I'm so excited to bring you my ultimate guide on how you can heal your health struggle!
During some downtime, I wrote this guide to help women who tell me about such a variety of health struggles. Following on from this guide, I was then compelled to write a free email course, going through one of the most common causes I see in many of these health issues after working with women in my clinic.
So a few days ago, I asked a question on my Facebook page: "What is the single biggest problem you face with your health today?"
Over the next day, tonnes of answers flooded in from women who were ready to reach out to me about their health.
I felt humbled with what people are actually dealing with in their lives every day!
These lady's described a whole range of issues, different symptoms, imbalances and health conditions, from mild to severe.
Many said they were not given all their options but only the 'medication' option. And sadly, they feel they are not getting the emotional support either!
To add to their hardship, their doctors have given them astoundingly negative 'life sentences' which is so counter-productive, given what we know about how real the 'Placebo Effect' actually is! (i.e. what we're told and believe, will affect the direction of our health in a very powerful way.)
I've been helping a lot of ladies over the years with their health and I've unfortunately seen way to many people start to make some health changes and then give up way too early. Often because they didn't have the moral support and their body never had the time to adjust in a positive way.
Firstly, I always like to do this upfront, that way you know if this guide is for you — not 10 minutes after you’ve started reading…
So get this clear, let’s go over:
The goal for this guide
Simple. I want to show you how you can get your health to 'unheard of' limits, even when you're told by your doctor there's no point.
This is the first time I've written something like this since COVID and such a lot has changed! I feel the utter urgency for this now, as I want you to see the possibilities for yourself, which many of you haven't even entertained!
This info took my own health crisis, 4 years of study and years of clinical practice with women's health to work out.
Further down, I'll go through some powerful things you can start on right away so that you can get started on improving your health. Making just a few changes can really set the wheels in motion for amazing health breakthroughs to come!
What's the point of this guide? (in a nutshell)
No matter where your health is at - mild or severe, any amount of improvements you make to your gut health, will help it!
And one last thing I always like to mention before jumping into the actual guide - a brief overview of how I got to this point where I'm able to advise the below:
Not because I like bragging, but I personally think it’s easier to listen to somebody when you can relate to (or at least understand) their story…
So a brief background of how I reached this point:
It all started around 7 years ago when I was struggling with my health on a day to day basis. I was feeling like I had lots of little symptoms, and they were all weighing me down.
This was during a time in my life where I was a new(ish) health student, struggling to have the energy to study, yet learning about the human body was all I could think about.
So after hitting a deep stage of burnout, experiencing some scary symptoms and realising something had to change, I decided to go to my doctor who sent me to a Rheumatologist who same day 'diagnosed' me with a rare autoimmune condition that had a very scary prognosis.
Doc booked me into hospital for a week and needless to say, I was scared out of my wits (I went by myself to the appointment!!)
Once I fell into the medical 'system' I found it to be a cold, heartless path of appointments, scaremongering (worse case scenarios) tests and medicines with a mile-long list of side-effects!
Luckily, after the self-pity party wore off, something inside me kicked in and I knew that I needed to take back my control for MY life! I had to research and learn my way out of this mess myself, otherwise, I would be at the mercy of medications and specialists appointments for the rest of my life!
So I went to work. I went within. I doubled down on all aspects of my life. I changed my habits and these ended up changing my results!
I did this despite my specialist saying diet and lifestyle won't help one bit and there's nothing I can do - (he said there is 'no cure!')
I got 'second opinions' from 4 other Rheumatologist (best in the country) and they all said the same thing. There's 'nothing I can do and it's not possible to reverse it."
Alrighty then!
Being a stubborn one (I take after my Dad here) I launched into actioning my own self designed health plan (it's amazing to discover one's strength when you really need it!!) And short story... after 2 years, I won!
This is what I learnt: although I had a rheumatoid condition which was autoimmune by nature, my gut is where I needed to start rebuilding my health again.
After the first year focusing on this, I reversed my health condition, BUT then I stupidly tempted fate, returned to old habits and before I knew it - I was back at my specialist, s*@# scared again! Later I learnt this was self-sabotage.
Funnily enough (I can laugh now) I remember saying to him in that appointment 'I know exactly why it's back because I went off the rails.' He just smiled in that vacant way like I was speaking gibberish.
But I knew exactly where I went wrong. My body lost it's balance again and fell into old patterns. Looking back, perhaps I was throwing caution to the wind, trying to demonstrate to myself that it was my 'actions' that created this disease, not just 'bad luck' like my doctors told me it was!
So second time around, in desperation, I took the medication (again) thinking... I'll just get a 'top-up' to halt disease progression, then I'll get my body back into balance again, with my natural approach.
I'm grateful I had this medication available to halt disease progression long enough, so I could make the health changes in time! But I wouldn't have needed to subject myself to it if I had of just stayed on plan with my own health work!
Thankfully this plan worked and the second time around, it actually showed me that what I was doing, was not a random bit of good luck, but rather my body was responding to a certain 'system' of healing, not once... but twice!
