My Story
My journey towards seeking true health for myself and my loved ones began about ten years ago when my body started aching continuously and my fatigue was overwhelming. My husband and I have four children whom I homeschooled until high school in addition to my private violin studio. There was the constant rush between one activity and the next. Meals consisted of packing a container of a quick pasta and an obligatory vegetable or driving through the local Dairy Queen or Little Caesars because there was a little more bang for my buck. Feeding a family of six plus the four dogs (each child had their own dog to train), three cats, and various other household pets, was a daily challenge on both the budget and on my time. My physical health savings account was noticeably shrinking.
I am the youngest of four children. My father was a pediatric surgeon and my mother had her medical license and later became a practicing psychologist. We always had a garden with fruits and vegetables. Meals were a daily family ritual, dinner candles were always lit. Mother had the hated “two cookie” rule, limiting our sweets, despite my father’s incessant sweet tooth. He consumed his sweets at the hospital where he worked. These were the days before computers and fear about children’s safety, so we spent most of our afterschool days playing and running outside before being called in by the cowbell to start our music and homework. I became quite a fast runner, earning a state medal in the 2 mile my sophomore year of high school. My success was cut short that summer as I struggled with Mononucleosis. Failing to rebuild my speed, I switched my attention to my music pursuits.
During my Indiana University years in the 1980’s, we ate cafeteria style with all-you-could-eat breads and desserts. I took full advantage of my mother not being there to control my food choices which led to needing a few larger items in my wardrobe. Still, I had youth and energy to rely on and I was able to work the weight back off. Over the next twenty years the slow barely noticeable buildup of poor choices in my diet, exercise, sleep, stress level, and environmental factors started piling up to the point of not being able to ignore it any longer. I discovered the GAPS diet which calmed my constant abdominal pain, reduced my body aches, and renewed a significant amount of energy. I am always surprised by people in the medical profession ignoring the connection of food with disease. It only makes logical sense that the body would require quality building blocks for optimal health which naturally would come from quality food.
My health interest and researching continued to grow as my husband was told he had high cholesterol, discoid lupus, and possible multiple myeloma with recommendations for various medications. By significantly altering his diet and adding in supplements, all of his markers normalized within three months. The power of nutrition was clear.
Six years ago, life brought another challenge into my world. Just as my oldest children were growing up and moving on, my mother started to lose her memory and her mind. She was sure she had been poisoned by her lawn chemicals and developed psychosis. After exploring all of her options, we brought her to live with us. I really felt that with the right diet and supplements and with a loving environment we could help reverse much of her disease. Although she did have a fair amount of improvement initially, she steadily declined until passing at 86. Her body was still quite strong, but she had lost the will to live despite all of our efforts to help her continue the activities that she loved. This experience led me to realize that health is more than just good nutrition and caring for the body. The spirit oversees it all.
Whether it was my parent’s interest in health or my own search to heal myself and my loved ones that led me to explore health coaching, I am not sure. Perhaps it was a combination of both. I do know that my interest lies in how the body, mind, and spirit of a person are so intricately intertwined. It is the same relationship in music. Life is a miraculous beautiful adventure, full of melody, harmony, and rhythm, available to us all. It is out of this that Nutritional Symphony was born. I hope you find hope and encouragement here as you search for what true health means to you.