My fears were grounded in first hand observation. I observed the few people I knew who had Type 1 Diabetes struggling with things like holding down a steady job, walking for short periods of time, living on their own, or being confident in their own bodies. The disease seemed to have robbed them of their freedom and life purpose.

My frustrations compounded with time. I tried a strict diets like low-carb (before we knew to call it “keto”) and veganism, and went through long stretches of apathy. Either way I felt like a failure every time my blood sugar went too high or too low (which was pretty much every day).

I also tried to hide my disease from as many people as I could, ashamed and afraid this illness would become my identity.

Over time, I began to suspect that most of what I had learned about T1D management was wrong, or at best, incomplete.

I knew restrictive diets were leading me to burnout and exhaustion. But the “eating anything” approach (advised by my doctors at the time) required high-dose insulin, followed by low blood sugar and high blood sugar. I felt like I was living on a yo-yo.

When I was 25, a series of events led me to know it was time for true change. I decided to leave a stressful city and job and move to Austin, Texas. I found an incredible naturopath who, among other things, helped me create a plan for a sustainable diet that was both flexible and removed foods which had been causing major inflammation in my body.

The changes to my life and diet started to help me take control of my health in a new way. But the real work was done on a much deeper level… following a deep sense of intuition and making the choice to fully embrace my faith, purpose, and calling.

My hope for every fellow-T1D is that in doing the work we would be able to recognize and appreciate the incredible resilience and strength our disease has gifted us, and the result would be confidence in our bodies and freedom to pursue a life of purpose. 

My own health journey inspired my training as an ADAPT Functional Health Coach and a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, two programs that have helped build my own understanding of the human body and its foundations, the ins and outs of blood sugar management and the many factors impacting it, and the power of coaching to bring about transformational life change.

I’m here to help you as you work towards a life of confidence and freedom with Type 1 Diabetes and would love to chat more–just drop me a message to say hello!