Skin Issues Led Me to Study Nutrition - How I got Here
Nutrition can be a divisive topic, and it is always interesting when it comes up in conversation, you can learn a lot about a person by how they relate to food. Some people will talk about wanting to enjoy life, some how nobody knows what is really healthy, some who talk of unhealthy choices with a sense of pride, and others who are in competition to see who is the healthiest. We all have a long-term relationship with food don’t we and it is one that twists and turns and evolves over our lives.
My path to studying nutrition wasn’t planned, I feel it was ultimately the path that life or destiny chose for me (at this point anyway). My genetic predisposition for skin issues led me here via the carnivore diet and gut dysbiosis (low diversity), and working with nutritionists and naturopaths brought moments of relief, only to return to baseline. The next phase was spending weekends diving into research about bacteria and the microbiome, scribbling notes from podcasts, and experimenting with supplements. Then one day I was looking for another career path and it seemed like a good step and it all unfolded towards studying nutrition.
The world is at an interesting point in time, with AI advancing at an incredible pace, if it wasn’t for a lot of practitioner-only supplements requiring you to have consulted with someone before it being able to access them. I would say we are almost at a place where AI could look at your tests and pathology and come up with reasonable advice, I have been experimenting lately and it is super useful in it’s ability to synthesis different pieces of information and come to solutions. But there might be an argument for human connection, or even valuing advice that comes from a human, but people are already using AI as therapists in varying capacities.
I know one thing, and it’s that maybe one of my shortcomings is that I give up on things and change my mind too easily. But so far nutrition is the one thing that i can’t give up on, I see value in it, I love learning about it, and the more I learn the more questions I want answered. The AI aspect is scary for sure but I have to believe at least in my lifetime there will still be a period where practitioners can use it to help people better and/or there will still be meaningful research or writing to be done. I question this path a lot, I mean you kind of have to create your own job, and there are so many unknowns, but something I am optimising for is meaning and purpose. And on a personal level it is my ongoing skin saga that is a struggle which affects more aspects of my quality of life than you might expect, but it is these very struggles that build an even deeper passion and meaning, and that is why it is the work I must do.
I want to figure this out for myself and really understand what’s going on and then I want to find the people like me and help them. My thinking around this continues to mature, for some healing may be a possibility and for some lifelong management may be the only option. But either way I want to help people to live the highest quality of life they can despite their specific issues.
References
Webb, S. (2016, September 24). Green Leafed Plant [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-leafed-plant-212932/
