From Chronic Illness to Healing | How I Stopped Patching Myself Up and Started Coming Home to My Body Through Food

I’ve always believed that true strength lies in vulnerability. And I think that it’s in the quiet moments that we often find our deepest truths. So today, I’m sharing a very personal chapter of my journey, not just to share a victory, but to lend a hand to anyone who has ever felt fragmented by their own body. Specially us, women.

It’s a story about that profound shift from fighting invisible battles to finally, and gently, welcoming a sense of wholeness.

If you caught my recent posts on Threads, you know I shared a quiet celebration: for the first time in years, my vitamin and mineral levels have risen above the minimum threshold, and that anemia that had become my shadow has finally receded.

To some, this might seem like a small, clinical detail. But for those of us living with chronic illness, it feels nothing short of a miracle. It is a tangible, beautiful sign that the new path I’ve taken is truly working.

From Feeling Like a "Frankestein" to Finding the Whole Picture

For years, my life was orchestrated by two complex companions: Hyperthyroidism and the Psoriasis that turned into Psoriatic Arthritis. These conditions are relentless, and they had been quietly draining my body, and mind, vitality.

But the greatest weight wasn’t the physical pain or the fatigue; it was the feeling of being a collection of broken pieces. A "medical mosaic", a "Frankestein", where each specialist saw only their tile. The dermatologist my skin, the endocrinologist my thyroid, the rheumatologist my joints. No one saw the entire picture, the whole person. I was in an exhausting cycle of temporary fixes, never addressing the source.

The turning point arrived with a new doctor who saw me. Not a chart, but the person. She listened with her full attention, ordered expansive labs, and connected dots others had missed. She illuminated how my two conditions are deeply intertwined, sharing common roots and how they burdened my system. For the first time, it wasn't about managing symptoms; it was about understanding the whole ecosystem of my body.

This new, holistic view was heavily based on scientific data. She explained how chronic inflammation from the Psoriasis relentlessly consumes nutrients like Vitamin D. And recent studies show that for patients like me, a much higher, continuous level of Vitamin D supplementation is often necessary - far beyond the conventional minimum - to help regulate the immune system. She also highlighted the aggressive rate at which my body metabolizes Vitamin B12, making constant supplementation vital to combat the profound fatigue. Furthermore, she linked the Hyperthyroidism not only to the rapid depletion of calcium (which I already knew) but also to increased iron metabolism, a factor that contributes to the very anemia I had been dragging around for more than a decade. This knowledge changed everything.

And by changing treatment protocols and understanding that, in my case, supplements were not just to do a quick fix, but a lifelong necessity, the whole game changed.

The Awakening: Nourishment as a Love Language

One of my most humbling realizations was about nourishment. As a former dancer, my entire identity was woven with threads of "eating less", always. I chased an aesthetic of lightness, believing it was strength. The truth was, I was chronically undernourishing a body that was already burning through its reserves at an alarming rate.

The wake-up call came with a punch: by 30, my body showed signs of significant calcium loss. The very framework that was meant to carry me was weakening. The pursuit of a certain kind of lightness had left me feeling profoundly heavy with fragility. It was a moment of deep reckoning, a call to redefine strength entirely.

The Scale as a Tool of Liberation, Not Limitation

I’ve always spoken candidly about my resistance to weighing food (I won't hide it since you can find articles about it here). For me, it echoed a past of restriction and control. But my doctor alonside my brilliant nutritionist reframed it as the most loving act of care. She gently explained that this wasn't about limitation; it was about guaranteeing. It was a promise to my body: "You will receive the precise building blocks (the proteins, the fats, the carbohydrates) you need to repair, to thrive, to feel safe and your mind won't be able to fool you."

This year, I made a sacred commitment to myself. To listen to my skin, to honor my thyroid, and to calm my mind.

Alongside this intentional nourishment, I embraced the profound practice of Somatic Education. This has been part of my healing - learning to truly inhabit my body, to sense its subtle language, and to actively soothe my nervous system. The nutrition fortified my body, but the somatics taught it how to come home to peace.

And the result? It feels like grace.

I feel stronger, from the inside out. The scale is no longer a judge but a guide, reflecting capacity and care. Most importantly, I am filled with a quiet, sustainable energy, the kind that allows you to not just walk your path, but to dance along it with a heart full of hope.

If you are on your own journey and feel like a collection of disconnected parts, my loving invitation to you is this: seek the practitioner who sees the whole you. And please, look at your plate not with judgment, but with the intention of a loving caregiver. Nutrition is not a magic cure, but it is the most foundational act of love we can offer our bodies. It is the map that guides us back home to ourselves.

What was the biggest turning point on your own health journey? Share your thoughts with me!