Health Is Simple, But Not Easy

There's a swamp of health advice on the internet—diets and routines, all in a war for followers. Against them presses the weight of a medical industry primarily interested in treating symptoms with pharmaceutical medication—most of which come with side effects that get treated in an endless cycle.  Figuring out how to feel physically and mentally well can be difficult. 

Joanna Daniels is no TikTok influencer, nor is she a doctor—but she has been telling people about eating clean and managing stress since the late 90s. “I was the freak in Ohio telling people about GMO's,” she laughs. Her studies began with lots of books, “because back then we had AOL dial-up.” Over the course of decades, she believes she has found the key factor in getting healthy: a willingness to sacrifice.

NOT SET UP TO WIN

Daniels grew up sickly. At six months old, she nearly died. When she was four, she got scarlatina. At six, measles. Shingles at age fourteen—awfully rare. Regular bouts of strep throat caused her to miss school often. She didn't break 100 pounds until after high school.

Growing up one of four children to single mother on welfare, she was raised on a standard American diet and lots of “government cheese.” At nineteen she was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and told that would be her life forever. Luckily, she didn't buy it. Following a period of deep study, Daniels spent a year and a half only eating clean, plant-based foods.

When she returned to a less strict diet, the majority of her struggles with IBS were gone. There's “always a weak spot there,” she says—after all, she wasn't set up well growing up. But with careful health practices and continuing studies, Daniels finds her health to be totally manageable. 

Her personal experiences and struggles led Daniels to the Natural Healing Institute, where she studied to be a naturopathic doctor until 2018. It was then that she moved to Tennessee, feeling that she had gotten all she could from the program.

WINNING ANYWAY

Naturopathic medicine is illegal in three states—one of them being Tennessee—so Daniels’ official title is that of a Certified Health & Wellness Coach. She helps people by offering  "suggestions,” letting them take their health into their own hands. The most frequent hurdle she comes across? “A lot of people want a quick fix. They're not in it for the long haul.”

Physical wellness and emotional wellness are strongly intertwined. There absolutely must be an emotional willingness to commit to one's health—and many don't find that until there's a serious problem. “You can turn your health around, but it takes time,” says Daniels. At the core of wellness are always two questions: “What do you eat, and what is your lifestyle like?” They aren't things that change overnight or with a miracle supplement.

Daniels says a large portion of any health journey is stress management, with a heavy emphasis on forgiveness. She recommends that when encountering someone who might incite stress, we give them grace. However, she doesn't recommend being a total pushover, adding, “if it happens again, we're gonna talk.”

It’s “simple but not easy” to stop holding grudges, but Daniels finds that strength through her faith. When someone is rude to her at first, she assumes the best of them. She takes time to pray, which she finds grounding.

Each time she sits down with a new client, she begins with a pointed question: “How bad do you want to be healthy?” She asks if they are ready to “de-stress” and make their life “less complicated.” If they respond with the expected bewilderment, Daniels says she “knows where they're at.” In her experience, “more complicated” has a direct correlation with a lack of health. 

Daniels argues that our culture is at odds with our health. “In America, we wear busyness as a badge,” she remarks. That sense of pride that comes from constantly being on the move has to be overcome. She wants to see people make the effort to do what’s simple: “We need to sit down with our family and friends, and enjoy the essence of life so that we can get back to our health.”