"Unimaginable Innovation Comes From Unimaginable Circumstances"

Amanda Plevell, PhD has steered her Natural Health Business 15 years through ups and downs, including tumultuous personal and economic dips.  It has taught her a lot about the gift of adaptation and the perception of victimization, and now she's doing it again.  

I fully believe that the best blessings come from times of trauma and despair.  When you’ve been through a lot, it’s easy to feel like giving up and wondering “why me?” and really retaining that sense of victim-hood.  When we focus so much on the victimized perception of our reality, we stand to miss out on a lot of the hidden blessings to grow through.  In fact, I’ve been through a lot, from tragic infant loss to divorce to disability and near-death, but I see it as preparing me and teaching me to adapt, which not only changed things for myself, but for my contribution to the world.   Most, if not all, of my best blessings, I can safely say have come during times just like this.  

Obstacle:  Initial Crohns and Colitis Diagnosis

Lesson:  We are Not Victims;  We are Creators

I’m lucky in the fact that I don’t struggle on a daily and yearly basis with these autoimmune diagnoses.  To me, it’s just a list of symptoms all cropped together that make up a name.  I don’t look at it as, “I have…such and such”.  Especially now, we can see that sustainability is huge for our own health.  Like, no matter the name, Covid, Crohns, or diabetes, it all comes down to creating as strong, healthy and capable body as you can.  The mission becomes about preparing your body, through how you live, for it’s own sustainability so it’s not threatened by biological threats as they come up.   I look at it as my body is sending signals for me to know it’s time to learn more and be patient as my body is trying to teach me.  And that has been truly a remarkable gift in my life.  I have only had three flares of Crohn’s/Colitis since being diagnosed when I was 26 (now, 43).  They all came with their own gifts.  I know it’s hard to say that when what you’re going through can really be miserable, but I’ve learned to hold on to the gems rather than the victimization of “why me?”.  Now, I remind myself that’s a crazy gift that it WAS me, because it changed everything for me!  The first flare taught me the truth about food and I turned that into health for myself and resources for my clients going through the same thing.  That became the first part of my re-balancing program.  The second flare delivered my second component:  the cellular response, metabolism and the play of phenolics in disease and illness symptoms.  The third flare challenged my thinking again creating the third leg of my program, curating it down into the things that work rather than a medicine cabinet full of hits and misses. It also prompted the beginnings of an institute focused on Functional Digestive Health, meant to support others going through things like metabolic disruptions, food sensitivities, and autoimmune like Crohns or Colitis.

Obstacle:  Resulting Confinement to a Wheelchair

Lesson:  Learn to Adapt

Our natural inclination is to hurry up and get through the process as fast as we can, but I learned that a lot of valuable things pop up that we wouldn’t have had before.  It serves us better to contemplate How do I enjoy this space between where I am and where I want to be?  What is this now time teaching me?  And then see all things as a blessing, even if we can’t see it yet.  Now, I acknowledge my body and instead of living in fear trying to “hurry up and get it over with”, I look for the blessings and honor that my healing body takes time.  This makes me a better practitioner because I can understand the fear, the stressors, and can also be a great cheerleader for the emotional and despairing times.  It has also helped me create a number of resources so I have things at my fingertips when my client is going through healing stressors.  It also led to one of the greatest innovations through my business, which is my Levelled Phenolic Method, and the Institute for Functional Digestive Health, a truly focused plan of action for the many damage causing culprits that bring the systems out of function.  Digestive health and all its factors are the endgame for this Minnesota based operation (though operated completely remotely, so our clients from all around the world can access the time and focus they need), unlike our brick and mortar clinic, or even the telehealth based Functional Wellness practice we currently run, The IFDH focuses solely on the expression of Digestive Health.

Obstacle: Covid 19 in 2020

Lesson:  Individuals Are Given The Gift of Time to Develop Long Term Action Plans

With everyone largely moving to “telehealth” practices, it helped to bring about more of a balance between acute and wellness factions.  Meaning, for example, it’s awfully hard to correct a broken arm virtually, so acute care in person was the way to go.  On the other hand all the wellness aspects of keeping a person balanced and functioning can not only be done online or by phone, but allows for the longer periods of time to sit down and create a regularly maintained plan of action...much more time than is allowed in a 6-15 minute medical clinic visit.   Now, I am more focused on creating tools to help my clients in the long term, tools that can be there for them when I’m not available and it’s 6pm and you don’t know what to feed your sensitive body, like my Functional Meal Plans, recipes and Functional charts on our toolkit:  DrFoodie.live, or our DrFoodie community of Facebook so you can talk to others in the same boat. 

For myself, the shifts that were brought about in EVERY aspect of life had me re-evaluating my own life and what I wanted through it, as well as what contribution and legacy I wanted to leave behind.  It made me look at everything I included in my life and everything I chose to add to it or allow to remain there.  At a time when others were doing this very same thing, it had me thinking about whether I was truly “essential” as the term goes, and more importantly, beneficial as a service, and make changes where it was necessary.  This actually brought about some really cool transitions, like the start of my Phenolic Method and the opening of the Institute, and my new book “Dates With A Dragonfruit” , all about the joys(horrors) of feeding children.  These transitions allowed me to see my significance and the part I might play in world game-change, and the ways that I am unique in my field.  I saw that all the work and effort I have put in through doctoral level education, and living the work I teach has prepared me to truly help people walk through their own difficulties right now, and change  for the better.  EVERYONE has to adapt now and I’ve had lots of practice.   I’m really in creative mode right now, intent on seeing a new, better “normal” and I have no doubt that we’re going to see some more previously pretty unimaginable innovations changing the world for us all.

If you'd like to learn more about the Levelled Phenic Method or participating in the Institute of Functional Digestive Health, send a message to info@drfoodie.live

Amanda Plevell, PhD, CNHP is a Natural Medicine Practitioner, researching Cellular Biochemistry, and the effects that food, disease, experiences, emotions, and beliefs play into the programming of the cells, along with the resulting health expression. She is the founder of the Natural Source Companies including community WellClinics, Health Rocks Cafe online education hangout and, as a Personal and Business Transformation Expert, The Success Conditioning Academy. Author of over 28 natural health and self development books, her bestselling books include such titles as "The Genesis Code", "UnBound: Kicking Anxiety From Your Bucket List", "The Energy of Divorce", "The Real Heal", "Clean Your Plate", and "Beyond the Plate". When she's not serving at her Minnesota-based practice, she spends her time homeschooling her children along with her husband, growing her food forest.
Appts: http://wellclinicnaturalhealth.janeapp.com/



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