Mercedes Journey To Health Coaching.

Who is Mercedes, Health and Wellness and Nutrition Coach. How did she get into the field of Health Coaching?

• Disclaimer. Health Coaching is not a substitution for Medical Care and should not be used as such. A Health Coach can work with your doctor on a pre-determined plan. Health Coaching is not therapy and should not be considered as such. Health Coaching is not Personal Training. The views mentioned in this blog are for education on the owner of this service only and not be seen as a guarantee of results. Results are unique to the individual and the results of the individual with their participation in the program and their commitments to the programs discussed.

That's a great question, for the answer we will have to look back at 2011 Mercedes. That was the year she had become a mom for the first time, she had a loving husband and a bouncing baby girl. She was also diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease for her Thyroid, a diagnosis that did change her life being put on medication to regulate the hormones her thyroid was responsible for creating that were now not properly working. She decided to look into nutrition to find the answers, no one told her that with auto immune disorders you can start by taking out inflammation causing foods from your diet and adding in good stuff to her diet like probiotics and prebiotics. It wasn’t until she decided to go plant based again (as she was in her youth) that the blood work came back better, saying she didn't need to take the medication anymore. Fast forward to 2015 and she was given another diagnosis, Psoriatic Arthritis. Again, she was told medication would be the only help but none were an option as she was looking forward to growing her family. Now, not plant based she felt the sore muscles and the stiff joints. Taking pain medication often but at the same time being told by her doctor that it wasn’t the greatest for her. She settled for "this is the best for now" still not needing to take medication for her Hashimoto’s (which baffled all but was praised).

2016- She had been working as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) for 3 years at that point and had "Burnt Out" for the first time in the field, at that point she decided to look for what made her happy. It was then she decided to look back at her notes for diet she had taken all those years before and decided to see if there was a way to help her arthritis. She looked into becoming a Yoga Teacher but was told the field was unsustainable and it was a "luxury" most people could not afford. In her search she found a school that one day she would come back too, the Southwest Institute for Healing Arts or SWIHA for short. She put away her notes once again and settled to just doing yoga online via YouTube, convinced it was helping her arthritis but not able to convince others of it even though studies had been published on the effect of Yoga as a good option to help ease pains from arthritis. This was her first call, and it went unanswered.

Flash forward to the second case of burn out and her second call to SWIHA. The year was late 2019, she was working night shift at her job of nearly 6 years when people started talking about this unknown disease spreading around. She was also pregnant again with her second child and as her child was born in the spring of 2020 the world went into lock down. She was convinced that something had to change but was told to "stay where you are, its stable" and "the best option" but she was tired and burnt out before returning to work in the summer of 2020. We all know what that was like. She had watched the reports during her maternity leave and watched her family and friends within the healthcare field get sick and burn out as well. People around her were leaving because of the uncertainty and again she went to her old notes on Nutrition and Yoga to see what she could do to keep herself and her family happy and healthy. Having a newborn did not exempt anyone in the field from going to the "battle grounds" and there was little they could do for time off especially with coworkers getting sick left and right but she knew there was something else. SWIHA came back up in her searching, Nutrition Coaching and Holistic Nutrition came up and she remembered how she “healed” her thyroid disorder (which still baffled doctors how this was possible but still getting good blood tests all these years later with no need to go back on medication per her doctors). So she reached out to learn more information and decided to get a degree in Holistic Nutrition to at least be able to learn more of how food would be able to help her family, which was her main priority. She took the leap to first leave her night shift job (even though the pay was better) and reached out to start school at SWIHA in the fall of 2022 learning the Psychology of Health and Wellness as well as the appropriate Holistic Nutrition courses and Whole Foods Culinary skills to teach others.

Along the way she learned and healed her whole mind, body, and soul. Learning the tools that would not only help her but others. For years she would meet people in her job as a CNA that were completely lost because of a new diagnosis or their family member being hospitalized, the tools she was learning she couldn’t help but think how many other people like those she had met would benefit from the information too.

So here we are in 2024, Mercedes hopes to help people like her or those she’s met in the past who are lost or burnt out. Caregivers and helpers. Those who give others 100% of themselves but don’t know how to give themselves that same 100%. In 2023 the clients she helped were able to transform there lives with small things like self care, creating SMART Goals, having that person to talk to when plans got changed and more. She was able to help her clients learn about nutrition and how to meal prep to not only survive but thrive and save money. Her clients felt a better sense of self and were happier to try new things for there overall health and wellness. So when people tell her now that the field of Health Coaching is a "Luxury" like she was told all those years before, her answer is that its a luxury that you should allow yourself to make. With two kids, a wonderful husband of 15 years and a full time job in healthcare she knows that the little luxuries in life are the ones that will help you in the end. That day off, that person to talk too, that time for yourself is worth it in the end.

If your interested in learning more about Health Coaching and what it can do for you schedule your 30 minute consultation call today with the link for Calendly below.

I look forward to meeting you.

Many Blessings from me to you.