The warning signs were there. A year before my first “wake-up" call, I was diagnosed with GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) - severe heartburn. My body was very acidic from my poor diet, smoking and drinking lots of coffee that I thought helped me to handle a grueling nursing schedule. I had a hard time swallowing, a burning throat and lived off  TUMS to manage my heartburn. Like most people, I pushed past the discomfort until one morning, I couldn't get out of bed.

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I remember it was my third nursing shift in a row and when that alarm went off, I felt like a wet rag. I felt this complete overwhelming fatigue, major brain fog that felt like a bad hangover without the alcohol. In that moment, I felt like the world was closing in on me. Panic set in as I dreaded calling off work last minute.

I kept asking myself, "What is wrong with me? What is wrong with me? I'm only in my 30s." I thought I was very sick. I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. Over the next couple months I visited a slew of doctors and realized they couldn’t help me with their medicines or recommendations for surgery.

 

Instead, I knew there was something more. I went back to school to learn more about nutrition and holistic alternatives. I had to figure out why my body was shutting down. At this time, health experts didn’t talk about the gut health connection. While attending classes and learning what to give my body each day, I started to feel great!

 

Out of school I landed my DREAM JOB... at Hippocrates Health Institute, a world-renowned healing Institute in West Palm Beach, FL. I learned how food is medicine. The live raw food diet,  juices therapies all helped to balance the body. At this point I was able to heal myself of my gut issues like candida and parasites. I was eating life nutrient foods instead of all the processed toxic foods I had grown up with. Life was good. 

 

But as I dived into my passion for those next four years, tiredly working with thousands of people from all over the world, mostly people with stage IV cancer and other challenging diseases, I started to notice a little bit of fatigue return. Then I suffered an emotional loss when my father passed away. His health had not been good for the past two years and the accumulated stress of his health challenges, taking care of my family and working long hours presented another “wake-up” call and a life lesson that I pass on to my clients.

 

Our poor diet choices alone are not key indicators of having an acidic body. Stress also causes the same effect. Working at Hippocrates I had access to all the healthiest foods, supplements, modalities, but the build up of stress and the death of my father, really hit me hard emotionally. I found a lump in my left breast. I was told by doctors it was stage II breast cancer. I never accepted the diagnosis fully. I decided to use the tools I knew to heal the body naturally. Within a month in half my tests were all clear.

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Being healthy is an all encompassing lifestyle. It’s not just food or exercise alone - it’s all encompassing and a continued practice. Not something you do for a little bit. It’s a lifetime commitment to yourself.

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The 7 years I worked at Hippocrates, the common denominator across the board  of all the cancer patients coming through the door was that they were super acidic. Anyone with any disease was acidic. The healthy people were not. That was a real eye opener for me.

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We have to use our own mind and brain too, it's an inside job it's our journey not follow what others tell us but follow and listen to your own body. That is the real navigation system - your own body telling you what is right and wrong for you!