Photo credit to Amanda @seventharrowstudios
My Journey of Discovery
Hi there…I’m Beth Russ, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP) and I’m so glad that you’re here!
After improving my own lifelong health issues, I’m passionate about helping others to do the same.
Below is the story of my journey on how I’ve been able restore my health.
In it you will see…
- Where I was coming from
- What my obstacles were
- My health improvements so far
- The struggles I’m still working on
- And the improvements that you too may have with your own health
It’s a journey filled with frustrations and confusion, which eventually ended up bringing me to a wonderful place of restored health!
My journey is one with lots of detours, that I refer to as my “wandering through the desert” years. My hope is that my story points you in a direction that is supportive of your health…and helps you to avoid all the “wandering” missteps I made.
If you, or someone you love, is currently struggling with a chronic health issue, I am here to offer you information, hope and encouragement!
My apologizes in advance because this is a bit of a longer post. So, grab a warm cup of tea and enjoy, as I share my story.
God’s Perfect Design
The beautiful thing about our bodies is that they are perfectly designed…in how they function…and in how they heal.
- We break a bone…it heals.
- We get a cut…it heals.
We have foundational systems that support how our bodies function:
- Our immune system protects us from foreign things.
- Our detoxification system and our lymphatic system do “clean up” work.
- Our bodies have systems to keep our blood sugar regulated.
- Our immune system works to kill off cancer cells, before they grow and multiply.
The systems are there and in place, but often times things get in the way of them functioning optimally.
My “wandering through the desert” years helped me to discover the most basic foundational truths about our health, which is…
When we support our bodies by providing them with the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that they need to function optimally, as well as avoiding the things that cause our bodies to “malfunction,” our health improves and responds in a positive way.
The trio of stress management, regular movement/exercise, and quality sleep also play key roles in supporting this optimal function.
My Illnesses and Diagnoses
My health issues started back in elementary school.
The majority of my issues were rooted in autoimmune conditions. Some took decades to diagnose, but the symptoms were always there.
My Diagnosed Conditions:
- Digestion issues starting in elementary school…diagnosed as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in my early 20s
- Anemia…diagnosed in 8th grade.
- Raynaud’s…diagnosed at 16 years old.
- Otosclerosis…diagnosed in my 20s.
- Neurocardiogenic Syncope…lasted for about a year in my early 30s
- “Low functioning gallbladder”…heightened symptoms started in my mid 30s
- Sjogren’s…diagnosed in my early 40s
- Hypothyroidism…diagnosed in my mid 40s
- Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea…diagnosed in my late 40s
Miscellaneous Chronic Symptoms:
- Pain in my joints…specifically my hands, feet, and knees
- Lower back pain…from sacroiliac joint issues
- Acne and skin issues…starting in my 20s, so it wasn’t from puberty…it was a gut health issue
- Chronic sore throats
- Headaches…especially after exercising
- Inability to quench my thirst, no matter how much water I drank
- Intense sugar cravings
- Hands excessively dry…that would regularly crack and split
- Chronic abdominal pain
- Brain fog
- Energy crashes
- Frequent cold sores and canker sores
- Poor quality of sleep
- Inability to get a deep breath
- Getting a runny nose every time I ate…odd one, I know!
God’s Hand Encouraging Me to Begin a Healing Journey
Around 2007 my health journey took a step toward the natural/holistic approach while dealing with my gallbladder issues. My situation was not typical. I would have gallbladder attacks, even ending up in the emergency room. My situation wasn’t typical because I would have symptoms of gallbladder pain, but my ultrasounds never showed any gallstones.
I ended up having a radioactive test to see what my gallbladder function was. The medical guideline was if it is functioning at less than 30% that it should be removed. Mine was functioning at 27%. So, my problem was figured out and my surgery was scheduled.
Even though the surgery was on the books, I was unsettled about it. I had been reading about people having success in improving their gallbladder health through some holistic approaches.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I was feeling so sick, that I wanted the surgery to be free of the nauseousness and pain.
However, there was this little voice saying “what if…”
- What if some of these tips could improve my gallbladder function?
- What if I could feel better without having to have surgery?
Since I didn’t have any gallstones, I wasn’t at risk of an obstruction from a gallstone getting lodged. Without that risk, I was intrigued about giving the natural approach a shot.
