We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maria Merlo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

As a teenager, I suffered from depression, OCD, and debilitating PMS symptoms. Medication and therapy did not seem to work for me. I was hopeless & helpless.

When I was 16, it was clear for me I wanted to be an engineer. I worked all my life very hard to get good grades. I got into college with very minimal financial support where I was able to get two different scholarships and a student loan. I was able to graduate with honors and starting working in the automotive industry since then.

When I moved to the U.S. I did not imagine how hard it would be to start over with no family members or friends. My husband was working many hours per day, so I started feeling lonely and depressed. I saw one of many therapists without any success. I felt like something was missing that it was not only about telling your problems or taking pills. After years of pleading to God to help me, I happened upon a book called Ultrametabolism, The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss by Dr. Hyman where everything came together.

Then I read another book from the same author called Ultramind, and it gave me one of the answers I was looking for: there is a connection between diet, lifestyle and mental health. I changed my habits completely and took some of the recommended supplements where my depression was gone and my OCD was 90% in remission.

In 2014 I decided to certify as Holistic Health Coach by Institute of Integrative Nutrition. It was my choice to be an engineer, but I became a health coach by accident as a result of my mental health struggles.

After my own journey success, I became passionate about Holistic Wellness to the point of steering my professional career as an engineer toward learning more about Functional Medicine and helping many women like me. In 2020, I founded Splendhealth where we have provided personalized wellness programs to many people.

This year we have focused more on helping women with PMS/menopause, stress, thyroid and other hormone imbalance symptoms. We have been enough successful with our 1-on-1 practice that we are ready to scale our help by launching our first Online Program called Feel Sexy Again. Having a healthcare plan that addresses the root causes of hormone imbalances is paramount to success. I have pledged to help women find enough resources so they can feel & look at their best, without harmful medications.

Maria, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My Name is Maria Merlo, and I am an expert in Holistic Wellness and founder of Splendhealth. Over the last 7 years, I have been helping frustrated women so they can have abundant energy, address their symptoms associated with PMS, menopause, stress, thyroid conditions using a unique approach to balance hormones that few in the healthcare world have access to.

I consider myself an HPTAG (acronym for body glands) axis specialist where I use the approach of addressing hormone imbalances to the root cause, and in view of hormones as single entity with intertwined interactions.

After supporting many women with 1-on-1 personalize wellness programs, I am very excited to announce my first online program called Feel Sexy Again based on Functional Medicine principles to help many women to regain vitality, soothe PMS, menopause and other hormone imbalance symptoms so they achieve grounded confidence in a body they love, and feel empowered at all stages of life without harmful medications.

The Feel Sexy Again is the only Online Program compelling hormone interactions. There is no other program like this one. There are many health experts that I personally honor; however either they specialize in thyroid conditions or specialize in sexual hormones. Unfortunately missing the interaction among different hormones in protocols may not bring the desired relief in women.

We strive to provide a top-notch program that will make a significant difference in the lives of many women by honoring bio-individuality through testing and at least three 1-on-1 meetings with a personalized plan.

The program will also include over 30 hours of exclusive training, protocols and handouts with lifetime access to be used in any electronic device.

Join our VIP list to be the first to know when the program opens – www.feelsexyagain.net

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

My personal story comes with traumatic events since my childhood related to domestic and emotional violence and sexual abuse, which not only affected me emotionally but mentally. Since age of ten, I experienced suicidal thoughts, OCD and debilitating PMS symptoms; but I continued with strength, resilience and faith. I was very determined to have a different life for me and maybe someday to have a family. There were moments where I felt hopeless and helpless.

However I never gave up. I worked very hard not only professionally but also in getting a different approach for my mental health issues. After years of pleading to God to help me, I started to find pieces of valuable information on my journey; until I happened upon a book by Dr. Hyman where everything came together.

My life has been a roller coaster with ups and downs. I have fallen many times but I have got up every time stronger. I am a passionate of life and use all the teachings to thrive. I am always thirsty to learn more. At the end, I achieved what I wanted – feel in peace, enjoy life.

I am so grateful to God that I have decided to help more women like me – it became my mission. That’s why I decided to found Splendhealth where we help committed women to regain vitality, balance their moods, stabilize their hormones so they have a grounded confidence in body they adore without harmful medications, so they feel empowered at all stages of life.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Splendhealth has achieved success with quality support for our clients by providing the following items in our programs:

1. Honoring bio-individuality in all our clients either 1-on-1 or online programs – Every person is unique, so we provide personalized support – there are no cookie cutter protocols that will fit everybody. We always ask “Who is this person struggling with these symptoms?” rather than “Which symptoms this person is struggling with? It is not simply about biomarkers you can get in a lab test; that’s only one piece in the puzzle. We want to know the story of this person.

2. Holistic approach – We believe in the interconnection between body, mind & spirit. It is pretty well studied how toxic relationships, grudges, trauma, ruminating thoughts increase levels of stress hormones shifting the body from parasympathetic nervous system (rest/heal/thrive mode) to sympathetic (survival mode) ,where the body prioritizes survival on top of healing, digesting, fighting pathogens, reproduction. Any source of constant stress either physical, mental or emotional can cause disease. That’s why we want to know more about the story of our clients rather than just symptoms and lab markers.

3. Addressing root causes rather than just soothing symptoms – We use Functional Medicine principles to find the interconnectedness among symptoms. It is like a big puzzle where we are trying to put the pieces together by questions and lab markers. We have found very interesting interconnections- for example around 80-90% of diseases begin in the gut; these diseases go beyond gastrointestinal symptoms of acid reflux, constipation, diarrhea or bloating. There is a big connection between the status of our gut lining and microbiome with mental health, allergies and autoimmune diseases.

4. Coaching as a partnership: We support our clients as a partnership rather than trying to impose a specific protocol. We work on implementing little steps starting where clients currently are. We believe the best protocol/diet is the one our clients will follow. We look for improvement, instead of perfection.

5. Lab markers as one more piece in the puzzle – We offer services(optional) from our lab partners with competitive prices which include Functional Reports with status vs. optimal levels. We acknowledge that lab markers are helpful for addressing root causes, however they are only one more piece in the puzzle in addition to the health history and information the client provides in our 1-on-1 appointments. We do not provide protocols based on one single lab marker; but based on a systemic approach.

As for business resources, we use social media platforms, our blogs, magazines, and brochures to spread the word, and soon we will develop videos, webinars, and podcasts.

We have also incorporated easier ways to communicate with our clients through Practice Better app where they can book consultations, purchase programs, fill forms, send lab results and chat directly with us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.splendhealth.com; www.feelsexyagain.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/splendhealth
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/splendhealthllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/splendhealth
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/splendhealth

Image Credits
Splendhealth, LLC