Piecing together your health

Sara’s early exposure to a healthy lifestyle didn’t guarantee a smooth and challenge-free journey. She too had to piece together her own health and experienced the healing power of real food!

Episode #11

“Health is like a big puzzle and it doesn’t have to come together all at once. It’s about slowly putting together pieces and figuring out what works best for you.”


Sara Yadlowsky is a board-certified and practicing functional medicine health coach with Carolina Total Wellness and on our EHOP coaching team.   While she currently leads clients in putting pieces together towards healing, her own journey to health was not void of challenges and setbacks.  She had to piece together her own health and through her journey experienced the power of real food!

Sara was the youngest of 5 kids and raised by a health-conscious Mom.  Her Mom served as a terrific role model and instilled a love of health and wellness growing up.  She consistently cooked all of their meals at home, kept the pantry free from junk food, and rarely ate out.   Sara wasn’t always a fan of the healthy pantry selections and she may or may not have admitted that she used to scour her friends’ pantries indulging in the pop-tart or soda that was so rare to find in her own house! Even though the health-conscious approach wasn’t always appreciated by the kids at the time, Sara now appreciates the sacrifice her Mom made to regularly provide a home-cooked meal for the family.

Sara was also a physically active kid growing up playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, participating in gymnastics, and horseback riding,  She even got involved with the aerobics craze while in high school!  #jazzercise  With this type of upbringing and exposure to a healthy lifestyle, you’d think Sara didn’t have to struggle for her health.  Well, you’ll see that’s not the case.

She experienced a setback in her mid-30s when she started feeling horrible bloating and uncomfortable gut issues.  She was surprised since she didn’t eat poorly, didn’t have a history of IBS, and wasn’t struggling with a lot of stress.   She tried all sorts of doctors who ran a variety of tests but to no avail.  It wasn’t until she stumbled upon a naturopathic doctor who enlightened her to the idea that the food she was consuming was causing symptoms, specifically the soy in her diet.

Sara began investigating the labels on the foods she consumed often and found soy protein isolate to be a leading ingredient.  She cut out those foods along with the soy in her diet and within a matter of weeks her bloating disappeared!  This was also the first time she saw the impact of food sensitivities. She learned that while not as detrimental as a food allergy, it can still create a negative response in our bodies.

Later on, she began to experience ache joints that she believed could be the onset of arthritis.  One doctor shared that this was normal and there was no remedy, however, another doctor shared with her that there may be a solution.  With some investigation on her own, she discovered that gluten was known to produce this type of inflammation in joints.  She took advantage of her earlier experience when she cut out specific foods and decided to eliminate gluten from her diet this time.  She again found complete relief and healing with this natural approach.

Sara reassures us that it’s important to know where to start and lab work with a doctor may be a necessary step.  We should also embrace our individuality since we will all respond uniquely to a variety of foods and healing modalities.  She encourages us to dig in, piece together ideas and find the solution that works best for us!

She provides some informative tips for following elimination protocols such as the Whole30 diet but does highlight the importance of lasting health and wellness needs to include more than just our nutrition.  Health is about managing our stress, improving our sleep, committing to regular movement, and surrounding ourselves with uplifting relationships.  Our health is a puzzle that we have to patiently and individually put together.

She leaves us with a simple, yet powerful health tip that will inspire you to get back in the kitchen!  Not just for yourself, but also for your children or family!  Sara is leading her 2 girls by example in the kitchen just like her Mom did for her.  She’s reaping the rewards of her own commitment to health, the patience in putting the pieces together, and fully embracing and enjoying a home-cooked meal with her own girls!

If you’re looking for support from EHOP Health for your company or organization visit www.ehophealth.com. Are you an individual looking for health support? Visit www.journey2health.com/individuals


Key Takeaways

  • Her Mother’s healthy influence on her and her family

  • A healthy start to life, but not without setbacks and challenges

  • Piecing together her own health after experiencing physical ailments

  • How she healed herself From long term gut discomfort and Arthritis

  • Health is bigger than just your food

  • Her practical health tip to inspire you in the kitchen!