Two nights before I was supposed to have my surgery I went to bed, praying to God for guidance as to what to do. The next morning, I woke up with a sore throat…and since I couldn’t have the surgery if I was sick, I canceled my surgery! God had given me an answer!
My “Wandering Through the Desert” Years
As I tipped my toe into the world of natural and holistic health, I was a bit clueless to say the least!
I had many strikes going against me…
- Cooking was not in my skill set…not even a little bit! Baking…yes…but cooking…no!
- I had the obstacle of trying to eat in a way different than the rest of my family.
- Life was busy…as with so many of us! Our two little boys were on the go…so I didn’t exactly have extra time to learn a new life skill!
All that being said…what I really didn’t have time for was feeling sick constantly!
And so, I began…
The main things I was doing at that time:
- Taking lots of supplements. Since I wasn’t good at cooking, I saw this as a helpful way to bridge the gap with increasing my nutrition.
- Using holistic approaches to help strengthen my gallbladder.
- I cut back on dairy products. I drank rice milk instead of regular milk.
- I also continued to limit tomato products. I had started to cut back on those when I was first diagnosed with IBS.
- My diet was made up of a what I thought at the time to be a healthy diet…low fat foods, lean meats, and whole grains.
- I mainly ate bagels, cereal, bananas, turkey sandwiches, pretzels, crackers, pasta, chicken and sometimes some vegetables with dinner.
- My main sugar craving staples at that time were Swedish fish, as well as marshmallows…which I figured were a “safe” option since they were fat free.
Enter Head Spinning Confusion
Since I didn’t have my own base of nutritional knowledge, I took to the internet to figure this out. I was taken aback by the variety of theories I encountered, all of which had their own set of evidence to back up their opinion.
Just out of curiosity…anyone else get frustrated with the contradicting opinions out there regarding our health?
- Fats are bad
- Fats are good
- Eat red meat
- Don’t eat any meat at all
- Eat 5 small meals throughout the day
- Eat all your meals within a 6-8 hour window
- Get all your protein from plants
- Animal protein is best
Who is with me on this one?! I felt like a human pinball bouncing from one theory/opinion to another. Without my own foundational knowledge, I was relying on the views and perspectives of others.
These views and perspectives were just that, opinions based on trends and fads, depending on which way the wind was blowing.
God Showed Up Again to Bring Clarity
At this point I had been piecing together efforts and experiencing improvement in my health, but it was inconsistent and unpredictable.
In 2015 our family was on vacation with my husband’s extended family. One of the highlights of our destination was all the incredible food there!! A couple days in I experienced a really bad gallbladder attack. So I spent the majority of the trip not feeling well…and I couldn’t enjoy all the delicious foods. Not fun! Talk about unpredictable…and incredibly frustrating!
I came home from that trip completely fed up and tired of the back and forth with my health. I had decided that I was going to have my gallbladder removed. Before I officially committed to doing that, I went to my chiropractor for an adjustment.
That was when God showed up again…with information that completely changed my health, and my life!!
My chiropractor, Dr. Jack Saia, explained to me how important it is to support the health of our cells, as well as the health of our gut. He shared how these two important pieces play a crucial role in the overall health of our bodies.
Some examples of health issues impacted by this are (but not limited to):
- Autoimmune conditions
- Digestion
- Anxiety
- Depression
- ADHD
- Joint pain and inflammation
- Cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Thyroid health
- Hormone Imbalances
- Cancer
Fortunately, just like our bones and our skin heal…our cells and our gut heal also!
By supporting our cellular health…and support our gut health…we can support our overall health!!
This was mind blowing to me…and incredibly encouraging!!
Approaching health through a biological perspective, with the desire to honor how God designed our bodies to function, brought such clarity!
A Nutrient Dense Whole Food Perspective
Photo credit to Amanda @seventharrowstudios
God designed our bodies, the systems within our bodies, and the organs and cells that make up those systems, to require certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to function optimally.
Here’s the cool thing…those exact same vitamins, minerals, and nutrients can be found within all the food God has provided for us. All the nourishment that our bodies need can be found in whole foods, like vegetables, fruits, animal meat, seafood, and poultry.
Unfortunately though, as our food gets processed and industrialized, it gets stripped of its nutritional value. On top of that, it often goes so far as to become something that is harmful to us. Our bodies can’t recognize it as food, which then contributes to the “malfunction” of our systems.
