Key Lessons from My Journey with Autoimmune Disorders.
When I reflect on the long, winding path from illness to health, there are a few truths that stand out more clearly than ever. These lessons weren’t learned from textbooks or lectures—they were hard-won through experience.
Living with Crohn’s disease, navigating flare-ups, surgeries, setbacks, and ultimately finding remission through food and lifestyle change has taught me a lot. Here are three of the biggest lessons I carry with me now, not just as someone who once struggled, but as someone who now helps others find their own path to healing.
1. Nature Makes No Mistakes
We often forget that human beings are part of nature, not separate from it. But when I started tuning back into ancient principles—eating whole foods, sleeping with the rhythms of light and dark, spending time outside, reconnecting with the seasons—my health started to shift.
Your body is not broken. Autoimmunity is not your body attacking itself out of spite; it’s an intelligent system sounding the alarm. It’s trying to adapt, to defend, to survive. The more I aligned my daily habits with the way we were biologically designed to live, the less resistance I faced from my own body. Healing wasn’t about fighting myself—it was about working with myself.
One of the clearest examples of nature’s brilliance is in how whole foods are packaged. When you eat a piece of wild-caught salmon, you’re getting protein, omega-3s, vitamin D, B12, selenium, and bioavailable iron—all in a ratio that your body can recognise and absorb. Or take an egg: it contains all nine essential amino acids, plus choline and fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K, delivered with the healthy fats needed to absorb them.
Compare that to a fortified breakfast bar or “plant-based” drink with a long ingredients list. Even if the label claims it’s rich in nutrients, they’re often synthetic, poorly absorbed, or missing key cofactors—like fat for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins, or vitamin C to help absorb iron. Nature does this effortlessly. No additives required.
When I stopped fearing real food and started trusting it, everything changed. Nutrient density is not just about what’s in your food—it’s about whether your body can use it. And nature always gets that right.
2. Convenience Ain’t That Convenient
It took me a long time to unlearn what the modern world calls “convenient.” Ultra-processed foods. Skipping meals. Suppressing symptoms with quick fixes rather than asking what my body might be trying to say.
At first glance, grabbing a cereal bar, taking a painkiller, or surviving on takeaways seems easier. But I’ve learned that what’s convenient in the short term often comes at a much bigger cost down the line—whether that’s digestive issues, burnout, or chronic inflammation.
Now, I see true convenience as having the energy to get through the day, stable moods, good sleep, and a body I can trust. That doesn’t come from a packet. It comes from foundations: proper nourishment, rest, movement, and presence.
3. The Power of the Mind
Mindset work might sound fluffy when you’re dealing with real physical symptoms—but I promise you, it’s anything but.
I used to feel like a victim of my body. I was constantly bracing myself for the next flare, the next disappointment, the next round of bad news. But when I started working on my beliefs—shifting from fear to trust, from helplessness to curiosity—everything changed.
The nervous system and immune system are in constant conversation. If you’re in a state of chronic stress, your body feels that. Healing isn’t just what you put on your plate—it’s what you put in your mind. Learning how to regulate my nervous system, challenge my inner critic, and believe in the possibility of getting better was absolutely key.
In Closing
These lessons continue to shape how I live, and how I work with clients. Healing is not linear, but it is possible. And the body, when given the right conditions, wants to heal.
If you’re at the beginning of your journey or feeling stuck in the middle of it, know this: you’re not broken. Your body is speaking. You just need the right tools—and the right support—to understand what it’s saying.
Want to explore how nutritional therapy can help you rebuild trust with your body and move towards remission?
Book a free discovery call here.