Holistic Jazz is a glimpse into one girl’s life experiences of being dubbed a medical mystery. Through her trials and tribulations with chronic illness and pain, she strives to find healing through all that holistic jazz. She shares with you a glimpse into the highs and lows of her ongoing journey. She is a woman finding her way to wellness. She is me.
My name is Jasmine Garcha and this is my story…
My healthy journey began at a young age when I suffered emotional trauma and depression as a child. By the time I reached my early teens, my inner battle had grown stronger as a result of the negative and emotional experiences around me. I suffered from severe disordered eating, depression, anxiety and hormonal imbalances. High levels of stress during university exacerbated my symptoms. After a serious car accident, I suffered from chronic pain and slipped into a deep depression. In addition to the chronic pain, hormonal imbalances, depression and anxiety, I started experiencing severe digestive problems. I was shuffled from doctor to doctor, had tests after tests and was provided with prescription after prescription to alleviate my symptoms. Doctors eventually dubbed me a medical mystery. I had tried countless alternative treatments and diet changes to no avail. After years of suffering and searching for answers, I decided to stop addressing the symptoms and start searching for the root cause of my health issues. This is when everything changed and I began my journey as my own health advocate. Through extensive research and education, I became a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. This was the start of my healing journey. I adopted a holistic lifestyle through physical activity, meditation, yoga and intuitive thinking. I made beneficial changes to my diet to address nutritional gaps. Most importantly, I developed a positive relationship with food and a positive outlook on life. Through my knowledge and advocacy, I eventually received a diagnosis of various autoimmune and chronic health disorders including Celiac, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Endometriosis, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Having spent my entire life hiding my battle with mental health and chronic illness, I took a leap of faith and left my career in youth work to focus on healing myself and educating others.
I created Holistic Jazz to share my life story and to empower others to lead a holistic lifestyle. Through Holistic Jazz you will have the opportunity to see through my lens and my experiences on my healing journey. Here you will gain an insight into the reality of living with chronic, invisible illnesses and battling mental illness, experience my worldwide travel stories, find nutrition tips and delicious recipes, read inspiring stories and learn about all that holistic jazz!
As you can imagine, my journey has been a long one! When I created Holistic Jazz, I decided that I wanted to share all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. I wanted to share what is reality for so many of us who have battled chronic, invisible illness and mental illness. Over time, I will share more about my journey in detail on this blog. To start with, here goes the long, in a nut shell version about me! I have decided to break this into four parts to really highlight the details of my journey. You can read more here:
Part II: The Woes of Early Adulthood
Part III: Navigating The Real World
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