Getting Back to Basics
Looking at supporting my health through this lens had me seeing food as the resource my body needed to function. No wonder my health had been such a mess for 35 years! I had never considered nutrition in this way…not even in the previous 10 years when I was “wandering in the desert.”
When thinking about what I was going to eat, it was now through the lens of what nutrition does my body need? What foods should I be eating, that will be supportive of my health?
Giving Paleo a Try
I spent 2 years following the Paleo protocol. That was a HUGE accomplishment for me, since I did not like to spend time in the kitchen! I was figuring out how to cook, however this didn’t come naturally! It was with a lot of stress and tension. My husband teased me that if I had a cooking show it would be called “The Paranoid Chef.” So true!!
Danielle Walker, from Against All Grain, provided knowledge, tips, and how to videos that helped me to make progress with this whole cooking thing! I stumbled upon her as a resource right as I began. I can honestly say, if it wasn’t for her resources, I would have thrown in the towel immediately.
Surprise…Surprise…Turns Out I Have a Gluten Intolerance
Gut Health:
- Problems with gut health are often one of the root issues with autoimmune conditions.
- Gluten is one of the main contributors towards compromised gut health.
I decided to dabble with removing gluten, and low and behold, that made a big difference in my symptoms!!
This was an incredibly helpful discovery…especially since the majority of the foods I was eating at the time had gluten in them.
My Improvements So Far
I was having consistent and marked improvements in my health, especially with my digestion issues. I was thrilled about that!
My Raynaud’s and some of my other quirky symptoms were still around, but I just chalked them up as my “normal” and that there wasn’t anything I could do about them. That is until I came across the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP).
God’s Hand in Leading Me to the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)
The Whole30 Protocol
In the fall of 2017, I was reading the book “It Starts With Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. They are the founders of The “Whole30” program. It is a fabulous book that explains, in simple terms, the effects of different foods on our health. It discusses the foods that are beneficial, as well as the foods that are debilitating.
Their description of their program is this:
“Think of it as a short-term nutritional reset, helping you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation, and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food.”
Just what I was looking for!!
These benefits have the potential of being achieved by eating foods that contribute to better health.
The “Yes” Foods:
- Lots of vegetables
- Fruit
- Meat
- Seafood
- Eggs
- Natural fats
That sounded like a nice well-rounded balance of nutrient dense food. Logically it made sense to me!
The other side of it is to avoid the foods that can contribute to inflammation, as well as other health issues.
The “No” Foods:
- Added sugars, both real and artificial
- All types of grains
- Legumes
- Dairy
- Industrialized processed oils
- Alcohol and tobacco products
This part was a bit trickier, but I was intrigued enough by the possible health improvements to give it a try for 30 days! After all, it was just a short-term reset, which was something I could certainly benefit from.
Autoimmune Disease
Towards the back of the Whole30 book, they had a little section titled “Autoimmune Disease.” That caught my attenetion.
“…certain foods that are generally ‘safe’ for many people may provoke inflammation in those with an autoimmune disease.”
They suggested that if you have an autoimmune disease to possibly consider removing a few other additional foods, and some for longer than 30 to allow more time for optimal gut healing.
Those suggested foods were:
- Eggs (whole eggs and egg whites)
- Nightshades (both foods and spices)
- Dairy (including heavy cream, clarified butter, and ghee)
- Nuts and seeds
- NSAIDs
Okay…so this part was definitely even more tricky…but my thought was “what the heck, it’s just for 30 days!” I was willing to be open minded, and to think outside the box, so I gave it a go!
The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)
All of my years of actively seeking nutritional approaches to improve my health, and it took “accidentally” stumbling upon a little blurb in the back of a book to point me in the direction of the Autoimmune Protocol. No doubt God was again at work in leading me to this information!
This protocol is a multifaceted approach. Besides nutrient dense foods, it also focuses on the importance of getting quality sleep, managing stress, as well as getting regular movement/exercise.
The Autoimmune Protocol is not easy, but it can be incredibly healing and effective, which is what it turned out to be for me. The concept is to temporarily remove potentially inflammatory foods for a short period of time. Typically, until you start to see an improvement in your symptoms. Then, one by one, you reintroduce the healthy foods back into your diet, to be able to identify which foods you can tolerate regularly, some occasionally, and identify the others that you cannot tolerate at all.
Experiencing My Own Health Improvements!
