MY JOURNEY

Who Am I?

Hello! I’m Denise Nieuwenhuis, a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor.  I am also an IT Professional and have been working in the technology industry for 25+ years.  You might be thinking, why is she in the health and nutrition space since most of her career is in the technology industry?  Well, health and nutrition has been another interest of mine for many years.  I just didn’t know where I could fulfill my purpose in the wellness space until I found Full Body Systems.  This program allowed me to jump into the health and wellness space, where 25 years ago, this certification didn’t exist.  I was very excited to learn about the seven body systems and how the human body functions.  It’s truly an amazing piece of work and based on what I learned, God doesn’t create junk!  God gives us this amazing body that has the capability to repair itself when given the right conditions.  Everyone has a story that led them to their health and wellness journey, so I’ll share a little bit of mine. 

Early Years

I grew up in Montana and lived in the country around many farmers.  In fact, in the summer, you would never find me in the house as I was always outside exploring the pastures, and fields, or catching a ride on the tractor with the farmers.  As I got older, I would move the grain truck ahead to accommodate for the grain coming out of the auger.  If I wasn’t there, I was picking choke cherries for a neighbor who made wonderful choke cherry jam.  You could also find me out in the grove of trees playing in the dirt and just doing what kids do.  In the summer, I spent two weeks each year in Minnesota visiting family and while there, I was put to work on the farm.  Pulling weeds in the garden, ick.  Making baked goods, yes!   As a small child I was always sick, and it was mostly during the winter months.  My parents would say to guests as they would leave the house, “Don’t let Denise by the door, she always gets sick!”  This is where my journey started with ear infections, bronchitis and overall, it was very hard for me to get up in the morning for school because I fought extreme fatigue.  This carried on into my teen years.

Adulthood

In my early adult years, I contracted food poisoning from some chicken I consumed.  This was not good at all, and it really changed my digestive system.  Shortly after recovering from that sickness, I made a life change.  I moved to Minnesota where I reside today.  Through the years I’ve constantly struggled with many digestive imbalances (gas, bloating, IBS, etc.).  I was always trying to find a balance not even thinking about my diet and lifestyle, which wasn’t good at all.  I didn’t know what I didn’t know as it related to nutrition.  I was just living my life and eating the Standard American Diet.  I grew up in a stressful environment which also compromised my gut health at an early age.    In my early 30’s, I contracted a very resistant type of bacteria which scared me, and this started my research journey.  I devoured documentaries on farming, soil, agriculture, etc.  I learned a lot through these documentaries about how depleted our soil is of minerals.  Then I started to learn more about nutrition and stumbled upon something called “leaky gut”.  I was looking at all the pictures online of the small intestine and these structures called “villi”.  I was fascinated.  “Leaky gut” was one piece to my puzzle of what was occurring within my body.  At this point and time in my life, I had taken many, many rounds of antibiotics, and some very strong ones all of which destroyed my gut microbiome.  So, what did I do next?  I said it’s time to eat healthier and hit the gym. 

Health & Fitness

I decided to work with a personal trainer to help me figure out the gym, and workout routines, and I handled the nutrition on my own.  I was met with frustration as my body was not responding to the work I was doing in the gym.  I was lifting three times a week and doing cardio.  Through the course of working with another personal trainer, they identified that I might have some food sensitivities.  I took their advice and contacted a functional practitioner who performed a food sensitivity test.  Another piece to the puzzle came together and I found that most of the nutrition I was consuming, which I thought was healthy, I was sensitive too.  As time went on, I was introduced to another trainer and when working with them, I had great results.  This individual had their arms wrapped around the nutrition piece and knew what my body needed.  My body finally started to respond.  A lot of inflammation came out of my body and for the first time in many years, I felt really good.  After parting ways with my trainer to take it on my own, I struggled for several years with the nutrition piece and just became frustrated and went back to old habits.  I couldn’t let it go and I kept searching for ways to educate myself around nutrition.  I then found a certification program that led me to become a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor.

What Now?

Since obtaining my certification in 2024, I launched Nourish Yourself to Health.  I started this business with a desire to help educate others on how the body functions and how nutrition helps the body to repair itself.  I work with individuals to “back things up” and understand what is going on within the terrain (their digestive system) of their bodies and look at what steps are needed to start to restore their digestive systems.  Repairing the body can happen at any age, as I have discovered, when given the right conditions.  It takes time, patience and when given the proper nutrition, gut health can be restored within a month, depending upon the individual. This is how fast our bodies can start to repair and restore itself to better health.

Hindsight

Reflecting back on that little girl who grew up in Montana, and worked the farm in Minnesota, I now understand why summer is where I felt my best.  As for all of us, summers are the best because why?  It is because we are outside grounding with mother nature when our bare feet are in the grass or dirt.  Our internal ecosystem, our digestive system, needs the same kind of care as well.  We can give it that with the right nutrition. 

I look forward to working with others to help them on their journeys to better health.