After years of practice, I noticed that patients were not truly healing or getting cured in the Western health system. The current system is mainly good at acute care management; however, chronic disease, which accounts for the majority of ailments and deaths in this country, is not appropriately addressed or managed.
When you’re only allotted a short time with a patient, you cannot provide adequate care or healing. My clients often come to me very upset and frustrated at the inadequacy of our current health system. Even my own family, who suffered from severe allergies and autoimmune challenges, were not given much hope and were only dependent on pharmaceuticals.
As I practiced in this limited allopathic system, I realized that not enough attention is paid to maintaining wellness and identifying the root cause of any ailment. With medical challenges that affected my immediate family and myself, I realized that true healing requires much more than just pharmaceuticals, which have their role in particular healing treatments, especially for acute ailments.
When it comes to healing chronic disease, we need to spend quality time with the individual and delve into their history to reach true wellness.
After years of practice, I noticed that patients were not truly healing or getting cured in the Western health system. The current system is mainly good at acute care management; however, chronic disease, which accounts for the majority of ailments and deaths in this country, is not appropriately addressed or managed.
When you’re only allotted a short time with a patient, you cannot provide adequate care or healing. My clients often come to me very upset and frustrated at the inadequacy of our current health system. Even my own family, who suffered from severe allergies and autoimmune challenges, were not given much hope and were only dependent on pharmaceuticals.
As I practiced in this limited allopathic system, I realized that not enough attention is paid to maintaining wellness and identifying the root cause of any ailment. With medical challenges that affected my immediate family and myself, I realized that true healing requires much more than just pharmaceuticals, which have their role in particular healing treatments, especially for acute ailments.
When it comes to healing chronic disease, we need to spend quality time with the individual and delve into their history to reach true wellness.
My transition to a functional digestive consultant was the most satisfying, gratifying move I have made, not only improving the quality of my life but also significantly improving the well-being of my clients.
Food is such an integral part of our lives, and it’s often tied to our emotions. I approach each client with respect and understanding, working together to determine which foods are health-enhancing and which are health-detracting, while avoiding judgment of the food they eat or food shaming.
I find that my clients feel safe working with me, especially when it comes to what they’re eating and how they’re eating. When I work with my clients, I respect their emotional needs and allow them adequate time to express their concerns about nutrition and their emotional needs.
My current functional digestive consulting practice focuses on my clients’ emotional health, and how what they eat, their environmental exposures, and their genetics can affect their condition and, eventually, their healing.
My new practice, which centers around the two pillars in functional medicine: “food as medicine“ and how “all disease begins in the gut,” has truly touched the lives of the people I work with.
My overall goal with my clients is to help reduce inflammation in their bodies and improve their microbiome, since imbalances in these areas are key factors in most illnesses.
I always approach my clients with a growth mindset, empowering them to know that all healing is within them and, most importantly, that they do not feel like a victim and are not dependent on the medical/pharmaceutical system to heal them. I also always discuss bio-individuality with my clients, meaning there is no one perfect food or approach for everyone. By spending time with my clients, listening to their stories, and running appropriate functional labs to assess inflammation and microbiome imbalance, I can understand exactly what their individual needs are.
Many people who come to me are also tired of being on multiple medications with multiple side effects, and that is where my knowledge of functional medicine, herbal medicine, and several mindfulness techniques has helped my clients reach true wellness and healing.
My family and I are practicing meditation, which has significantly helped our well-being, as research is now showing the amazing healing power of meditation. Several of my clients have told me that by reducing the stress in their lives with meditation, their symptoms have improved, and they are less reliant on pharmaceuticals.
The healthy, meaningful relationships we have in our lives are critical to our long-term well-being.
My current practice allows me to spend quality time with my clients, and we laugh and cry together, which has been so uplifting for both of us. It is incredible how many clients now tell me that no one ever took the time to listen to their story, and how this truly has helped them on their healing journey. I initially focus on their emotional history and trauma, because if this area is not addressed, true healing cannot be achieved.
I recall working with several individuals in my new practice, where I literally spent the majority of my first session discussing their emotional past, including how they had not adequately dealt with or digested the traumas they had experienced. No one had ever asked them about this significant part of their history. And of course, after we delved into these traumas and worked on releasing them (sometimes with the help of therapists), my client’s physical ailments actually improved.
Because of my new philosophy of looking at healing as more than just quick fixes and approaching it from a mind, body, and spirit perspective, especially with regard to proper nutrition (eating a whole-foods/anti-inflammatory diet) and incorporating mindfulness techniques, their lives have significantly improved.
