Wholistic Jen

By Jennifer Whitmire MS, MEd, MH, CHES, NEP

I want to start off by sharing my health journey. How did I get here? How am I a health coach? What does this really mean? Well, let me take you back to where it all began.

Discovering My Passion

I graduated from college with a degree in accounting, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that it wasn’t my true calling. My grandmother, who was battling cancer at the time, encouraged me to do some soul searching. She told me to find my passion and offered to help me go back to school if I truly knew what I was supposed to do. That’s when I started exploring what I was really interested in: food, cooking, and helping others get healthier.

Embracing Health Science

I had several jobs at the YMCA, and I watched people with various health concerns, but they were mostly concerned about their weight. Around the same time, a close friend needed a bone marrow transplant. I became deeply curious about the connection between lifestyle, diet, and health. Why did 2 seemingly healthy people close to me, my grandma and my friend, get so sick? My love for science led me to pursue a Master’s in Health Science, where I fell in love with nutrition and epidemiology (I had never even heard that word before my first class).

When I graduated, all of my classmates went to work at hospitals and gyms. Not what I wanted to do. How can I help people with their health outside of the hospital and gym? Back in the 1990s, health coaches did not exist.

The Trick

What I didn’t know was that I had my own health issues going on. I couldn’t convince my husband that he needed to eat healthier, so I told him I was scheduling us both an annual physical. I just knew the doctor was going to tell me that I’m the picture of health and tell him that he needs to change his ways. Instead, the doctor told my husband that he was so healthy that he didn’t know why he was there and then told me I had something suspicious and needed to see a specialist. 

As a matter of fact, he said that if he were me, he would only see Dr XX, because he was the expert. Unfortunately my insurance wouldn’t let me see Dr XX, AND Dr XX’s office wouldn’t even let me pay out of pocket.  What did I have?!  What was wrong with me? 

How could this be true?  I know exactly how to eat, and I exercise every day. I had no idea. I thought my anxiety, depression, racing heart, and “flying off the handle” were just a part of my personality.  Apparently, those are symptoms of Graves disease.

My specialist, endocrinologist, told me I had an incurable disease, and I had 2 options: I could have radiation or have my thyroid removed.  I said, “No, there must be another way.”  And all I could think inside is that I’m not doing what I am supposed to be doing. I need a major change.

Moving to the Farm

My husband and I both knew that we weren’t following our true calling, and we knew that we needed to find out how I got sick.  We learned about the plastics in our foods, cooking utensils, and food storage containers.  We learned that we shouldn’t be reusing plastic water bottles, or ANY plastic water bottles. We threw out water bottles, plasticware, pots and pans, and stopped heating things in the microwave. 

We started studying the food system and reading labels beyond the nutrition facts.  I knew how to get the right vitamins and minerals and macros, but I had never really looked at the labels on the Lean Cuisines I was eating for lunch every day. I knew sodas were bad, but just 1 a day was okay, right? How could I give up that afternoon Dr Pepper I had every day.

We started learning about GMOs and pesticides, Big Ag, and feed lots.  The more we learned, the more there was to learn! I would ask my doctor about foods and gluten, and she would laugh at me. She actually told me that foods have nothing to do with this and that I just need to avoid stress. How do I do that?  I have to battle 5pm traffic for the 60 mile drive home?

We made plans to buy a farm and teach people about what we were learning and finally bought a farm in 2012. We started growing our own food and living a more sustainable lifestyle. We started cleaning up our environment inside and out. 

Getting Off Track

We had clean food, safe cooking supplies, and I was staying in remission until I had a car wreck.  I was losing weight every single day.  I started eating everything in sight, ice cream sundaes, frozen ice cream drinks, I just couldn’t stop the weight loss.  My doctor told me I had to have radiation, or I would die. I was devasted.   

How did I let this beat me?  I hadn’t told anyone what was going on, and I remember a lady in church tell me someone needed to make me a cake, and I needed to eat the whole thing.  That really hurt!  And it reminds me today to always watch what you say to people. You have no idea what is going on in their head. 

I had the radiation, and 6 months later I was sicker than I had ever been, and my doctor retired. I have a lot of trouble believing that I would have died. I think this was my stamp on her being able to retire. The doctor told me that I wouldn’t be cured, but this new disease was much more manageable.  Unfortunately, I’ve never done anything by the book, and my health hasn’t either. 

