Summary: Sharing my journey of beating chronic pain and fatigue to thriving again with the help of regular chiropractic care, movement and nourishing nutrition. It wasn’t an easy road, and the work still continues to this day, but I can confidently say I’m now the healthiest version of me and I’m thrilled to share my journey with you.
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Where It All Began
When I look back on my health 10 years ago, I’d tell you it was poor at best. I was in my early 20’s, completely exhausted, in constant lower back pain, and always either sick or run down.
You are supposed to be young, healthy, and thriving in your 20’s- right?
The first half of mine definitely weren’t that way. I was hardly thriving, more like trying to stay alive.
For the first half of 2015, I went to the doctors office what felt like every weekend. I took countless tests to try to figure out what was causing my health to unravel. I was diagnosed with Mono and then a few weeks later another virus, CMV. After the viral infections cleared from my body the symptoms seemed to linger.
I had a gallon sized zip lock bag filled with medications my doctors wanted me to take to “fix” my symptoms. I went to PT, ate what I thought was healthy and still couldn’t get passed feeling so crummy. I put up with feeling like this for what seems like forever. Mostly because, I didn’t realize there was any other option.
At this point, I was close to graduating with my bachelors in Nutrition and was trying to figure out what was next. I had always thought that I was going to go to Medical School or peruse Physical Therapy, but after being stuck in this hamster wheel of no improvement, I decided I needed to go in another direction. That’s when I came across chiropractic.
I had been to a chiropractor once or twice before but I always thought they were pain treating doctors. Turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong.
A lot of shadowing later, I took a little bit of a leap and landed on a chiropractic school in St. Louis, Missouri. In my first or second class of chiropractic school everything I knew (or thought I knew) about health was flipped upside down.
I was introduced to information and research about how the body is self- healing. I learned about the importance of the environment and stress play in our health. And I discovered that chiropractic is about treating the cause of symptoms rather than covering them up. After years of covering up my symptoms hearing that there was another way provided me so much hope.
The Changes that Changed My Life
For the first time in my life, I realized that I could be in charge of my health and my health didn’t have to be dictated bythe gallon sized zip-lock bag of medication I had been carrying around. So I threw out the bag of medication and made several key changes to my lifestyle that took me from surviving to thriving.
- 1. I got adjusted regularly. At least once a week, and much more frequently in the beginning. It started off as getting adjusted for low back pain, which I had suffered from for years. As that got better, I continued to get adjusted weekly even though I had no pain or symptoms for wellness care.
- 2. I moved my body. Exercising was never something I loved. I always felt like if I wasn’t sweaty by the end it was a waste of time. And that if I didn’t burn X number of calories it wasn’t worth it because I couldn’t eat what I wanted that weekend. So the idea of getting into exercise terrified me. But, I also learned in my masters program about proper movement patterns and how they stabilize the spine to help the effectiveness of the adjustments and support the health of your joints. And with that and the other general health benefits of movement I was committed to making movement a priority in my life. My movement routines looked a lot like stretches, rehab, walking, some strength training. Nothing crazy, but I made an effort to do something daily. (Not perfect every day, but always trying!)
- 3. I changed my diet. At this point in my life I had my bachelors in human nutrition and I thought I had a pretty good grasp on how to eat. My diet looked like oatmeal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, and meat + vegetable + starch for dinner. At this time, my now husband Jay was studying the effects of the Ketogenic diet on performance and other various health benefits. As a carb loving gal, Jay bet me that I couldn’t go keto for 30 days. Well, I’m not the type of girl to turn down a bet, so I took him up on it. The first half of that month was truly the most miserable experience. I was exhausted, had frequent headaches and was irritable. I tweaked a few things, added salt + electrolytes into my diet and everything changed. What I thought would end up being a 30 day eating challenge turned into a lifelong dietary change. My nutritional experience has always taught me that no matter how you chose to eat, do it consistently. Prior to changing my diet I ate a high carb, food pyramid style diet. It was fine, but I wasn’t thriving on it. Going Keto provided SO many benefits to my body, but I found that being Keto wasn’t sustainable long term. But many of the changes I made were sustainable, so much so that I continue to implement them to this day. The biggest changes for me became: more protein, less carbs (read: not no carbs), less processed food, less sugar, and more electrolytes.
Just doing these 3 simple things: chiropractic care, movement, nourishing nutrition, made huge changes for my health and wellness. I’ve listed some of the highlights below:
- – My exercise induced asthma was.. gone. (I haven’t used an inhaler since I threw out my ziplock bag full of medication).
- -My allergies were mild and I was hardly every sick
- -I learned how to manage my stress
- -I was pain free
- -I had energy throughout the day AND when I woke up in the morning
- -I was in the best shape of my life (and still am!)
- -I slept great
- -I was confident in my own skin again
I could list many more ways in which my life changed after adding in chiropractic care, prioritizing movement and changing my nutrition, but if that list doesn’t speak for itself these changes allowed me not just to survive, but to THRIVE. And even better than that, I was finally living a lifestyle that was in-tune with who I was – holistic, a little crunchy, but still based on science + research and practical to keep up with on a daily basis.
Where We're At Now
After seeing such a dramatic change in my life by doing these things, I knew I needed to share that with others. So, my husband, Jay, and I opened a practice in Columbus, Ohio. We provide a full family wellness experience based on the three pillars above: chiropractic care, movement, and nutrition. We help active families get out of pain, educate them on lifestyle + nutrition choices and provide them with the resources they need to thrive so they too can live a life they love. We’ve also created this blog to share our stories, share the most current information, and share our favorite products and brands, so that people like you can have access to the information that it took us YEARS to come by.
It is far from easy to make health, wellness, and lifestyle changes. But we are here to guide and support you on your journey.
We have such a passion for helping others live a lifestyle they love. No matter what your goals are, we have content and resources for you. You can read more about our top posts here and explore our favorite brands + products here.
Here is to providing you hope that true health is out there and that it is possible to feel great and live a lifestyle that you love. Here is to your greatest level of health! Thanks for joining us on this journey.
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