12/04/2025
I found these two photos in my camera roll. The one on the left from December of 2023 & on the right from early Fall 2024. 8 months apart.
Dan has always been pretty health conscious - but in the process of raising eight children, owning a farm, and all the things that come with normal everyday life - my health got put on the back burner.
In March of last year, Dan stepped away from surgery and we began planning to open a more natural minded family practice clinic.
And, in March of last year, I finally started getting serious about my health.
I had given birth to & nursed seven children - and then we adopted a baby girl with several medical complexities in 2023.
The weight of the world had started to take a toll on me - mind, body, and spirit.
My labs didn’t look great.
My inflammatory markers were high.
My thyroid was out of whack, yet again.
My fasting glucose was borderline high.
My cholesterol was working its way up.
My liver wasn’t processing things the way it should have.
A spit test revealed that my cortisol was off the charts. My adrenal gland had shut down.
My nervous system was a wreck and I wasn’t sleeping well.
Lots of little things that added up to a lot…
We began to dive Into functional medicine and what true health and healing looks like.
First, it was Dan who dove In - but as he told me a little snippet here and there, I grew more and more curious. I have listened along side of almost all of his functional training and decided to take a 10 month functional certification course myself (which I just graduated from last month).
I did my first 28 day cleanse last year - a cleanse that seeks to eliminate everything inflammatory in your diet. To clean out your gut and improve liver function.
Dan explained it to me like your liver being the pool filter of your body. He told me that when a pool filter gets clogged, it no longer filters things out. It slows everything down and lead to a dirty pool. He said the same is true of our liver. It leads to sludge on the insides.
Surprisingly, it’s not just alcohol that clogged up your liver. Dan and I hardly ever drink. Everyday life and the toxic soup that we live in is what clogs your liver.
After 18 months of truly working on myself - one system at a time - First gut. Then hormones. Then liver. Working out. 10,000 steps. Home cooked meals with lean meat and lots of vegetables - Dan told me about three weeks ago that my labs are “pristine”.
Not just better. Not just good. Pristine.
My glucose is in now normal range, cholesterol too.
My inflammatory markers have come down quite a bit, to normal range.
CRP is a measure of overall inflammation. Your CRP should be below one. Mine was eight when I started. You can see it in my face, in the picture on the left. I was inflamed inside and out.
My liver numbers are better.
My hormones are balancing out and so many of my perimenopause symptoms are gone. Debilitating symptoms that are no longer here.
I’m sleeping so well. Deep sleep.
It’s incredible how much of a difference that it can make when our bodies are back in balance - hormones, thyroid, cortisol, adrenals & gut health.
It’s been a really long road these last 18 months. I won’t lie to you and say that it’s been easy.
I didn’t take a magic pill.
Nothing happened overnight.
I’ve lost track of how many times Dr Dan had to give me a peptalk and pulled me out of a rut.
Some days felt like two steps forward, three steps back - as we worked through all the different body systems.
But I can honestly say that at 43, I feel better than I ever have felt in my whole life.
I have more energy for my grandson that I remember having for my seven-year-old.
The first time I did the 28 day cleanse, I lost 22 pounds. I’ve managed to keep 17 of those pounds off.
All of that to say - no matter what your labs look like, or what your waistline looks like, or how long it’s been since you prioritized your own health - there is hope…
I’m not going to end this post by saying comment XYZ for me to message you with a sales pitch.
There is no sales pitch.
In my humble opinion, nothing replaces hard work, dedication, and knowledge about what is truly best for our bodies.
I pray that my sharing will be proof of that to anyone reading this that wants to change their overall health and their life with the better.
One step at a time, you can do just that!
