Back in 2015, Laura Morrow owned a skin care business and volunteered on the board at her son’s preschool. After her second son was born, things started to spin out of control. She was struggling to make it through the day without a nap, and despite going to the gym almost daily, she couldn’t lose the baby weight.
At first, she blamed her symptoms on having a newborn and a toddler. But one morning when she woke up with severe pain in her feet and ankles, tingling in her wrists, and stiffness in her hands, she knew something was very wrong. As she started googling the symptoms, two terrifying words emerged: “autoimmune disease.”
Autoimmune disease occurs when your immune system starts attacking healthy tissue in your body instead of foreign invaders, like viruses and bacteria. The area that’s being attacked determines which disease you’re diagnosed with. For example, Hashimoto’s is when the thyroid is being attacked, and Rheumatoid Arthritis is the body attacking the joints.
Some of the most common symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, headaches and migraines, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, and trouble managing weight, as well as lesser-known symptoms like numbness and tingling in hands and feet, hair loss, skin rashes, and low-grade fever.
It sounds like a rare disease, but it’s not—almost 1 out of 5 women in the United States suffer from at least one of the more than 100 autoimmune diseases. Unfortunately, a diagnosis is very difficult and can take years.
When doctors were unable to provide a diagnosis after months of testing, Laura said “I was terrified that this might be my reality for the rest of my life.”
She decided to take control of her own health by changing her diet and lifestyle using the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), an anti-inflammatory diet that focuses on eating whole-foods including meat, vegetables, and fruit.
In just over three weeks, she was able to completely reverse her symptoms. The excruciating joint pain subsided, she had energy to play with her kids, and the weight finally started to melt away.
As friends saw her transformation and began to ask her about the changes that she had made, they started sharing their own stories of struggle. She began to realize that so many more women were suffering than she ever knew.
“As women, we’re always striving for perfection in everything. We’re trying so hard to be Superwoman and to take care of everyone else that we don’t have time to take care of ourselves,” says Morrow. “It’s so normal to feel tired and stressed out that we don’t even notice how sick we really are.”
Laura knew that if she could find relief from her symptoms, she could help other women do the same. “I wanted to shout out to every woman in the world that there is a better way: You don’t have to struggle through life anymore. You CAN take control of your own health and enjoy life again.”
She went back to school to become certified as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and now helps women reverse their own symptoms of autoimmune disease through diet and lifestyle, whether they have an official diagnosis or not. Laura works with each client to design a personalized protocol, which include nutrition recommendations and techniques to improve stress, anxiety, focus, mental clarity, and sleep.
One recent client diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis could barely walk the three blocks to pick up her kids from school. After six weeks of working with Laura, she was able to complete a 3-mile hike through Zion National Park. Another client celebrated 41 days without a migraine—after suffering multiple migraines a week for years.
Laura emphasizes, “Of course, as with anything in healthcare, results can never be guaranteed. But I truly believe that any time we make positive changes to our diet and lifestyle, it can change our lives for the better in ways that we can’t even imagine.”
Laura Morrow Wellness is based in Vienna, Virginia. Running a completely virtual business has allowed her to help dozens of clients locally and across the country.
For more information or to schedule a free online consultation, please visit www.lauramorrow.com.
Pictured at top:
Photo credit: Amanda Ghobadi, The Branding Babe
