Hi, my name is Naomi. I’ve always been interested in making healthy choices and living a healthy life but recently made some big changes to the way I approach food. I’ve struggled with digestion issues for most of my life but more so in the last 10 years. I went to doctors who told me to take a pill, reduce stress or to avoid caffeine, alcohol and foods that were greasy or spicy. The pill was a temporary fix and stopped working after 6 months at which time, the doctor switched me to another brand. I knew that I would have to switch again so I would need to make a bigger change but I didn’t know what to do. I was already avoiding the types of foods my doctor told me to avoid. Occasionally, I would have a flare up and I had no idea what caused it.

Fast forward 9 years and I came across Dr. Stephen Gundry’s The Plant Paradox book. It was one of the most eye opening books I read in terms of health. In a nut shell, it aims to reduce inflammation in your body by healing what is known as leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut is caused by foods that contain a protein that is called a lectin. By reducing foods in your diet that are rich in lectins, you can heal your leaky gut. High levels of lectins are found in grains, legumes and certain vegetables as well as meat and dairy that have been fed a lectin rich diet. I decided I would start leaning into his program and after just a few weeks, I noticed a big change in how I felt. Admittedly, I haven’t fully embraced it because it’s a highly restrictive diet and it’s difficult to get pasture raised meat and dairy. Instead, I’ve taken some of the things that have made the biggest impact on my digestion and run with that. I’ve also been experimenting with Keto, Paleo and the variations of those diets such as Whole30 and AIP.

In addition to eating healthier, my family has always taken a more natural approach to healing. The biggest influence on my family has to by my 94 year old grandmother, whom I consider to be almost a witch doctor. She would always make home remedies for me when I was sick and to this day, she has relied on natural remedies for the majority of her own health related issues.

And along my journey to becoming more healthy, I’m raising my 3 year old son who is quite the picky eater as most toddlers are. He challenges me to find recipes that will suite his picky palate. I hope to chronicle these changes for my whole family and hope you can follow along as well!

Thanks for reading!

-Naomi