Ep 20 Rachel Packer – Food Sensitivities vs Allergies
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About Rachel
I want people to be invested in their health. That is a very difficult goal for many. I am passionate about people enjoying their lives by simply changing their habits and mindsets-again not so easy. I love when a client tries a new recipe and feels empowered about feeding their family. I’m jazzed when a client eats breakfast (and actually likes it) and I was over the moon when I did a cooking demo and the kale salad was demolished. I am passionate about teaching wellness and all of its components and how it awakens client’s perceptions and insights.
This has taken me a long time to get to myself. Four years ago, my daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disease that attacks the small intestine. It was a very dark time for my entire family as my daughter was so sick. Chronic illness is exhausting, especially when dealing with an adolescent. Getting my daughter back to health is what ignited my passion for helping others.
Just when we were in a good place, two years ago, my son with severe food allergies almost died from an anaphylactic reaction. After 11 years of learning how to cope with food allergies and keep him safe, our worst fear happened. Luckily, he was ok, but the fear definitely took its toll on me.
Nevertheless, I continue my passion for health and wellness. I help people with autoimmune issues, and food allergies, and just those looking for information on how to better their lives. We need to make it our best life despite our obstacles.
SHOWNOTES – MEET RACHEL
- I live in Maryland
- I am a New Yorker, and grew up in Queens
- I recently started my own health coaching business called, MatzoBall Fitness
- Because you can still eat healthy and still have a ball
- Food should not be something that is difficult, food should not be something that we fear orfeel guilty about
- It should be a source of joy
- I kind of use that tagline to stress what my position of food is
- It took a very long time for me to get to this point
- My daughter was diagnosed of Crohn’s disease that really brought me to this point of health coaching
- It just made sense. It made sense to call everything that I have learned and really put it all together in a platform where I could truly help people
- A matzo ball is typically eaten during Passover
- It is a ball that goes in your soup
- It is made with egg and matzo meal
- They are really like dumplings
- You can make them gluten-free
- My daughter was 12 years old when she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease
- She will be 18 in a few days, so we have been living with this now for quite a while
- Any diagnosis is a very daunting experience
- You just don’t want to see your children or your loved one suffering
- In terms of my daughter and her diagnosis, there was a lot of guilt
- Because we have never dealt with something like that before
- When my daughter was on the 6thgrade, she complaining a variety of a lot of things that I just distributed to being a stressed-out tween
- Girls in particular tend to be pretty dramatic about a lot of things, and I was just thinking she was just finding things to complain about
- The reasoning behind it was, it seems logical to me
- What I really did not understand was that, those were all symptoms of crohn’s
- Crohn’s is an auto immune disease
- And any auto immune disease is when your immune system, attacks something in your body
- In the case of crohn’s, it is your immune system basically attacks your small intestines
- And when that happens, it means it does not absorb any nutrients
- That’s probably the reason why my daughter stopped growing, which we had not really realize at that point and she was about 35 lbs. underweight
- Crohn’s can range in terms of symptoms
- Joint pain, headaches, loose bowel stools, vomiting or fatigue, and she pretty much a lot of those symptoms
- We really had no idea how sick she really was
- It was a very long process
- Healing your child, especially when that child is going through so many transitions and issues because they are entering the teen years was not easy
- And you are sitting there in the hospitals with doctors telling you million different things and you don’t know how to process it
- So, like I tell a lot of people or parents who have food allergy diagnosis, crohn’s or auto immune issues, is you have to figure out a plan
- It just has to be a serious of things that you are going to do that’s going to make you feel better
- It took a while to figure it all out because I was in a very bad place when this happen
- First and foremost, we really had to figure out on how we are going to feed her
- When you have Crohn’s diagnosis, there’s a lot of thing you can’t eat
- Basically, your intestines are inflamed and you need to heal them before you can do anything
- Now, we have a lot of food allergies in our house, so we are very limited
- She was a vegetarian, so it was really hard on how I am going to put 35 lbs. back on this child
- She could not eat dairy, gluten, meat or salads
- So, I resorted into a lot of powder shakes, soups and I pureed vegetables
- And we have to document everything, everything that hurt her stomach and what does not
- It was just one small step and a time, and it was not easy but we did it
- I was a stay at home mom for about 11 years or so
- And when my son was 2 years, he was diagnosed with food allergies
- There was no social media explosion 11 or 12 years ago
- And there was not a lot of research on food allergies
- And so, when he was diagnosed, there was not a lot of information to go through
- Food allergy is an abnormal response. It is your body reacting to a substance, that your body should perceive normally
- In a food allergy, your immune system is in a wonkier side and it is basically attacking the proteins thinking that they are dangerous and it creates a response
- A food sensitivity is something that your body just does not agree with something, like lactose intolerance is not an allergy, it’s a sensitivity
- Your body can’t break down lactose in certain items
- Right now, the number one thing to is to avoid that allergen
- People start asking me a lot of questions because more and more food allergies started to surface with people that I knew
- And as a result, I started writing a blog and I started writing for local papers or magazines and it lead to this writing career
- I was doing my thing, living life and then the Crohn’s diagnosis happened
ADVICE
- I used to do slow motion strength training
- It was sort of my way of getting out from sitting in the basement doing my writing
- I felt I have so much experience that I should bring it to people
- I wanted to work one on one with people again
- I worked with a large majority of women who were on the studio – 40’s, 50’s and 60’s
- And what I found out about them is, they would get so frustrated when they don’t get result right away
- A lot of them are dealing with other issues as well, and they just think it’s just a food issues
- They just they did not understand that getting healthy or even losing weight was not just about their food, it’s about how they feel about themselves
- I guess my message to them is, there are so much more than on your number on a scale
- It was very eye opening to me
- The more I listened to them, I realize what a huge problem it was
- First of all, just because you cut calories does not mean you are going to lose weight
- So many of these women were caloric deficit that their bodies just shut down
- As soon I stopped feeling guilty about everything happened with my kids and started devising a plan something that was more positive, things started to go on a better direction
- You have to start with a more positive perspective on this
- I stopped weighing myself because honestly, it was not doing me any good
- It’s probably better that way for me
- We are able with a right mindset to accomplish anything
- Have a plan or have some goals
- Wellness is not just about the food you eat. Wellness is a combination of things
- Wellness is the relationship you have, your gratitude, your spiritual connection to the world, fitness, movement and how you relate to the world in general
- Shifting your mindset really goes a long way
FAVORITE HEALTIEST HABIT
- I started drinking this vinegar drink and I really like it
FAVORITE ACCOMPLISHMENT
- In 2016, my children’s book was published
FAVORITE QUOTE
- Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do, not a punishment for what you ate
FAVORITE FOOD
- Just a good pasta with Parmesan cheese and a little bit of sauce
MOST GRATEFUL FOR
- Health
GUILTY PLEASURE
- Binge watching stuff on Netflix
WHERE CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU
- Instagram: @matzoballfitness
- Facebook: MatzoBall Fitness
