Courtney Schmidt’s Health Journey
Ten years ago I’d just had my second baby and was prepping to go to the beach. My circa-2000’s Seventeen Magazine brain knew I just had to be “swimsuit ready,” and decided to try out this Whole 30 thing I’d seen all over social media in an effort to drop a bit of baby weight. (Spoiler: not consuming any sugar and focusing on eating lots of fruits, vegetables and quality protein was wildly successful)
Our family had been gradually making changes to our lifestyle and eating habits since I’d gotten pregnant with our daughter a few years before. We’d gotten rid of harmful ingredients in our household supplies as I’d learned little things here and there, made some changes to our dinner routines and dabbled in essential oils, but I’d yet to give much thought to different food groups and how they affect the way we feel. The minimal time I spent understanding the Whole 30 rules and planning out what I’d be eating was enough to peak my curiosity.
The morning I’d planned to start my Whole 30, I forgot all about it, and had half an Alter Eco chocolate bar for breakfast before remembering. I think I only completed about 20 days of the Whole 30 before we left for our trip (where I quickly abandoned everything I’d just put into practice), but I remember noticing a drastic difference between Whole 30 eating and vacation eating and the way I felt. I even learned to love some new veggies that I’d always found repulsive.
Because I’m the chef in our house, my family ate whatever I was eating, and my daughter, who had been having some health issues, saw some positive changes as a biproduct of going without dairy, gluten or refined sugars for a few weeks. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect the dots right away, and the next several months brought on a series of health issues that sent us searching and left us exhausted.
A year later, we moved into a new home, and as the dust of a toddler, a newborn, postpartum hormones, and two-moves-in-12 months settled around me, the issues my daughter was having came into focus, and I got to work learning everything I could about how to help her.
We’d seen how much essential oils like frankincense, peppermint and rosemary had helped her struggling respiratory system, and I started learning more about how God’s creation could work with our bodies to bring about healing. We began to change her diet and saw significant improvements in her physical, mental and emotional health. Shortly after, we had a major milestone in our journey.
God intervened to direct us in a new way through a combination of a pediatrician we’d seen a few times, some good friends, and a well-timed marketing email. All in a single week, big answers to our biggest problems just kind of landed in our lap, and I spent a sleepless week digging into the connection between the health of our gut, the way our brain’s function depends on our total body health, and how the weak immune system and persistent allergies and reactions my daughter was experiencing could all be connected.
Book reading, video watching, and late night internet searches led me to some modern day authorities on holistic wellness, and we decided to try investing a little extra money into drastically changing the way our family ate, as we’d learned that it’s not just what you eat, but where it comes from that matters.
I did my best to plan meals that weren’t just filing but nourishing, and as changes brought about improvement, I couldn’t help but channel the hope we were gaining into more learning. I kept learning new information either out of necessity or on accident, and what we brought into our home began to shift in a big way.
Over the next couple years, I learned an immense amount of information, and it overflowed in my conversations with friends and family because I was so filled with joy that our great God would so intricately design his creation to be so interconnected. I knew that my experiences were preparing me for something, and I so enjoyed when something I had learned could help someone else.
A couple years later after we’d welcomed our third kiddo and before Covid shut everything down, my husband began to have some significant health issues. He’d been super supportive of all my health and wellness dreams but hadn’t quite adopted all I’d been learning. After several dead ends and increasingly declining health he started asking what I would recommend for him, even if it meant big habit changes. The effort required to heal his body was a long, uphill climb, but one we would do over and over again to be where we are today. It was such a joy to see him take ownership of his health, to become a partner in the pursuit of better, and to be like-minded in what we brought into our home and how we cared for our family. I often share with people how quickly he surpassed me in knowledge, and I frequently ask him what he thinks about new information I’ve heard, a podcast I’ve listened to or something I read.
The way we eat and the products we use look very different today than they did 10 years ago. My confidence in what's on our plate and in our showers and under our sinks has grown as I've learned, and there are plenty of times where I amend a wrong understanding or improve upon a change we made quickly.
Sometimes people ask me questions or ask for ideas, and I get the feeling from our interaction that they think I can’t relate to where they are, or I have a lot of judgement towards them.
I think it’s important for you to know there was a time I was Pinning breakfast recipes made with Mrs. Butterworth's syrup and canned biscuits, with crescent roll dough, and cake mix and canned apple pie filling.
I once used an entire bottle of red food coloring to make red velvet cake cookies.
I used to buy the absolute cheapest bread. Like 49 cents cheap.
I used to buy the cheapest dish soap that was orange and the cheapest laundry detergent and I made homemade bread with bleached enriched flour.
I served my guests “fancy” hot chocolate mix with artificial flavoring and artificial sweetener.
I didn’t wake up one day and decide to stop. I changed as I learned because when we know better we do better, and so I write this to encourage you!
If your hormones are out of control, if you’re anxious or depressed, if your weight keeps you from living an active life or your arthritis is debilitating or you have a chronically sick child or a child with ADHD or whatever your thing maybe - make a change! Even just one change!
We are the gatekeepers of our homes! The warriors for our family! Just because our best today looks different than our best yesterday or last month or seven years ago doesn’t mean we weren’t doing our best, and it shouldn’t keep us from doing better!!
If we fail forward, if we allow every failure to teach us something, then every day we should be better!
Live Transformed Co was birthed out of a deep desire to come alongside those who desire better for themselves and the people they love, and we would love to partner with you in your pursuit.
