How and why my holistic health journey started- With a PCOS and endometriosis diagnosis when I was 18
I was always an active and semi healthy kid and teen. I was a high level competitive swimmer so I was active daily but my diet was what I'd call ‘Healthy Food Pyramid healthy’ but not holistic health healthy. Meaning I ate wholemeal toast for breakfast or cereal, pasta for lunch and rice for dinner. I put chemicals on my body, opted for convenience and had no idea what organic meant. From the time I got my first period at 11 years old I struggled with my health.
I was in constant pain, my period came every 14-16 days and was excruciating to the point that I would have to have days off school, my hormones were completely out of whack, I had horrible skin and was bloated all of the time. I was put on the pill at 14 to help with all of these issues but after just a few months of taking it my symptoms were actually worse (I have not been on the pill since or used any kind of hormonal contraception). Meanwhile during all of this I was swimming training 5-9 times a week depending on where we were in the swim season and lifting weights from the age of 15 2-4 times a week and increasing to 5-6 times from the age of 17.
I saw numerous doctors who really had no idea what was wrong with me, I had tests, ultrasounds and more tests. I sucked it up for the most part so I could swim and compete, and I was bloody good at it but I became exhausted. Training so hard so often, bleeding so often and being in so much pain was draining, no wonder I threw in the towel at 17. Still having no idea what was wrong with me the doctors sent me for surgery when I turned 18 (2012), this is when I was diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis.
From then I took to fixing my cycle naturally. Well actually if i'm honest my mum did a lot of the work to start with. She was diagnosed with crohns after having my youngest brother so my entire life she was always looking for ways to live without pain and have a good quality of life. After I moved to Sydney my mum discovered the Paleo diet so I too decided to give it a go. If you aren't familiar, basically it's no gluten and grains, no dairy, no processed sugars and with a focus on fruit, veg, meat and fish, AKA whole foods.
This is what started me on my holistic health journey, one thing led to another once I started researching and living a paleo lifestyle. I removed chemicals, started eating organic food, removed 'low fat' foods, focused on eating more healthy fats, I started tracking my cycle, removed plastics, started eating grass fed meat and focused on my stress!
I healed my body from the inside out and here is how I did it. I've tried to put these in the order of how I made the changes, these didn't all happen at once, it was and continues to be a journey.
I removed Inflammatory food: Dairy, gluten, additives, seed oils, processed foods and added sugars
I went paleo in around 2014 when I moved to Sydney for uni, but this only really lasted a couple of years. Once I removed the inflammation and my periods regulated and became pain-ish-free I was able to introduce some dairy and gluten. Now I can have cows milk in my tea and love some good sourdough, BUT if I overdo it or go away and completely let go I can feel it when my period comes. I'm usually a little more tired, maybe some extra pain and get bloated. If you are new to all this id start here with gluten, dairy, processed, additives, swapping vegetable oils for coconut oil and sugar.
Chemicals: Organic food, grass fed meat
I then focused on chemicals, first again with food. I believe the lowest hanging fruit is always food so start there before you go making a whole heap of crazy changes that are just going to overwhelm you and aren't going to stick with. Fortunately at the time I was living in Sydney (2014 I moved there) on the Northern Beaches (as opposed to the small country town I grew up in) so I had easy access to organic food. I also had a grass fed and organic butcher near me, honestly when I started I had no idea what this meant but the paleo stuff i'd read said look for grass fed so off I went. Josh had moved to Sydney with me by this time (2016ish) and he loved the meat because it was such good quality so honestly that's why we kept going. If it was just me on my own I would have stopped because I had no idea why it was better for me at the time.
Chemicals: Beauty products and plastics
Then I started to learn about how chemicals and plastics can cause weight gain and poor metabolism, yep that’s what drew me in at the time, my vanity and how I looked. Because honestly I was holding weight and looked quite puffy even though I was exercising a lot, more on this below because I eventually learned that over exercising was not helping my health. I started to swap out my shampoo and conditioner, makeup, tooth paste, plastics containers for glass etc not so much cleaning products yet
Again, I was living on the Northern Beaches of Sydney so even though this wasn't totally mainstream at the time I had easy access to products and it was definitely more acceptable there than in other places. Even though I didn't love being in Sydney at the time I do believe it was a big help when it came to my health journey.
