I was interested in health from a young age. I remember reading “Laurel’s Kitchen” as a teenager, and being inspired to go vegetarian. It was good for me in some regards, and bad in others. I did stop eating fast food, which was good, but ate a lot of carbohydrates, and really low fat, low protein foods. With this diet, I just did not get the nutrients I needed to support a growing teenage athlete. I found myself constantly bloated, tired, and moody. My hair was thinning and skin was really dry, and I also battled some depression and eating disorders. I went to college to get my nursing degree, and continued to read about health, and just started thinking that maybe I need some more protein and fat. I slowly started to incorporate some more healthy fats, like avocados, nuts, olive oil, and also started eating some meat again. I did feel better, but not completely.
Fast forward 10 years, and I was now a mother with three young children. I was working part-time as an RN, and taking care of a 3 year old, 2 year old and 6 month old. I was exhausted, and I really started looking at my diet again. I read Sally Fallon’s book “Nourishing Traditions” and was totally intrigued, but scared. It made a lot of sense (especially for the issues I was having) but I just could not wrap my mind around how you could eat all that fat and protein and be okay. I decided I would give it a try, on one condition, I would never give up my beloved cereal. I changed my diet over the next few months, and noticed it was the first time in my life that I actually felt nourished. My energy improved, my bloating significantly went down, my moods improved, and I was sleeping a lot better. I even gave up cereal, as I noticed that on the days I ate it, I got all my symptoms back. It was more work, planning, and cooking this way, but I felt that I had more energy to do it. And my family also benefited, as we stopped catching colds and other illnesses going around.
Later that year, I found a parotid gland tumor right under my cheek. It was benign, and I asked the surgeon if I could try some natural methods to get rid of it. He said I could, but that it would not work, and he recommended having it cut out. Otherwise it could cause facial paralysis, in his opinion, because it was on my facial nerve. I tried alternative supplements and diets to get rid of the tumor, but after a few months it was still there. So I opted for the surgery, and that is when my health really went downhill. It was a fairly long surgery, and it just tanked me. Afterwards I was so tired, I just could not function. My legs got swollen, I had no energy, I could have slept from 7pm to 11am everyday. I was extremely moody, and just felt like crying when driving to work at 3pm, thinking that I had to take care of people till midnight. Ugh, it was a dark time. I read about my symptoms, and thought I had adrenal fatigue. So I found a functional medicine doctor and felt better initially, but worse after a year. I went from herbalists, to naturopaths, to trying more stuff on my own. I did improve some and learned a lot along the way, but I still didn’t feel optimal.
When I went to my first Nutrition Response Testing workshop, I had just been diagnosed with Lyme disease via a urine test. The instructor muscle tested me during the conference, and said my weak organ was my adrenal and that I had a bacterial challenge stressing out that organ. Lyme is a bacteria, and I was amazed that he could get to the root of my issue so quickly. I had been on adrenal supplements for years, and also trying to detox heavy metals, but needed to deal with that immune challenge.
I found Nutrition Response Testing so intriguing, but could not really trust it fully at first. So I sabotaged my own program by adding supplements that I thought I needed based on what I was reading. Once I finally decided to trust my body, and that it would tell me what it needed, I stuck to my protocol and my health improved immensely. I have more energy, better digestion, improved sleep and moods, and my constant pain has subsided.
Nutrition Response Testing has helped my family in so many ways as well, and I just want to bless others, as I have been blessed. Thank you for taking the time to listen, I look forward to helping you on your health journey!
- Addy Kinser, the Brainfit Mama
p.s. One week after my surgery for my parotid gland tumor, I saw the surgeon for a follow-up. He told me that this was the strangest tumor he had ever seen. I got a little worried when he said that. He told me that it was basically just a calcification, but when he had biopsied it before, he had an actual diagnosis of a type of benign tumor. I said, “Oh, then the natural things I did to take care of the tumor worked.” He did not think so, but it was a good learning experience for me.