How My Health & Nutrition Has Come Such A Long Way in Just a Few Short Months

As a [newly diagnosed] Crohn’s disease and [long time] IBS sufferer, I am burdened with symptoms such as severe digestive irregularity, fatigue and the inability to properly absorb and digest the nutrients which I consume. My symptoms were so severe they became debilitating. Although I’ve dealt with feelings of defeat, disbelief, and denial; thoughts of “why is this happening to me” and “this is never going to get better,” I can say that I have made a complete 180 in the severity of my symptoms. I couldn’t be happier. There is still progress to be made but it’s not as bad as it had been.

 Let’s take a trip back in time to where it all started...

The beginning of my Journey to what is wrong with Rachel

I was first diagnosed with IBS, irritable bowel syndrome, when I was 15 years old. It was pretty controlled up until about 3 years ago after having my second child. It was about 6 months after having my second child that my symptoms became severe. I suffered for two years with stress induced and food triggered IBS. In January of 2014, it became so severe I had trouble leaving the house. My digestion was extremely irregular. I was exhausted and irritable all the time and I spent hours every day in the bathroom. There were days I couldn’t even leave my house, not even to take my kids outside to play. In September, I had suffered with the severity for so long I ended up having to quit my job. After a negative result for Celiac Disease, my GI doctor and I both agreed we would try to treat my condition as IBS.

 I had to try many different ways to reduce my stress and start eating healthier. I had to follow special elimination diets, various different medications for my stomach and for my anxiety, and try to implement yoga or other activity into my daily life,  I spent about a year doing this, to experience barely any relief! I did however see much personal growth from this.

When it came to eating, I could not absorb anything I ate. I lost about 30 pounds in one of the unhealthiest ways there could ever be to losing weight. Every time I ate, my intestines would become spastic and my body would completely flush everything out of my system; before it even had a chance to digest. I was literally getting NO nutrition. This left me with that wonderful (not) symptom of fatigue. When I say fatigue, I mean severe. I would get tired just from standing! While my boyfriend and I would have a conversation in the kitchen I would have to sit down on one of my children’s stools because my body just couldn’t even stand there. It was terrible; and with two young children (4 & 2 at the time) it was so mentally defeating knowing that I just didn’t have the energy to be the best mom I could be to them.

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This fall my daughter started school and it was those afternoons when my fatigue would be the highest and I felt such guilt that I was too tired for my daughter after not seeing her all day while she was at school. The fatigue symptoms were challenging because it not only made me tired but it left me irritable and with a very short fuse. I carried so much guilt, but I thought there is nothing I can do about this.

How Crohn's Disease Affects the Body

In October 2015 I finally decided “I can’t live like this,” continuing these “experiments” of reducing IBS symptoms to no relief and scheduled a colonoscopy for October and a cat scan for November 2015. During the colonoscopy they found ulcers and inflammation at the end of my small intestine, and the cat scan showed inflammation in the same area on the outside of the intestine. This led to my official diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. Directly following the cat scan, my GI prescribed me my first set of steroids (Enticorte) that were supposed to help begin the remission process. Honestly, they did absolutely nothing for me or my symptoms.

I finally got to the point where I was just like “OKAY, you know what? I am going to give this Shakeology a shot! If anything, I’ll at least know by body is getting some proper nutrition and I’ll be able to stop taking my probiotics. I’m sick of taking medicine and capsules of EVERYTHING!” I signed up as a coach and received my first shipment of Vegan Shakeology the second week of December. I personally chose the Vegan shakes because I have lactose intolerance and wasn’t sure how whey would affect me.

Shakeology has changed so much for me! 

I actually have the energy to play with my kids and spend enjoyable time with them without feeling weak or fatigued.

December 2015 was my first month of Shakeology! I did have to slowly introduce it to my system for the first 2 days. Within the first week my energy levels were higher and my fatigue was almost non-existent! I felt like my old self again! I had energy! I didn’t get tired just standing there and I had energy to be the mom I want to be with my kids.

I was hooked after that!

I spent a good two years thinking there was no end in sight to these debilitating symptoms. A very long two years wondering if I was ever going to feel better again, believing there was nothing I could do about it.

But there was, and it was as simple as drinking Shakeology every day, guaranteeing that I would be getting seriously needed nutrition and that my body and mind would be able to perform better in all of my roles.  I am currently (February 2016) entering month 3 of drinking Shakeology every day. It is still successfully demolishing that ugly fatigue symptom and I am seeing more regulation with my digestive issues. I do at this point still take medications for IBS and Crohns, but by far the Shakeology has had more effectiveness than the Crohn’s medication has. . I have seen more regulation in my digestion, I no longer have to take a multitude of probiotics, daily vitamins and other supplemental capsules, my body is absorbing the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and my energy levels have risen significantly. 

All in all, Shakeology has by far allowed me to see the most improvement with my symptoms. I am beyond thankful I found this amazing (and delicious) way to help properly nourish my body and relieve some of my worst symptoms! I cannot say it has “cured” me. I have Crohn’s and it is incurable. But I will say, with the honest truth, that Shakeology has made the biggest and most effective impact on my, my symptoms, my health and my life. 

