My Experiences Working with Dr. Diana Joy Ostroff,  Naturopathic Physician; Expert in Holistic and Natural Healing

This year, after seeing many doctors and having no success in improving my health conditions, I started to research a good naturopath. When I lived in Canada, my dad found a doctor who was also a naturopath that changed his life (my dad has suffered from many of the same health problems that I have). That doctor discovered my allergies, and I achieved huge progress from following his advice. After years of following his advice I no longer needed an inhaler, my leaky gut syndrome healed and my liver was no longer weak. I noticed huge changes within the first month. At that time, I cut out sugar, wheat and dairy.

  As I got older, got married and had kids, my health seemed to get more and more sensitive. I had adopted poor habits, and my wheat allergy turned into celiac disease. Even though I thought I was doing okay and eating relatively well, my health continued to plummet. It got to the point where I would have flare ups the entire day! I became dependent on medication, and my digestive system was totally shot. Even water was enough to make my stomach balloon. My health continued to drop, and I was having a hard time getting through each day.

I had a menstrual cycle for six months straight. I felt emotional, tired, and it was hard to concentrate. It was stressful not knowing what to do. I would push myself to get through the things I had to do. I have two kids. I don't have the option of sitting and doing nothing. They don't deserve a lazy mom either. But it was always a struggle inside. I put on a smile and didn’t talk about my health problems with my friends and family besides my husband and my parents. I would do my best to hide the fact that I was having troubles from stomach pains and just trying to get through the day. I was always counting down the hours of the day. It was no way to live.

During my first appointment with Dr. Joy, she looked at me and said, “What could I possibly help you with? You look fine enough.” She went ahead and did all the health analysis and testing and was surprised to find that I was a total mess! My liver was weak and inflamed. My thyroid was dead. I was completely dehydrated. My body was toxic! My digestive system was inflamed and weak. I had parasites, a candida overgrowth, and I was totally addicted to sugar! My hormones were completely out of whack. She told me she could help me. She also said she had been much like me, and that is why she dedicated her life to health. I was ecstatic that she took the time to get to know me and understand me instead of dismissing me with useless information or just writing up a prescription.

I did everything she said and worked with her for three months. Every week, I would have follow-up appointments. She reassured me, but said this could take a year or so to get back to good health. The fact that she thought I had hope was enough for me to keep going. And yes, my symptoms were lessening. After my candida detox and parasite detox that she created for me, I was no longer feeling addicted to sugar and felt more calm. I wasn't having as many stomach spasms, and I no longer was throwing up as much. I was making progress, but at least once a week I would have some sort of flare up, and it would take me a few days to get back to normal. It seemed that I would eat something with wheat in it or something that was too harsh on my system. This would cause problems that disrupted my entire body. It was difficult to control my celiac disease and my sensitive digestive system. After three months of seeing Dr. Joy, I decided to change my diet to a plant-based diet following HCLFV lifestyle with raw-till-4 guidelines. The reason I chose this way of eating was because I was already eating mostly vegetables, based on her recommendations, and no longer eating junk. But I was still eating chicken, fish, and eggs and seemed to continue to have occasional flair ups with my digestion.

I did a lot of research and the fact that fruits and vegetables are the easiest on your digestive track made sense to me. If I am super sensitive and cannot digest easily, then maybe, if I’m consistently easy on my digestion, it will be able to heal. It also made sense to me that natural food has to be better than something that is man-made! Why did I think for so long that eating protein bars and processed health foods were a good choice! I told myself that I would try it for 30 days. The first few weeks I had more improvement with my overall health than I had ever had before. My doctor said, “Whatever it is you are doing, keep doing it!” After a month of eating this way and passing through the detox symptoms, I was starting to feel energy and vibrancy like never before! It was extremely exciting to see and feel progress. For about the first two weeks, my skin started to break out, and I had headaches. My husband asked me “Are you sure about this plant-based thing? It doesn't seem to be doing you much good.” I welcomed the symptoms as a sign that my body was detoxing and pushed through it, and sure enough, improvements started to show rapidly! My stomach was no longer spasming, I did not have a single flare up, my mind felt clear, I had energy, and I was happier and calmer than I had been in years! Even my menstrual cycle began to be normal again, and I felt stable! I felt in control! Even

sleep was deeper! All of my test scores continued to improve to the point that I am now indeed a normal, healthy human being! Something that I had given up on. I have Dr. Joy to thank for keeping me on track, for being willing to work with me and guiding me back to health. I think that my improvement was fast because of advice I took from her for three months prior. The way she explains it is, when you have pipes that have rust and build up you need to clean them out. Something that food alone would take a long time to do. To speed up progress, having remedies may have been the rocket launcher. I know they say you can improve your health through food alone, and I suppose you can, but this was my experience. I was taking Chinese remedies for hormonal balance, for candida, parasites, and mercury toxicity. I was also taking pills for digestion and inflammation. I was dependent on drugs prior for digestion, and she helped repair that. I take psyllium, one teaspoon at night with a large glass of water and a fibre pill. That is what helped me transition from drugs to normal bowel movements and to improve overall digestion. This is what worked for me. Fruits and veggies are whole foods and are a better choice than processed chemical ladened foods. That I know for sure. Eating this way has taught me to recognize the problem areas of my diet. It is re-learning how to eat, shop and cook all over again. I thought I was eating pretty awesome, but the fact of the matter was, I was still sick and getting worse. It is amazing the changes and transformations that have taken place. I feel like my real self for the first time in a long time. I will note...If I start to get sloppy with food combining and eat out a lot, I don't feel as good. I don't feel awful, but there is real magic to learning what to eat, and just as important for a sensitive person, how to eat! I hope this website can be a resource and a place where you will find some of your own health answers and support to a better you.