Alex's Journey to Hi Eenergy

I’ve always been a health nut. Even as a kid I loved salads with as many fixings and colors as possible; grilled chicken, broccoli, purple cabbage, avocado, and pepperoncini elevate tasty to perfection. My mom cooked from scratch and we rarely had the prepackaged snacks that line the inner isles of grocery store shelves. Like any kid, I loved Doritos and Honey Bunches of Oats and these delights were one of the highlights of sleepovers at friends’ houses. But I also enjoyed the whole foods and fresh produce my parents prepared at home.

By 8 years old I was an elite swimmer, setting pool records and qualifying for national competitions. Even as a kid with Olympic aspirations, I knew that nutrition played an important role in supporting my rigorous training schedule. I was proud that my mom valued healthy food, and I held fast to the standard recommendations of minimizing sugar and maximizing lean protein with plenty of carbs to support long hours of daily training. Swimming transitioned into a dedicated four year collegiate triathlon career. Yet looking back, despite doing everything ‘right’ for peak health, I had symptoms of insulin resistance and was on the road to diabetes.

Fast forwarding to my electrical engineering desk job, I became frustrated with the sudden onset of lower back pain. When most would chalk it up to the ‘normal’ trials of adulthood, I experimented with an anti-inflammatory ketogenic diet. The pain quickly vanished! But then Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) hit me like a brick. Intense pain, bloating, lethargy, and brain fog so bad that I couldn’t even remember two moves for my first dance at my wedding in three months.

I worked with a functional medicine practitioner with a specialty in the emerging science of gut health. With her help I slowly chipped away at healing over the course of several years, but I still couldn’t manage high-FODMAP foods like garlic and onion. I don’t think there’s an ingredient harder to avoid when eating out or with friends than garlic or onion. I spent years feeling awkward not ordering at restaurants and turning down food my friends worked hard to prepare.

In my spare time I began to dive into the science of digestion, excited by Karli’s newfound love of nutrition that now rivals my own. Within months of my additional self-directed adjustments I was feeling fully healed and back to indulging in garlic and onion! While I’ve (sadly) limited my salad intake to modest levels, a breakfast of steak and eggs helps ease the heartache while my boosted energy levels and mental sharpness are my body and mind thanking me.

There remains a universe of mystery in the realm of gut health. We do know that what you eat has significant and rapid effects on your gut, and an unhealthy gut can lead to any number of diagnoses, from anxiety and depression to many autoimmune disorders. Your brain may be your CPU, but science is discovering your gut operates the keyboard. I’ve healed my gut, and we’ve helped clients ditch anxiety and depression meds by improving theirs.

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I now read nutrition research study reports for fun. I enjoy diving deep and thinking critically. For example, going beyond the headline of a seminal study informing the widespread recommendation to reduce sodium intake, I discovered that among the study participants, greater salt intake was strongly correlated with higher rates of smoking. How can you conclude anything about salt when your study and control groups have drastically different smoking habits? Further, salt is a key ingredient in stomach acid production. Low stomach acid production means you can’t properly digest or absorb protein, fats, iron, zinc, or magnesium. Instead, food sits in the stomach undigested and putrefies, leading to acid reflux and SIBO. Over 10% of American adults are on a PPI prescription to lower stomach acid production to prevent reflux, yet for many it may very well be that low stomach acid is inducing their reflux in the first place. Despite the mainstream recommendations to reduce my salt intake, more salt was instrumental in kicking my SIBO to the curb for good.

This phenomenon of addressing a symptom with a medication that ultimately leads to lifelong prescriptions is all too common. Through my own health journey and helping friends and family along on their own, I’ve discovered that more often than not, the best solutions come from delicious and nurturing food that doesn’t include a laundry list of side effects.

My views on a healthy diet are unrecognizable from what I believed as a young athlete. It’s been a decade since I’ve trained athletics competitively. I haven’t had gym access in 3 years. My exercise has been hiking, a few bodyweight strength movements, and the occasional bike ride. Despite this, my performance now is nearly what it was during the peak of my collegiate triathlon career and I largely attribute my success to the Hi Energy lifestyle! An engineer at heart, I’m always seeking to improve my designs and prove my current ideas obsolete and I’ll make changes in the future when new information is discovered. Right now, my body and brain are feeling energized and I’m excited to do the things I love. That’s ultimately what being healthy means to me.