I was incredibly angry. I still am.
These patients are living under the delusion that they have an incurable chronic disease! What a travesty! But that’s a subject for another day.
I quickly went from researching low-carbohydrate diets such as the Mediterranean diet, Atkins, etc, to the ketogenic diet.
There is a lot of research to back it up. It had been used for various diagnoses with great success and it was based on a whole foods approach.
Keto was the first step on my new path. And I never looked back!
Going from Suffering to Flourishing
If you’re wondering how the story worked out for me, it’s been pretty amazing!
At the time of writing – autumn 2023, almost 7 years later with 3 plus years of the Carnivore diet included – I have experienced the following:
- Complete remission of Crohn’s symptoms and undetectable per colonoscopy
- Medication-free
- 95% migraine-free
- Normal blood pressure within 6 weeks of starting keto
- Complete resolution of back pain, colds, infections
- No GERD
- No ulcers
- Incredible energy
- No depression/anxiety
- Resolution of brain fog
- Decreased symptoms of food addiction/binge eating
I left my job in the mainstream healthcare industry which is failing us all.
I now focus on coaching others to make the same lifestyle changes that worked wonders for my own health and well-being.
If you would like to explore whether you can benefit from the same lifestyle change, book a 1:1 exploratory session with me, and let’s find out!
