We recently connected with Aleece Rose and have shared our conversation below.
Aleece, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
Not to be too dramatic, but I would say the moment that made me want to completely change everything that I was doing in my life was recovering in a hospital bed after receiving emergency surgery and a blood transfusion to save my life. What should have been a routine surgery to remove my nonfunctioning gallbladder turned into an emergency surgery after the surgeon accidentally nicked an artery and didn’t realize before closing me up. I bled out for an hour before being rushed back in for another surgery to stop the internal bleeding. When I woke up the second time, I knew very little, and could comprehend even less. I was pumped full of pain meds. Half sedated. No energy. My husband was holding my hand, and the surgeon was trying to explain what had happened. All I really knew for sure, was that if I was lucky enough to walk out of that hospital, I would be ending the 10+ year health journey that led me to near death, and starting on a completely different journey that would make me feel truly alive. Let’s backtrack a little bit. As a teenager, I was receiving all of my health guidance from doctors. I had terrible menstrual cycles, cystic acne, and daily abdominal pain after meals. I was told this was all driven by hormones, and the only solution would be to start medication. So I started A LOT of medications. Birth control, antibiotics, and Accutane, just to name a few. While I’m going through years of medications to help with my ”hormone issues,” my daily abdominal pain was getting worse and worse. I started elimination diets to avoid certain foods that caused the most pain. First lactose free. Then vegetarian. Then my hair started to fall out! I knew something was off and I needed to try something new. Since my doctors weren’t helping me with my abdominal issues, I sought new experts. Online fitness models! That’s where I learned about the amazing, healing wonders of lemon and cayenne pepper cleanses. After a few cleanses came the kidney stones! And on, and on, and on. Every time I had an issue with my health, there was a new ”expert” telling me the thing to do to fix the issue. Cause, effect, solution. No one, including myself, ever stopped to ask ”why” I was having all of these issues in the first place.
Now, back recovering from emergency surgery. I was lucky enough to walk out of that hospital, and it would take 3 weeks before I had enough energy to be able to get out of bed without my husband’s help. During my recovery, I had nothing but time to finally ask myself “why?” This is when I started to learn about functional medicine. Not just about what functional medicine is, but how many different alternative practitioners there were, and how each one of them had something different and important to contribute to true health. I eventually started working with a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, and I can truly say that she saved my life. After a few months of working with her, all of my decades-long ailments started to subside, and I started to feel like I was actually living my life to the fullest. For the first time, I felt truly happy and healthy. I decided I wanted to make functional medicine my life’s work. I felt this way of living and healing needed to be the standard, not the fall back when everything else has failed. I’ve dedicated the past few years to learning, implementing, and living a life based on functional medicine, and ultimately becoming a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and starting my own business; Health Designed.
Aleece, 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?
Here’s a dirty little secret. I’m sleeping with the enemy! Just kidding … sort of. You see, my husband IS one of those providers that tried to help me before I almost died. It’s not like he was trying to make me worse, he was just taught in the traditional western medical model. He’s a military physician assistant, and he’s amazing at what he does. Unfortunately, his school just didn’t teach him things like the importance of balancing your minerals. So when I started down the rabbit hole of functional medicine, he was right there with me. And he was fascinated! Now, we use our sometimes competing education and training to find common ground and maximize treatment protocols for our clients.
About the Owners:
We are complex beings, made up of complex parts and systems. But essentially, it breaks down like this. You are an organism. Organisms are made of organ systems; organ systems are made of organs; organs are made of tissues; tissues are made of cell layers; cell layers are made of cells. Now think about dominoes. A small domino can knock down a larger one, then a larger one, and so on, until the largest domino (the organism) falls down. When you go to your doctor, they’ve been taught that symptoms are caused by diseases. If the organism is sick, treat the symptom. Cure the disease. They start at the largest domino. Functional medicine teaches to start at the smallest domino. Backtrack from the symptom and figure out not only which organs or tissues are malfunctioning, but why they are malfunctioning, and repair them, starting at the cellular level.
Our Programs:
All our programs are completely custom and individual; bespoke, if you will. After we meet with prospective clients and find out their concerns, we decide which functional labs can provide the most information to address their needs. These aren’t your normal labs that you get from your primary care provider. These are cutting edge, scientifically driven, evidence based labs that provide information you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else. The best part is, these labs get sent directly to your home, and most of the labs you can do on your own without having to go and get your blood drawn. Once your labs are complete, we use those results, along with a detailed medical and lifestyle history, to design a specialized program just for you. Our comprehensive programs effect every aspect of you life. Water, food, sleep, stress, environment, supplementation to correct imbalances. We provide a detailed protocol that is easy to follow, and will lead to lasting results.
What makes us different:
In addition to addressing their health issues, most of our clients are also seeking education. They want to have a true understanding of what is happening inside their body, not just what medication is going to mask their new symptom. We believe this to be a very large missing link in our traditional western medicine model. Spending 20 minutes with a patient and expecting them to learn anything about their body is absurd. One of the core foundations of our business that makes us different is educating our clients to ensure true understanding, leading to life-long knowledge and lasting results. A usual visit with our clients is about 60 minutes.
Problems we solve:
Our clients usually comes to us, sick and tired of being sick and tired. They have been stuck in a never ending cycle of trial and error. Ask Dr. Internet, then ask their primary care. Do labs, take meds, follow-up, more labs, additional meds. You get the picture. At a certain point in time, people just get comfortable with the fact that they will need to be on some sort of medication regimen for the rest of their life. Why not? Everyone they know has at least 3 prescriptions they take every day. It’s common. But common is not normal. We solve common, but certainly not normal, issues such hormonal imbalances that cause chronic fatigue, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), acne, infertility, menstrual disorders, weight gain, low libido, hair loss, and much more. We also help those pesky gut issues such as acid reflux, impaired digestion, leaky gut, abdominal pain, irritable bowel, chronic bloating, constipation, etc.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
In a field driven by science, data, and results, I find the connection to the person is often forgotten. People don’t want to be treated like just another person with the same complaints as all the other people. They want to be heard, and understood! Having been through the ringer my own journey affords me the unique opportunity to truly connect on a deeper level with our clients. I believe that being successful in the field of medicine and health truly takes empathy for the person you are trying to help. Without empathy and compassion, the people you seek to help become a giant blur of symptoms looking for the next quick fix.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
Without question! My only regret is that it took me until my 30’s to find a way to use my passion for helping people. I have always had a love for natural living, clean eating, and exercising, but above all else I love to learn and use my knowledge to help others. This profession has been beyond rewarding. Everyday I get the chance to connect with people, truly learn about them as individuals, and help guide them on a path toward sustainable long term health. At the end of the day, I know i’ve made a positive impact on someones life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.healthdesigned.co
- Instagram: @lifebyaleece
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/hormonehealthdesigned
- Other: https://lifebyaleece.myflodesk.com/lifebyaleece
Image Credits
Elsa Boscarello