The Power of WHY
My entire life changed when I started asking “why?”, and not in a “woe is me why is this happening way” but concretely- why?
Why did I get thyroid cancer before I graduated high school?
Why was I so sick that I couldn’t even get out of bed most days and had to withdraw from college?
And unfortunately, why didn’t my doctor have answers for me?
The power of WHY changed the way I approached my entire life.
I had always been curious ever since I was little- I wanted to know how things worked and why we did things the way we did. But for whatever reason, that same “why”-ness didn’t translate to my health. Instead of taking a deep look at why I was getting so sick, I just chalked it up to my body being broken… that I was doomed to always be sick… after all, I was the kid who had had three knee surgeries and got the flu or sinus infections every single winter. When I was diagnosed with yet another thing “wrong” with me, I didn’t even ask why.
But then I got really sick. Like sleeping 16 hours a day, losing my hair, and bloating when I drank water sick. And I finally did start asking why… only for my doctors to tell me that I was just stressed and needed to increase my thyroid medications… and go on an anti-depressant.
That’s NOT the way life is meant to be! Just because your period pain, PCOS, thyroid issues, or bloating are common doesn’t make them NORMAL. Your destiny in life is to be healthy, happy, and vibrant. If that feels far away (or impossible) right now, don’t fret. I share my own health story to give you hope that you CAN heal and not just “get by”.
WHY do we have painful periods, thyroid issues, bloating, etc?
From a very basic level, we experience unpleasant symptoms as an alarm from our body trying to tell us it’s imbalanced. And why does our body get imbalanced? Either there is a toxicity (heavy metals, mold, parasites, endocrine disrupting chemicals) or a deficiency (depleted vitamins and minerals and nutrient absorption issues).
Now dig even deeper: why do we have toxicities or deficiencies?
unfiltered water and air (heavy metals, trace prescription medications, and PFAS)
the modern food system (parasites, bacteria, chemicals from processed food, antibiotics, growth hormone, and lack of nutrient density due to shipping food and poor soil quality)
chronic stress/ “fight or flight” (24/7 media, hustle culture, socioeconomic inequities, lack of connection)
conventional skincare/makeup (hormone-wrecking chemicals)
household cleaners and modern building materials (again, more chemicals that we inhale and absorb)
sedentary lifestyle (low vitamin D from being inside, metabolic slowness, missing out on the healing properties of nature)
…just to name a few. I don’t share all this to overwhelm or scare you. I share it because knowledge is POWER- this knowledge helped me reclaim ownership of my own health and proved it wasn’t “just all in my head”. It’s not all in your head, either!
WHY are all these toxins allowed in the US?
In a word- money. And lots of it. There’s so much money to be made in chemicals, cleaners, processed food… and the subsequent medications to treat the diseases that occur at an ALARMING rate here in the US. Making a population sick and then charging them insane amounts of money to treat them? It makes a lot more money than organic, regenerative farming that’s for sure. And while places like the EU have banned or restricted more than 1,300 chemicals (in cosmetics alone), the US has restricted just 11. The state of American health is truly horrible, but you and I have to do the best we can in the midst of it.
Luckily (despite all the brands that greenwash their still “bad for you” products), there has been a surge of clean brands in the past decade. You can check out my free non-toxic product swap guide here to get started on lowering the toxins in your immediate environment.
WHY aren’t doctors trained to look for the root cause?
Again, money. And I don’t say this to belittle traditional medical doctors- they are GREAT in an acute crisis like infections, stroke, broken limbs, etc. But they also have their hands tied by what insurance determines to be “reasonable” which is why we end up with 15 minute appointments that result in 0 progress being made. There are incredible doctors that do incredible work, but most are limited by what they were taught in medical school- that all the body’s systems are separate and nutrition doesn’t play that big a role in health outcomes- and they’re limited by the system they operate in.
Long story short: asking your doctor “why” is like ordering Indian from a pizza joint, it’s just not what they offer. And that’s okay! That’s why I and other integrative practitioners exist- to fill that “why” gap.
WHY Integrative Health?
I chose to go into integrative health because it looks at the WHOLE person- body, mind, and spirit. I utilize functional medicine labs (different from your annual bloodwork!) to identify the root cause of symptoms and then pull from Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, nutrition, emotional and nervous system regulation, exercise, sleep, and supplementation to guide the body back to balance.
I love an integrative approach because I can combine hard data from lab tests with my client’s lived experience which is often very emotional…and has often been dismissed as “just stress”. I help women feel seen, heard, and supported to reclaim their health and feel like themselves again!
Integrative health is what gave me my life back, and that’s why I’m so passionate about it. My firsthand experience gives me a level of empathy and determination to help other women. Because I know what it feels like to be lost and hopeless and think you’re broken or that your body hates you. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
And if you’ve gotten this far and you’re asking yourself- why haven’t I looked into this sooner? Don’t worry. You’re here now. Feel free to explore my one-on-one program here and book your free consult to take the first step in your healing journey!
