Ivan Espinoza Selfie

Ivan E.

Los Angeles

I am so thankful for this program because it helped me get my life back

I knew about the Whole30 for a few years before I ever gave it a shot. A lot of my friends and family had done it and told me all about it. At the time I rolled my eyes because I already considered myself “healthy” and I was pretty active. Fast forward a few years later, I moved to Los Angeles and after about a year of living here I started experiencing a rash all over my body and acne breakouts, which was so unlike me. I visited a few doctors but they only gave me treatment for the side effects and didn’t help me actually figure out what was happening with my body.

After a couple of years of feeling extremely defeated and accepting that maybe this was just the way things were gonna be, someone at work brought up the Whole30 to me again. I was intrigued and I asked her a bunch of questions, mainly if it helped with skin issues. At this point my face and body was covered in acne and I was still experiencing the rash I felt would never go away. After doing some more research I decided I would give it a try. I seriously had nothing to lose and I hadn’t done a reset in forever. The first day I had a headache and I just knew it was because my body was begging me for sugar.

After that, I actually started to immediately feel more energized, so much so that I felt like my body was confused because it wasn’t used to that kind of energy! Another thing I noticed immediately was that the breakouts stopped and the rash was happening less and less! I couldn’t believe it. It was the first time in a long time that I felt like my skin was actually behaving and healing.

I did Whole30 for few specific reasons but got SO much more out of it including: Deep sleep (right before starting Whole30 I was only sleeping 3-4 hours a night if I was lucky), A TON of energy (I started going to the gym again after taking a few months off), clarity of mind (I felt like I was so much more productive at work, I knew what I had to do and when to do it, it was so effortless.) elevated mood (when your body is happy, everything else follows), weight loss (didn’t care to lose weight but around day 18-20 I felt like my body opened up the flood gates of weight loss. I seriously felt like someone flipped a switch because it happened so fast. I could actually see my face and body looked slimmer. I’m sure the gym was helping but I just felt like my body was on board and thanking me. Again that wasn’t my main priority but it was cool.) and of course AMAZING SKIN!

I recently discovered that I have a gluten intolerance and since then have avoided it like the plague. I also have decided to stay dairy free because I learned that dairy gives me headaches! My skin has been clear and free of rashes ever since, not to mention glowing just how I like it! Overall I LOVED the journey I went through because I had to continually put myself first… I think someone told me that that’s called self love? I am so thankful for this program because it helped me get my life back. Can’t emphasize that enough.

Published by Nuala

Danielle Nuala Schoen (Nuala), lives amongst community in the mountains of western North Carolina. She is a massage therapist (LMBT) and RYT-200 yoga instructor with a background in social work. Nuala is passionate about redefining health and wellness in order to center the self-determination and self-actualization of each unique individual, and thereby, the actualization of the collective.Nuala enjoys ecstatic dance, contact improvisation, creek dips, travel, and sharing Whole30 meals with her loved ones.