My Testimony

Coming from a morbidly obese family that loves food, I found myself sick and tired in my very early twenties… Symptoms ranged from mental fog to debilitating anxiety and cramps. My face was swollen, I had migraines, my joints ached, I was overweight and always tired. Everything I ate seemed to upset my stomach. I tried to lose weight numerous times. I remember spending hours in the cardio theater of my gym, going on runs, and trying to keep up with the trainers on Insanity and P90X. I tried Slim Fast, the South Beach diet, Adkins, Special K, Advocare, and the like, to no avail. I even went so far as to have my thyroid checked and be tested for Celiac Disease! Then I grew hungry for change. I knew I had to break the cycle of obesity and chronic illness. It couldn’t all be genetic- could it? What is the best diet anyway?

Eager to find answers, I thought no better way than to become a professional on the topic of nutrition. I started my humble beginnings enrolled at Columbus State Community College and eventually graduated from The Ohio State University.

Throughout my education, I implemented what I was taught into my own life. The standard of care in The United States- following the USDA guidelines: 6 meals throughout the day for “steady blood sugars,” low fat, minimum of 130g of carbohydrates per day for “brain function,” whole grains, fruits and veggies, lean meats, and replacing saturated fat with seed oils such as exchanging butter for the “healthier” margarine, etc... But what I learned along the way was shocking. It didn’t work. Not only did it not work, it made things worse. And it didn’t make any sense when it came to nutrition therapy. The nutrition interventions we were told to give seemed eerily similar to what exacerbated a disease or caused a disease in the first place! For example: Why were we recommending ice cream and snack cakes to patients with cancer when we know that cancer cells thrive off of sugar?! Something wasn’t right and I knew I would learn why…

Now in the early years of my nutrition education, my own mother embarked on a ketogenic diet change in order to lose some weight after having 7 kids. I was alarmed at the time because it was a “fad diet” and “dangerous” according to what we were being taught in school. It would even lead to heart disease, according to one of my professors. I didn’t want my mom to have a heart attack, so I confronted her with my concerns. I handed my mom one of my introductory textbooks: “Nutrition: concepts and controversies,” and asked her to reconsider what she was doing. She then handed me a book: “Fat for Fuel” by Dr Joseph Mercola, and asked me to read it and reconsider what I was being taught in school. Everything in that book made sense. I could see where our nation started and where it was going. I understood where our nation had gone wrong, sometimes out of desperation in times of famine, industrializing the way we eat, realizing the evils of big companies taking advantage of us to make a profit, creating a long-term problem for our country. Still skeptical and probably biased, because “how could our educational system and our own government be lying to us?”

I started doing my own research and asking more questions, leading to more books and more research and more questions, and so on and so forth, all arriving to the same conclusion: this is the answer. Not surprisingly, throughout my nutrition education, the more in depth I learned about the body and its metabolism, the more a ketogenic way of eating made sense- especially as a form of nutrition therapy for various chronic diseases. After implementing a ketogenic way of eating into my own lifestyle just to lose weight, I found myself cured from all the aches and pains I hadn’t even considered to be diet-related! My mental focus was never better. My sleep improved. My skin was clear. My joints were no longer in pain. My digestive issues were gone. Even my period symptoms were practically non-existent!

Fast forward to about five years later, present day. I have been working in long-term-care facilities for the past 4 years. I see what happens on a daily basis, what can happen if you don’t take care of your health. If you don’t steward your body well… It’s heart breaking. One stroke and you could have half of your body paralyzed and need someone to help you with all of your toileting, bathing, dressing, even eating. You could have your toes, feet, or even legs amputated due to poor blood sugars. Depression so debilitating you wind up with bed sores. You could lose the ability to speak or even recognize loved ones due to dementia (now being referred to by some as type 3 diabetes)… While some cases may have been inevitable, I have found that most cases have been preventable. In other words, it didn’t have to be this way.

This isn’t to scare or shame anyone… This is simply the wake-up call that one may need to fully embrace the blessing that is life and to live it well, firstly, by stewarding their body well. Exercising because we can. We have legs that work and/or a heart that works. Eating healthy because we want to maintain our independence for as long as possible. We want to recognize our loved one’s faces… What is your “why?”

Now more than ever, I feel a sense of urgency to tell everyone what I know. That is precisely why I created this space. To help inform others they don’t have to settle with being sick and tired as their new norm. They can be healed! Food is medicine! Here in this space, you will find testimonies, resources, tools, and community in order to take your first steps to better your health so you can live the life God has called you to fulfill.

While I specialize in nutrition, I know from experience diet and exercise are only part of the battle when it comes to optimizing your health. In order to do that, we need to also invite God into our journey. I owe all glory to God and His plan- which is why I firmly believe in keeping Christ Jesus at the center of it all.

Let us live by the Spirit and bear good fruit! 🍎