Part 3/10: High School Health Crash

By my senior year of high school, my body was breaking down.

It started with E. coli, which led to h. pylori ulcers, and eventually triggered celiac disease. What should have been a season of fun, sports, and preparing for college became a season of sickness.

I was exhausted all the time. I had daily headaches. I was pooping blood and living off of the high school diet of Taco Bell and Subway because that was what my friends and I ate. My body was screaming for help, but I did not know how to listen.

When I finally went gluten free, I thought I would feel lighter and healthier. Instead, I gained 10 to 15 pounds because my body was finally absorbing nutrients again. My nutritionist was thrilled. I was devastated.

But I also started to feel better almost immediately. My energy returned, my headaches eased, and I realized how much food was impacting my body. Even though I was struggling with how I looked, I was also thrilled to finally have the energy to live my life again.

That was my first real lesson in nutrition. Food is not just calories or a number on a label. It is information that your body uses to heal, repair, and function. For the first time, I started to understand that what you eat directly impacts how you feel.

I wish I could say that realization instantly changed my relationship with food, but it didn’t. I still carried shame, comparison, and fear of gaining weight. I was medically considered “malnourished,” but socially I felt “too big.”

I was caught in the tug of war between health and appearance. I was constantly having to convince myself that true health is not always visible. It cannot be measured by a single number. And sometimes our bodies force us to slow down when we aren’t taking care of ourselves.

Coach Liz