I grew up the son of a chiropractor and dentist. I was always relatively healthy and active child.
But things took a turn for the worse for my health when I went away to college.
Between my freshman and sophomore years, I went from 170 pounds to 195 pounds. I figured it was mostly just muscle, as I was lifting weights more often, but it was more than just that. I noticed I was having some gut issues, battling bouts of alternating constipation and diarrhea, joint pain, brain fog, poor energy levels, newly-developed seasonal allergies, and what I called “a need for coffee.”
Then, one day I decided I had enough…
As I went through my schooling, I dove deeper into anatomy and physiology, understanding how the gut works and the intricate biochemistry that allows our bodies to run like well-oiled machines. I thought learning the musculoskeletal and neurologic systems would have been most interesting to me during my time in school, but over those first two years, I discovered my true passion was biochemistry, and, more specifically, how you can alter it through nutrition and lifestyle factors.
I was fortunate enough to learn biochemistry from a naturopathic doctor, who taught the course in a way that really piqued my interest in nature and the role of food (and plants specifically) as medicine. This led to me deciding to pursue a concurrent Master’s degree in Nutrition, where I was able to dive deeper into those topics and learn from truly gifted people on these topics.
Over a nine-month span of consistently sticking to these habits and fine-tuning them as I learned more, I was able to drop twenty pounds! The digestive issues I was experiencing for the better part of six years were gone within the first 3-4 weeks!
