Why Merritt Wellness Center?
At the age of 20, I was diagnosed with a heart condition. The biggest symptoms were chest pain and shortness of breath. Turns out I had mitral valve prolapse (essentially a "floppy" valve). I did all the Western medicine things I was told to do. I took the drugs but I still had chest pain every time I walked up a flight of stairs. I was on a cycling team and I raced a lot, and I had to give it up. Everyone who knows me knows what a big deal that is. I had to give up my high level workouts. Even Chinese medicine didn't help much. I put up with it for 15 years. I finally just gave up.
About 8 years ago, I went to see a chiropractor/naturopath for a totally unrelated issue. He looked at my intake form and said, "You have chest pain?" I said, "Yeah, but I'm not here for that". He said it was likely because I was vitamin E deficient. I was taking vitamin E at the time (those liquid capsules you find at the store in the vitamin section). He explained how those capsules aren't really vitamin E...they are just one part of what real vitamin E actually consists of. He gave me small bottle of a whole food supplement of vitamin E. I reluctantly brought it home and took it as prescribed. About a week later, I started feeling better!
Because of that chiropractor's in-depth knowledge of whole food nutrition, he gave me my life back. I started cycling at a level I never thought I would achieve again. The following year, I rode across the United States. Every year since then, I've taken on some big challenge...because now I can actually DO IT. I still have the valve that doesn't work, but it doesn't bother me like it used to.
Will and I became certified nutritionists because it was clear to us that we needed to learn about this field that made such a profound difference for me - changing something that I had been so certain would be impossible to change.