My Healing Journey

Hi! I’m Sophia, and sharing the amazing benefits that plants can have on your gut health is my passion. I want people to experience the beauty and healing power of plants, as I did! 

Not only did healing my gut health help my chronic stomach aches and nausea and digestion, but it also helped literally everything else in my life!

My mental health, anxiety and depression, ADHD, are all so much better now that my gut can actually support my brain, and I’m eating nutritiously balanced meals. My skin is better than it’s ever been, I don’t have acne for the first time in my life, my immune system is strong, and I have normal sleep habits. Paying a little extra attention to our gut health can make our lives so much easier.

How My Healing Journey Started

I want to share the direct impact that my gut health had on my life. For me, my gut health journey started when I was about age 13, in 8th grade. To this day I’m not sure what triggered my brain-to-gut anxious connection for the first time, but I do know that my horrible stomach aches, extreme nausea, and anxiety started around that time.

Before I even knew what gut health or anxiety even was, anytime I had the slightest nerve about anything like going to a restaurant with my family or having a friend come pick me up to hang out, my stomach would hurt so bad and I would worry about it, making my stomach hurt worse, or become more nauseous. It was turning into a perpetuating cycle.

During 8th grade, after countless visits to the family doctor, so many blood tests, ultrasounds, and even visits to the ER, we got an appointment with a gastroenterologist. During the appointment, there was no conversation of what my diet looked like or should look like, or anything about gut 

health, (which I would think would be an important topic of discussion with their patients?) He asked me a few questions, looked at my blood tests, asked me about my poop, then said it’s most likely IBS. 

He gave me a pamphlet and told me that people live their lives around it, there is no cure, specific diet, or medication, and no one knows what causes it. He also said that in some people, nerves and stress will make their IBS worse. 

Hyper Awareness & Mental Health

So I went through high school and my first year of college doing whatever I could to basically ignore it. I was trying to be a ‘normal teenager,’ which meant not taking care of my body at all, eating and drinking ultra-processed foods multiple times a day, and blaming all of my stomach aches on my IBS (lolll).

I had severe anxiety every time I was to go somewhere where I wasn’t sure if there would be a close enough bathroom, or if I wasn’t sure I would be able to get up and leave anytime I needed to. 

I started becoming so hyper-aware of everything. Thinking about the location of the bathrooms before going somewhere became normal for me. I would immediately locate the nearest trash cans in case I got nauseous. Probably the worst of all was how hyper-aware I became of what food I ate and thinking about it going through my digestive system. 

Trying to be “one step ahead” of my stomach aches. I started doing things like not eating at restaurants in case something were to make my stomach hurt, or waiting to eat until AFTER I got home from an event, in case I got nervous and it triggers my stomach.

It got to a point, that it was normal for me to go all day, until dinner time (between 5 and 7 pm) without eating one bite of food. I would just drinking water, because “if I ate anything my stomach would hurt for the rest of the day, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything besides lay in my room.”

The more restrictions and control I started to have over my life, about where I could go safely, what I could eat safely, the people I could hang out with safely, the more and more unsafe and trapped I felt in my own body. 

Burnt out to Healing

I eventually got tired of pushing myself and struggling every single day with something that never seemed to be getting any better or easier. I could not put one ounce of effort into going anywhere or doing anything -It was too much for anyone to obsessively keep up with for a long period of time.

I was tired of pretending I was okay every day. I didn’t want to do what I was doing for the rest of my life. I was done having to constantly think of so many things that other people didn’t have to deal with. It took so much of my strength for me to be able to leave my house, and I didn’t have any more strength to even try. 

So I gave into the fear for a little bit unfortunately, I didn’t want to fight it I was so tired. I didn’t leave my house for probably over a year, even on a walk. I had so much anxiety, we live a walk away from the beach and I couldn’t walk there without being consumed by the thoughts of if I was going to get sick or have to go the bathroom.

Looking back there were a lot of external things that ultimately helped me through this time, but at one point, I realized I was tired of letting my fear control me. I made a decision for myself to get better, a choice to not live in suffering, to just go day by day and try to find joy. 

It was honestly beautiful to watch myself go from completely isolated with constant crippling anxiety, to a time in my life when I can actually leave my house and have the ability to enjoy myself!

Physical = Mental Healing

When I learned about our gut microbiome and started truly trying to support it, is when everything started to get better. My anxiety and depression were chilling out for the first time in years, my skin started clearing up, I had more motivation to do things, and had enough energy to work out and stretch, I wanted to cook more healthy meals, all things making my microbiome even better—turning a perpetuating cycle into a positive one!

Other things that contributed something special to my healing were: a lot of resting, hard work on myself, talking to my therapist/psychiatrist, and slowly adding positive habits to my life in all areas; such as taking deep breaths throughout my day, making smoothies, moisturizing my skin, practicing yoga, caring for others and animals, and intuitively eating! I am still constantly learning, and processing how much I’ve gone through and healed from. 

Sharing With You!

I am so so grateful for my experiences. If they never happened, I wouldn’t have had the passion to learn how to heal my body myself—giving me the knowledge and hope to help other people!
I want this blog to be a place where I can share my passions with the world. I want to show people how beautiful the garden that is your life can be when tended to and given just a few extra nutrients!

Sophia Victoria Vegan is where you will find not only a diverse collection of nourishing and delicious plant-based, allergy-friendly recipes, but also knowledge and tips on how to heal and nourish your body!