As a child, I was sick more often than not. Eventually, I received an official diagnosis of bronchitis. At 11 years old, my tonsils became so inflamed that they had to operate and remove them to free up my obstructed throat.  Shortly after the surgery, my bronchitis symptoms resumed and even inflamed tissue started to grow back where my tonsils used to be. Throughout my teen years it became normal to experience days of constipation, bloating and cramping. This occurred simultaneously with chronic bronchial infections, pneumonia and ear infections. Doctors continually wrote prescriptions for antibiotics but I was eventually told, “There are no more antibiotics I can give you.”

Leaving the doctor’s office in a perplexed state, I began looking in to other options for medical care. Clearly there had to be good reasons for why my health had suffered for all these years.

I went to see an allergist who determined dairy to be the main culprit for my negative symptoms. At the time, it was difficult to understand the word ‘allergy’, and it was easier to listen to the people around me who would say, “oh, so you are lactose intolerant? You take those Lactaid pills, right?”

I listened even though it did not improve my health. I also developed chronic fatigue and started going to bed around 8pm and sleeping for 12 hours solid every night.

Sounds dreamy right?

Not as a young adult. Energy levels should ideally be high! In addition, constipation was still increasing so I started to see a chiropractor to aid in getting my bowels moving.

Fast forward to my next major bronchial infection –– I finally booked my first naturopathic doctor’s appointment. I explained my history and mentioned my recent diagnoses of being allergic to dairy.

The naturopath asked, “Are you still eating dairy?”

Marie responded with, “Yes, I just take Lactaid now.”

The naturopath carefully explained what dairy was doing to my immune system and advised me to immediately stop the consumption of all dairy products. In addition, I was recommended to be thoroughly tested for more food allergies. Visiting a naturopathic doctor was life changing. I was finally finding answers to help boost my immune system and stay off dairy for good.

Two days after leaving the Naturopath, I felt amazing. This however was accompanied with some terrifying questions: What do I eat? How do I give up the foods that make up the majority of my diet? Yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, ice cream, cheese…

The craving for ice cream was so unbearable that I would pick up a litre of ice cream and consume the whole litre at once. The hours that followed would include gut wrenching pain and flu like symptoms. This pattern continued while I waited to see an allergy specialist. I ended up having to wait for 2 years. During this time, I travelled abroad and continued to  struggle with chronic fatigue and new symptoms of muscle pain. My determination and will power was the only thing that kept me trying to stay away from dairy.

After travelling abroad, I finally saw an allergist and was told to immediately remove an abundance of foods from my diet: dairy, eggs, soy, gluten, beef, chicken, pork, shellfish, strawberries and peanuts.

Wow. That was shocking and frightening news.

“You can’t be serious…how do you live?”

“Everything in moderation, right?”

“A little bit should be okay.”

My own thoughts and other people’s comments were endless. 

It was challenging to remove all the foods I was allergic to.  The thing that motivated me the most, was the fact that I had not been prescribed an antibiotic since my first naturopathic visit.  This validated that I was on the right path.  All I had to do was keep going!

I was recommended to book an appointment with a dietician to help plan out my diet with so many restrictions.  The appointment turned out to be useless because the dietician had never come across such a long list of restrictions and was just as confused as I was.  The Canadian Food Guide was not designed for people like myself.  It started to become humorous that most people did not know how to deal with food restrictions.

The chronic fatigue, the muscle pain, the irregular bowel function, the sickness, mucous and infections, it all left… for good.

It could be considered a miracle, but in my case, it was as simple as eliminating food allergies, healing the digestive system and learning about naturopathic healing.

Let me guide you through my discoveries as you browse through this website. It’s time for you to become empowered and achieve balance… with your body, mind & soul!