Mary Ellen Karst

After 30+ years as a prosecutor, I realized that the stress of the job was killing me.   I spent nights, weekends, and vacations working for justice for crime victims. I also spent those same nights, weekends and vacations gaining weight, suffering from increasingly more frequent and more intense migraines, developing IBS, and trashing my thyroid and adrenals.  My beautiful dog had enough sense to put himself to bed at 10:00 p.m., while I stayed up all night working.  I set myself up for chronic diseases to take control of my life.  I was miserable.  I knew that I wasn’t OK, but I didn’t know how to get out or how to get better.  Eventually, I realized that getting better was never going to happen if I stayed, so I left the work I loved.As I was trying to figure out what to do next, I had a life-altering accident:  I fell down the stairs one morning.  I had many serious injuries including a concussion which left me with no memory of the fall.  Everything happens for a reason.  I didn’t know it then, but while recovering in a rehabilitation facility, I used what I later learned to by my signature character strengths of hope and love of learning, to find my new path.  I discovered the world of functional medicine.During my time in that facility, I worked with wonderful conventional medical professionals:  I did all of my physical and occupational therapy.   In my free time, I devoured all the functional medicine podcasts and blogs I could find.  What really resonated with me was the message that I am responsible for my own health.    I studied.  I used what I learned to completely change my health and consequently my life.  I have lost the weight, my body functions again, and I am happy.  It isn’t magic, but it sure feels like it is.  I completed the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy and became an FMCA-certified health coach in order that I may use this knowledge to help others.More than anything, what I have learned is that our long-term health isn’t up to our doctor, a team of specialists, or our HMO plan.  Our health is significantly affected by all the simple, seemingly ordinary, decisions we make every day.   The decisions we make about movement, nutrition, purpose and social connection, stress management and lifestyle really matter.  They form the foundation of our health.Your future health and joy are up to you.  I would love to be part of it.