I had a client several years ago who trusted me with a complicated health and exercise history. He came to me because he had known me at a previous job and we had worked together when we had been much younger. When we met again, many things had developed and he was needing some individual attention (like most of us!)

I was more than happy to apply all my knowledge and experience to this situation and we worked together for over a year. We tried a lot of different interventions with modest results but I never felt like I got to the root cause. I involved other providers, like physicians and physical therapists, who also used procedures they thought would work. I’m not sure if they ever did, though, because before much longer, my client decided he would take a break from everything for a while and I never heard back from him.

Maybe you’ve had similar experiences with your health, where the answers are never clear and the strategies depend on too many variables to know what’s working. It’s a frustrating situation for everyone.

I experienced a similar disconnect while visiting a doctor last year. I came to her with several questions and symptoms. Her answers were generalizations like “who hasn’t put on a few pounds this year?…it’s normal at your age to slow down, and just be glad you don’t have more problems.” Needless to say, I went somewhere else.

My next physician experience was much better and she gave me a lot of resources to deepen my understanding of female physiology, but in the back of my mind, I was still expecting an external intervention to be my answer. Some of the things the doctor gave me have helped. However, it wasn’t until I took a critically honest look at my health in more specificity than just working out and eating healthy. That wasn’t working for me. I was gaining weight, feeling tired, frustrated and unmotivated. And I didn’t have any answers as to why.

I subsequently dug into anything I could get my hands on relating to hormones, insulin resistance, stress, menopause, exercise, fasting, ketosis and basically relearned the kreb cycle as it relates to women. I spent a lot of time experimenting with ways to feel better. And I do. A lot better.

I’ve found that my experience is not unusual. It’s very common for people to come to professionals wanting them to fix the problem. And many professionals take on that responsibility; doctors give prescriptions, therapist and trainers give workouts, dietitians give meal plans and supplements, but we are the ones who have to do the taking. And no prescription can take the place of us deciding we’re going to do everything we can to feel better.

Until I personally experienced some frustration about my quality of wellness, I thought surely that I knew what I was doing. It took me a while to realize that what I had been doing was the problem, and not because I was lacking treatments. We often think it’s normal to not feel great and go looking for answers outside instead of changing how and what we’re doing.

And while it may be common to not feel well, but it is not the way our bodies are designed. It’s at this point that you decide to go deeper (chronic disease withstanding), and find someone who will listen.

We all have to find what works for us. You may have to look in different places and be willing to quit some things (for me it was basically anything that spiked insulin repetitively) or start some things (like fasting (and enjoying it), juicing, more healthy fats and electrolytes), but there are solutions for most health problems, particularly those related how we live. There are too many testimonies of people recovering completely, enough to make healthy babies, when they were once barely able to function. The rest of us, who haven’t had to suffer through complete debilitation should take note and fix everything we can now. 80% of chronic disease has a root in lifestyle behaviors. Can’t these diseases can be treated with a different lifestyle and thereby less chronic and communicable diseases thrive?

If you can relate, are frustrated with your level of wellness and want some help, let me know. I hope that since being healthy is truly such a high priority for the entire world right now (🤨), we can all start working harder from the inside out and be a solution to the problem of our current health care.