Exercise balance
Ok this was a big one for me because I was living in the world of the more you exercise the more fat you burn and the skinnier you are. At one stage I was lifting weights 4-6 times a week, playing soccer so training 2 times a week plus a game AND training for a marathon which was 1 pace session a week and 1 long run on a Saturday (up to 35 km), yep then I’d play a whole game of soccer the next day. It was a lot. And I was no fitter, skinner, stronger or healthier than I am now training less than half that. It wasn't until I started a strength program where we lifted heavy weight 3 times a week and did 1 recovery/accessory focused session, so 4 sessions total that started to actually get stronger and look healthier. Why? Because I gave my body time to recover, my hormones balanced out, I reduced inflammation (which is essentially the root cause of all illness and disease), I was sleeping better and I could give 110% to my sessions rather than just like 50% because I was so well rested. When you over (and under) exercise it disrupts your hormones and affects your performance. This was back in 2017 and since then I aim for 4 sessions a week which can vary depending on how I feel between the gym, swimming, running, soccer (prior to and between kids) and yoga.
Stress
This one was the hardest lesson for me to learn, and I had to learn it many times before it sunk in. I used to get so stressed at uni my jaw would lock up, like i'm talking I couldn’t open my mouth past half way, to eat something like a hamburger was impossible. I'd wake up like this every couple of days and I normalized it, I just said it was my body. Until late 2016 when it locked up for over a week, Josh had gone away for work and I think that was the tipping point that caused the added stress. I went to the doctor and dentist and they said nothing was wrong, I eventually went to my physio who said my jaw and cheek muscles were so tight they couldn't release, he had to release my jaw and cheek muscles to get my mouth to open up. From here I started focusing on my stress management… for about 2 weeks. A few months later it happened again… and again… oh and again, this went on for about a year. Off to the physio I went. Until eventually in late 2017 I actually started to focus on my stress and mental health, here I read Mastering Your Mean Girl, Aim True and Warrior Pose which started to teach me about the importance of focusing on your mental health just as much as your physical health.
Essential oils, tracking my cycle and menstrual cups, meditation, crystals, self love, moon cycles, low tox living and yoga education
I actually went and had a reiki session, the lady used essential oils on me and she gave me a tiny little roll of orange oil to take home, and so the obsession started. At this time Josh and I had moved to Muswellbrook (January 2018) with no friends and family. Josh worked 2 weekends out of the month so I spent a lot of time on my own. This led to essential oils, crystals, driving 35 min to yoga classes because it was the closest one to me, low tox cleaning products, meditation, pilates, spirituality and holistic living. So much reading and so many podcasts. Here is when I started tracking my periods in a hand written journal and really got to know my period and educate myself on each phase of my cycle.
I have living in Muswellbrook to thank for a lot of my knowledge, it's actually when I studied to be a holistic health and nutrition coach. By the time we had moved back to the area we grew up in (December 2019), which is where we are now, we had never been healthier! It was our biggest personal development and health journey.
As you can see this wasn't an overnight journey, thinking back the biggest changes were made over about a 6 year period. But I can confidently tell you now that I've had no issues conceiving my girls (I have had a miscarriage though), I've never been on hormonal contraception, my hormones are thriving, I have no period pain or PMS, and if you asked me I'd tell you I was healed of PCOS and endo.
So my friend, there is a lot here I know but I'd start with your diet first, it's the lowest hanging fruit and will make the most difference. Once that has become a part of your norm then go and focus on the other areas of your health. Healing won't happen overnight but if you give your body the right tools and environment it can heal itself.
Jump over to Instagram and tell me about your PCOS, endo and/hormone journey. What did you learn from this post and what would you like to know more about?
And remember my friend, pain, tiredness, heavy periods, bloating and anything other than feeling amazing AF is never normal.
