Given that it’s my job to investigate how to be healthy, you might think that I’ve come across a single magical key to finding balance, harmony, health, and longevity. And I’d love to tell you that after a blissful nine-hour sleep each and every night, I rise with the morning chorus of birds to perform an hour of yoga, followed by an hour of meditation.

My pity party didn’t last very long because walking and using my hands were not optional for me, as I was a full-time mother of two young daughters. I began to look at rheumatoid arthritis differently by accepting it as just one part of me rather than letting it define the sum of me.

Nakazawa, an award-winning science journalist, was fascinated when her doctor went on to describe adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), a scientific breakthrough that demonstrates that kids who had experienced traumatic events in childhood often have lifelong recriminations from those traumas, including serious and chronic health disorders that can surface many years later.

Back in what seems like another life, I was a busy single chick immersed in Manhattan's social scene. It was such a hectic lifestyle that when I woke up one morning with weakness in my legs and tingling in my hands, I initially figured it was a result of all the the long days and late nights and not MS.

Through a long year of diving deep into these emotions and a lot of trial and error in the kitchen, I finally figured out what worked best for my body… And then I figured out how to tweak my favorite dishes to fit my needs

Thanks to the fact that gluten-free dining has become a dietary trend, many people assume that I can “cheat” and eat small amounts of gluten. I struggle with how to make people understand that it is not worth it to repeatedly inflame my intestines to the point of risking lymphoma or, at the very least, feeling like crap and setting up residence in the restroom.  

The "damn good" labor story that thankfully ended happily but ended with a diagnosis of lupus and sjogren's on top of hashimoto's, and the attitude and mindset shift that brought strength on top of a great sense of humor.

Having ITP, a rare autoimmune condition, as an adult is stressful—Now we had to cope with ITP in the role of a parent of a child who has ITP.

I was pregnant with my second child when I found myself admitted to the hospital. Can I go home and pack? No. Can I still go to the family wedding this weekend? No. Will my baby be okay? Possibly. I sat in the hospital bed speechless. I was told I would remain there until I could learn to carb count and administer insulin injections. I was told I was to remain there until I could adequately protect the baby growing inside me.

For me, the next phase was a heroic jump into an unsustainably perfect way of living with an autoimmune disease. I bought an arsenal of health books, lost at least 8 of my 9 lives to Google (and self-diagnosed myself with 34.5 other diseases), interrogated numerous doctors, and went to weird support groups in dark church basements.

From an early age, soccer was my game and there was no denying it. I lived and dreamed of soccer. It was my lifeline. Happy, sad, or angry— soccer was how I expressed myself. I became very ill when I was nine years old (strep-induced vasculitis). We were told that I may never be able to walk again.