Healing Naturally A Global Perspective

Ever wondered if there's more to health than conventional medicine? Join us as we sit down with Vanessa Nixon, a traditional naturopathic doctor whose transformative journey from processed foods and chronic antibiotic use to holistic healing will leave you both inspired and enlightened. Vanessa's international experiences in Japan, India, and Germany have profoundly shaped her approach to health, bringing a unique global perspective to her practice. Hear how a simple, yet pivotal question at the age of 22 made Vanessa challenge the health choices she had always known, setting her on a path to natural healing and wellness.

In this episode, Vanessa shares intimate anecdotes about her struggle with long-term antibiotic use and its devastating impact on her microbiome and overall well-being. This eye-opening conversation not only sheds light on the importance of questioning conventional health practices but also offers valuable insights into the world of naturopathy. From her favorite spirit animal, the elephant, to the life-changing lessons learned from her travels, Vanessa's story is a compelling testament to the power of holistic health. Tune in for an inspiring chat that might just change the way you think about your own health journey.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:53

Hi, who are you? Thank you for joining in on the Mindfully Integrative Show, and this is Dr Damaris Maria Grossman, and we have an amazing mindful chat with Vanessa Nixon. She's a traditional naturopathic doctor and she has a wealth of knowledge and many things to kind of share with you and I'm so glad that you've made it on the show. Thanks so much for your time.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:16

I think it'll be awesome and I can't wait for those that can see your beautiful tapestry. In the back, I see the little elephant and a beautiful animal. I love it, love it. So thanks for being on the show and taking your time to teach others and to guide them in your knowledge, and so, what's a little fun fact, people don't know about you.

Speaker 2: 1:39

Well, actually the elephant is a great segue into that. A lot of people don't know that I've lived in a couple of different countries overseas. I've lived in Japan and India and Germany, and this is a tapestry that I got when I was living in India.

Speaker 1: 1:57

I was going to say that looks like an Indian one.

Speaker 2: 2:00

Yeah, elephants are definitely one of my favorite spirit animals Love it.

Speaker 1: 2:06

That's beautiful, oh, I was going to say there, or maybe Thailand.

Speaker 2: 2:09

Right, right. Yeah, I still want to make it to Thailand. I haven't been there yet.

Speaker 1: 2:14

No, I haven't either, but that'll be. That's a definitely a worthwhile trip soon. So talk to me about your journey to be a traditional naturopath and how that was and what. What got you there. Cause that isn't you know, that's not like a normal path in health, you know Right.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Right.

Speaker 1: 2:35

You know what I mean. It doesn't that people don't go. Oh, I'm this. You know what got you there? What?

Speaker 2: 2:41

It was definitely a journey and, uh, it really began, um, when I was probably a teenager, because I, um, I was one of those kids who grew up eating a lot of processed foods, a lot of junk foods, what I call, you know, packaged processed non-food substances, and by the time I was about 14, I was catching every cold, and every time I caught a cold it started to turn into bronchitis, and so this became a downward spiral for me in my health, and my mother was a nurse, and so she was pretty deeply entrenched in just the conventional medical model, and at the time, that was antibiotics.

Speaker 1: 3:34

That's all we know. That's all we know. Knew Coming from conventional to now integrate. That's all you know. That's all you're taught.

Speaker 2: 3:40

Right, right. And so I was put on antibiotics every time I got sick. And as this continued, I was getting sick, you know, six, eight times a year. And so after a couple of years, I was prescribed daily antibiotics, just continuous, oh, my goodness, daily.

Speaker 1: 3:59

Daily. Oh my God. What that did to your microbiome, oh my God.

Speaker 2: 4:06

Exactly, you know, by the time I was, you know, this went on for years. So by the time I was in my early 20s, I was just sick. All the time. It was affecting my quality of life. It was affecting, you know, my ability to, um, focus in school. It was affecting my work life, my, you know, relationships, um, and when it changed was probably I was 22 or 23. And a friend of mine was noticing that I was taking antibiotics every day and he asked why. So I told him the story and he asked me a question that nobody had ever asked me before. Throughout this whole journey, and I had never asked myself this question.

Speaker 2: 4:54

He asked is it helping? Just that one simple question made me stop and it just it flipped something in my in my brain, it flipped the switch. That was like you know what it's not helping, you know what it's not helping. And that question, just me stopping and thinking about that question, actually opened my mind to other questions Like okay.