Denormalizing Nutrition: My Journey With a Nutritionist Part 1
I can’t even begin to count the number of doctors I’ve gone to in the past 37 years.
A pediatrician for “wellness visits”. A primary care physician to give medications, antibiotics and suggest surgery. A psychiatrist at a very young age who prescribed MANY drugs. A bariatric surgeon to get me on my weight loss journey. FOUR fertility specialists including a reproductive immunologist. A naturopathic doctor to guide me on my natural healing journey. A homeopathic practitioner when fertility treatment failed. An acupuncturist. A chiropractor and his team.
I know a few of the doctors definitely led to positive changes in my health and prompted me to question more which led to further digging into my past.
That path has led me to where I am today.
In January 2023 I decided to go all in with my diet and heal myself. I didn’t search out anyone else for this. If you’ve read my other blog posts you know this did lead to more healing and even a natural pregnancy!
But I’m not fully healed yet.
There are still symptoms. I’m still not holding onto a pregnancy. I still have digestion problems. I still have allergies. I’m still not losing weight. I’m still not sleeping like I should.
So what’s the next step?
What haven’t I tried in all of these years?
June 29th I was interviewed by THE Judy Cho of Nutrition with Judy. At the end of the podcast, I asked her where to go, who to see, and what to do next in my journey.
A few days later she reached out that she has someone on her team that she wanted to connect me with.
On July 10th I had my discovery call with a carnivore nutritionist! After a lengthy chat that consisted of me giving the condensed version of my history, she told me she felt very positive she could help me improve my health and get pregnant.
After all of these years and so many people telling me that, I was skeptical. I’ve spent so much money and have gone through so much and am still not pregnant.
Why would this be different?
I KNOW the carnivore diet heals. I know it helped me get off my medications and allow me to get pregnant naturally for the first time in my life.
But why wasn’t I feeling at my best after 7 months? Why is my weight not coming off? Why is my sleep not ideal leaving me tired and cranky the next day?
This is the first time someone will actually look at my diet, look at the nutrients I’m in taking, look at my mental health, look at my physical activity, and tailor a game plan for me.
Food heals.
But sometimes your body needs more protein or more fats. I don’t have all the answers so I decided to say yes to Judy and Cheryl and to go all in.
On July 17th I answered a questionnaire with over 400 questions. I’ve never answered so many questions about so many symptoms! I was fascinated and felt so much positivity about taking this step.
Cheryl had my Symptom Burden Analysis (SBA) back to me four days later. I received an email with four components. In it, each of my answers were analyzed. I found out where my problem areas are and what organs have been affected and needed work.
It described the ROOT causes of my issues!
Symptom Burden Graph from my SBA
Obviously, I have a lot to work on! Thanks to my gallbladder and gastric sleeve surgeries, I don’t absorb all of this protein I’ve been eating, so that needed to be addressed.
My follow-up call was Monday, August 7th. Cheryl and I had an amazing conversation for well over an hour.
We discussed my mental health, physical activity, and my diet. The SBA included all of these suggestions but Cheryl dove into them even deeper and discussed the importance of each.
For my mental health and physical activity, she assigned meditation twice a day plus walking or yoga.
The chart above was broken down even more. Each of the symptoms that I marked as having was shown to be related to a certain organ. Those were then grouped together by organ and the score according to severity.
My SBA revealed that I have really low stomach acid, my adrenals are overused, and my liver needs a lot of help.
Supplements are suggested as part of the healing protocol with the ultimate goal of getting off of them eventually. I LOVE that way of thinking! The supplements that Cheryl suggested included treatment for my adrenals, thyroid, small intestine, energy, digestion, and mineral balancing.
How I Prepared
The supplement list was extensive so I bought all of them at once to make sure they arrived on time. Despite there being so many, I was pleased that the total cost wasn’t as much as I’d expected.
Based on the suggested meal plan, I immediately started researching where to buy mid-grade quality ribeye steaks. I love the website eatwild.com to find the best local, highest quality beef. The meal plan I liked the most suggested two ribeyes a day! Once I started going through their prices I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford two grass-fed/grass-finished ribeyes a day from local farmers.
I then started looking at grocery stores. Lidl won with pricing and quality for that week! Their 4-pack of 10-ounce ribeyes went on sale for $31.96. That’s $7.99 each for 10 ounces of grass-fed ribeye! I then found mid-grade USDA choice ribeyes at Food Lion for $6.99 for 10 ounces.
I bought 62 ribeyes in total over a few days to prepare for my new protocol. I also have a freezer full of ground beef from Butcher Box. That ground beef is grass-fed, with no hormones, and no antibiotics for $5 a pound!
Grass-fed/Grass-finished ribeye steaks from Lidl and me! A match made in bovine heaven!
Castor oil packs do wonders for digestion, inflammation, and hormones! I’d been wanting to try them for the past couple of years and was so happy when I saw that they were highly recommended during my protocol. The suggested packs were to be purchased individually. The castor oil and flannel came from Heritage. The heating element came from Therasage. I also purchased plastic wrap which is BPA and PVC free from Mom’s organic market. You can purchase Judy’s Castor Oil Pack Guide here.
Excessive amounts of caffeine are a big no-no for anyone. I’ve learned that coffee can be very toxic for the body. Prior to the SBA, I would drink TWO 20oz cups of delicious caffeinated coffee while enjoying my morning routine. I had never measured what those two cups amounted to until recently.
While filling out the SBA I measured those two cups. They totaled 40 ounces!!!!
Over the next two weeks, I cut my caffeine intake in HALF. I’ve been suffering from some temple pressure due to cutting back but I know it will be worth it. I did manage to find a mold free, organic decaf coffee! I’m thrilled with the flavor and I can still enjoy my two cups of coffee during my morning routine.
ALL of the meat, supplements, and castor oil packs were purchased, delivered, and ready for me to begin my new protocol!
Next up was preparing my mind for this strict diet. I NEVER half-ass ANYTHING.
Why would I spend this money to not give this protocol my all?
Day one began August 8th, 2023 the day after my results phone call.
Part 2 will be released in three months! I can’t wait to share my journey with you and all the changes that happened!
