In 2018, I was buried under fatigue that kept me in bed most of the day. I would eat a Clif bar in class and ten minutes later pass out from a blood sugar crash. My weight fluctuated and my cycle became unpredictable. Every day, I felt like I was being electrocuted (not to be dramatic), but doctors ran labs and told me nothing was wrong.

I drank water. I got sleep. I worked out. It took years of fighting for an answer before a practitioner found it. My pituitary gland had essentially shut down from the weight of chronic stress. Genetically, we discovered I convert adrenaline (fight or flight) to dopamine (motivation + happiness) faster than average, then run out of the raw materials to make more.

I realized I wasn’t broken, I just needed the right nutrients. So I went back to my roots: farm-to-table, whole foods, home-cooked meals with real ingredients. I found a gluten allergy I never knew I had and supplemented the specific pieces my metabolism was missing. Then finally, I felt like myself again.

This is why I work with nutrition at a biochemical level. Everyone tells high performers that the problem is they're doing too much. No one stops to ask if their body has what it actually needs to keep up with their goals.