My closest family and friends can all tell you I’ve been interested in the human body for the majority of my life. In kindergarten, I begged my mom to buy me anatomy books on the nervous system, the skeletal and muscular systems, and the digestive system. Although I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, I knew I was pretty intrigued by the pictures on each page. Fast forward to my kindergarten graduation, where I told all the proud parents and school staff that I wanted to grow up and become a scientist! I have now graduated from the University of Guelph with a degree in Environmental Sciences and I also have my diploma in Applied Nutrition from Alive Academy. I guess I can say I stuck true to my kindergarten word.
Throughout my childhood, I’d been prone to sicknesses. I can vividly remember dealing strep throat and ear infections almost every month – sometimes at the same time. I had to have surgery in the first grade to remove my tonsils and adenoids, and put tiny tubes in my ears to help with drainage, in an effort to reduce the frequency of me getting sick. Unfortunately, this didn’t help much. I’d been plagued with a poor immune system straight from the start. But in a few years, I’d be determined to treat all of issues.
Once puberty hit, I had a whole other set of problems to deal with. New allergies (to some of my favourite fruits!), menstrual problems, pre-teen drama, extremely poor mental health, and body image issues were my main concerns at this time. It was a rough few years for me. In high school, I thought I had begun to take a hold of my life, and things were looking on the upswing, but then the stress got to me.
I woke up one morning in the twelfth grade with my eyes swollen shut. I thought it was simply an allergy so I took some Benadryl and went back to bed. But things were the same the next morning. The doctor confirmed that I, in fact, had mononucleosis (yes, the kissing disease, no, I hadn’t been kissing anyone!). She told me it was onset from stress, which weakened my immune system so drastically, that it couldn’t fight off any minute air borne traces of the disease. She told me I would miss a minimum of 3 months of school, and probably wouldn’t graduate on time. But with my determination and strong belief in natural health, I returned to school in 5 weeks. My doctor was amazed.
I graduated high school on time, and after taking a much needed year off, I began my university career at the University of Guelph. My time at Guelph was amazing, and it too taught me to take my health into my own hands. Towards the beginning of my third year, I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS for short. This too, was onset by stress. I noticed something was wrong after I began to have tummy troubles out of nowhere after eating foods that I normally ate. These include potatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers. Both the doctor and specialist told me to simply avoid my “trigger” foods and that would solve all my problems. I thought this was poor advice, so I began to research things myself. I can now proudly say that I have reintroduced some of these foods back into my diet with no IBS symptoms whatsoever.
My health journey began at an extremely young age, and it is nowhere close to done. And rather than be upset that I’ve been dealt this hand full of illness and disease, I am actually quite thankful. I feel like God has given me these ailments to encourage me to be my own teacher and learn the value of nutrition, first hand. I now have the ability to speak from personal experiences and possibly connect with some of you. Health and wellness is my passion, my true calling. Help me, help you take hold of your health journey. If I can do it, so can you.
With love and well wishes,
Alicia