We were lucky to catch up with Justice Naccarato recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justice, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I found my way into this position through experience with my personal health and professionally in the healthcare field.

In my twenties, I was battling quite a few health issues including endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome and chronic migraines and nausea. It started with an absence of my period, I was experiencing migraines 5-6 times a week, and I began to gain weight uncontrollably. Then my period started and didn’t stop for 3 years. I tried everything I could or knew that I could at the time.

I had really great and caring doctors whom I believe truly wanted to help me, but I know they were very limited as to what they could do. My condition worsened and I actually started to hemorrhage and came close to death. My OBGYN could only recommend a hysterectomy, mind you that I was 27 years old and 2 weeks away from my wedding date, and I just felt so helpless. It was the worst feeling ever.

So my at-home research began and I dug until I ran across an article linking gluten intolerance to early menopause. I told my husband I was going to stop eating gluten and he promptly rolled his eyes at me saying that was not going to fix all my problems. But, I tried it anyway, what did I have to lose?

Within 2 weeks, my migraines decreased by half, my nausea decreased and my weight had begun to drop. I remember going to see my general practitioner after losing 20 pounds and canceling my hysterectomy appointment, and he asked me what I had been doing. I responded by saying that I had changed my diet, and he looked back at me and said “Good for you. You have to eat to live not live to eat.” And I thought (briefly) about punching him because not once, had he asked me about my diet, not once. And again, he was such a caring man, wonderful doctor, and wanted to help. But I was too young to be on 5 different prescriptions including anti-seizure medication. I was pretty much addicted to Vicodin because the pain was so bad. I felt like I was in child birth 24/7 and all I was taught to do was take Vicodin. And when it wore off, I would get rebound migraines creating just a continuous vicious cycle of medication after medication. As it turns out, celiac disease, or even non-celiac gluten intolerance, can be a factor in almost every problem I was experiencing. I was getting tired of it, so I drastically changed my diet and started doing more research until I decided to go back to school because I didn’t want any other woman to have to go through what I went through. By the way, my husband is a believer now and my biggest supporter (even if he does still roll his eyes at me sometimes).

“I want everyone to know there are other resources, and you don’t have to face this alone. You don’t have to be at the mercy of a doctor at the end of a pen and prescription pad. There is help, and you don’t have to live that way.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Our Team is built of successful and dedicated men and women who are eager to serve one another and our communities in the alternative health field.

Harmony Health Collective is a Holistic Integrative Medicine practice with locations in Mission Valley, Oceanside & Carlsbad, California. Empowering you with Health Education & Comprehensive Wellness Support.

Our team of wellness experts at our Holistic Education Center provides a one-stop-shop for wellness.
Offering in-person and virtual appointments for patients all over the United States. We are proud to run a practice that is based on our true passion for serving others and our core values: Honesty to ourselves and others Integrity and commitment to the greater good. Accessibility to health, education, and support. Equality of treatment regardless of age, race, gender, or condition.

At The Harmony Health Collective, we know there are many options we can take when we find ourselves needing to heal, we just think you shouldn’t have to choose. We believe in our ability to change your life by offering you a variety of natural, proven, scientific, and unique options to help your body heal itself. We will dive into your unique history, diet, & lifestyle to get to the root cause of what ails you to fix, not bandaid, your health issues. Here at The Collective, we can offer you assistance in Acupuncture, Adrenal Health, Clinical Nutrition, Chinese Herbs, Functional Medicine, Holistic Nutrition, Hormone Balancing, Improving Fertility, Men’s Health, Western Medicine, Women’s Health and so much more.

During a consultation, we truly want to understand who you are and where you come from through a holistic evaluation of your total well-being and health history. We prioritize your story so we can truly hear your concerns and symptoms. Our initial screenings address your health concerns and medical history to leave you with a customized protocol suggesting only the highest quality, over-the-counter, natural, and affordable products, outside lab, and specialty referrals.

The reason we wanted to offer a variety of options is that we know the body has a complex set of paths and instructions that ebb and flow over time. Having the resources at your disposal to map out the best course of action for you and your individual needs is where success and healing come from.

Please feel free to reach out to us for a consultation or questions about any one of the modalities we offer.

We firmly believe that Knowledge is Power as you can take it with you when you leave our office. During our meetings, giving you the tools and deeper understanding to make the best choices for you and your health is our primary goal. We will also offer courses for you to dive deeper into those topics that light you up. We are also all available for public speaking & live online events.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

“same story below” It’s a large story with a take away hopefully that works.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I know that it’s been quite some time since most of you have heard from me. While I have remained available for appointments for those who reached out, I really haven’t actively engaged much over the last year.

I need to be honest with you: I simply couldn’t. I didn’t have it in me.

