How I Ended Up as a Holistic Nutritionist
When I say I’ve been there, I mean it. Blood sugar issues, psoriasis, PMS, PCOS, ovarian cysts, anxiety, herniated discs, sciatica, spinal stenosis, suspected celiac disease, weight gain, weight loss, IBS, and more.
I’ve learned more from experience than I could have ever learned from books.
And this is my story.
From a very young age, I can recall seeing doctors for various problems. Around grade 6, I first developed psoriasis, an autoimmune condition similar to eczema, where the skin grows faster than it can shed, causing build up and dry, cracked skin. In grade 10, out of nowhere, I developed severe back pain. I was always an athletic kid – I played softball, rugby, hockey, badminton, kickboxing, wrestling, and the list goes on. You may think, it must have been all the contact sports! And it may well have been. But when I went to see the doctor, I was prescribed a strong anti-inflammatory drug and was sent on my way. No one stopped to question why a 15-year-old is suffering with sciatica. No doctor ordered x-rays or an MRI. No one seemed to care that I was in so much pain I’d have to stand at the back of the classroom because I couldn’t bear to sit any longer. This went on for years.
When I went away to college at the age of 17, I travelled to Sault Ste Marie to pursue my dream of working in the outdoors. I took adventure recreation, which, as you can imagine, is not the kind of course where you sit at a desk the whole time. We were out in the bush, canoe tripping, backcountry camping, learning all about how to survive in the wilderness and be great outdoor leaders and educators. This was one of the best times of my entire life, and still I was suffering. I still didn’t know what caused my back pain and my psoriasis had gotten so bad that my fingers were swollen, and I could hardly move them. When I tried to bend them, deep cuts would form, and they would bleed and cause me immense pain. The psoriasis had moved to my scalp, keeping me up at night scratching furiously. I would wake up in the morning with blood under my fingernails from scratching in my sleep. Still, the doctors would prescribe me some cortisone (a strong steroid cream that during long-term use weakens the skin and can make it worse) and send me home. Still, no one cared enough to find out why this was happening to me.
This is where I would say my true health journey began. Throughout high school I was very conscious of my food choices and was beginning to learn about food in a way that wasn’t taught, thanks to my mom. She was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and swore she wouldn’t take medication for it. Here we are, more than a decade later, and she was lost over 100lbs and has never one taken med. When I was leaving for college, I had always said that if I wasn’t going up north for adventure rec, my other choice would be to become a nutritionist. Well, here we are!
Through college, I was the weirdo who cooked most of her own food in residence, was always trying different ways of eating, made her own almond milk in her dorm room and placed a large emphasis on exercise. It was during this time that I tried the keto diet, intermittent fasting, elimination diets, and eventually decided to become a vegetarian. For the next year and a bit, I was largely vegetarian, eating fish only when I went home to my parents, and leaning closer to vegan when I was on my own. I really thought that this was the best diet. I don’t regret this time in my life – I learned to love vegetables, cook and work with new foods and be flexible. But eventually I had to accept that it wasn’t serving me anymore. At one point, I was gluten-free, dairy-free and meat-free! All in the hopes that it would help reduce my health issues. I was forever hoping this was going to be the thing that cured my IBS, PMS, psoriasis and made me lose weight. Holy cow was I wrong.
I reintroduced meat during my third year living in the Soo. It felt weird at first, but things did start to improve. At this time, I was delivering pizza for Dominos and eating pizza almost every day. I was also working a second retail job and burning the candle at both ends. Some days I would finish work at 2:30am and then have to be at my retail job by 9am. I look back on that time and wonder how I did it. I know I would never do it again – it cost me my health.
I moved back in with my parents for about 9 months when I was 21 after leaving a job on Manitoulin Island that was taking more than it was giving me. While figuring out where I wanted to go from there, ended up working at a pharmacy and had stable hours. Living with my parents again, my dad cooked dinner every night. He always made low carb meals because that was how my mom ate, so naturally, I began eating that way. I adopted a low carb/keto diet during the time I was living there and began going to the gym. I lost 50lbs! I was feeling so good, and a lot of my problems went away. A lot, not all. I still had major back pain, especially if I stopped exercising even for a few days. I still had IBS, PMS and psoriasis. But things were looking up.
Eventually, I convinced my doctor to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon to get proper images of my back done and find out what was wrong. The only reason I did this is because I am lucky enough to have a nurse as a mom, who knows how to advocate for patients. I would never have known to do this on my own. After getting an MRI and seeing this surgeon, accepting that I may very well need back surgery at the age of 19, I finally had the answers I was looking for. I had severe sciatica cause by herniated discs in my spine as well as spinal stenosis. If you are under 60 and don’t know what spinal stenosis is, I don’t blame you! This condition is the narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord and causes spinal nerves to leave the spinal column. No wonder I was in so much pain!! This condition usually beings at the age of 50-60 and is most often caused by osteoarthritis. Last time I checked, I was a 19-year-old young woman. Why was this happening to me?! It wasn’t fair.
In the time I was waiting to see the surgeon (about 6 months) I had read a great book called “The Back Mechanic” and had begun applying some of his techniques and exercises. At the same time, I was actively trying to lose weight. The time after college was not my best when it came to eating and I had gained a significant amount of weight. By the time I saw the surgeon, I had lost some weight, begun going to the gym regularly and my back pain had started to improve. Because I chose to take my health into my own hands prior to seeing the surgeon, we decided that surgery wasn’t needed at that moment, so long as I continue with what I was doing and seeing improvements. I sure dodged a bullet there!
When I moved to Woodstock at 22, I tried to keep up with the diet, but being on my own again and living with my boyfriend at the time added extra challenges and I didn’t commit as much as I should have. I tweaked my back shortly after the move, and this was one of the darkest times in my life. I could hardly move; I spent my days on the couch. Trying to stand up and go upstairs caused me so much pain I would cry. I wasn’t exercising at this point, and I certainly wasn’t eating well. I worked a job that required me to sit for 9-hour shifts, and I would spend the first 2 hours of my shift standing instead because it hurt too much to sit. I was trying my hardest not to take the pain meds, but more often than not, I would cave. And rightfully so – I was in excruciating pain all the time.
Stay tuned for part 2.
