I saw a Holistic Doctor…

THE WHY:

For the most part, I keep my physical health private in terms of what I’m going through. Ever since my late teens, I had major stomach issues– Acid reflux, random spouts of extreme vomiting, and horrible stomach pains nearly every day of my life- including unhealthy bowel movements. A lot of you know I’ve also suffered from migraines since I was about 13 years old. I’ve had major hormonal imbalances that I would mask with birth control. Cystic acne has been a struggle since puberty. Recently in the past couple of years I’ve had major mental fog and dizziness.

If I’m being honest, a lot of this really scared me.

I decided to go off all medications in September and take back my health. I was tired of taking medications that didn’t fix the problem. I wanted to have a peace of mind about everything I was putting in my body- and I wanted to know I was doing MY part in making sure I live a long and healthy life. It sounds drastic, but I had brought myself to a point of paranoia– thinking that something horrible was going to happen to my body. I went Vegan in December and that helped A LOT of my problems- but I still wanted more knowledge and understanding of everything that was happening in my body and how it all connected. I also wanted to get a grip on my hormones without being on medications. I picked out a Holistic Doctor near me and jotted down my thoughts…

5 Things I Learned From my Holistic Doctor:

  1. Everything in our body is connected and works together.

Yep. It’s really true. And it all makes SO much more sense when a professional explains it to you. My doctor was a psychologist for 15 years, then a nutritionist, and then went into holistic health. She had me fill out a 20 page questionnaire about EVERYTHING- my diet, mood, habits, emotions, family, exercise, and a million more things. She looks at it ALL. Over 2 1/2 hours, she literally connected every single dot… everything that I was feeling was all connected. This brings me to my next point…

  2. Your GUT rules everything.

MOST of all of my issues were stemming from gut. Using a fancy electromagnetic machine (TBH I’m not sure what it’s called) on the pressure points of my hands and feet, we found major imbalances in my liver, kidneys and pancreas. This can be caused by eating bad foods and foods that your body may be allergic to (no matter how balanced your diet is- those bad things are putting toxins in your gut). It can also be caused by medications that live in your gut for months and sometimes years. She predicted that this is what was affecting my already sensitive stomach. Even though I’ve been Vegan for 30 days- and most of my stomach issues have completely disappeared (YAY)- my body is still trying to detox– and if I don’t help it, then it’s just going to detox through my pores. This all made sense as my acne flared after going vegan. Excess hormones also live in your gut (this can be caused by birth control and IUDs- which I’ve had both). Essentially, I was creating the perfect storm.

3. Your Blood Type pairs with dietary lifestyles

I honestly had no idea what my blood type was. I know. That’s horrible. My doctor did an in-office blood test so we could find out right there. Many eastern nutritionists believe that your blood type pairs with specific dietary lifestyles (here’s a book if you want to learn more). Based on mine, I partner well with a gatherer diet. Mind you, that includes meat- but she said I can substitute that with high protein legumes. She gave me a list of foods that act as superfoods for Gatherers and foods that act as toxins. And there were some that were neutral. A lot of these things I was sticking to being Vegan, so I wasn’t that overwhelmed.

4. Detox. And then Detox again.

So, we take in all these toxins from our diets since we aren’t all perfect. We take toxins in from our environment, our lotions, makeup, shampoos etc. According to this doctor, most people don’t effectively detox these out of their body. They live in our gut where they manifest themselves throughout the rest of our body. They affect our mood, skin, energy, and over-all wellbeing. There are a few ways to get rid of these. Drink 3 times as much water as you think you should- but don’t drink a lot of water during your meals. Do mini detoxes throughout the week by drinking warm water with squeezed lemon in the morning. Add some apple cider vinegar to it as well (don’t drink it by itself). Drink tea daily. That one is hard for me. Juice cleanses are very helpful as well. I like the pineapple chia cleanse by Smart Pressed Juice. She said everyone should do a MAJOR liver cleanse at least 3 times a year. You can find a bunch online- the one she gave me includes ingesting epson salts. If done correctly, you will pee out small stones and even parasites (she said we ALL have them and it’s important to get rid of them before they cause you major issues down the road). If you have access to a Sauna- use it! Working out and sweating can help- but not as much as what you ingest.

5. Blood sugar & Mental Fog

Something that I wanted an answer to is why I had been feeling so foggy and dizzy for the past couple of years. I felt like I was eating enough food and for the most part- drinking enough fluids. I showed her my food diary I had kept for the past 30 days and she looked over my questionnaire once again. She instantly answered confidently- “do you know you have low blood sugar?” I was really shocked- but then again not. I guess it kind of made sense. I was eating an apple and banana for breakfast and then crashing within an hour. This pretty much happened to me whenever I ate fruit by itself. I always thought it would give me energy! She said the solve is quite simple- pair a fat with your sugar and you won’t have dizziness and mental fog. The fat slows down the sugar from breaking down too quick. The whole next week I paired almond butter and some nuts with my fruits and I’m not kidding- I HAD NO ISSUES. Like what? Shook.

I learned so much from this appointment and left with a greater sense of understanding and peace of mind. It was around $230 plus some homeopathic vitamins that will help my liver to eliminate excess estrogen that is being cause from my IUD. This will in turn bring some normality back to my body and hopefully relieve my acne (I’ve already noticed a difference- yayyyy). It may seem like a lot of money- sadly insurance doesn’t cover anything for holistic treatments- but for me, it was worth every single penny. I’m ready to implement some small changes that will make a huge impact on my health.

Hope this was interesting or helpful! I’m in no way a licensed doctor- I just wanted to simply share my experience. You can take it or leave it based on your own health goals and concerns.

Leave a comment if you have any questions!

xoxo

Ashley