Imagine going from a size 2 to a size 12 in just 3 months.
That’s what happened to Maria Aparis. Before her health crisis struck, she was a full-time model. She’d been a size 2 her entire life.
She couldn’t figure out what was happening to her, so she went to the doctor. His advice? She should exercise more. She was just getting older.
That advice nearly killed her.
Maria’s journey back to wellness took her in an unexpected direction when she began to learn about the role of the gut in supporting health.
Today, she’s a health and wellness mentor and author of The Essential Gut Awakening: Mastering Hashimoto’s and other Autoimmune Diseases. She specializes in natural, holistic and alternative modalities for optimum wellness.
In this week’s YBTV interview, you’ll discover how plant allies like essential oils and hemp extract can help you feel better. You’ll learn how leaky gut contributes to autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s. You’ll also find out why taking supplements could just be washing money down the drain … unless you understand the importance of absorption.
What You’ll Learn
The first doctor that I went to told me that I was just getting older and I needed to exercise more, so I did and—based on my doctor’s advice—nearly died.”
Maria Aparis was a full-time print model. She walked the red carpet, and she loved her life.
Then health issues struck.
She went from a size 2 to a size 12 in 3 months. She started having indigestion, bloating, fatigue, insomnia, vertigo. She had a tumor the size of a golf ball in her throat.
When she went to the doctor, he didn’t run tests. He told her she was just getting older. She took his advice to heart and left his office determined to work out even harder and push through her fatigue.
But what she didn’t know was that she had anemia, and her blood levels were critical. She should have been sent immediately to the ER.
That was the beginning of a harrowing journey in which Maria saw doctor after doctor, trying to find out what was wrong with her. She saw specialists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors, Ayurveda practitioners. “Everyone was trying their best to the best of their ability,” she says, “and nothing was working.”
She lost modeling contracts. “I couldn’t model anymore, because I was too tired and I couldn’t fit in anything. Red-carpet events, those were gone.” Her “beautiful glamorous life” was put on hold while she focused on just trying to survive.
She was taking 80 supplements a day and getting her blood tested every 3 weeks. She was paying for much of it out of pocket. “I was going broke,” she says.
I felt depressed. I felt so sad. I felt despondent. I felt like I was never going to get my life back…. [But] in the worst days, even though I felt awful, there was some spark of light inside my being that was not going to accept that this was going to be the rest of my life.”
Maria’s Discovery
Maria was finally diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s.
“The way that doctors describe [Hashimoto’s] is when your immune system is attacking your thyroid,” she says, “but what I went to discover on is that the core of Hashimoto’s—and any autoimmune disease—is leaky gut syndrome. All wellness begins in our gut.”
Healing her gut got her back on the road to recovery. “When I changed my lifestyle—I changed my supplements, changed everything—that’s when my body started to heal from the inside out.”
So what is leaky gut?
Maria explains that healthy stomachs have a cilia lining that keeps toxins from escaping into the bloodstream. But in leaky gut, that stomach lining starts to break down. Toxins leak through the gaps into the bloodstream, where the body sees them as foreign invaders. The response is inflammation.
The inflammation doesn’t just target the toxins. It attacks everything in that area. “So your body starts to, in a sense, attack itself, and it goes towards the weakest link,” she says.
The Role of Absorption
One of the reasons why I wrote my book [is] because I really want to help people understand that absorption is the key to everything, whether it’s absorption of good things that help us or absorption of toxic things that make us worse or sick.”
Even though Maria had been taking handfuls of supplements and improving her diet, she wasn’t getting any better. She finally understood why when she realized those vital nutrients weren’t getting absorbed by her body.
“It doesn’t matter how good you may eat,” she says. “If you can’t absorb the nutrients, it’s not going to do any good.”
Without addressing absorption, the money you spend on supplements may be going down the drain. That’s why Maria recommends nano-enhanced liposomal supplements, which are water soluble and pre-broken down, so once they hit the gut they’re easily absorbed.
Within 3 days of switching her supplements, Maria noticed a huge difference in her energy levels.
She also started using essential oils. Her first experience with essential oils was with a massage therapist who used a grounding blend on her. “My whole senses just opened up,” she says, “and my body felt calm and peaceful for the first time.”
She eventually created her own belly blend< to rub onto the stomach and support the gut.
The final piece of the plant puzzle was hemp extract.
“Hemp extract has changed my life,” Maria says. “The one that I use [get it here] is sonicated, which means it’s an even smaller particle than a nano-enhanced liposomal. The second you drop it in your mouth, it gets dispersed into your body, and you feel a difference.”
Today, Maria’s life is back on track. She’s back to modeling with the same print agency. She spreads the word about gut health through interviews and media appearances.
She also helps women go through the same transformation that restored her health, through her book The Essential Gut Awakening and her 6-week Total Gut Mastery course. Her online course contains meditations, guidelines, affirmations, and yogic postures, as well as all the information you need to understand your gut and the tools you need to support it.
We have to take control of our body … and not rely on a diagnosis and let that be our life sentence.”
Jump to Topics of Interest
2:26 How medical advice almost cost Maria her life
4:21 The glamorous life Maria had been living before her health issues struck
4:33 How quickly Maria’s health declined
8:00 The link between Hashimoto’s and leaky gut
9:06 What is leaky gut?
11:18 The importance of absorption
12:26 What to look for in supplements
13:30 Essential oils
14:31 Hemp oil
15:15 Maria’s belly blend
15:55 Maria’s life today
16:33 Maria’s Total Gut Mastery course
17:19 Don’t let your diagnosis be your destiny
Maria Aparis
Maria is a health and wellness mentor and author of The Essential Gut Awakening: Mastering Hashimoto’s and other Autoimmune Diseases. She specializes in natural, holistic and alternative modalities for optimum wellness. As an inspirational and motivational leader and speaker, she inspires her clients to achieve their greatest potential in life by challenging the paradigms that hold them back. Find out how you can heal your gut and get your life back.
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