MEET SIERRA

I started experiencing health issues at a very young age. It began with severe digestive issues and because this was never properly addressed by my doctor, a few years of this started to affect my mental health. I developed OCD and anxiety. I was a very nervous child, always thinking of worse case scenario, always worried, not at all the free spirit I believe all children are meant to be. I also struggled with my weight because of these digestive issues and had a difficult time losing it.

When I was a teenager, I developed a gluten allergy that I did not take very seriously at the time. It initially only caused eczema and no other symptom for me and would go away within about a week after eating gluten, so I thought “who cares! it’s just eczema and it goes away quick.” Little did I know, the gluten was causing damage to my gut lining and major inflammation in my body. About 5 years later, I started having daily panic attacks and constant, severe anxiety. It happened out of the blue for me. I remember trying to go to sleep one night and I just didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t understand what I was feeling. My mom planted jasmine right outside of my window, so I breathed in the jasmine and fresh, cold air and eventually calmed down and fell asleep. I didn’t think much of it, until that feeling became a daily occurrence. Panic attacks took over my life and I thought I was doomed - I couldn’t even sleep because I would be woken up by my body panicking.

I went to my doctor because I didn’t know what else to do at the time, I knew nothing about anxiety. When I explained what was going on, he didn’t believe me. He tested my hormones and said if everything looked fine he wouldn’t call, but if something was off, he would. He didn’t call, but I was still having panic attacks. This was the moment that catapulted me into learning about holistic health and functional medicine.

I read books, did research online, watched youtube videos, found practitioners on social media and attended online summits. I finally learned about the gut and it’s connection to just about every symptom I was experiencing - weight loss resistance, severe anxiety, fatigue, bloating, heart palpitations, food intolerances, eczema, acne.

Although I now knew how to eat and care for myself properly, I was still stagnant in healing. This is when I started trying different diets and protocols to see which one would work (none of them worked). I fasted, I did keto, I thought I needed to be vegetarian, I tried pro metabolic - all of these diets made me feel worse. My health did not make any progress for years as I remained overwhelmed and confused as to what I was really supposed to be doing.

My symptoms did not become truly bothersome until I developed long covid in January of 2022. What I went through was so debilitating that I could not fully participate in life for about a year and did not work for 2. I had symptoms of PPPD (persistent postural perceptual dizziness) that were 24/7, I developed an autoimmune disorder, severe hormone imbalance/PCOS and found out I had mold toxicity. The reason I was more susceptible to developing long covid was because I already had chronic inflammation from years of gut issues, nervous system dysregulation and very high levels of mold in my body that I was completely unaware for who knows how many years. When I finally got functional lab work done and was able to see exactly what was happening in my body and why, is when I began to heal (and quickly!).

The body is capable of repairing and healing itself; it just needs the right environment and tools to do so. My hope is that I can guide, educate and help you towards regaining your health and vitality!

No matter how your body may feel in this moment, you can and will always heal.

CREDENTIALS:

Institute of Transformational Nutrition - Certified Nutrition Coach (CNC)

Institute of Bioindividual Nutrition

Better Belly Functional Medicine Training

Restorative Wellness Solutions - Mastering the Art and Science of Gastrointestinal Healing (Level 1)

NASM Certified Personal Trainer