Another source of passion is my own personal journey with health, disease and the long road to recovery. Twenty years ago, I went from being a 165 pound athlete to becoming a 112 pound severely ill patient in the intensive care unit of the hospital – given three days to live. I was diagnosed with an almost fatal variation of Crohn’s disease and Colitis. Luckily I made it through all of that, but the doctors told me I would be tired, weak and in pain the rest of my life. Believe me, I wanted a second opinion. From that intention, I found Chinese Medicine. By changing my diet, how I exercised, how much rest I allowed myself and getting regular support through supplements and acupuncture treatments I was better within a year. It was an amazing journey and it still is.

Since that time I have been a student, a practitioner and eventually a teacher of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine. In my clinical practice I focus on inspiring my patients to eat, move and rest like all of our ancestors used to a few hundred to a few thousand years ago. It has been my experience that our modern lifestyle of eating processed foods, near constant stress and a lack of exercise is the underlying cause of most of today’s chronic illnesses. By eating an “ancestral” diet centered on abundant plants, healthy proteins and fats while avoiding grains and other foods that contain allergens and irritants many people find amazing changes in their health in just a few weeks. I am so passionate about this approach to healing that I wrote a book about it.