The Tale of Two Brains

I signed up to work with Jackie with the goal of optimizing my health and personalizing my healthy living. (I am originally from Australia if you are wondering what’s up with the spelling.) I thought I was doing a pretty good job all round, eating predominantly paleo, moving my body most days, and getting around 6.5 hours of solid sleep a night. I wanted to mostly focus our sessions on movement and stress. Jackie listened to me carefully, and gently but firmly prodded me to look at sleep more seriously and gave me strategies to manage stress. We performed some tests which suggested I had leaky gut syndrome and Helicobacter pylori infection, and Jackie recommended a gut healing protocol of diet and supplements, rest, sleep, and detoxification. 

Eating the restricted diet for four months was a real challenge, especially with several people visiting me. Making my own meals and snacks at home was not really a problem, but eating out was very disheartening. Yay for grilled broccoli and raw fish at a Mexican restaurant...? I think not (no tacos, no bueno). I felt pretty unwell for the first 8 weeks and wanted to quit, but I am an Upholder (Gretchen Rubin, The Four Tendencies) and was determined to complete the experiment. I trusted Jackie. After around 9-10 weeks of the protocol, I suddenly had more energy and became much more efficient at work. I went from an 8-9+ hour work day to a 5-6 hour work day! This gave me much more free time to pursue hobbies, do errands, sleep, and be a better partner, friend, sister and daughter. Having more energy was actual pivotal to reducing my stress (who knew?!). That constant exhausted feeling has gone away!

I have had sporadic anxiety and depression for many years, and it has been getting worse over the last 7 years with several big life changes and the death of my mother. After around 10 weeks on the gut healing protocol, I noticed that the black dog of depression was leaving, and the heavy fog lifting. I think this change signaled the point at which my leaky gut syndrome healed and my gut was able to properly produce and absorb the “happy” hormones serotonin and dopamine, stabilizing my brain chemistry. Did you know that the gut produces more of these brain hormones than your brain does? (Now you do.)

If you have that niggling feeling that you are not as healthy or as generally nourished as you could be, I would recommend you contact Jackie for a consult. Jackie provides that balance of support and structure both as health mentor and guide, and really respects and honors the individuality of the client; unlike the typical one size fits all conventional medicine approach. It has been the best thing I have ever done for my health, and a catalyst for further changes and growth in my life.

—Cheryl Moller

Los Angeles, California