Are You Treating Symptoms Instead of Solving the Root Problem?

The Root Cause Revolution: How to Reclaim Your Health

For over 35 years, I lived with a series of diagnoses—each one treated as an isolated issue. Allergies, asthma, arthritis, and gut problems were managed with medications and treatments that kept the symptoms at bay but never asked the deeper question: Why is this happening?

It wasn’t until a health crisis in 2023 forced me to look deeper that I began to see the bigger picture. All these conditions—starting with allergies after the birth of my first child—were part of a larger story: autoimmune dysfunction. And while I’m grateful for the medications that supported me along the way, I now realize I was missing something crucial: addressing the root cause.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a cycle of treating symptoms without real answers, I understand your frustration. But hope isn’t lost. It’s possible to uncover the root causes of chronic conditions and start your journey toward true wellness.

Why Root Causes Matter

Conventional medicine often focuses on managing symptoms, which can feel like putting out fires without ever addressing what started them. Root-cause health takes a different approach: it asks why those symptoms appeared in the first place and seeks to address the underlying issues driving them.

For me, that meant looking back 40 years to the birth of my first child. Almost overnight, I developed allergies to everything I grew up around. I couldn’t breathe without an inhaler, my skin reacted to the slightest irritants, and I lived with a constant cycle of inflammation. At the time, I didn’t connect the dots, and neither did my doctors.

Fast forward decades, and the signs of systemic imbalance only grew. Arthritis in my hands. Persistent back pain. A swollen, bloated gut I assumed was just weight gain. But the tipping point came in 2023, when I experienced severe gut issues that left me depleted and desperate for answers. After weeks of debilitating diarrhea and electrolyte imbalances, I learned I had gluten intolerance, gut dysbiosis, and gastroparesis—complications worsened by a medication I had been prescribed for my elevated Hemaglobin A1C, a marker for Type 2 Diabetes.

It was then I realized: these weren’t separate diagnoses. They were all part of a larger picture, connected by autoimmune dysfunction and a deeper imbalance in my body’s systems.

5 Common Root Causes of Chronic Illness

If you’re experiencing struggles with chronic illness or symptoms that have yet to be given a name, a diagnosis, you might also be dealing with one or more of these root causes:

1. Inflammation: Chronic inflammation is often the body’s response to stressors like processed foods, environmental toxins, or infections. Over time, it can silently wreak havoc on your joints, gut, and immune system.
2. Gut Health Imbalances: The gut plays a critical role in overall health, housing much of the immune system. Problems like "leaky gut" allow particles to escape into the bloodstream, triggering widespread inflammation.
3. Hormonal Overload: Excess cortisol from stress or imbalances in insulin can set off a chain reaction that disrupts your entire system.
4. Toxins and Environmental Stress: Everyday exposures—from pesticides in food to household chemicals—accumulate over time, overloading your detox pathways.
5. Unresolved Stress or Trauma: Chronic stress or emotional wounds can keep your body in a constant fight-or-flight mode, suppressing your ability to heal.

This is a very broad overview and oversimplistic definition of the root causes to your symptoms but this will get you started. Dive Deep!

Simple Steps to Start Addressing Root Causes Today

This journey doesn’t require you to overhaul your life overnight. Small, intentional actions can set the foundation for deeper healing.

1. Experiment with an Elimination Diet
   Many chronic symptoms are triggered by hidden food sensitivities, which vary greatly from person to person. An elimination diet, such as carnivore, can help you identify which foods your body thrives on and which it struggles to tolerate. By focusing on nutrient-dense, easily digestible foods for 30 days, you can calm inflammation, support gut health, and gain valuable insights into what works best for your body.
   • Try This: If vegetables are a trigger, and you may not yet realize they are, eliminate foods high in lectins—such as nightshades; beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and certain seeds—and reintroduce them slowly to test your body’s response.
2. Simplify Your Food Choices
   If an elimination diet feels too restrictive, start by crowding out processed foods with real, whole ingredients. Incorporate vibrant, anti-inflammatory foods into your meals to nourish your body and reduce stress on your system.
   • Try This: Begin your day with a simple meal like eggs and avocado or a protein-rich smoothie with berries and a scoop of collagen.
3. Support Your Body’s Natural Detox Pathways
   Your liver and kidneys are designed to process and remove toxins, but they function best with consistent support. Simple daily habits can make a big difference.
   • Try This: Drink plenty of filtered water, add a squeeze of lemon to support digestion, and include fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley in your meals—they’re known to help bind and remove heavy metals. I personally am in that genetic category that HATES cilantro, it tastes like soap. But, it is such a great detoxifyer that I will take it in pill form. Also the water you drink is crucial! You cannot trust tap water and can you even really trust bottled water? I persoally distill my water with a countertop distiller then add back the minerals with Redmond Sea Salt. This is one of my small steps that I have accomplished.
4. Prioritize Deep Rest
   Healing happens when your body is in a state of rest and repair, but modern stressors can make quality sleep difficult. Establishing a calming nighttime routine can work wonders. It is best to create an entire sleep routine but more on that later. For now, let's take the small step.
   • Try This: Set aside 15 minutes before bed to dim the lights, turn off screens, and focus on something relaxing—like stretching, a warm bath, or sipping herbal tea.

Balancing Holistic and Modern Medicine

I’ll always be grateful for the medications and treatments that supported me along the way—like the inhalers that controlled my asthma for decades and now bioidentical hormones that have a myriad of benefits, most notibly the cessation of hot flashes. Modern medicine has its place, especially in managing chronic, acute, life-threatening, and non life-threatening conditions.

But medications alone aren’t enough. True health requires a profound shift in how we live, eat, think, and connect with ourselves. By balancing modern treatments with a root-cause approach, we can give our bodies the best chance to heal and thrive.

Taking the first step toward uncovering root causes can feel overwhelming, but it’s not about perfection. Start small: examine your diet, reduce stress, or even reassess your environment. Each step you take is a step toward reclaiming your well-being.

I’m still in the early stages of this journey, but I’m committed to finding answers and sharing what I learn along the way. I've had 60 years of poor food choices, toxic water, poor air quality, the wrong type of sun exposure, artificial lighting, inability to handle stress, poor sleep, lack of grounding, and now EMF and God knows what else!! But, it's baby steps, one day at a time, one change at a time. It's the cumulative effect that got me into this mess and it will be the cumulative effect that gets me out of it.

If any of this sounds familiar then let's take this path together—because we all deserve a long, vibrant life, free from unnecessisary suffering.

Jamie