So what exactly is Shakeology? Shakeology is an extremely nutrient dense shake. It's more than just a protein shake. As depicted in the picture above it contains so much more than your typical protein drink or supplemental drinks. Shakeology contains more than 60 natural ingredients from around the world!  The co-creator Darin Olien literally travels around the world studying, researching, and locating the most whole, nutrient rich super foods the Earth has to offer us. (I want his job!) Sadly, most of the ingredients are not from America because of the amount of GMO products that are grown here. However, this is reassuring, knowing that these ingredients are not contaminated and are picked in their purest, most natural forms. How often do you come across something like this? 

Check out Darin Olien on Shakeology here!! I love his passion!

If you are interested in learning more about Shakeology and would like more info follow the links below:

Contact me through my Facebook page

Check out Shakeology 

or email me at rachelina2317 at gmail dot com 

**Disclaimer: Shakeology is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. However we do have thousands of customer testimonials and success stories featuring a wide variety of health issues that have been helped. Please reference Facebook.com/Shakeology and Shakeology.com/results-reviews-success-stories for more information.**

The Beginning of My Adventure in Wellness Coaching

Here I go! It is December, the last month of 2015. The time of year where we gear up for the holidays, reflect on the year passed and think about what goals we may or may not keep in the New Year. Well, I'm doing things a little differently this year! Of course I'm gearing up for the holidays and I'll be reflecting on the year passed in a moment the one thing I'm doing differently... I've already made my goals for the New Year. 

Better yet, I've already committed to them and began working on them and transitioning my lifestyle to work for them. I have made choices to change and for the better. I am officially (in-training) a Fitness and Wellness Coach for the company BeachBody. And holy crap am I excited. It's crazy! And a year ago, this is so not where I thought I would be right now. 

Let me back track a bit, especially for those who don't know me. I was diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) when I was 15 (almost 12 years ago.) It disrupted life here and there but otherwise it wasn't much of a concern, until I had my second child two years ago. Then everything took a turn for the worse. I was having severe digestive problems and they were getting worse everyday. I ended up having to lessen my hours at work and then ultimately leave my job a year ago because I was in no fit state to be able to work under the conditions I was facing. It was tough. I ended up jobless and depressed. Since I was still under the impression that I had IBS I realized I needed to make some seriously life changes. (I have since been diagnosed with Crohn's as of November 2015.)

IBS can be triggered by the foods you eat, so I was on my own experimental elimination diet for about a year and a half. 

IBS can be triggered by stress and anxiety, so I contacted a counselor, was prescribed anxiety medication, but also knew I need to come up with my OWN mental toolbox of sorts of ways to practice living a calmer life. One of my ways to relax was to practice yoga, which ended up making me realize I liked and felt my bodies need to be active. 

The 3 Things I needed to work on at the beginning of 2015:

• Eating Healthier
• Stressing Less, Practice Mindfulness Techniques
• Exercising

And then one day a Facebook friend, shared a post by this wonderful woman who coached a fitness and health accountability group. You know that Law of Attraction thing??! Yeah, this was it for me! The universe was basically screaming at me "Rachel! Right here, this is exactly what you need!!" And I joined, I was so scared because I only knew literally 1 person in this group, but I did it! I joined! I knew that if I had a group of people or even this one coach who was there to support or cheer me on, people that were on somewhat of the same level of wanting to better themselves, that I would stay accountable with my actions! Honestly, the more I shared with the group, or even just checked in to see how others were doing the more I became motivated and inspired to keep growing.

Growing! That's what we do in life right? In childhood our bodies grow. After our bodies grow, we have to not only maintain them but allow our minds to grow as well. That is what I'm doing in life. I want to grow as a person, mother, friend, motivator. 

After a year of growing with this group of ladies and my amazing coach; after being on the fence about so many at-home job opportunities since I still can't work outside the home; and after realizing how happy I feel about the choices I am making I decided it was time to share it with others. 

I am officially a BeachBody coach!! I am a fitness and wellness coach!!

It is so exciting when you take the reins, take control of your life. Only you can create your own happiness, you know that right? And if you forgot, this is your reminder!! 

I want to share my story and my growth with everyone who wants to make changes in their lives. Be it mentally, physically, or nutrition! Motivating and inspiring others not only feels amazing, it is amazing. Something changed my life, someone stood by and gave me their support and wisdom and inspiration to keep going and to make those changes. That someone was my coach and she has become a friend that I am more than blessed and thankful to have made. 

I want to be that someone for someone else. I want to inspire those who want to make changes, I want them to believe that they can do it, to motivate them. To see them achieve their successes, while still also achieving mine in the process. I think what we can do to help other people just surpasses so much of the wrong in this world. 

I finally found something I am passionate about and its this! It's living a healthy and well life. It's engaging with others and helping them overcome their obstacles. It's about growing as a person and inspiring others to grow as the human beings that we were made to be. We were given such an amazing opportunity, being born into these amazing human bodies. Why not live them to our fullest and try to better these lives we were given as much as we can! That is what I am passionate about. And I hope that in your own way you are too! 

I am so excited for this new adventure. I can't wait to connect and reconnect with the people that I already know and meet new people along the way. 

Are you ready to make your goals and lifestyle changes? 

On Facebook?

Check out my Wellness page here

If you would like to become a member of my accountability group you can message me on the wellness page above or email me at My email

Not on Facebook but interested in joining? Click the email link above :)

Interested in becoming a BeachBody member: Click Here

Interested in Shakeology: Click Here

(Pidgeon Pose: One of my favorite)