130-Pound Weight Loss(in about 12 months)Guided Entirely by Nature

Rooted in Natural Healthcare from Birth

My grandfather was a chiropractor in the 1950s, and our family grew up with a deep respect for the body's innate ability to heal itself. We were raised with the understanding that our bodies were created to heal — if given the right opportunity. That foundation never left me. And when my grandmother passed away, I quit my job in Washington state and moved to San Diego within weeks to be with him — 90 years old, married 64 years, suddenly alone, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The man who taught me to trust the body's ability to heal was the same man I spent three years caring for at the end of his life.

My grandfather — chiropractor, 1950s

In my early 20s, I battled major clinical depression — including suicidal thoughts. I was depressed, so I turned to food. I was anxious, so I turned to food. The weight struggle didn't begin with a lack of willpower — it began with pain, and food was the only tool I had. That dark season shaped everything that came after, and it gave me a deep empathy for anyone who is suffering. It also made me acutely aware of how powerfully the mind, body, and spirit are connected — healing one without the others simply doesn't work.

The weight accumulated over the years that followed. By the time I reached my heaviest, I weighed 330 pounds and was dealing with high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and borderline diabetes. My general practitioner sat me down one day and told me bluntly: "Your only hope of losing weight is gastric bypass surgery." As a Certified Nursing Assistant, I had seen firsthand what happens when the body is treated exclusively through Western medicine — the long-term dependency on medications, the side effects, and the way the root causes of illness so often go unaddressed. I wasn't willing to accept either extreme measure.

Today, gastric bypass has been replaced by a new “miracle cure” — GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy. The medical system has simply swapped one extreme measure for another. And when I understood how GLP-1 medications actually work, I had the same thought I had about bypass surgery:
this doesn't fix anything.
So I found a different path — and it changed everything.

“I wasn’t willing to trade one extreme measure for another. I wanted to fix the actual problem.”

It Started With One Smell

Then came the moment that changed everything. The smell of a single essential oil awakened something in me that had been dormant for years — a spark of hope, a renewed sense of self-worth, a belief that healing was actually possible. That one experience was the starting point that launched an entire cascade of transformation. It ignited the desire to truly care for my body, and the motivation to pursue every tool that could help me heal. I often think about how different my life would look if I had never encountered that one bottle.

That smell was the catalyst for everything that followed — but not in the way you might expect. It wasn't that essential oils were new to me, or that I was starting from scratch. I had already been utilizing acupuncture, chiropractic care, and Standard Process supplements for decades. What that one smell did was something deeper: it helped me realize that there were other tools available to help me with my depression and anxiety besides using food. For the first time, I had something that addressed the emotional root of what I had been reaching for food to fix. That opened a door.

With that door open, I began to look into other ways to support and heal myself that I had never seriously entertained before. One of those was Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy — a powerful approach to understanding the inner parts of ourselves that drive our behaviors. That journey of deeper self-exploration ultimately led me to find an incredible personal trainer, someone I have now worked with twice a week for over five years — mostly over Zoom, and occasionally in person when he visits the area. None of that would have happened without that one smell.

I began using doTERRA's foundational wellness products — their supplements, probiotics, and complete wellness system. I also switched to doTERRA's cleaning products, laundry products, and personal care products, which helped detoxify not just my body but my entire home environment. For the first time, I had natural tools that gave my body the ability to more effectively manage my anxiety and depression — without having to turn to nutrient-deficient food, and in excess. These tools addressed the root of what I had been reaching for food to fix. Once those needs were being met in healthier ways, food simply no longer served the same purpose. I didn't have to fight it. I just didn't need it the same way anymore.

One of the most powerful shifts came from what doTERRA's foundational wellness bundle did for my nutrition. When my body finally began receiving the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients it actually needed to run optimally, something remarkable happened — my hunger and cravings began to quiet down. So much of what I had experienced as insatiable hunger wasn't really about food at all. My body had been crying out for basic nutrition, and when I kept feeding it nutrient-deficient calories, it stayed hungry because its foundational needs were never being met. Once those needs were finally addressed, my body stopped demanding more. The cycle that had driven my overeating for decades simply began to break.

What I didn't fully understand at the time — and what science has since confirmed — is that even people who eat well are often running on empty. Peer-reviewed research has documented significant declines in the nutrient content of common crops since the 1950s — up to 38% in key vitamins and minerals (Davis et al., 2004, Journal of the American College of Nutrition). Selective breeding for yield over nutrition, and rising CO₂ levels, have further diluted the nutrients in the fruits and vegetables we grow. That means even a clean diet may leave your body chronically short on the magnesium, zinc, and trace minerals it needs to regulate mood, energy, and hunger. The Foundational Wellness Bundle was one of the tools that helped me close that gap. (Watch the Dr. Mark Hyman video on this →)

It was only because of that preparation work — first building a healthy foundation from the inside out — that what happened next was possible. Then I discovered a free MasterClass by Dr. Susan Pierce Thompson, the founder of Bright Line Eating. Watching that MasterClass was the last piece of the puzzle I needed. The science she shared about the brain, food, and why willpower alone never works — it clicked with everything my body had already been building toward. The structure and clarity of Bright Line Eating, layered on top of the nutritional foundation doTERRA had built in my body, produced results that stunned even my doctor. My body was finally ready to let the weight go. And it did.

At 55 years old, I lost 130 pounds in 12 months. My blood pressure normalized. My sleep apnea resolved. My blood sugar returned to healthy levels. I am healthier, more energetic, and more vibrant than I have been in decades — guided entirely by the healing power of nature. And it all started with one smell.

Now my mission is to share this path with others. I believe everyone deserves to know that nature offers powerful tools for transformation. Whatever your health journey looks like, I am here to help you explore what is possible when you let nature guide the way.

That is why I created Nature Guided Health — to help you discover your own path to transformation, guided by the healing power of nature.