I went back to studying everything there is to learn about autoimmune diseases, food, diet, health, and more. I cleansed the house, I replaced all of our cleaning products, personal products, and even supplements.  Then I did rounds of detoxes and really focused on my liver and went back into remission. 

I kept studying and reading more and more. I have accumulated countless certificates in nutrition, several herb certificates and even one for a Master Herbalist, I got board certified as a health educator, and last year I got certified as a nutritional endocrinology practitioner.  You could say I am committed.

In 2017, I began teaching cooking and nutrition classes for kids, and adults started asking for classes. Now I’ve been teaching and coaching people on their food and health for 7 years, and I know I am doing exactly what I was put on this planet to do.

I still have flares when I don’t follow my own advice, and I have had several other autoimmune symptoms pop up over the years, but I know what to do, and stop doing, to get my health back under MY control.

Discovering Blood Sugar Balance

One of the most critical aspects of my health journey was learning about blood sugar. My doctor was right about the stress thing.  High cortisol levels from chronic stress can fuel inflammation, which affects the immune system and can lead to autoimmune diseases. After detoxing, balancing blood sugar and stress became a key focus for me in managing inflammation.

For me, it wasn’t just the food that caused my blood sugar to spike, it was stress.  I am a very driven person, and I will pursue a goal over watching my health every single time. And then I pay the price! Stress management is probably my biggest hurdle.

I knew stress was related to the heart, and I have never had a heart condition.  It wasn’t until I learned about blood sugar and the difference between what conventional medicine looks at and what functional medicine looks at that I saw what stress was really doing to me. 

The Power of Lifestyle 

I realized that it’s not just about diet, but also how you prepare and even eat your meals, and it’s about rest, stress management, and physical activity. Here are some of the lifestyle changes that made a significant difference for me:

• Following an Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Eating only whole, nutrient-dense foods and avoiding processed foods, cooking with oils, and eliminating sugar, gluten, and dairy.
• Regular Physical Activity: Staying active in whatever way I can today. When I let stress go on too long, my legs may be too heavy to walk, so stretching is all I can do, and sometimes I can go for a light jog.  I always do some weights 3 times a week.
•  Stress Management Techniques: I do legs up the wall every night, I take several adaptogens, I take breaks every hour, and I just recently started setting my alarm 5 times a day to remind me to stop what I’m doing and send love out into the world. That gentle pause always puts a smile on my face and reminds me to just BE for a minute or more.
• Adequate Sleep: I’m a 9 hour a night type of person, so I am committed to getting to bed at the same time every night.  I also have a sleep routine that I follow.  Dim the lights after dinner, stop electronics an hour before bed, drink some relaxing tea, do my legs up the wall, and sleep in total darkness – no clock lights.
• Hydration: I keep track of my water to make sure I’m staying hydrated.

Gluten-Free and Whole Food Choices

One specific change I made was going on a gluten-free diet. However, I quickly learned that simply switching to gluten-free products wasn’t enough. Many gluten-free foods are high glycemic and can spike blood sugar levels. I focused on replacing them with whole food options. Instead of pasta, I eat zoodles, carrot noodles, or shirataki noodles.  Instead of bread, I eat bread made from nuts and seeds, vegetables, or lentils. Instead of cold cereal, I make a porridge out of ground seeds.

When my antibodies were still high on a gluten free diet, I had to dig deeper.  There are foods that cross-react with gluten. Sometimes, you have to remove those, too.  For me, it’s corn. I said I know corn isn’t the problem. I ate it all the time, but I decided to let it go just to test it. 

Healthy Fats

As you saw in last week’s article, healthy fats are essential for our bodies, they are literally called essential fatty acids. They support brain function, hormone production, and vitamin absorption. Healthy fats also help with satiety, keeping you full longer and stabilizing blood sugar. Including avocados, nuts, seeds, and olives in my diet made a huge difference.

Join The Jen Twins

Ready to take control of your health? Schedule a call with The Jen Twins to learn more about our programs and how we can help you manage your health. Don’t wait—spaces are limited, and we’re here to help you reclaim your health and energy.

Let’s work together to create a healthier you!

Thank you for being part of this journey. I look forward to guiding you to gain control over your health, too!