Let’s be real, 2020 was no joke. While I was fortunate in so many ways in 2020, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize some of the challenges that did have an impact on me, and also on my business and clients. I went through most of last year with my patented “I’m fine; every problem has a solution” attitude. While I won’t say that attitude hasn’t served me well (it has), it also has a tendency to be my excuse to push myself too hard. Which is exactly what I tell my clients not to do. As the saying goes: what goes up, must come down. And down I came. One might even describe it as a “crash”. If I am being really honest, 2020 was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back; I was burning the candle at both ends for several years before that which, in and of itself wouldn’t have been as bad had I been more intentional in caring for myself. It doesn’t help that I’m a fairly (read: extremely) stubborn person, so I’m sure I ignored plenty of signs prior to this point.

Then this little thing called grief hit me.

Grief is such a strange animal. It can come in waves, and some of them are ok and you can deep breathe through them. Some of them knock you on your butt. And sometimes you don’t even know it’s a grief wave at all.

As many of you are already aware, I chose to close my physical office in February 2020 due to sanitary concerns following the major renovations that were performed on that building in late 2019 and early 2020, pre-COVID. While I had planned to find a new office to move to, the pandemic had other ideas. I also had to make the impossible choice to lay off my amazing team due to COVID. It took me many months to realize the emotional impact this had on me (one of those waves you don’t recognize as grief until later). Shortly after that my father, Dr. Hugh, passed away. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how deeply that loss is felt (knock you on your butt wave). As an aside, thank you to all of you who reached out regarding my father. If I didn’t get back to you, I apologize, I was underwater at the time.

There comes a point where the nervous system has had enough, and it will let you know. I reached that limit and my nervous system let me know. For several months of 2020, I was almost literally paralyzed. Frozen. Exhausted does not even begin to describe the feeling. I know that many of you know what I mean because you’ve shared it with me.

So, I rested.

Of course, I still had to work and maintain not only my business, but now my father’s supplement company, but all I could do was the bare minimum to keep them from going under from neglect. I needed to recover. I needed to remember how to care for myself, how to prioritize my own health, and how it felt to feel good again. I needed to practice what I preach.

I needed help.

Yes, I went back to school so that I could help myself as well as to help others find their way back to health. But healing is a journey that requires support, and I am no different. I knew I couldn’t do this alone; I couldn’t see my way out of this one in the state that I was in. I am beyond grateful to have access to some of the most amazing health care providers in the country as friends, colleagues, and teachers. So, I got help. Between chiropractic, acupuncture and Chinese medicine, naturopathy, integrative medicine, and mental health work (yep, you better believe I pulled out all the stops) I am grateful to say that I’m finally feeling more like Justice again. But it took me almost a year, a ton of rest, and a lot of work. And even more support from literally the best support system anyone could ever ask for, which includes non-healthcare providers too. The support of my husband, siblings, friends, and my team (even when they weren’t “officially” working for me) was invaluable and I am forever grateful. I’m not 100% yet, but I’m well on my way.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. Do I want to do it again? Uhm, no thank you. Am I sorry that I fell off the map? No. Not even a little.

Don’t get me wrong, you, my clients, mean the world to me. I LOVE my clients! I have to love me more, though. Because if I don’t put myself first, then I can’t be here for you in any capacity that is useful. So falling off the map is what I needed to heal, and I’m not sorry for that.

Now, don’t think that I didn’t think of you at all while I was recuperating. You all should know by now that when I go through something, I’m always thinking of how I can turn it into a learning experience. And, boy, did I learn a LOT from this.

1) Know your limits. Once you’ve found the limit, don’t push it. The point of knowing the limit is knowing when to stop, not when to accelerate faster.

2) Set boundaries and Honor Them. Boundaries are no good if you don’t honor them, but they can do a world of good for your health if you stick to them.

3) Get Help. There’s no shame in admitting when you need help. We can’t do it all.

4) Put yourself first. If you don’t, who will?

The one big takeaway for me, however, is how fortunate I am to have access to all of these amazing practitioners. I know that I would not have healed as quickly as I did have I not been able to work with them. Because of that, I decided to restructure Harmony Health Institute. What better time to do that than now?

Over the next several weeks we will begin rolling out the Harmony Health Collective, and I cannot tell you how excited I am! I want you all to have the same access to the same amazing practitioners that helped me on my healing journey, all in one place. We are also in full swing writing new educational courses that will be available to you, as well as many new services.

As always, my goal is to provide exceptional and affordable health support and I believe that the Harmony Health Collective will only serve to expand that mission.

Thank you for your continued support and patience with me during my recovery.

I am here for you; WE are here for you.

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Marcy Browe Photo, Digital Marketing Molly, Molly Garcia