.png)
The Bombshell Diaries are the behind-the-scene stories of real women and their health journeys.
The stories of these women begin the transformation for generations to come - a world filled with women who don’t slip into self doubt, look in the mirror hating what they see, or silencing their voice before they even get started. The more women live in alignment to our hormones - the happier, healthier, more confident, and less stressed out we feel, which sends ripple effects to the world around us.
The Bombshell Diaries celebrates the individuality of our bodies, yet the oneness present within the female mind and spirit. Despite age, location, ethnicity, and personal preferences, our bodies are designed in a very specific way, and for an important purpose.
As women, we intuitively know how we’re meant to feel and because we don’t always showcase physical symptoms, our emotions are disregarded. Or because our bodies fluctuate throughout the month, and a symptom may only show up for a week or so, it’s “not serious and nothing is wrong”.
The Bombshell Diaries showcase our emotions have value, especially when it comes to our health. It’s one of our most powerful secrets to uncovering what’s off.
Kim Heintz is a Tech Strategist, Business Coach, & Functional Medicine Student, who wasn't feeling at home within her body. Kim shares her journey with us and what it's felt like to balance her hormones.
This is her story:
"For 17 years, I walked on eggshells when it came to my health and how I felt inside my body. I wasn’t sick with an illness, I just never felt that great and didn’t know why.
Most of the time, it felt like a roll of the dice on if I’d wake up feeling good or not.
What was strange is that I’ve been an athlete most of my life.
I took my personal health and wellness very seriously. Even when I wasn’t feeling well, I did my best to eat well, rest, and exercise.
Here’s a rundown of what I felt:
Migraines - sometimes as often as 3-7 days a week
Brain fog
Depression & anxiety
Persistent acne that showed up for the first time when I was 33 and never went away.
15 lbs of weight gain that seemed to show up overnight when I was 34 – even though I was spending up to 10-15 hours a week working out.
24x7 bloating - I hated the way I looked.
Insomnia - struggled to fall and stay asleep.
Excessive fatigue - I was tired all day long, even with caffeine.
These symptoms stood in my way of performing at the level I knew I could, in my fitness training, life, and business.
It left me thinking that maybe feeling good wasn’t for me?
For the past 5 years, I’ve taken my fitness efforts up a notch, as an elite endurance mountain bike racer (50+ mile races) and train 15 hours a week. Emotionally, I struggled with how I could be so fit, yet feel so terrible. Life felt like a massive struggle and I was beyond confused!
These symptoms affected all areas of my life like:
Taking forever to recover from intense rides and I often felt fatigued while riding.
Taking at least 5 hours to feel awake in the morning – so I had a hard time being productive. This often led to late nights working to make up lost time, and meet deadlines for myself and clients.
Feeling sad and anxious, for no reason, which led to more lost hours.
I saw doctors.
I hired nutritionists and personal trainers.
I spent countless hours at night searching for answers online.
Doctors ran tests that came back normal. And they prescribed medication after medication…each of which seemed to cause more problems than they helped.
I was even asked if I was lying about my symptoms and the food I was eating! Who would lie about that?!
Several of these professionals told me it was in my head.
I had nutrition plans drafted for me, but they weren’t personalized, so it was hard to fit my lifestyle. They either had too few calories in them and I was starving, or the foods on the plan made me feel even worse.
I felt hopeless and actually started to wonder if I was making it up, or if this is how you’re supposed to feel?
Then, one night last November, Laura’s sales page for a group program caught my attention. It was to help women learn how to balance their hormones.
As I read it, it felt like she had written it just for me.
With every word I found myself saying “YES! Someone finally gets it!!!!”
After so many practitioners and doctors had failed me, I was at my breaking point, so without hesitation, I signed up.
Toward the end of the program, Laura offered me a chance to work with her 1-1. She was confident she could help me achieve my goals even faster AND feel great while working toward them.
Deep in my heart, I knew she was the answer to the help I had been asking for.
So I said yes and we got to work building a customized plan to address the root causes to my symptoms.
At first, I didn’t know what to expect and had some apprehension around a few things she asked me to do initially.
One of them was to take a week off from riding to calm my body down… which made me super anxious! I was actually angry the day she asked how I felt about not riding for a week!
But I trusted her, and hearing her story with over exercising, I listened.
The first few days were hard, but by the end of it, I could actually feel my body calming down. It was amazing! The next week I was riding way better on my bike!
Another change was to shift the food I was eating.
This involved cooking more and figuring out what foods didn’t work for my body.
While I had a few staple “healthy” meals (I ate the same 3 meals every week), cooking had never been a big thing for me or something I enjoyed. I actually didn’t like spending time in the kitchen, and learning new recipes because I was so busy already. Plus, I’d get overwhelmed by some recipes, due to all the ingredients and steps to create them!
Her recipe guide made it super simple and I appreciated that, she too, was busy and understood not wanting to spend hours in the kitchen.
While I ate pretty healthy, I had a friend once tell me I was indifferent to food. And she was right - I was. Minimum barrier to healthy eating - that was me!
Through my work with Laura, I found I could no longer afford to be indifferent.
It became clear that many “healthy” foods didn’t work for my body – such as gluten, sweet potatoes, and beans.
And to get the results I wanted, I could only consume certain foods in smaller quantities, and no later than lunch – such as fruit and brown rice. I learned the way they’re processed in the body later in the day, can lead to insulin spikes, which can cause inflammation, bloating, insomnia, and take your body out of a fat burning state.
Laura helped me establish new routines around food that felt good to me, and new recipes that were easy to make. At first, I worried that it’d be overwhelming, but thankfully it wasn’t. As with any new thing, it takes some practice and patience. So I gave it a try and within just a few weeks, I had a completely new skill!
What I found out, is that I actually enjoyed cooking more than I thought. And, bonus - the meals I'm eating now taste better than anything I was eating before!
Up until recently I never realized I had food allergies because I didn't feel an immediate reaction to them. But as soon as I removed them from my diet, and strategically used other foods to balance my hormones, I started feeling exponentially better.
And the weight started to fall off!
Only 9 weeks into working with her, I told Laura it felt like I finally got my life back.
She had corrected 17 years’ worth of symptoms in a little over 2 months. I couldn’t believe it!
And I mean this.
Now, I feel good every day.
I jump out of bed as soon as I wake up, excited for what’s ahead.
I recover from training exponentially quicker, and am riding better and faster than I ever have in my life.
My relationships are better - I feel more present and understand now how the female brain ebbs and flows in the month, which has enhanced my communication.
My skin has cleared up.
AND the best part?
I’ve lost 9 lbs and 6 inches in just 12 weeks!
The people in my life are noticing these changes too! I’ve been receiving so many compliments and people asking me what I’m doing.
My response? Get to know your hormones!
Sometimes I still can’t believe I wake up with no migraines or brain fog. Initially, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop…that this was just a good stretch. But no, those days are gone.
Feeling great, every day, is my new reality!
I literally healed my body in a matter of weeks through the power of food and some lifestyle changes. I learned how to listen to the subtle messages my body gives me and understand way more how my hormones fluctuate throughout the month. I can even predict when a symptom might come up, and now know how I can avoid it.
It’s like I regained control over my body!
Now that I know how powerful food is, I’ve decided to take things to an even bigger level.
I’ve started studying functional nutrition to take what Laura and I covered in our three months together, to learn even more.
I’m not sure yet what I'll do with it, but I am more empowered than I’ve ever felt in my (almost) 37 years. Thank you Laura for helping me live the best life possible!"
Want to balance your hormones like Kim?
