My Personal Journey with Nutrition
My Personal Journey with Nutrition—from growing up on junk food to becoming a vegetarian to where I am today:
Let’s travel way back to when I was a kid. Because this is where everybody's nutrition journey begins—the one where we are little and eat whatever our parents or peers are telling us to eat, whether it’s real food or processed food products. My parents, like most parents of that time period, did not know much about nutrition. They learned poor eating habits from their parents, and because our education system does not teach kids or adults proper nutrition, it got passed down to me. My mom did cook frequently, so I did get home cooked meals. It’s just that the vegetables we were served were usually canned or frozen…which is not in and of itself bad, it’s just that compared to fresh vegetables, they just don’t taste good to a kid (or even to me as an adult). I don’t think I can ever eat a green bean from a can again. We also didn’t have a lot of money so these options were more affordable, along with the dollar menus at fast food joints which we frequented often. I didn’t have a huge sweet tooth growing up, but I loved potato chips and processed American cheese and all of the salty junk food snacks. We did however, gather round to watch TGIF on ABC (anyone else?) where we watched Full House, Family Matters, and Step by Step, while eating our candy bars that we went to Albertson’s to pick out (we each got to pick one, and my favorite was usually Starburst or Skittles). Sometimes we would grab some ice cream and a brownie mix and make them and gobble them up while sitting like little munchkins in front of the tv on the floor in the living room.
When I was 21, after just moving back to the states from my year abroad in Leeds, England, my younger sister and I decided we were going to become vegetarians. To be honest, I can’t remember if it was based on a documentary we saw or some sort of influence from the outside world. I was vegetarian for about 14 years, with the last 4-5 years being vegan (with a few of the vegetarian years being pescatarian). In my first year of being a vegetarian I developed an eating disorder—I was bulimic. I was hungry ALL the time. And I would eat and eat and eat, and then I would panic about how much I had eaten—and throw it all up. Now looking back I can understand why I was so hungry. I had gone from eating animal protein at most meals to all of a sudden eating almost no protein. When you don’t get enough protein, you are constantly hungry. And you tend to crave simple carbs and sweets. All of a sudden I wanted to eat cakes and cookies…really anything to give me a burst of energy to deal with the fatigue I had from not getting enough protein.
When I began studying Chinese Medicine when I was 23 and learned about the damage I was doing to my body, I stopped making myself throw up. I learned about nutrition and the value of eating real food. While Chinese Medicine does place an emphasis on eating meat, I was in denial that I needed to eat it in order to be healthy. When you are in school for Chinese Medicine, you get pulled into the whole hippie scene a little bit, and it’s pretty typical to be vegetarian or vegan in that social group. So, I started to eat a lot healthier, but I was still vegetarian. Fast forward to later, I heard about the Medical Medium. I was hooked, I devoured all of his books and podcasts and went all in with becoming vegan. I felt great during the day (you eat a lot of fruit and are basically on a sugar high), but in the evenings I would either toss and turn or wake up in a panic in the night from the sudden drop in blood sugar. I had always had anxiety, so I just chalked it up to that and kept on with my new diet. I also found out that my ferritin (iron storage) was low. It was the first time I had ever had this marker checked, as hemoglobin iron is usually the only one routinely checked. My hemoglobin was always in the normal range, but always on the low end. So, while I was never flagged as anemic, looking back I can see that I had many symptoms of it and my blood levels were not in the optimal range.
When the pandemic happened, I started questioning a lot of things…well, pretty much everything I had been taught or had been influenced to believe. I started praying to God again. I had grown up Christian but had steered away from the church in my 20’s just due to lifestyle choices and social circles and new age influences. I prayed to God to give me spiritual discernment to see what in my life was truth and to get rid of what was not. I had a strong urge to eat meat again. I started to see the Medical Medium in an entirely new light and threw away all of my books. I started listening to podcasts with Karen Hurd (a nutritionist and biochemist), where she talked about the importance of eating animal protein and soluble fiber. I already had a good basis of nutritional studies from my schooling, but she taught me about enterohepatic recirculation, which I am eternally grateful for. I even ended up taking one of her online courses to learn more.
So, now let’s jump back to the present moment. Here’s a summary of the way I eat now:
I eat a whole food diet, without any junk food, soda, or fast food. I think the last time I had any of those foods was 10-15 years ago.
I gave up caffeine a year and a half ago, and don’t see myself going back to it anytime soon. I am sensitive to stimulants.
I haven’t had much alcohol in the past decade except for the occasional sip.
I eat 3 regular meals a day with animal protein, beans, vegetables, and healthy fats.
I drink 12 cups of water a day.
I frequently take psyllium husk for added soluble fiber.
I try to avoid dairy. I do still have it occasionally, but I try to keep it minimal.
I eat very little sugar. I do have some occasional small amounts of fruit or a bite of something sweet here and there. It’s not a daily occurrence though.
I think of food as nourishment…not a reward and not a punishment.
The foods I choose to eat are based on longterm health goals rather than momentary pleasures.
I really enjoy the food I eat. I love to cook and make pretty much all my meals from home.
So, that’s my nutrition journey in a nutshell. I obviously can only fit so much of my journey in one blog post…but that feels like a good overview.
Comment below and let me know where you’re at in your nutrition journey. And if you want to learn about nutrition, I teach everything I know and practice in my Flavors of Nature Nutrition Course, which you can check out below. I talk about why I eat the way that I do, because I think it’s really important to learn about the why. And, I think it’s good to also know about how certain foods affect the body on a biochemical and energetic level. It’s really everything you need to know to eat a healthy and balanced diet. And if you’re looking for fertility support, I highly recommend my fertility and pre-conception course. It includes everything you need to know about nutrition for fertility, so no need to purchase both courses.