Hi Reader,

I wanted to share something with you that I didn't learn in my conventional dietetics training to be a dietitian. It was something I learned from first-hand experience and doing deeper integrative/functional nutrition training, and that is:

Healing is just as much mental/emotional as it is physical.

Now in practice, Andrea and I emphasize the importance of mental, emotional, and even spiritual well-being when it comes to healing. I think this is often something that gets missed (especially in the conventional healthcare system) when it comes to chronic digestive issues, autoimmune disease or other chronic health conditions.

Trauma and adverse life events(especially in childhood) have been connected to numerous chronic health issues in the scientific literature(IBS, IBD, & other autoimmune diseases). There are only theories at this point as to why this happens, but a couple thoughts are that these extremely stressful events trigger an inflammatory response in the body and/or disrupt/dysregulate the nervous system(especially the vagus nerve that is vital for digestive health).

​Check out my recent instagram post on this:​

So, this is your reminder to nurture your mental, emotional and spiritual well-being (especially this time of year!) if you're dealing with a chronic health issue.

When you're exploring who to enlist to support you on your healing journey, it's important to find a practitioner that is going to understand how to support you holistically versus solely focusing on food and supplements.

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In health,

Christina Stapke, RDN, CD

P.S. If you want to hop on a brief call to talk more about this to see how we may be able to support you, book a FREE chat with me here.