my health journey
July 1st, 2019
saving my most vulnerable post for my first blog post: my JOURNEY to healthy living. ill start from the beginning
I grew up hating vegetables. kid cuisine, Kraft Mac & cheese, and grandmas angel food cake were staples in my life, with the occasional side of baked potatoes with extra butter (because veggies, right??). Anyway, I wouldn’t change my childhood for anything. I learned so much and every single experience has brought me to exactly where I am today.
fast forward to when I was in 8th grade. my metabolism caught up to me FAST. I couldn’t eat everything in the quantities I was eating them in without gaining weight. 30 pounds heavier and lowered confidence (especially vulnerable bc puberty) I decided to do something about it.
summer of 2011, the year before my freshman year, I had to run a mile under 7 minutes. I started training every. single. day. My mile time was at 10 minutes. my mom slowly introduced me to salads. the Dole kits with extra croutons and extra extra cheese. delish.
I got my mile time under 7 minutes
my sophomore year, I wanted to take my tennis game to the next level and started getting serious about playing in college. I hired a personal trainer to workout with twice a week. he was unnecessarily aggressive. I didn’t look forward to it at all. in fact, when I did a burpee wrong one day he told me to go run a mile and I broke down and cried. this wasn’t helping my confidence at all. looking back, it taught me what I dont want to be. sure, I think that it is necessary to be strict and motivating but not ego crushing and intimidating.
December of my sophomore year of high school, out of absolutely NOWHERE, my dad was diagnosed with stage 3 inoperable lung cancer. terrified and scared I started to do my own research
“I have the best doctors in the world”
“the chemo will work”
“dont worry Anna”
“we will go to Alaska the second I am better”
this is what I was told and I believed it
when my dad wasn’t getting better, I noticed the chemo and radiation were killing him faster than the cancer. I started to do my own research. I looked into holistic and natural remedies. found soursop juice and stories of people doing soursop cleanses and getting rid of their cancer. sousop was difficult to obtain in 2013 and I was put on a 4 month wait list for it. I also started reading stories of people going fully raw vegan, doing week long juice cleanses, and water fasts to get rid of their cancer. also I had never heard of the term “alkaline foods”.
my dads diet was similar to mine. the standard American diet. it was 2013, a time before the age of the superfoods and the popularity of Erewhon market. he was open to eating more vegetables and drinking smoothies if it meant saving his life
we invested in a Vitamix blender and started making cancer killing veggie smoothies. it was too late though. the chemo and radiation hadn’t worked, my dad was too weak, and the cancer spread to his liver and back in less than 6 months ago. July 26th, 2013, I received a call. he passed away. it has taken me many year of grieving
I also didn’t become a health wiz right away. baby steps. I switched my bread from white to whole wheat, stopped eating so much sugar, and started buying smoothies from Kreation every single day (the Green Dream is my fav). I started watching youtube videos and getting inspired by what other people eat in a day. I realized that I was capable of eating this way even if my family didn’t want to.
freshman year of college I continued to learn. I enrolled in a year long class about food and the impact on the environment. I was experimenting with a vegetarian diet.
I experimented with going fully vegan freshman year. I felt like shit. I was eating Oreos, tons of wheat pasta with fake meatballs from the dining halls, and fake chicken tenders from the late night cafeteria. it wasn’t working for me.
my sophomore year, I cut gluten out of my diet after a holistic pharmacist saw little red bumps on my arms. I had tried using topical anitbiotics from the dermatologist that were hundred of $$$s but didn’t work. she told me to cut out gluten for 2 weeks. I tried it and went through crazy detox symptoms. it was like I was being taken off of opioids.
my bumps slowly disappeared. this was an insecurity I had since the 7th grade. this was my second realization that I had that you can cure problems on the outside from the inside….
going gluten free forced me to eat differently at the dining halls. I now couldn’t have wheat pasta, soy sauce, and certain types of alcohol when I went out with friends. also most fried food was a no no
naturally, I started eating more plant based foods. I felt lighter, less brain fog, and had way more energy. it was amazing
ever since then I have become more and more fascinated with this lifestyle and learning as much as I can– from all view points.
this is how I started my journey…and I am forever grateful for it.
sophomore year of college I found yoga, which helped keep me centered in my passions amongst the craziness of college and I started my food instagram as well, which has turned into a community and has connected me with some of my best friends.
I have a passion for health, wellness, and supporting others. I want to help as many people as possible and spread holistic healing vibes all over the world
people have always told me that “everything happens for a reason”. while I couldn’t find the reason for my dad getting this sick for a long time, I strongly believe that this was one of the reasons. I feel like I was put on this planet to make a change in the health of more people, from the inside out: mind, body, and food.
my dad has taught me STRENGTH on a level I never knew was possible before, integrity
I am beyond excited for what is to come & am open to receiving every opportunity
xoxoxo anna