How did we stray so far?

Have you ever wondered how you got here?

What’s keeping you here?

It’s nature.

We are made up of earth elements. These earth elements or atoms can’t be created, they’ve been here since the formation of the solar system. It’s these earth elements that connect us to our ancestors, plants, animals, and planet Earth. All made from the same elements.

So how do we get these earth elements into our bodies? We eat. We literally take our environment in and make ourselves out of it. It’s an utterly brilliant and highly structured dynamic system. But the system is only as strong as it’ weakest component. We build our cells out of the nutrients we feed them. Our cells build our tissues, which build our organs, which build our organ systems, which make you YOU. Poor nutrition leads to poor cells, which lead to poor organ systems. In addition to that, it’s important to understand that we are complicated creatures that hold much more than what the eye can see. Our organs don’t function in a vacuum, they are part of a complex system each impacted by the state of the other organ in the system. EVERYTHING is intertwined and connected.

The human body is so complex that we figured out how to walk on the moon before we figured out how the body works. Trillions of cells working hard to be you, and they all depend on you to fuel them. A pretty big responsibility that proves to be more challenging today than ever before. Nature provided us with a solid foundation and trusted us with the job to build upon it, so that we can flourish and cultivate health, wealth, and happiness.  

But here we are, at the forefront of 2024, a time of digital revolution and information overload. A time characterized by sedentary lifestyles, urbanization, yin and yang imbalance, confusion, disease, chronic sleep deprivation, and modern disconnect. Disconnection from the land, ourselves, our food, and the natural world in which we evolved. We are living under conditions for which our bodies are poorly adapted. How did we stray so far from nature and from the nutrient dense whole foods that have nourished our species for thousands and thousands of generations?

There’s a number of factors that have led to the modern disconnect between humans, their environment, and their food. From the Agricultural Revolution to the Chemical Revolution that took place after World War II. All these milestones led to major changes in what we eat and how our food is produced. Many of the chemical compounds originally used to produce bombs and nerve gas, were repurposed for the use as fertilizers and pesticides and are still used today! It’s important to note that all of these factors are not necessarily good or bad, but they were choices that came with consequences.

The evolutionary drive to seek out easily accessible and hyperpalatable foods that are low in nutrients and high in harmful ingredients, leaves our bodies hungry and in less-than-optimal conditions that get passed on from generation to generation. The modern diet is not just detrimental to our own health, but to every system on the planet. As Michael Pollan shares in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma “eating is an agricultural, ecological and political act.” “To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice, few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction. By comparison, the pleasures of eating industrially, which is to say eating in ignorance, are fleeting.”

The fact that you are here reading my website, means that you are willing to nudge - improve decisions about YOUR health, wealth and happiness. This too is what we evolved to do. I’m here to empower you to become knowledgeable about and responsible for your own health. To encourage you without being ‘nannied’ and without losing freedom of choice. I am here to help you create personal health goals and to work towards meeting those goals through bio-individual, customized, and relevant recommendations. The work of an FNTP is to create a strong and sustainable foundation of health for ourselves, our families, and the people we serve. This takes mindfulness and intentionality. Much of our world is pretty messy, but when everything else seems to fail, our home space, if we do some work, can be a nourishing space. A space that you control.

So, what about my genes? Epigenetics and bio-individuality are extremely important concepts in health. Epigenetics is the way in which the environment interacts with our genes, turning some on and others off. Bio-individuality, on the other hand, is a dynamic circumstance governing the body’s needs and is informed by both genetic and epigenetic factors. Our DNA – or genotype – does not change. Contrary to popular believe, however, the expression of our genes is not static! “Genes load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger” – Chris Kresser. It turns out that everything we breathe into our lungs, everything we put in our mouths, everything we do with our bodies, and even everything we think in our heads, has an effect on how our genes are expressed. Our genes are not our fate. By changing the way we eat, move, rest, play, connect, and communicate we have the power to stack the epigenetic deck in our favor, in the favor of our children, and our children’s children.

Of course there are nutritional principles from which all human beings will benefit, but there is no one-size-fits-all diet. Everyone is unique and under the influence of different circumstances. What particular foods will serve YOU best in the moment YOU are at? When we learn to reconnect with our intuition and listen to the language of our body, we can find the path that is right for us. Time to heal from the inside out, reconnect to our surroundings and communities, and rewild the wisdom of the past.

Perhaps you became disillusioned by guidelines and the ‘one diet fits all’ approach, or conventional ways have left you feeling frustrated. Maybe you see no results no matter how much you exercise or how many ‘perfect’ foods you eat. You can eat the very best food but if your body isn’t digesting or absorbing it, no results in health can be expected. Wherever you are in your healing journey, by entering into a holistic partnership where we address the true foundations of health and identify clinical imbalances within your unique body, we can address underlying causes of disease or dysfunction and move to the highest expression of health. Regain your love for life. I’m here to guide you but know that everything you need to heal lies within yourself.