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Hi, I'm Jillian! I am a certified GAPS Practitioner, an outpatient Registered Nurse of 9 years, a wife to an amazing supportive husband, and a mama to two beautiful babies whom I love dearly.

 

I grew up believing I was a fairly healthy individual. I was 5’7” and 145 lbs and was always at a normal body weight. I suffered PMS & terrible menstrual cramps, which I disregarded and attributed this to being a part of my genes. As a result, I was started on birth control at age 16 to manage these symptoms. I grew up on processed foods and I loved a good stop for an ice cold Coke, salty fast food French fries, and some Taco Bell. In my mind, I thought I was in good health! 

 

In my mid twenties, after our second child, things quickly changed. My anxiety started increasing to the point I was having severe panic attacks on a daily basis. I started suffering from terrible digestive issues that only grew worse. I had never had digestive issues prior. Things got so bad at one point, I was afraid to leave home because I was not sure how my stomach would behave that day and I did want to have to search for the nearest bathroom. I started losing weight... a lot of weight. At my lowest point I reached 109 pounds (a total weight loss of around 36 pounds). I was not able to put on weight even if I wanted to. I looked physically sick and felt even worse inside. 

 

At one point, I knew in my mind, my body was failing me and I did not know why. I was convinced something was wrong and I was dying. I sought traditional medicine and got a full GI workup, the whole thing. CT scans, SIBO test,  blood tests, stool tests, HIDA scan, h. Pylori testing, colonoscopy & EGD, skin allergy testing, you name it. Everything came back negative. Modern medicine labeled me as “IBS,” wrote me off, suggested an elimination diet, threw some medications at me, and in other words told me, “Good Luck.” I tried all of the elimination diets, but despite minimizing or removing these foods, my symptoms persisted and I could never target a specific trigger. I felt hopeless and discouraged. My mental & physical health were in a downward spiral. 

 

I love Jesus and I believe he has had His hand helping to guide me on this journey and he helps open doors and will lead us to paths on which we are supposed to travel. I was led to a functional medicine doctor who I started working with. The frustrating part, was that no matter what supplements I was tried on, things were still not getting better. I knew there had to be more pieces to the puzzle. After a lot of prayer and searching for answers, I was led to a GAPS Practitioner and introduced to the GAPS diet. 

 

When I was introduced to the GAPS diet and learned about all of the miraculous benefits of healing & sealing the gut, I knew deep down that this was what I needed to do. After a few months even, I started to see my body healing and it was evident. I was able to gain some weight again and be at a healthy body weight. My anxiety significantly decreased and was of rare existence. I was able to eat things that I could not tolerate before as my body began to heal. I had a new found understanding and appreciation of what it meant to take care of and to nourish your body. I had more energy, my skin was more radiant, I looked healthy again, and I felt better inside and outside. I am living proof that the GAPS diet works and I still am doing the diet to this day.

 

The GAPS diet is challenging. The work and dedication is beyond worth it when you can see and feel your body starting to heal. I strongly encourage you to seek the support of a GAPS Practitioner on this journey you are about to embrace or if you have already begun. The encouragement and support of doing it alongside someone who has been there before & has the clinical knowledge to guide you, beyond is priceless. I hope we can walk alongside one another and I can help guide you on a road of hope & healing. I look forward to getting to know you and working together!

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