My Health Journey and Why I became a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
I have a deep love for food.
Real food. I crave how alive, clear-minded, and good I feel when I eat whole foods that are nutrient-dense, properly prepared, and locally sourced. I love how strong, encouraged, and energized I feel when I move and challenge myself to stay active with functional movement. I have learned how to nourish my body with foods and movement over the years, and fairly recently how to practice more self-love and self-compassionate in my life. This hasn't always been the case. If there is one thing I have really struggled with, it is micro-managing my meals and being hard on myself. It's a journey that I continue to walk.
Let’s take a stroll into my past.
I learned fairly early in my childhood the importance of eating a balanced meal (thanks mom), and that veggies were better for me than a cookie. I understood nutritious foods were fuel for the body but is that what I craved as a child? NOPE. Let's go a little deeper. I craved anything that wasn't "real food". That meant sugary, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods.
Note– I did like veggies and whole foods, but when I was in control of the food I ate (typically snacks after school), that's not what I had. I was constantly over-indulging on large amounts of refined sugar and carbohydrates and other processed foods that made me feel lethargic and gross. Think pizza bites, gushers, HOT pockets, etc.– convenient foods. All I could think was, how can something so tasty make you feel so awful?!. It's not to say I wasn't mindful of what I ate as I grew older, but it wasn't as balanced as I thought it was. Or good for me (here's looking at you, my favorite burrito joint).
It wasn't until my junior year of college that I began to pay attention to my consistently low energy levels. I was losing motivation to stay social and my digestive system was out of whack. After every meal I was bloated, cramping, or gassy, or a combination of all three. I would have altered the way I was eating if I knew what was actually in my food and how it affected my body. What I deemed "healthy" were foods that claimed: "low fat", "all-natural", and "healthy". I was eating more boxed items and preservatives, instead of real food like quality meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, etc.
After graduating college, I headed straight to Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada to work on a catamaran on the Yukon River for one season, and then I transitioned into a tour director for three more seasons. It took one season in Alaska to realize my eating habits, poor sleep hygiene, and lack of stress management were getting out of control. I hit rock bottom. Hard. Don't get me wrong, being a tour director was an incredible experience and one I wouldn't trade for anything. But, the job was demanding.
Portage Glacier in Alaska
Friends, it was emotionally and physically draining. I worked long hours and I was always "on-call". I had to be on top of everything at all times. Being social meant going to bars which lead to social drinking. I continued to run on very little sleep and lots of stress and coffee. Healthy options on the road were far and few between. After my first season, I vowed to get my health under control. I didn't want to gain weight like I did my first season in Alaska and I was tired of being tired and in discomfort. The result- I began restricting my food and micro-managing my meals. Great plan? Heck no.
“I was depriving my body of the nutrients it so desperately needed.”
I still thought fat was bad for you (lies) so I started consuming even more of a low-fat, low carb diet that wreaked havoc on my body. I was constantly stressed, tired, and hungry. I couldn’t stop thinking about my next meal. I worked out too hard, under-ate, and became obsessed with eating clean (unintentional orthorexia). I lost weight but I also lost my period and I wouldn’t see it again for three years...
My body was BEGGING me to slow down, to listen to it, and to give it grace, but I kept pushing forward. I blame part of that on my perfectionist tendencies. I believe these actions were the catalyst to my health challenges. Little did I know chronic stress, digestive issues, hormone imbalances, amenorrhea, adrenal exhaustion, and hypothyroid were in my near future. And they wouldn’t resolve simply or quickly.
I needed guidance. I needed a plan to recover from the damage I had unintentionally done to my body. I was desperate for help.
Fast-forward four years later- I decided enough was enough after I acknowledged I was beyond helping myself. I sought out natural practitioners to help heal my body. I finally came across a Homeopathic doctor, and I later combined homeopathy work with a functional medicine PA. Both of these women's missions were to get to the bottom of my body's ailments by discovering the root cause, instead of treating the symptoms like many western doctors do. They taught me about the importance of real food, rest, mindfulness, giving my body what it needs, and giving my body grace.
They revealed to me that the mind plays a pivotal role in health and it's important to feed it positive, loving thoughts. This was a mind-blowing discovery for me. Little did I know, I was stalling my healing journey by my mental sabotage of "I'm not worthy", "my body can't heal", and "nothing is working". Maybe you've thought these thoughts, too. I hear you, friend. I learned the hard way that your body will not transform or adapt positively if you are not devoting time to your mental health too, no matter how consistent you are with exercise and eating well. The mind-body connection is an incredible relationship and it needs the attention it deserves.
I started to heal and find myself again. My journey and the incredible work of these two women inspired me to seek out a holistic nutrition program to further my knowledge of how nutrition and lifestyle choices play a crucial role in our health. I realized my passion for nutrition was more than a passion– it was a career path. After months of research, I stumbled upon the Nutritional Therapy Program, which focuses on delivering "a science-based education that equips and connects a community of confident holistic nutrition professionals to harness the power of real food, reconnecting each person to the unique needs and innate wisdom of their bodies to support lasting wellness."
What sealed the deal for me was learning that the NTA didn't stop at nutrition. Their goal was to include awareness of sustainability and our environment, supporting local, and regenerative agriculture. This program was meant for me because it revealed to me that my passion for holistic nutrition and helping people could be interwoven.
I'm still on this journey of healing my body through nutrient-dense foods, rest, and therapeutic supplements. I had to back off intense exercising and change how and what I ate to give my body what it needed- more self-care, practicing intentionality and mindfulness with everything I do and eating intuitively. I can say with certainty that I am grateful for the journey I have been given. I could not have said that at first when I found out why my body was shutting down on me and begging for a slower lifestyle. I have learned so much about the body, about MY body, and how attuned I have become with it. Sometimes you have to walk the rocky road to truly understand the depth of something.
“Start with learning to love yourself fully so you can fully love others.”
Once I actually started to believe that, I was able to shift my mindset of how I view myself into a more positive light.
Enter– Harvesting grace. This is the name I decided to go with for my business because grace has been one word that I have been told over and over I need more of in my life. Similar to how a seed is harvested, I needed to consume plenty of water and nutrients to nourish my body. Most of all, I needed to give myself grace as I worked towards a healthier lifestyle and allowed my body to shift.
You need to know you are important and worth taking care of and that the journey to better health is worth it. We are given one body, one vessel, in our lifetime. Why wouldn't we want to take care of it? After all, I have learned through my health challenges that if you take care of your body, it will take care of you.
I give all the glory to God for placing this opportunity in my heart. I have finally found my purpose in life – to educate and empower people on how to nourish their bodies with real food, functional movement, and self-care – and I am going to give it my all.
Join me, why don't you?