A Tale of Two Professions - My Health Coach Origin Story

Studying architecture in university was my Achilles heel. The all nighters, stress levels and inconsistent meal timing took a toll on my health. While they say we are resilient to these kinds of stressors when we're younger, and that might be the case to a certain extent, it always has a way of catching up to us. From burnt out university student to working mom, it set me on what feels like a lifelong journey to redefine self care, and to prove that the human body is designed to function optimally and to heal, if given what it needs to thrive.

The first thing I did was look at my main health issues. Having to snack every couple of hours to mask the symptoms of what I was unaware actually was low blood sugar at the time - shakiness, brain fog, weakness - made me realize something wasn’t right with the way I was handling it. 

To add to the complexity, I was also dealing with multiple food intolerances and the IBS symptoms caused by them, creating compounded and overlapping issues which were difficult to differentiate. After months of research I first tackled the hypoglycemia and learned that constant mindless snacking throughout the day with no structure to my meal timing worsened the insulin spikes and dips, further perpetuating the cycle. 

Enter intermittent fasting, which at the time wasn’t even a trendy thing. To me, it meant having 3 structured meals a day and eliminating snacking. Under the right conditions, insulin isn’t always the bad guy. I learned to benefit from the insulin spike that naturally occurs eating almost anything, allowing the insulin to do its job and shuttle energy into the cell with intention, both pre and post meal. In simpler terms, all that means now, for instance, is using apple cider vinegar before a meal to modulate the glucose response, and going for a walk afterwards, to improve glucose uptake into the cells. Two simple techniques to have such an incredibly massive impact on overall health, in the long term when established as a habit. This taught me the importance of consistency, in even the smallest of measures, that would add up. Combined with the extensive recipes I have developed over the years which to me, represent another tool to leverage the ability to cultivate optimal health, I had the ability to continuously solidify habits that would contribute to what came naturally as a lifestyle, rather than forcing a series of tasks that felt difficult to adhere to due to social pressures or the logistics of daily routines.

The 3 structured meals also meant I had to ensure they were not only filling but nutrient dense and satiating enough to last until the next meal. 

Structuring meals helped, but more improvement was needed. I had to investigate what my diet consisted of and do an entire overhaul. With this came the discovery of multiple food intolerances which, upon eliminating certain foods such as grains and dairy, pointed me in the direction of a low carb diet. Specifically, this meant centering my meals around low carb non starchy vegetables and berries, higher healthy fats that came from whole foods such as coconut, olives, avocados, fattier cuts of meat where the fat comes packaged with the protein, and last but certainly not least, protein with full amino acid profiles. 

By the time I had solidified these habits and eliminated snacking from my lifestyle altogether, the third and last meal of the day being a relatively early dinner, I had no longer felt the hunger signal even hours later until the next morning. This is effectively known as a reset of leptin signalling, and was a huge step towards healing my metabolic health. In future posts I will delve into other critical aspects and pillars of metabolic health, such as supplements, diet, self care as stress management, sleep and exercise. 

After years of research, the metabolic impact of the food we eat became so clear. While I always considered myself a very disciplined person, how it all came together was the most challenging part to learn on my own. I am raising awareness for other busy working moms like myself to learn there are holistic solutions that together, I can guide them towards in a streamlined approach.

The meaning behind Health by Design is not to lower caloric intake but to reconfigure it instead, to reap the greatest immeasurable benefits doing so has to offer. To live your best life as a result. I redefined what self care for myself entails. It is a ferociously committed endeavour and deep dive into a lifelong transformation to be my best self, and my quest is to help you do the same, one habit at a time.

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