Growing up, I thought health meant being fit — lifting weights, playing sports, and pushing through. From the outside, I looked healthy. But inside, I was running on fumes.
As a teenager, I dealt with constant stress and anxiety I didn’t understand. I was always moving, always busy, always chasing that next thing. On the surface, it looked like discipline — but in reality, it was imbalance. My sleep was off, my mood was unpredictable, and no matter how hard I trained, I felt wired but tired.
In college, I doubled down on what I thought was “healthy.” I worked out , I lived off protein shakes, snacks, caffeine, & good-times. My meals were processed, my stress unmanaged, and my gut — though I didn’t realize it yet — was starting to pay the price.
By my mid to late 20's, I started noticing patterns: bloating, brain fog, fatigue, mood swings, and those “off” days that I brushed off as normal. I’d have great weeks in the gym followed by burnout. My motivation would spike and crash. No matter how dialed-in I tried to be, something deeper was off.
And like so many of us, I chalked it up to stress, work, and life.
But here’s what I didn’t know at the time —
your gut doesn’t just digest food; it communicates with your brain every second of every day.
Your gut produces nearly 90% of your body’s serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for mood, focus, and emotional stability. It also sends signals through the vagus nerve — your body’s internal “highway” between the brain and the gut.
When your gut microbiome is imbalanced — from poor diet, stress, lack of sleep, antibiotics, or alcohol — it can trigger anxiety, low mood, inflammation, and energy crashes. That’s why what’s happening in your gut can directly shape how you feel, think, and perform.
I used to think my anxiety was purely mental. Now, I understand it was biological, too.
The real shift happened when I started learning about functional medicine and lab testing, specifically the Candida, Metabolic and Vitamins (OATS) Test. Instead of guessing, I finally looked under the hood.
What I found was gut imbalance — overgrowth of bad bacteria, low beneficial flora, and nutrient deficiencies from years of stress and processed food. My body wasn’t broken. It was sending signals.
Once I began rebalancing my gut — cutting processed foods, lowering caffeine, managing stress, and supporting digestion — everything changed. My mood stabilized. My sleep deepened. My focus sharpened. My body changed.
I stopped chasing health, and started building it.
If you’re feeling anxious, fatigued, or just “off,” start by looking within.
Here’s what I wish I had known earlier:
Your gut tells the story your mind can’t always express.
It’s where healing begins — and where true balance is restored.
I learned that being healthy isn’t about perfection; it’s about connection.
When you start listening to your body — instead of fighting it — everything begins to shift.
Because at ROOTED 360, we believe:
When you heal the gut, you heal the mind.
When you heal the mind, you heal the body.
Start with a personalized functional lab test and see what your body’s been trying to tell you.
