About Me

My Path to Health and Wellness

More than ever, people are grappling with health issues that make everyday life a struggle. I was one of them.

For several years, I ignored the early signals my body was sending. There was damage happening—symptoms—but other priorities came first back then. Thirteen years ago, I moved from Moldova to the United States, a transition that brought significant lifestyle changes, including a highly processed diet and increased reliance on medication.

Before long, my health deteriorated rapidly. I faced a myriad of symptoms: fatigue, brain fog, frequent strep throat and sinus infections, skin rashes, eczema, severe allergies, and chronic pelvic pain. Painkillers became a necessity, and I no longer felt like my normal self.

I experienced energy and mood fluctuations—more lows than highs—constant exhaustion, bloating, constipation, and gas. Despite not being pregnant or gaining weight, I had a swollen belly. I was dealing with hormonal imbalances, specifically symptoms of hypothyroidism (gut issues and hormonal imbalances often go hand in hand).

Determined to find answers, I scheduled multiple appointments with various doctors. I carefully listened and followed their prescriptions: rounds of antibiotics, synthetic antihistamines, birth control pills, and over-the-counter medications when the pain was unbearable.

However, I grew frustrated spending 20 minutes or less with doctors who seemed more interested in managing my symptoms than uncovering the root causes. They treated parts of me rather than considering my body as the complex ecosystem it is.

I don’t blame them entirely—it’s how they’re trained. The focus often lies in making diseases “manageable” rather than curing them. Only open-minded doctors seem curious enough to dig up the real causes of a patient’s issues. Feeling helpless and miserable, I lost trust in conventional medicine for my chronic problems.

Taking Control: My Path to Healing

I realized I needed to take control of my health. I began studying how my body reacted to different foods, stimulants, and stressors, both past and present. I immersed myself in research, turning to trustworthy sources like PubMed and ScienceDirect to connect the dots.

My curiosity led me to enroll in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I attended the Health Coach Training Program for a year. This education was a catalyst in my journey, helping me understand how the combination of western medicine, holistic practices, and functional medicine can be more effective than any single approach.

Learning that 70-80% of the immune system resides in the gut was a revelation. I realized that food was the first thing I needed to change.

Experimenting with Diets and Lifestyle Changes

Deciding which diet was best was overwhelming. I tried many: Low FODMAP, AIP, Paleo, Whole30, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Candida Diet—the list goes on. Eventually, I noticed that the common thread among these diets was the elimination of reactive, inflammatory foods. They all worked temporarily but didn’t address the root cause—an unhealthy gut flora essential for a properly functioning immune system.

Significant improvements came when I took my experiment to the next level:

• Eating High-Quality, Organic Whole Foods: Eliminating foods I was sensitive to.
• Incorporating Fasting: Allowing my body to heal itself.
• Compiling a Functional Food List: Essential for healing at the cellular level based on quality and source.
• Mental and Emotional Health: Adressing the negative thinking patterns.

However, I learned that diet alone wasn’t enough. Addressing underlying infections, stress, and environmental toxins was essential too. I focused on balancing my diet with physical and emotional health, supplementing when necessary—a long and gradual process. To stay organized, I used my Self Care Planner/Journal, which helped me see things more clearly.

My motto in life is: be grateful for having challenges, because they make us wake up and shake the habits, reorder things and learn something from the experience.

The Power of Personal Experience

Throughout this journey, I honed my critical thinking skills. I learned to separate facts from opinions and identify biases in various sources of information, including scientific articles, books, videos, reviews, and statistics. Whenever something seemed convincing enough, I experimented on myself.

With the help of blood tests, genetic tests, and other diagnostics, I pieced together the puzzle and developed a personalized routine toward healing. Bit by bit, I overcame most of my allergies, skin issues, hormonal imbalances, and general inflammation, slowly recovering my immune system.

I discovered that personal experience can surpass generalized science when it comes to individual health. Science provides guidelines based on groups of people, but we’re all unique. I also learned that chronic diseases develop over years, with multiple systems in the body going awry. Root causes often trace back to issues in the digestive, hormonal, immune, and detoxification systems.

Behind the Scenes: Building This Platform

Creating this website has been a journey in itself. There is a lot of work to running a website, most of which I didn’t know about when I first started. With no prior experience in publishing, I learned everything from scratch:

• Web Design and Development: From registering a domain to designing web pages and configuring software.
• Content Creation: Conceptualizing, photographing, writing, and editing articles—dedicating 24-36 hours per post, especially when involving video and photo editing. I prefer to be all 100% authentic.  
• Multimedia Skills: Learning video editing (Adobe Premiere Pro) and photo editing (Adobe Photoshop) to enhance content quality.
• SEO: Understanding keyword research, optimizing content for search, and building an audience.
• Community Engagement: Developing a subscription mechanism, sharing relevant content, and responding to comments.

Despite the challenges and moments of discouragement, I was determined to make it work. Over time, my skills improved, and I began to truly enjoy the creative process.

Thank you for visiting my site and taking the time to read my story. My hope is that by sharing my journey, I can help others navigate their own paths to health and wellness.

Let’s Connect

If you’re interested in working with me, collaborating on content, or simply want to reach out, I’d love to hear from you through the email form below!

You can also find my videos on YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only and should not be considered to be a specific diagnosis or treatment plan for any individual situation. Seek the direct advice of your own doctor if you have any questions or issues. Please refer to my full disclaimer for more info.

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