Why I’m not afraid of skin cancer
Summer is in full force, which probably has you bathing in sunscreen every time you step outside.
But did you know most sunscreens are full of toxic ingredients that can alter your hormone balance, steal your energy, and contribute to weight gain on top of a slew of other health issues?
I just spent a whole week sunbathing in Maui without worrying one bit about skin cancer or toxic sunscreen side effects. There once was a time when I thought I’d never be able to enjoy the sun in this way.
I was diagnosed with skin cancer at age 26.
At the time of my diagnosis, from the outside, I looked like your typical healthy person…
- I ate “healthy” by consuming low-calorie foods, lean meats, vegetables, fruits, yogurts, and sweets only occasionally.
- I exercised daily doing a mix of weight lifting, cardio, training for fitness shows, and marathons.
- On paper I even looked perfect; normal cholesterol, heart rate, blood pressure etc. I was a skilled personal trainer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fitness, Nutrition, and Health who (at the time) thought I knew all there was to know about being healthy and losing weight.
Despite doing all the right “healthy” things prior to my skin cancer diagnosis, the intensity of my seasonal allergies progressed to the point of wiping me out for days or weeks. Migraines became more frequent, and “normal” joint aches or muscle soreness seemed to linger longer and longer. It was also getting tougher to lose or maintain my weight.
I slowly started to question my health and what I had been taught all those years in school.
Skin cancer was my body waving a BIG red flag about something deeper going on.
Being diagnosed with skin cancer at such a young age sparked an undeniable urge to get to the bottom of my own health issues and use my knowledge to help others.
I had zero risk factors associated with skin cancer; no family history of any cancers related to melanoma, and sure I used a tanning bed or spent time in the sun without sunscreen from time to time, but I wasn’t your typical frequent tanner who was putting themselves at risk for skin cancer by any means.
The pieces of the puzzle just didn’t seem to add up. I was “healthy”, had minimal risk factors, and was young, yet for some reason, cancer cropped up. I knew there had to be more to the story.
Shortly after my diagnosis, I enrolled in the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® (FDN) Course to dig deeper into my own health issues to get to the bottom of them once and for all. With my newly acquired knowledge, I aspired to help others also struggling with chronic health issues and weight loss despite the fact that they were eating right and working out.
The FDN training taught me a whole new way of looking at weight loss, health, and disease.
As I started digging deeper I found A LOT of cellular damage, hormone imbalances, liver congestion, and digestive dysfunction…
No wonder cancer had found itself at home in my body!
As part of the FDN training, I was required to run functional lab tests on myself to look at my hormone, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous systems. These functional lab tests are very different from your typical blood tests. Most of these tests are done using saliva, urine, and stool to take a closer look at how the body is actually functioning (or not) in real-time.
My test results revealed a flurry of Metabolic Chaos®.
My hormones were going haywire, causing deep dips in my energy, making it difficult to manage my weight or to keep inflammation under control. This resulted in those intensified seasonal allergies, aches, and pains.
My liver was overloaded and unable to move cancer-causing toxins out of my body effectively, coupled with high oxidative stress (i.e. cellular/DNA damage), making me the perfect candidate for cancer.
The good news is that this story has a happy ending. I’m now over 10 years skin cancer-free.
And I’m not afraid of skin cancer anymore, or any other health condition for that matter.
You see, cancer was the first big health hurdle I had to overcome but it sure wasn’t my last. Shortly after being deemed skin cancer-free, I ran into another series of hormone issues, cystic acne, weight gain, and energy dips.
I was diagnosed with Hashimotos, elevated estrogen levels, and a clogged detoxification system after being exposed to toxic mold in my own home.
But yet again I persevered using the FDN principles and have made a full recovery from all of those health hurdles as well.
In this week’s video, I share how I’ve overcome skin cancer, how I’ve kicked seasonal allergies, migraines, aches and pains, hormone imbalances, and weight gain all at the same time, and what I’m doing to prevent them from happening again.
In every health scenario I’ve had, functional lab testing allowed me to stop guessing about what was going on in my body, and it gave me valuable insights about what I could do to restore balance, prevent future cancer and other chronic disease scares.
As an added bonus, I also discovered how to put a stop to my seasonal allergies, migraines, frequent aches and pains, hormone imbalances, and the struggle to lose or maintain my weight.
With the functional lab test data in hand, I created a personalized health rebuilding plan that met my unique needs, one that included:
- Foods that were right for my body
- Adequate sleep during the most critical times of the night
- Health boosting exercise intensity and types (instead of depleting)
- Various modalities to reduce physical and emotional stress
- Specific supplements to support my body in the ways it needed
- Transitioning to a non/less-toxic living environment
All geared towards a goal of restoring hormone balance, efficient liver function, boosting digestive health, and reducing oxidative stress to prevent further cancer growth so I could get my energy back, lose weight, and be allergy, migraine, and pain-free!
As Dr. Nasha Winters, author of the Metabolic Approach To Cancer, once said “you are what you don’t poop.”
Cancer-causing toxins are eliminated through stool, urine, and sweat so if you’re not doing those things regularly or well, your risk for cancers and other chronic diseases escalates.
In order to eliminate toxins well, you need to have all of your systems running efficiently; the hormone, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous systems.
Upon implementing my health re-building plan, I felt immediate relief from seasonal allergies, migraines, aches, and pains, and I lost weight – all signs that my body was healing and regaining its balance.
I now feel 100% like my energetic, strong, and lean self again. I’m not afraid of skin cancer because I’ve restored my health, I know what to do in order to prevent it, and I’ve been over 10 years skin cancer-free to prove it.
And I went back to functional lab testing again to find the pieces of my health puzzle and put myself back together again when I was faced with Hashimotos, elevated estrogen levels, and a clogged detoxification system after being exposed to toxic mold.
I no longer rely on typical blood tests anymore to gauge my health. Instead, I pay close attention to what is going on with my body, and every year I run a series of functional lab tests to make sure all systems of my body are firing; to monitor my liver function and oxidative stress levels for potential cancer risks, and to make any minor adjustments needed to my lifestyle to support my best self.
Now I confidently soak up the sun on a regular basis because I feel great in my body and I know skin cancer has nothing on this #HEALTHBOSS.
As a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioner, I help busy health-minded people like you also find the missing pieces of your health puzzle too so you can feel your best and live life to the fullest!
”Following a tailored plan to my needs, to date, I have lost over 20 lbs in 6 months. This brings me back to my pre-college weight! Physically visible inflammation is gone leaving me lean and healthy. My stomach is no longer distended. My mental health has improved with being able to manage stress better. I am able to get out of bed in the morning and have energy sustained throughout the day. Jenn has truly changed my life.” – Leslie
If you want to get your hands on the right lab tests and resources so you can find the missing pieces to your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again, I’ve opened up my calendar to take on 3 new clients in August.
