To put is simply, the definition of Diva is temperamental or difficult to please. Once upon a time my gut was a Diva. Many of you, I’m sure, can relate. In fact if you’re here, reading this, you most certainly can relate to having a ‘Gut Diva’ of your own.

My journey with nutrition and wellness, more particularly that of the gut,  started with a health crisis of my own.  We all somehow come to the “healing professions” with a narrative of our own. What we are feeling inside is real, most real when it’s chronic, right?!  We begin to google search our symptoms and we then self diagnose, go to the doctor with a firm belief that we know whats wrong with us.  But the doctors tests turn up “normal” and so the cycle continues.

Every time I’d go to the doctor they’d run their tests and every test came back normal. I found myself leaving the doctors appointments disappointed, disappointed that they didn’t give me some bad news of a serious illness.  I was so desperate to get a definitive diagnosis so I could then find a solution to the chrionic illness and pain I lived in, day in and day out. But they didn’t find anything abnormal.  More often then not I’d only walk away with a new prescription to fill. I felt awful all the time, it became my new normal.

I started to wonder if this was what the rest of my life would be like. I was always tired, my quality of sleep was horrible, my weight fluctuated up an down, my hormones where totally off (I’d cry, or get mad about everything), and my digestion and elimination was a nightmare, impacting my daily activities.  I couldn’t go anywhere if I did have a restroom near by.  I could go on, but I’ll spare you the more intimate details of it all. Bottom line, my quality of life was suffering dramatically and I had exhausted all my healthcare avenues. I knew then, I had to do something about it because no one else was going to!

This is when I experienced what I called “situational-growth” I had a situation and I had to grow to solve it, and so I began my research. I started looking into alternative healthcare. I dug deep to discover the root cause of my health issues, not just the symptoms.  I began to listen to my body. I followed the bread crumb clues that my extensive knowledge in healthcare afforded me.  I soon learned that my symptoms mentioned above, where branches, who’s roots where firmly established in my gut & liver health or lack thereof.  This journey took me along a path of understanding the why.

It is my belief that understanding the why is so much more powerful and effective than the, “because I said so” approach of healthcare that I was so accustom to in the past. You know…it’s what I refer to as putting a lid on a boiling pot. Eventually the pot and its contents will boil over leaving an awful mess.

If your anything like me, you want to know answers to ‘the why,’ why is your body having these symptoms. Until I knew ‘the why,’ making changes in my diet & lifestyle didn’t mean as much to me, and so it didn’t happen. Once I learned the physiological insult certain thought processes, behaviors, food choices and habits were having on my overall health, then and only then did I start to see changes in my health.

No more confusion about diets and dietary theory, putting aside or overlooking how a single food may effect each one of us differently, bio-individuality is key, no more one size fits all approach. No more  will I ignore the depression and anxiety that are norms in society without questioning the functionality of the “second-brain” the area below our belly button in our GUT. Furthermore, coming to the understanding the GUT BRAIN AXIS; that which is the close relationship between what we think and how we look and feel, it’s all interconnected. And the terrain of our digestion and elimination is at the root of ALL health issues and demands to be addressed. No more unknowns and no more suffering.