Welcome to my Wellness Blog!

HOW I GOT HERE...

My beginning was July 1956, the second child of my parents. I was a healthy seven pound girl that, only a month after my birth, started to have digestive problems. Naturally, my parents took me to the best doctor they knew to try to uncover why I could not hold down formula. At birth, the doctor told my mother that she could not breastfeed my brother or I, so formula was the next best nutritional option. After many grooling medical tests, the doctor said I was what they called then, a “throw up baby”. Once I began walking I luckily stopped throwing up. From then on, I was an active, full of energy child.

My parents worked full time and daycare was not popular in those days so I was babysat weekly from age 3 to 6. I went to a girl-only boarding school from 6 to 11. Coming home on the weekends was a joy, as I could wrestle with my brother and let my energy out... to the dismay of my parents and my quiet and calm brother.

The digestive issues never came back but at the age of 6 years old I started to have skin issues that mainly affected my feet. Around this time, I also suffered from migraines. A series of medical tests revealed that there was no problem with my head or brain so aspirin was the medicine that would calm the pain. As for my skin, cortisone was the hope for a cure. So I then became an athlete at the age of 11 and that was a great source to release my energy and not feel these pains. Sadly, my headaches and skin just got worse with time.

Life has a funny way to show you the right direction for your personal growth. As an athlete, I was looked at by my trainer as a potential Olympic medalist. Unfortunately, because of my curiosity and attraction for the opposite sex, I would meet the boys in the weight room to compete and lift weights with them without supervision, of course. At 14, my trainer could see that I was having issues with my short distance runs, which was my specialty. After seeing a chiropractor and a sports medicine doctor, they came to the conclusion that my running career was over. Of course I pushed back but eventually came to the same verdict. However, it never stopped me from being active, just from being competitive.

As life moved forward, I realized that I loved taking care of people and was very interested in biology. Nursing became the new vision for myself. I worked during my studies in a large hospital in Montreal where I was born. I loved being with the patients but could not understand the limitations from the field nor the politics from the unions that were in place. It left me with a big question mark for my future career. Consequently, I tried many fields like being a waitress, a secretary, and an insurance agent. None of these were my passion.

At 25, I started my family with my then husband Daniel. We conceived a precious daughter, Julie, followed by my second daughter, Genevieve. It is at this point where life laid a different road for me. My mother, living in the same place as my husband and I, was still having stomach issues with the addition of thyroid problems. My mother was drinking two to four liters of CocaCola per day, although growing up we never really drank soda though. I could not understand why she was attracted to the soda but I could see that her stomach ulcers and other issues were getting worse. A new direction for her, as one of her friend's neighbors suggested, was to see an iridologist and nutritionist. My mom thought that was nonsense but since she was suffering she figured she would give it a go. The iridologist and nutritionist suggested herbs and other natural remedies. Shortly after, a few of her issues subsided and her pain was elevated.

So you guessed it, I felt a call! I was curious as to how changing a few things in your diet and taking a few herbs like cayenne pepper could help. Well, my curiosity as well as my mother’s was triggered and we both went to study iridology. I then continued on towards herbology and nutrition. Additionally in the early 1980’s, something that would help my mother was the introduction to colon therapy. Colon therapy sparked my interest and was then what guided my career.

I first wanted to get all the knowledge possible to help my mother as well as my husband who had suffered a brain injury from a motorcycle accident. This accident challenged him with seizures that slowed his ability to function as his true self. I studied and learned in hopes of helping my family, my mother and eventually myself. For the first time, at 27, since I was 6 years old, I was migraine free but my skin would still be a problem for years to come.

I realized after all my studies that food can be and IS the healer if you know the source of your issue. Like Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy healer”. At 27 I was now a certified iridologist, herb specialist, nutritionist and colon therapist; amongst other classes I took. I started my first master cleanse for seven days and after three days my head felt free of pain… my last migraine lasted 5 weeks, so ‘free’ is the word I experienced. Sadly, after going back to eating normal food the headaches (migraines) came back. My instructor and “mentor” at the time said you need to verify what food is causing it. Since you have not tested allergic you may be intolerant. So I started three week master cleanse and again was migraine free and my body felt amazing. Now my journey was to find the 'food enemy' that was part of my daily routine.

I have a saying today in my classes today, “Every bite you take is a life or death decision you make”... we all heard poison can be a slow killer. I believe that we live in a world of convenience and speed and we forget to look at the fuel our food is giving us. We would never compromise the gas we put in our car with water for the reason of saving money...why do it to our bodies??? My nutritional journey taught me that dairy is not my friend. If I do consume it, my headaches come back with a vengeance. For 38 years I have not drank milk or even yogurt and have not had a single headache. Don't get me wrong I do love cheese, “the French influence “ I call it. Yet especially as I am aging I see that cheese congests my digestion and bread creates inflammation.

Today we all hear about immune builders, what is healthy, what is not, ect...it can get confusing. The goal with my blogs, and all my teaching, is to simplify and show you my journey to health by sharing my ‘tricks.’ And there are many!

Let us all first enjoy life. As the worst enemy I have found in life is STRESS. Which my grandkids remind me of often. So. Let’s all breathe in and out and stay calm.

With love, freedom & knowledge ~ France Robert