Every day I practice gratitude. I know how fortunate I am.
I have a rewarding holistic healthcare framework practice with clients I adore and love working with. I run a practitioners’ training program filled with amazing and inspiring people who are as eager as I am to provide the help so many need to overcome health challenges and live their best lives.
I find myself getting to the end of most days wishing I had another ten hours to devote to my passion: empowering people to take back their health from a broken system determined to keep them sick.
But in 2022 I made some big changes. I relaunched my blog and podcast, ReInvent Healthcare, restarted my YouTube channel, and worked to have a greater presence on Instagram and other social media platforms.
Yes, it doesn’t hurt to put me out there, but I have done all of this before and chose to stop. I’ve had a thriving practice for over 30 years and it took too much time away from what I loved most about my work: helping people face-to-face.
My clients and students remain my priority and will always come first. So why did I decide to be more present in the media?
I finally reached my breaking point.
Yes, the world of “wellness” has always had its share of snake oil salespeople pushing miracle cures and spouting empty promises, but over the past two years, it has intensified to a degree I’ve never seen before.
And the online Black Friday blitz I witnessed this year only reconfirmed my worst fears!
I wasn’t just getting increasingly frustrated by the misinformation, I was often shocked at what was being said.
And no one seems to be held accountable for taking advantage of people who are more often than not at their most vulnerable; sick and afraid and desperate. I just couldn’t remain silent.
I decided to do the only thing I can
— speak out wherever and whenever possible with the simple goal of being a source of truthful information that will hopefully help counter all the craziness being put out there.
So as I reach the end of 2022, I was thinking about what I would say to anyone tempted to buy into the insanity I’ve been hearing and seeing.
It would be impossible to write everything I would like to say here, but if I only had a few minutes, this is what my message would be:
Do your due diligence as a consumer. You have at your fingertips a device that allows you to research just about anything and anyone.
Before you decide to put your health in another person’s hands and rely on their expertise to guide your health journey, know who they are and how long they have been practicing.
In this day and age when courses are being offered that claim they can certify a person as a healthcare practitioner in 7 days, or even 7 months, I guarantee there will be someone who tries it.
Your health is precious and important. Don’t let anyone put you at risk due to their ineptitude.
Your body systems and how they operate are as unique to you as your fingerprints. Anyone that claims their one diet, or protocol, or supplement is going to resolve all your health issues is not being honest.
If you are struggling with your health, find a functional healthcare practitioner that can assess your symptoms and work with you to find the root cause.
It’s the only way you will find real, lasting solutions to health issues that may be robbing you of your best life.
By definition, a functional healthcare practitioner is someone who looks for the root cause of health challenges. It’s important to understand this.
Just because a person is a naturopathic doctor, or a doctor of chiropractic, or an acupuncturist doesn’t mean they are practicing functional healthcare.
Make sure you are working with someone who listens to you and is looking for the root cause of any health challenges you are facing.
Most people can resolve the majority of their health concerns with diet and lifestyle, and it doesn’t have to cost a dime.
People will spend an enormous amount of money on supplements or expert advice, and after making great progress find it either stops short of resolving their concerns or begins to reverse itself.
If your diet isn’t optimized, if you aren’t getting restful sleep, if you aren’t exercising, practicing stress management, and reducing your toxic load, you will only get so far.
There is no lasting change without a strong foundation of healthy habits that support your mind and body.
And now I want to say something that may be difficult to hear, but it’s the truth and the reason I named my relaunch ReInvent Healthcare.
The U.S. healthcare system is broken. I will back that statement up with some disturbing facts:
- According to the highly respected Commonwealth Fund, out of 11 high income countries, the United States ranks last overall in healthcare system performance.
- Although the U.S. spends the most money on healthcare, it ranks last in healthcare outcomes. This includes the highest infant mortality rate, the highest maternal mortality rate, and the highest rate of avoidable deaths, defined as deaths that are preventable or treatable.
- The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy.
This is not great news. But the thing is, we can change this.
That is what my message is all about.
Right now, this very second, there are practitioners out there practicing holistic root-cause healthcare, helping people find their way through chronic disease or helping them prevent it altogether.
There are people who are taking their health back into their own hands, educating themselves, and taking the steps needed in order not to become a statistic.
They recognize the allopathic system is not serving them and that answers can be found outside of the system.
But I honestly don’t want the answers to be found “outside” that system. I want the system to change.
I want the proven, research-supported, science-backed answers to chronic health issues to be common-place and mainstream, not falsely tagged as being fringe just because the curriculum in medical schools hasn’t kept up.
And above all else, if there were only one thing I could tell people, it would be this: your body is on your side. It wants to be in balance, it wants to prevent illness. It works incredibly hard to stay healthy and wants your help to stay that way.
If there is a problem, it sends out an SOS in the form of a symptom. Every time you ignore that symptom or cover it up with medication, it will just keep getting louder until you have no choice but to pay attention.
Too often that comes years later when prevention is no longer possible.
A true holistic healthcare practitioner knows how to read those messages and helps you to learn how to read them as well.
They respect the incredible power the body has to heal and work to support the process, not get in its way.
If you are a healthcare practitioner, you can be the change so desperately needed. If you are suffering and looking for solutions, you have the power to insist upon that change.
I want to end with this thought:
You can and will get better but you need to do the work to restore balance to your cells, organs, and glands.
You need to provide clean nutrient dense foods and avoid the temptation to eat processed convenience foods. And by the way, the foods can still taste great when you learn how to make them in new ways. Here’s a resource to help you.
And above all you need to live yourself enough to eat healthy foods, sleep, manage stress, and move in ways that suit you best
You can reactivate your inner healer and feel good.
“I wish that for you moving into the new year and beyond.”
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