Photo credit to Amanda @seventharrowstudios
Once I started to follow this, I started to see an even greater shift in my health. There were improvements in symptoms I had for over 35 years!!
The biggie for me was the improvements in my Raynaud’s symptoms. I had struggled with a severe case of this since I was in high school. My hands, feet, and nose would turn blue. It was so painful, and my bad episodes would take hours until my hands were back to a normal color and function. My case was so severe that in my 20s I had been prescribed blood thinners to help increase my circulation. However, I did not particularly like this as an option and went off of them after I struggled to get a mild cut to stop bleeding.
My overall health improvements, as of today, since following the Autoimmune Protocol:
- My digestion is much better.
- My nauseousness has definitely improved.
- My Raynaud’s episodes are significantly less frequent and less intense.
- Sjogren’s symptoms are much better.
- Back pain is gone.
- Joint pain in my hands, feet, and knees is gone.
- Skin has cleared up.
- I rarely get sore throats
- I almost never get headaches.
- My vision improved some.
- My sugar cravings are much less.
- I have sustained energy throughout the day
- I no longer have breathing issues.
- My nose no longer runs when I eat.
- My sleep quality is significantly better! I am able to sleep straight through the night without any problems.
- And I am happy to report that all these years later, I do still have my gallbladder…and it is functioning fabulously!
The areas I am continuing to work on:
- Improving thyroid function
- Balancing my hormones
- Getting to bed at a decent hour
- Exercising regularly
- Taking moments to pause and destress during the day
The one caveat I need to share…my health improvements are only as good as the health choices I make.
My gut health has improved a lot over the years. So, now if I have some of my “shouldn’t have” foods, I may only have a mild reaction. However, if I repeatedly indulge, my symptoms do fully come back.
Some may find this frustrating, but to me, I find it empowering! I now have the knowledge and protocols that can put my symptoms into remission. If my symptoms flare up, I usually catch it in time.
Ultimately, I no longer feel like I am at the mercy of my illnesses!! I am in a position to do something about them!
An Additional and Unexpected Blessing
When it comes to cooking, I have actually come to love it! I love taking a pile of ingredients and creating something yummy! It brings me great joy to create healthy and nutritious meals and treats for those I love!
I now find it relaxing and therapeutic to spend time in the kitchen. What a huge shift from where I started!! I guess we are never too old to learn something new!
My Journey to Becoming a Nutrional Therapy Practitioner
Once I started experiencing these improvements in my health, I was thirsty for more information! I wanted to learn all that I could about how our bodies worked, what resources they needed, and how best they could be supported.
I read everything that I could, I attended conferences, and took online classes and workshops. It was then that I decided to go to school to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.
I am so grateful that I now have foundational information in knowing what things are supportive for our health, and what things aren’t.
How I Support Others With Their Health
I like to look at health issues from a root cause and foundational perspective. It’s not just about fixing the symptoms, it’s about letting the symptoms point to the areas in our body that need support.
We are all individuals, and there is not a “one size fits all” approach to improving health. But in general, when we support, strengthen, and improve the foundations of our bodies, we can experience improvements in how we feel!
Photo credit to Amanda @seventharrowstudios
My mission and passion is to provide you with information, knowledge, and resources that can equip you and your family to be living your healthiest lives!
When I was on my journey, I was alone in the “desert.”.
The internet was key for my success, and I am hoping to bring you the kind of support that I found when I was trying to figure this all out.
I hope we can walk together on this journey towards restoring health. Be sure to subscribe to receive future posts and to get my newsletters!
If you have a topic that you are curious about, please leave it in the comments below. Ultimately this blog site is for you…to provide you with the information that you need and are looking for to improve your health.
Because God Equips Our Bodies, We Can Have Hope!!
If you, or someone you love, has health issues and you have thought about trying nutrition and lifestyle to improve your health, I’d like to encourage you to give it a try! If I could figure this out, I give everyone hope!
It isn’t an easy road…but it can be simple. I assure you that improving your health and quality of life is worth every bit of effort! Being able to take control of your health is incredibly empowering! You are so worth it, and I am here to help you along the way!
It is my honor and privilege to walk alongside you on this journey towards restoring your health!
Wishing you a blessed and beautiful day!
Beth
Disclaimer: This Restoring Health with AIP blog post is the personal experience and opinion of the author. It should not be used as a replacement for medical advice.
Restoring Health With AIP 