I was able to cease all medication when my doctor said I would never be able to!
And now... I'm symptom-free and completely well and have been for years. Not only that, the particular test that shows if there's autoimmune 'action' in the body - called an 'anti-nuclear' test... has returned to normal again!! I couldn't believe my eyes.
This actually proved to me that autoimmune conditions CAN be completely reversed, despite what the doctors say
Looking back, I am very grateful that I chose to study natural medicine and nutrition because I was immersing myself every single day in 'health solutions' and not 'sickness management' like I would, if I hung out in my specialist's corridors.
I learnt that the quality of our thoughts and beliefs are a huge part of our healing process
So, after this scary episode in my life, I resolved to live and breathe what I learned, and I was completely sold, because I had proved it twice to myself!
This little miracle I experienced guided me to help others with their health and help empower themselves to climb out of their own health 'mess' like I did - no matter how mild or severe their health situation may be.
Just imagine if I listened to the doctors and didn't make the effort to make changes -where would I be now? I shudder to think.
So I believe we can ALL take a lesson away from my story.
You can do a little bit or a lot to improve how you feel (symptom wise) and then if you choose to (it's very important that you make the choice) you can do things to completely change the trajectory of your future health, no matter who says your can't!
WE ARE THE ONLY experts of our body and our mind
Don't get me wrong, medicine is extremely important in our world, however it was never designed to heal the body as nature does.
I also want to take a moment to point out here that not all sickness and disease starts in our minds or in our gut, of course.
Certainly, there are babies born with genetic defects and conditions that clearly couldn't be triggered by diet and lifestyle. However, my point is no matter what the source of our ills, there's a grand possibility that we can change our condition.
If you remember only the above point from this guide - you light years ahead of most people (sadly!)
Below I want to give you 5 steps you can take, for your body to move into a healing 'mode.'
This is a starting point - These may seem small things, especially if you're going up against a serious health issue! But it's amazing what small changes can do.
Or some of you may look at these changes and think 'I already do this!' - That's great! This tells me you're most definitely ready for more progressive changes to add onto these, so you can keep that healing momentum going!
I'll go into how I can help you (link here) next at the bottom of this guide. But check that you do all of these first...
Health Tweak # 1 - Drink Warm Lemon Water: It's amazing how many people start their day with coffee or nothing!!
First thing in the morning, drink a big glass of warm filtered water with as much freshly squeezed lemon as you can have. 1/2 a lemon squeezed is great! Do this before you eat or drink anything and try to wait 10-20 minutes before doing so.
Overnight, our body becomes dehydrated and every cell in our system needs a good flush. Lemon becomes alkaline in our body, which helps to cleanse and ease our body and mind into optimal functioning for the day AND get it ready to digest food!
Acidity in the body is a state that many diseases find attractive!
This warm lemon water trick even helps give you a boost of energy - which is much healthier than relying on a morning coffee to do this, as this actually creates internal stress via the caffeine, especially unhelpful on an empty stomach.
Health Tweak # 2: Eat a Breakfast That Your Hormones Will Love!
As women, how we feel both physically and mentally every minute of the day, is governed by our hormones and how balanced they are!
We have many hormones, however, I'm talking about Oestrogen, Progesterone and Testosterone, which influence our entire health and wellbeing and need to be playing along in perfect symphonies, like a beautiful orchestra. Our hormones play a huge role in healing too.
One way we can help with hormonal balance is by eating foods that our hormones love. And the best time we can set up our hormones for a great day is breakfast time!
Rule of thumb for your breakfast is to choose foods that are:
- Low in natural and processed sugars (this helps to balance our blood sugar)
- High in protein and fibre
- Free from processing (like cereals and white four e.g. bread
Our mental conditioning has been to have 'cereal and toast' but in reality, this is the worst breakfast we could choose. These will make your blood sugar erratic (giving you energy dips through the day) which continues right through the day and even affecting the quality of your sleep at night.
Remember: it's not about how long you sleep for, it's about how much of the 'right kind' of sleep you get which will make all the difference to your day.
Great News!! There are so many wonderful breakfast options, you just need to know what they are... I get it!
My personal favourite is a smoothie jam-packed with hormone loving ingredients such as Flaxseed meal, blueberries, some healthy oils, and some yoghurt (or kefir) for probiotics which your gut loves!
Another favourite breakfast is free-range eggs done your favourite way, with avocado, roasted tomatoes and your favourite greens (I love sautéed spinach) all drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.
Or... perhaps some warming gluten-free and organic rolled oats porridge (not instant) with almond milk, blueberries and a drizzle of honey?
These are all great alternatives - The trick is to 'eat for health' at this time of the day and your tastebuds will quickly change their 'preference' and you'll end up loving it!
Health Tweak # 3: Eat 30g of Plant Fibre Per Day
People are very deficient in fibre these days (having only around 10g when it should be 30 grams!)
This is because we're 'filling up' more on the readily available processed foods, which are very low on fibre.
