I woke up this morning thinking about the girl I used to be.
At 16, I was active. I walked everywhere. I rode my bike year-round. I played sports. From the outside, I looked healthy.
But inside, I was struggling.
I was already seeing doctors because I couldn't have regular bowel movements. One treatment made me vomit. Another made me sick. Fiber was prescribed. Laxatives were prescribed. My mother tried prune juice and celery. Sometimes that helped. Most of the time, I suffered.
What nobody asked me was how much water I was drinking.
Nobody asked me about nutrition.
Nobody explained that adding fiber without enough hydration can sometimes make constipation worse.
For years, I believed my body was broken.
By my 30s, I had developed diverticulitis. I was swinging between constipation and diarrhea. I was exhausted and frustrated.
Finally, at age 39, a colonoscopy revealed something important: I had an altered anorectal angle. For the first time, I felt relief. There was a reason for what I had been experiencing.
Learning to elevate my legs helped.
But it wasn't the whole answer.
The bigger lesson came later when I began studying nutrition. In my search for healing, I enrolled at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. What I learned changed my life.
I discovered that many of the habits I thought were healthy were not serving my body at all. I learned the importance of hydration, movement, whole foods, and understanding what my body truly needed.
Most importantly, I learned to stop fighting my body and start listening to it.
If I could sit down with my 16-year-old self today, I wouldn't hand her another treatment.
I'd hand her a glass of water.
I'd teach her how food affects the body.
I'd tell her that symptoms are messages.
And I'd tell her that healing often begins when we start asking different questions.
What is something you wish someone had told your younger self about health?
oh wow! Thanks for sharing