Well, I’ve been thinking and pondering what to do as my first blog post. I’m at the point where I have so many ideas and thoughts I want to share that I’m paralyzed. And if I’m being totally honest (which is my goal on this site) I am dealing with anxiety and brain fog as I navigate my health journey that has me held up even more. Let me share a bit about me…
Hi there! My name is Clair and I’m a wife, mom of two teenagers daughters, and health enthusiast. For the past year I’ve had an amazing experience studying Integrated Nutrition at IIN as well as Functional Diagnostic Nutrition at FDN. Diving deep into topics like chronic disease prevention/treatment techniques or weight management strategies based on personalized dietary needs. It has definitely helped me make healthier choices not only in our my everyday lives but also encourage those around me too -all while raising my kids & having fun doing it. Graduation is right around the corner!
As a young girl I was not athletic, at all! My daughters are competitive gymnasts who train in the gym 16 hours or more each week, and the joke at our house is that they didn’t get it from me. I can remember trying out for the track team in middle school, and walking the mile. I didn’t make the team. I don’t know what I was thinking, I hated running (still do!).
But even though I wasn’t athletic I had a petite build and was generally thin. I’m short, like 5’2″ short. And when I gain 5 lbs it’s noticeable. So my weight was always front of mind. I did some stupid things like buying fad weight loss pill at the vitamin store. Or limiting what I was eating, not dangerously just stupidly. This was when low-fat, no-fat diets were the “healthy way”. Like a lot of you, I was caught up in the idea that eating fat was bad. We now know so much more about how important fat is in our diets!
Fast forward to adulthood. Shortly after having getting married to my 5th grade boyfriend, we had two kids a year and half apart and began navigating parenthood. This is the time that I really started to look at health differently. I had kids that depended on me for literally everything, I could not get sick. Moms don’t get sick! We were lucky to have two healthy babies. But even healthy kids get colds. I don’t remember my oldest getting sick too often, other than car sickness or after eating too much sugar (an issue that she still deals with as a teenager). But my youngest was sick a lot.
She had chronic ear infections as an infant. We would take her to the doctor and they would give her a round of antibiotics. Nowadays, it does seem like doctors are less trigger happy with giving out antibiotics as there are so many links to gut health issues after taking them. That was not the situation with her. Each month it seemed like we were at the doctors getting more meds, stronger every time as her body built up resistance. But it wasn’t healing the ear issue, the infection kept coming back.
When she was about 9 months old, the doctor decided it was time to schedule surgery. For my baby!! Being the young, naive, worrying, sleep deprived, new mom that I was I agreed and scheduled it. During this season of life I had been seeing a chiropractor after nearly throwing out my back carrying two babies on my hip. I mentioned casually to my chiropractor the issues with my daughter. He had begun opening my eyes to so much beyond conventional medicine. So he asked me to think about delaying the surgery and trying chiropractic for her. After giving it some thought we decided that was the best course to take.
My daughter went to my chiropractor two times a week for three weeks. At the end of the 6th appointment he checked her ears again and they were clear. We went back to the ENT to have them recheck as well and sure enough her little ears were free of fluid and no infection. We continued monthly visits and she NEVER got another ear infection ever again!! I will say, that not every chiropractor works with kids and babies. Mine was a father and I already knew he was comfortable with adjusting babies. He adjusted all his kids right after his wife gave birth!
Y’all this is what started turning my thinking and my whole world upside down. I grew up doing all the ‘right’ things and following all the ‘rules’. You know the societal pressures we all feel pushing us around and leading us down the path. Go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, work your job until you’re 65, then retire and be happy. I know that for some that is the path that you desire, and thats great too! But this push/pull can also be felt in the current healthcare system in the US and around food and nutrition. Our bodies are so bio-individual that one way can’t and doesn’t work for everyone.
My husband and I live unconventionally, and raise our kids in unconventional ways. We have been self-employed for over a decade (him 14 years, and me for 12 years). We take risks and start new businesses and follow our interests to see where they lead. We co-slept with our kids until they just stopped coming in our room at night. We traveled the US as a family in an RV for over a year. We spent a summer in Costa Rica, just living and learning about different cultures. We homeschool our kids and encourage them to embrace their uniqueness, to think differently and to follow paths that they find interesting. We drive older, paid for cars. We value family meal time together. We set big, audacious goals and decided to live out our dreams now instead of making a bucket list to do when we retire.
For me I struggled (struggle) with wondering if we were doing it right or if we are effing up. But every time I have those thoughts come up, I have to remind myself that there is NO RIGHT WAY! Life has no right way to be lived. There is only your way of living for you, and my way for me. It’s going to look different and that’s okay.
That’s just a snippet of me and a bit of my story. I’ll share more in future posts. As I wrap up my final months of school, I am putting energy into my own health. More on that later! I’ll be sharing about my own health & wellness practices, my favorite recipes and kitchen gadgets, eye opening studies and statistics about our healthcare system, and more!
Let’s be WELLTHY!
xo
Clair