When we lack fibre, over time our digestion becomes ineffective at processing our food, and this affects our hormonal health and can go onto putting us in a higher risk bracket for heart disease, stroke, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes and autoimmune conditions.
Yes! All from a low fibre diet!
I am seeing people so reliant on processed foods, that they simply don't have the appetite for fresh plant foods like pure unadulterated green salads (which are really high in natural fibre and necessary vitamins and antioxidants to protect them.
Processed foods end up actually 'addicting' our taste buds to more and more of these foods, making salads and green leafy vegetables really unappealing!
Great news though... Whole foods have the most fibre, so this means veggies, beans, legumes (e.g. chickpeas and black beans) and fruits are going to fix this problem.
I also recommend adding flaxseed meal (I add it to my breakfast smoothie) and this is both high in hormone loving good oils and fibre!
Another great bonus when you have lots of daily fibre is that it does help to stabilise weight, by improving digestion (the gateway to weight maintenance! Yes!!
Health Tweak # 4: Eat These Particular Foods At 3 pm!
Another time of the day when the body needs some nourishment is around afternoon tea time.
Even if you're not hungry at this time, the trick is to prevent any 'diet accidents' before they occur including 'emotional eating' or cravings.
Many people experience low energy, motivation and cravings at around 3 pm (give or take a half-hour!)
This can be a time where all good intentions with our daily eating are ruined and then we feel hopeless and frustrated with ourselves.
We don't want that!
So I recommend you prevent all this from happening, by making it a habit to eat afternoon tea.
Now it's all about what you CHOOSE to eat. Sugar is not what your body needs at this time, although it may give you that instant boost (along with the low energy crash!)
Instead, try hormone loving 'good oils' fats and fibre! This will satiate you until dinner and you won't have cravings and overeat.
Foods I recommend at this time, are a handful of almonds or walnuts (walnuts are in the shape of our brain because they're good for our brain!)
Or you could have 1/2 cup of natural yoghurt with a drizzle of almond butter topped with coconut flakes. All great easy snacks to make at home and have/take on the run.
I do not suggest fruit at this time. Fruit is high in natural sugar and actually make you hungrier soon after and/or spike your blood sugar which is not a good thing for your health over time.
Health Tweak # 5: End Your Day With Your Best Sleep As Your Goal
As the day ends and it becomes night, we need to do things to honour this time of rest and repair. Make choices to support yourself while you're winding down (so you don't wind up!) Tomorrow will thank you for it!
As we know, doing anything stressful before bed can set us up for a non-rejuvenating sleep and tomorrow becomes a struggle! A pattern of this can worsen health current health issues, as you are not healing and repairing every night.
Here some little 'micro-tweaks' for your night time to help you have a healing sleep. (We do most of our rejuvenation when we sleep!)
Eat a dinner that is healthy, simple and tasty. There's no need for elaborate dishes and complicated recipes (which make this time even more stressful.) My personal favourite is simply grilled fish or steak and steamed greens, all drizzled in olive oil and lemon juice!
Eat without the TV to avoid all the negativity. Enjoy being really present with yourself or family. Just enjoy. We have little opportunity to be present these days!
Look forward to a cup of something to relax and comfort you after dinner. My favourite is a cup of chamomile tea. Or you could make a cup of mint tea, or even a cup of hot cocoa on your favourite nut milk (hello chocolate!) Create a soothing ritual and enjoy this.
Sprinkle some of your favourite essential oil onto your pillow before bed. You may like jasmine, lavender, rose or ylang-ylang. Doing this every night signifies to your brain that it's time to let everything go from your day and rest!
REMEMBER the secret sauce in all of this...
Change your habits, change your results.
You can not expect different results if you're doing the same thing. This is never more true when it comes to the results of your health.
Funny thing about lack of motivation - the more little goals we kick, the more our energy increases, which in turn increases our motivation to do more good things!
If you make these tweaks a habit by doing them every day, after a few weeks, you won't need to think about them as much and you'll just do them and it's a THIS point... where the MAGIC begins! (Your body will begin to respond.)
I know we’ve covered a lot of ground here, so I want to do a quick recap so it's clear for you...
Here are the 5 small but very important things you can start on doing today to begin the healing process...
Health Tweak # 1 - Drink Warm Lemon Water
Health Tweak # 2 - Eat a Breakfast Your Hormones Will Love!
Health Tweak # 3 - Eat 30g of Fibre Per Day
Health Tweak # 4 - Eat These Particular Foods At 3 pm!
Health Tweak # 5 - End Your Day In The Best Possible Way (Micro- Tweaks)
Good habits can build on each other. Use these as your starting block to launch yourself into the next pretty awesome thing I've just made for you... It's all free, I just want to take your through in little steps so that it's not overwhelming at all!
Want you to learn how you can start healing your own specific health issue (perhaps even whilst you're following your doctor's plan?)
I've created a Free Email Course (easy for you to access - 1 email per day for 5 days) where I teach about one hugely important (and always overlooked) imbalance. This was the beginning of the health plan I used to get myself out of my serious health hole!
- Johanna