About 3 years ago, I started going almost dairy free. The change has been profound. Over the last 10 years I used this same process of sleuth and puzzle solver to eliminate other foods that were causing havoc on my system, one of them was gluten. As science has evolved over the years to go from allergy shots, to one blood test that can identify your food allergies, I was really able to nail down the exact food items that I either had sensitivities or allergies for. I instantly cut out the other culprits, including the hidden criminal of added sugar. I started to really see tremendous change from these simple diet habits that I cut out. Beyond cutting them out and feeling good, I researched and educated myself all along the way to truly understand what each of these things did to my system. I was also on the vitamin supplement path since childhood, thanks to my parents. In the last several years I began working with a naturopath to really nail down the bio readings of my body to understand what my true body needs are and any deficiencies I have. This has helped me dial into a prescriptive regiment my specific body needs to stay healthy & well.
As a young kid who played just about any sport thrown at me, I became quite intrigued with my performance and how to maintain that as an athlete, especially a soccer player and runner. I pondered the question frequently, how do I have good days and why do I have bad days in my sports? I wondered why some days I felt amazing, light as a feather, full of energy, stamina, endurance and on top of the world kind of feeling, then other days I would feel like my legs weighed a thousand pounds, my stomach was killing me, I had low energy and I did not have the excitement I had a few days ago. The years went on and I was quite in tune with taking note of what my routine could do. As a freshman in highschool, I discovered rather quickly on my own that I was lactose intolerant. The story is funny to look back on now, but was horrific on that day. We had basketball games after school way out in the farmland area of the Twin Cities. As a freshman, it was way out there because I grew up in the city of Minneapolis and back then everything was farm past the city limits. We had a break between games, so I ran outside in the winter and grabbed some food at the gas station. I cringe now when I remember what I ate, but I selected a Lunchable, a pear and a pint of 2% milk. Oh help me. I mixed up a healthy cocktail of indigestion that led to the most unpleasant experience on the bus ride home. The Fiber mixed with the salt and lactose destroyed my system and sent me into a state of duress, while on a 55 minute bus ride home. Let’s just say my fellow team mates all still remember that day and have a ton of jokes to go with it. I started staying away from milk after that day wrecked me. I still hadn’t completely put together that milk lactose was in a lot of things I still ate. I loved Dairy Queen cakes, heck that was my go to for celebrating, but I still keeled over and regretted eating it every time. I started digging into this and figured out that lactose doesn’t digest well for everyone and starting to identify all the food it was in. I cut out the beloved DQ cakes and blizzards and started to notice consistent change. I then started paying attention to all the things and cut more and more out over the years.
The detective work never ends because the inputs to our system is constantly changing, but I know how to detect, dig and inquire to find the culprit of things affecting my health & wellness.
It is in the last 10 years that I really started to understand that holistic health and wellness is tied to our mental and emotional health & wellbeing definitively. When I pay attention to how I feel when I do X, vs. Y and take note, patterns emerge and I was able to shift mindsets and routines that have continued to get me closer to more consistent days of feeling my best. In the last 2 years, I really discovered how powerful the mind/body connection is and have been having profound changes when I implement holistic maintenance such as Energy healing to help release past traumas, Cranial Sacral Therapy that helps unwind the fascia in our bodies from all the impact we have from accidents, traumas, surgeries, breaks and more, along with the energetic energy stored with that. Gaining a larger understanding of our energies and how they affect everything of our daily beings. More on that in another blog….
If this story resonates with you and you’re ready to begin your authentic holistic life style, book a session and let’s go. I just turned 45 in April and I have not felt this good since my late 20’s. I am so thankful as a kid my inquisitive curiosity piqued an interest in figuring out the “Why” and getting to the “How”
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