Nourish, heal, and sparkle from the inside out.

Never in a million years would I have thought a change in my diet would change my life from what it had been for 3 years: 24 hour dizziness, intense fatigue, unsteady gait, lack of motivation, and most importantly.. not being able to play with my son.

When I decided to start working with Ma’an, I had virtually given into this way of life. My dizziness was so intense people at work started getting concerned for me. The dizziness wasn’t the hard part, I had already gotten used to it. It was my new normal to be dizzy. When you’re dizzy for so long, you kind of let it be and try to go on with your life. What was really hard was getting these internal shakes in my body. It was as if the entire room was spinning and an earthquake was happening. I couldn’t go out with my son alone in fear of these episodes happening while I was out with him. For as long as I can remember I couldn’t carry my son.

The dizziness started after I had a concussion while giving birth to my son. Every day after was a blur. I don’t remember everything but I have appointment cards of the countless number of times I went to the doctor to get help. I wanted my life to get back to normal. I was told that it was fatigue, maybe my sugar was low, my blood pressure could be low, maybe it was all in my head, at least that’s what I ended up telling myself. After one year of doctor appointments that led nowhere, I gave up. I gave up on trying to get back to what life once was. I’ve always dealt with depression, but this kind of depression was more than I could handle. I struggled to live.

I eventually decided to try to see a doctor again. This time it was different because I received a diagnosis. A diagnosis I had waited for years. I had post-concussion syndrome. The issue with this diagnosis was that there was no cure. My life could go back to normal tomorrow, or in 10 years, or never. Because I was past the one year mark, I was closer to 10 years and up. I think that getting my hopes up only to bring them down again made me just stop. I gave into this diagnosis and would cry when no one was looking. I would cry in the car when I was alone, in dressing rooms, bathrooms, and even my work office. I would not cry for myself but for my son who would grow up with a mom who couldn’t even play one minute with him without feeling all these symptoms.

After I started working with Ma’an I felt hope again. But it wasn’t easy. I was in a dark place and had tried virtually everything to get back to some normalcy, but nothing worked. I truly felt this as my last resort, if this didn’t work, nothing would. I didn’t need to see results to get hopeful, speaking to Ma’an and hearing HER story gave me hope. It gave my heart a little piece of itself back.

My dizziness has improved drastically. And although the dizziness being gone completely is the goal, drastically is more than I could have ever hoped for. I could cook for my son, clean without feeling weak, play with my son, and live a semi-normal life. Running with my son was not part of my life nor did I ever think it could be. Chasing him in the park, that’s what Ma’an has given to me.

Besides the dizziness, I had fatty liver for so many years. If a 10 is the normal range, I was at like 100. Being guided by Ma’an I was able to decrease my number by more than half. More than half! I have been in fear of getting cirrhosis of the liver because of my diet choices, but because of my new diet choices, we have started making a change.

Making small food changes at first was extremely hard. I was very set in my ways. For breakfast I used to fast and eat around noon. If I didn’t fast, I would have cereal and milk or sometimes coffee. I didn’t see anything wrong with this as this was how I grew up eating at home. Because of my unhealthy relationship with food, I felt that I needed to be held accountable. And although I was, it wasn’t in the way I thought. The thing that I loved about working with Ma’an was that she wanted to help me not only with my food choices, but also personal choices. She could have spoon fed me, but that wouldn’t have helped me in the long run. It took me a while, more than others I’m sure, but eventually I started to see a change. I started to want to make different food choices. I was thinking about what was going into not only my body, but my family’s body. What were we eating? All those processed foods, and those oils I had put into my body for years. It was an eye opener for sure. I no longer wanted cereal for breakfast, it no longer served its purpose to me. When I would go grocery shopping alone (which was a win for me since I couldn’t drive anywhere alone before this), I started looking at labels and you wouldn’t believe the amount of things we put in our body each day. The amount of chemicals from vegetables and fruits that go into our systems. It was such an eye opener. I was able to then guide my mom and sister into better health choices. You see, what we eat doesn’t start with us, it’s a generational habit we need to break.

Like I mentioned before, my dizziness is no longer taking control of my life. I have control, based on my food choices. And I know, how can food make such a difference? Well it can. And it made more of a difference than years worth of doctors visits without results. The amount of times doctors told me I was normal and healthy was insane. I didn’t feel normal or healthy, but Ma’an saw that. She saw what my countless doctors couldn’t.

One of the things that I liked about working with Ma’an was her passion for what she does. She makes you feel her desire to help you out. You see yourself in her because she went through it herself. And although you feel like giving up at times, she doesn’t give up on you. She was my last resort, but only because I didn’t know she could be my first. If I had Ma’an 3 years ago, my life would be different. But I’m glad I started working with Ma’an now, because it allowed me to live those 3 difficult years and appreciate what I now have even more. Because of Ma’an I am finally able to run with my son. I look forward to continuing this journey with Ma’an to continue healing from the inside out.