Throughout my teens and 20’s, I considered myself to be generally healthy. According to my primary care physician, I was overweight, but my annual labs always came back normal. I thought to myself, “If I’m healthy and my lab results are normal, then this extra weight is probably just genetic.” In my late 20’s, I started to notice my energy levels were lower compared to my peers, my hair was thinner, I developed acne on my face and upper back, as well as eczema flare-ups on my skin.

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I first sought help with these issues from my primary care doctor. To help with my energy levels, I was prescribed a thyroid medication. For my acne, I was first prescribed antibiotics. After antibiotics kind of worked, but didn’t fully clear up my skin, I was prescribed birth control pills. While the birth control did work really well to clear up my skin quickly, an unfortunate side effect that I experienced was a decline in my mental health and I became depressed.

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These symptoms along with the struggle to lose weight, got me wondering whether all these symptoms are singular problems to address, or could they all be connected? In March 2021, I heard about functional medicine for the first time on a podcast that I frequently listened to at the time. The guest being interviewed was Dr. Josh Axe. If you don’t know who Dr. Josh Axe is, I invite you to do a quick internet search. You will surely be impressed like I was! From that point on, my interest in functional medicine was sparked and I sought out a functional medicine practitioner who could help me address all my symptoms from a different approach than my primary care physician.

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Just one month later after listening to that podcast interview, I had my first appointment with a functional medicine practitioner. We did additional lab work and came up with a plan to help me achieve optimal health. Through their advice, I took every supplement that they advised me to take and I began to make changes to my diet and lifestyle. I eliminated foods that are common allergens or hard for the body to digest. I eliminated household products that contain hormone-disrupting ingredients. I replaced the fast food in my diet with whole foods. I learned how to read ingredient labels on packaged food in the grocery store. I learned which foods are best to buy organic and which foods are okay to buy conventionally grown and produced. I learned how to cook using whole foods and learned that I enjoy cooking and baking!

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If all of this sounds overwhelming to you, I understand! I was very overwhelmed at the beginning of my health journey and all of the new information I was absorbing. Shopping in different grocery stores that I had never been to before was overwhelming because none of the brands in the store looked familiar to me. Learning how to cook was overwhelming to me because I didn’t have much experience in the kitchen or the right tools to make cooking more efficient. This is why I’m here to help you in your health journey. Wherever you are starting, I can help you make better choices for you and your family. A thriving life begins with our health! It brings me so much joy to help others thrive in their health.

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If I can do it, you can do it too!