Hello! My name is Julie Stady. I am a Registered Nurse and Functional Nutrition Counselor. We all have a desire to be well. A desire to feel our best in order to be our best for all those we serve and love, and for ourselves. My passion for discovering my optimal health and wellness began after receiving a diagnosis of MS in 2006 and Lupus in 2013, after having my second baby. I was prescribed many medicines that led to side effects that begged for more medicines to limit side effects. As a nurse, I had learned medicine was my only hope of being well. Doctors did not paint a positive picture of my future and said I just needed to find ways to accommodate myself in life and “learn to deal with it.” Fast forward a few years, my little girl, at age 9, was on the verge of an autoimmune diagnosis herself. We were told to “wait and see'' what happens. My heart was broken and I felt like I was failing her. I did not want her on medication. Watching her battle the pain and fatigue was extremely difficult.
I began a mission to figure out WHY. Why are so many suffering from autoimmune disease and why is chronic illness on the rise? Why is this happening to my little girl so young? I knew the food we eat can have an effect on how we feel but I did not yet understand the science of nutrition and the physiology of food in our bodies. I thought that avoiding fast food and getting in our fruits and veggies was enough. The physiology of food in our bodies and how food can affect us physically, mentally, and emotionally is not taught in conventional nursing school or medical school. So I deep dove into educating myself, sorting fact from fiction, lots of prayer, and ultimately received my certification in Functional Nutrition Counseling. This education, paralleled with my nursing education and complete paradigm shift, and the Lord’s help, has given me the tools needed to keep both my and my daughter’s autoimmune expression and symptoms at rest… without medication!
As a Functional Nutrition Counselor, my role is to fill in the gap that currently exists in our healthcare system… thinking functionally; discovering the root cause of your symptoms and/or illness and then working together to bring resolution. I have a passion for educating others about the physiology of food in our bodies, discovering the whole person as an individual (not a diagnosis), and seeking out the root cause of illness rather than just treating symptoms. I enjoy teaching others about nutrition and believe that God gave us all we need on this Earth to survive, heal and thrive. Life is a gift and we have an opportunity and responsibility to nurture our bodies as best as we can.