Nishia's Story
Growing up on a “SAD” diet
Growing up my family and I were blessed with various fruits and veggies because my father worked at a food supplier warehouse. But like most early 80’s and 90’s kids, we grew up “SAD”(on a Standard American Diet). We still ate a ton of Kraft Dinner, sugary cereals ,processed meats, refined pastas, and more.
At a young age, I started having digestive, mental health issues and later in life PMS symptoms - not knowing until many years later that there was a connection.
Into my teens I not only lived on fast foods and candy but I started to experiment with excessive alcohol and party drugs. These habits continued into my early 30’s, and throughout those years I struggled with massive panic attacks, heart palpitations, anxiety, depression, bad acne, constipation, brain fog and was diagnosed with “social anxiety disorder.”
Through all the toxic habits I had formed, however, deep down I always desired to be healthy and feel balance.
Enter Massage and Nutrition
In 2005, when I started Massage School, my passion for holistic wellness and nutrition was sparked. They had a small nutrition course included in the program that helped me to start paying attention to what I was putting into my body. This was just the start of tiny habits and many hard lessons, but the seed was planted.
For the years to follow I would party really hard one weekend then go into recovery mode, eating healthy and trying to feel good again. Two weeks would pass, then bam! I would go on a bender again because I was feeling so good, and the vicious cycle would start all over again.
Fast forward to 2017, now with a 1 year old son, I knew this imbalanced version of part-time health wasn’t working and I needed an overhaul. So I signed up for a 1 year Holistic Nutrition program at CSNN in Calgary. Working, going to school and raising a little guy was challenging but the knowledge I gained was priceless.
Cue the moon and hormone healing!
After I graduated, I still had a lot of work and healing to do on myself. I continued to do my own research and dove deep into not just nutrition but also spirituality and healing my shadow side, too.
I even turned to the moon for guidance and started studying astrology. Through studying the phases of the moon and how it can affect sleep and my emotions I have been able to find even more mental stability. It has shown me that nothing is permanent and taught me about the eb and flow, waxing and waning, dark and light that is continually changing - and related to our health and wellness.
This idea of impermanence has brought my soul some peace when I'm really feeling the struggles of life. It reminds me that “This too shall pass.”
In 2022 I joined an Advanced Hormone course and found the missing key to many of my own lingering symptoms!! I have recently recovered from over multiple years of insomnia, breast tenderness, PMS , anxiety, moodiness, lethargy and even ovary pain!! Using functional testing opened my eyes into discovering what was metabolically happening in my body. I was then able to make the right choices when it came to detoxing, supplementation and eating the proper foods to harmonize my body.
True healing
We all have trauma of some sort and I believe in a holistic approach that focuses on healing the person as a whole. Today I am a much healthier, balanced version of myself - and am always continuing to grow!
Being in the massage industry for almost two decades I have seen endless clients with inflammation, whether it be brain or gut inflammation, hormonal imbalances (like I have struggled with), arthritis, chronic swelling, or skin and eye inflammation. The connection between inflammation and hormonal issues is also undeniable. Science is telling us that these issues are, in part, due to a poor, inflammatory “SAD'' diet.
Massage is such a wonderful tool to help decrease inflammation, get the blood flowing and relax the nervous system. But if we don't get to the root issues that can only be a temporary fix.
My mission is to help you dig deep, and to get to the root issues of your imbalances. To take a deeper look at your hormones and gut health and how we can bring them back into harmony! I want to help you figure out those habits that no longer serve you and introduce a new way of finding balance.
With the magical power of whole foods and a deeper dive into our own souls, I believe healing is available to all <3