Hi, I'm Makenzie!

Like most holistic providers, my passion for nutrition and natural health modalities began with my own health struggles. As an undergraduate in Exercise Science, I thought I was doing everything “right.” I was eating my whole grains, fruits, vegetables, moderate amounts of animal-based proteins, drinking half my bodyweight in water, exercised daily (sometimes twice a day), always made sure my body was in motion, and yet I felt awful. I was in my early 20’s struggling with abdominal pain, chronic constipation, bloat that never went away no matter what I tried, and indigestion. After seeing multiple gastroenterologists (physicians specializing in the digestive tract) who had prescribed me contradicting diets like high fiber and then low fiber, medication after medication, including antacids and trial medications for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and unhelpful recommendations such as “just stress less”, I was still ending up in the hospital every month for extreme abdominal pain with no real resolutions. Each visit resulted with the same recommendation--go home and take a laxative, which would only perpetuate this vicious cycle to reset itself and repeat. At this point I was confused and frustrated as to why I could be doing everything “right” (according to the books), and yet, still have horrendous digestive issues. 

 

Determined to better understand what was happening to my body, I started looking into more natural ways to support my digestion using whole foods. I started eating fermented foods to support my gut, ditched gluten, and incorporated more ayurvedic practices like cooking my vegetables instead of eating them raw to lessen the strain on my digestive tract. Although I did find some relief with these subtle shifts in my diet, I would still experience bloating after most meals and struggled to increase my bowel movements. Upon graduation, my interest from exercise to nutrition had grown so much that I decided to look for job opportunities where I could further expand my knowledge and understanding of nutrition. 

 

In 2016, I was offered a position at a holistic nutrition practice and soon discovered the beauty of Nutrition Response Testing, which forever changed my perspective on everything nutrition. In about two short weeks of being on the nutrition and supplementation that my body needed, nearly all my symptoms had disappeared. My bloating was pretty much non-existent, my bowel movements had finally normalized, and my digestion completely shifted. It was hard to believe that after years of bouncing around from doctor to doctor, multiple hospital visits, and being on a handful of medications at a young age, a few tweaks in my dietary habits and integrating whole food supplements had completely altered my health for the better. I was able to successfully ditch the medications I had been taking (which by the way, were depleting me of essential vitamins and minerals for vital digestive functions) and have more frequent bowel movements without the use of laxatives. 

 

It was within those two weeks that I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do; I wanted to be able to help others like me who were struggling to find the answers they needed to truly overcome their chronic health conditions without the use of synthetic supplements or medications, and unnecessary surgeries and invasive interventions. As the vision for my future practice began to evolve, I wrote down the very name my practice holds today – Harvest Health & Nutrition. I never told a soul the name I had given my future practice and tucked it away in a word document for when the right place, right time presented itself. Since then, Nutrition Response Testing has become my form of healthcare and I am happy to report I have only been to the doctors a handful of times, mainly for annual visits and to check in with my own blood work. As someone who struggled for many years before being introduced to Nutrition Response Testing, it is of utmost importance for me to continually support my body with the right nutrition and supplementation to maintain optimum health in every season of my life.

 

                                                                                In Love and Good Health,

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Makenzie