Success Stories
Nothings says it better than reviews from the clients themselves and case studies to better show we work
Nothings says it better than reviews from the clients themselves and case studies to better show we work
Charlie was 47 years old when she came to seem me and having had breast cancer, was taking medication which induced a forced menopause. Since then, she didn’t feel herself, struggled with motivation, had brain fog and wanted to lose weight. Her blood pressure and cholesterol were high, and she suffered from reflux.
We started Charlie on a food plan to support cardio-metabolic health, and I helped her learn what a healthy diet for her looks like.
When considering cardio-vascular disease risk, there are important markers to measure that aren’t included in standard testing available through Medicare, and we so ran an in-depth cholesterol panel, and identified there was a significant cardio-vascular disease risk. The testing found inflammation, elevated homocysteine, and abnormal LDL particle size.
Whilst Charlie continued to work with her cardiologist, we focussed on the impact of her diet and lifestyle on her cholesterol. She also started on supplements to improve her cholesterol results (she wanted to avoid Statins).
After a couple of months we retested and saw improvements in cholesterol markers. Her cardiologist was very happy and was no longer recommending Statins. There was some low grade inflammation in her body which we deduced may have been due to the medication she was taking for breast cancer (as after evaluation, we didn’t identify any other source). I recommended that she also take a supplement to reduce this inflammation.
Charlie is now also feeling more herself, and energised and her brain fog has cleared. Her eating habits and relationship with food have greatly improved, and she now enjoys taking care of herself.
This case shows that it’s important to look at the nuances when considering the results of standard testing such as high cholesterol to determine how much of a risk factor it is. Charlie also combined working with myself with her conventional medical practitioners e.g. the cardiologist which provides an effective care-team.
Melissa came to me after being constipated for 10 years, having to use a suppository to initiate each bowel movement, and constantly bloated. Not fun!
Whenever she tried to lose weight, she ended up not being able to have a bowel movement. A healthy diet seemed to make things worse (this is actually fairly common as the fibre in a healthy diet can feed bacterial overgrowths). She’d previously done a Low FODMAP diet and had gone gluten free with no change in her symptoms.
Initially, we spent several consultations helping her reduce the sugar, fizzy drinks and alcohol, she was consuming, and helping her with the foundation of a healthy diet. She also started on specific probiotics to help her constipation. We saw some improvement in bloating and constipation but there was still same way to go.
We then tested for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and parasites and found both. We only now started on anti-microbial herbs to reduce these overgrowths. Melissa was excited to finally start having natural and normal bowel movements again. She had also lost several kilos in weight. She now only takes a probiotic and has kept up with her improved way of eating which has helped to her to keep her gut healthy and bowels regular.
The key take-away from this case for me was that it was important to focus on her diet first before we did the gut testing and used the herbal anti-microbials. These herbs were essential for her but if we had started with these before putting in place the foundations, we would have been unlikely to have seen the long-term benefits, weight loss and improved diet.
Despite having disturbing gut issues for the last 2 years, Samantha turned out to be a simple case of removing trigger foods from her diet. She was vomiting due to reflux, had digestive discomfort, alternating constipation and diarrhoea, unmanaged Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and low energy.
I started Samantha on a Low FODMAP diet and probiotics, a common and effective starting place for gut issues. She responded amazingly, with her energy ‘out of sight’ and reflux improving week on week. After following the Low Fodmap diet for a month or so, we systematically re-introduced the types of foods which are eliminated on the Low Fodmap diet one by one. We were able to identify the types of foods that she reacted to so that she could eat a varied diet whilst having none of the old gut issues. We then worked to increase the fibre in her diet and repair leaky gut.
This case demonstrates that the solution doesn’t have to be complex and simple interventions can make the world of difference.