No amount of medication alone will truly fix how you feel in your mind and your body, unless you work on healing from the inside out. That is, eating nutritious food, managing stress, changing your negative thoughts and limiting beliefs, practicing self-love and self-care, attending to your emotions or finding your life purpose.

More often than not, the healing process requires healing of the gut through whole, real food. Proper nutrition feeds the trillions of friendly bacteria living in the gut, known as the microbiome, which in turn help release the feel good brain chemicals via the microbiome-gut-brain axis. The microbiome has many other functions in nutrition and health, such as in metabolism, immune system, hormonal balance, brain and mental health, etc. Physical exercise will complement the positive effect nutrition has on the brain and body.

While this comprehensive holistic approach might seem overwhelming at first, keep in mind that there is no “one size fits all” approach. It largely depends on everyone’s health or wellness goals and what has prevented them from reaching these goals on their own. 

You can benefit from working with a holistic health & nutrition coach that will help you define your goal(s) more specifically and provide you with a structured plan for how to get there, while guiding you to find resources, navigate challenges and obstacles and supporting you along the way. A health & nutrition coach will equip you with knowledge and tools to change your habits that ultimately help you achieve lasting mental and physical well-being and sustain a healthy lifestyle.

Dr. Viorica Ivan is a certified Holistic Health and Nutrition Coach, Scientist, and Health Educator. Her PhD (doctorate) in cell biology, earned from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, has provided her with an in-depth understanding of the role of nutrition in the complex biochemical and molecular processes occurring at the cellular level and how nutrition influences overall health.

Driven by the desire to make the latest scientific information about nutrition and the importance of nutrition and a balanced lifestyle for health accessible to the general public, she founded Smart Science Holistic Health, a coaching business and health education platform. In her coaching practice, Dr. Ivan integrates the cutting-edge nutrition research —focusing on the gut microbiome—with strategies for building stress resilience and habit-change tools for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.