My plant-based journey began in 2018 when out of the blue I was diagnosed with severe endometriosis and an 8 cm cyst on my left ovary. I had been feeling great and had zero symptoms (except for occasionally painful periods) prior to the surgery, so the news came out as a shock. I was in Russia at the time and my flight to Boston was scheduled that same week. In one day, I canceled my upcoming classes at Wellesley College, booked another flight, and went under the knife.
As I returned to my consciousness after a “minimally invasive” laparoscopic surgery, I remember thinking “How did I end up here? Where did I go wrong?”
There was no history of endometriosis in my family, so genetics was immediately off the table. The doctors knew close to nothing about any possible root cause of my condition, and I had to begin my own quest. The idea of staying on birth control pills till I decide to get pregnant didn’t appeal to me, and I had to figure out something else.
Having scrutinized my whole life, I concluded that there were only two things responsible for the health problems I had developed: stress and diet. A toxic relationship followed by a devastating divorce disrupted my hormones and immune system. At the time I was eating everything and had no restrictions: tons of chocolate, dairy, sausages, pastry…you name it. Now looking back, I realize how ignorant and clueless I was thinking that being slender equals to being fit and healthy. Without recognizing it, I was the least healthy person on earth – both emotionally and physically. Endometriosis and a massive benign cyst became my wake-up call, so I decided to do some due diligence and learn as much as I possibly could about nutrition and different diets. The stress part was more straight-forward for me – I just had to remove another unhappy relationship from my life, find happiness and love within myself and let the universe take care of the rest. But, learning about the diet and putting all that knowledge into practice was a real challenge.
As a result of my search though I have become endometriosis free, found a loving and fulfilling relationship, about to become a mom for the second time, have beautiful skin without using any real beauty products, and most importantly, I feel full of energy most of the time (not all the time because of not getting enough sleep at the moment, and let me tell you – sleep and rest is EVERYTHING.) But removing the stress from my life and giving the body proper nutrition is what ultimately fixed me.
Diving into nutrition literature, having consultations with real experts in the field, and taking a course on Plant-Based Nutrition at T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell University became a real game changer. It is my goal now to point you in the right direction, so you can thrive and feel amazing every day of your life.
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