maria willis

...until she crashed and burned hard.

Hi, I'm Maria, and from a young age I was always on the go. Growing up I was a straight A student and a competitive athlete whose life was full of studying and training hard as a competitive gymnast. After knee injuries prevented me from continuing my training I moved on to other competitive sports including softball, basketball, volleyball, track and even cheerleading. During high school I played basketball, swam and dove for the swim team, and played on the men's waterpolo team (it wasn't sanctioned as a women's sport at that time) and played women's club waterpolo. I also started surfing and found my first love of martial arts in an art called Capoeira.

During the high school years I also began working. My first job was at age 14 as a receptionist. I'm sure I was terrible at it and I vowed to never work in an office setting again. I moved on to coaching gymnastics and learned that I loved working with children, supporting people, and helping them to learn and grow. 

I attended college at UC Santa Barbara and continued to burn the candle at both ends. I always had a full load of credits and sometimes took extra classes on top of the full load. I worked as a cook and a baker for the first couple years of college and learned my way around a kitchen. In the summers I was a swim instructor and ran the local city aquatics program . I also played Division One waterpolo which often required multiple practices a day splitting our time between the pool and the weight room. Whenever I had time I continued to train capoeira on the side. I went to school during the day, trained hard in the mornings and evenings , studied late into the night, and worked crazy hours in the kitchen, often starting at 4 am for baking shifts. I got very little sleep and was proud of how much I could successfully pack into a day and still feel like I was thriving. I was focused on productivity and achievements and couldn't see that my health was starting to crumble. During this time I was diagnosed with stress and sports induced asthma.

After a couple of years in college I reached a point where I felt aimless and I decided to move to Brasil to train Capoeira. The idea was to take a break and return to school refocused and goal oriented. Instead, life in Brasil taught me to enjoy myself and to live in the moment. I was still my responsible self but I discovered a whole other side of myself on that six month trip. I lived in the moment and made decisions day-to-day based on how I felt and on my happiness. I had never lived like this before and it was such a game changer for me. When I returned to the US all I could think about was how I could get back to Brasil and I did that through a foreign exchange program which allowed me to live, study and train capoeira in Brasil for another year. I finished my college credits in Brasil and graduated with honors. It was truly one of the best times of my life because I had the structure of school, I got to train and exercise nearly everyday, and the friendships I created there were very special. In addition to all of that the lifestyle was completely different. I shopped at farmer's markets and small grocery stores only purchasing what I could carry (which meant more grocery trips per week and fresher food), I walked everywhere and rode the bus or metro if I had to go somewhere further away. I didn't have much money so I made all of my food myself from fresh ingredients. That was probably one of the healthiest times in my life and it was amazing!

When I came back from Brasil  life changed dramatically for me. I gave birth to my son shortly after my 23rd birthday and my beautiful boy became the center of my universe. This meant that as a single mother I needed to support my tiny family. I went back to school and went through an Early Childhood Education Program and opened up a childcare program. This enabled me to be with my son every day for the next couple of years. As a single parent and business owner it also meant that I was working my tail off to be a good mom and run a successful business. When my son outgrew my program I decided to go back to school yet again. This time I would move into the healing arts. I graduated with massage therapy certifications in multiple modalities in 2005, opened a private practice and have enjoyed working with people to help them feel good in their bodies for nearly twenty years now. Over the last two decades people have often come to me with their health concerns and physical ailments and it has always felt like a privilege to be trusted with the care and confidences of my clients.

Since I opened my business many wonderful things have happened in my life. I got married, I've been able to travel, my son has grown up into a amazing human and my business has been successful and award winning. Through it all I have enjoyed the work and I love what I get to do. 

Behind the scenes my health was starting to fall apart and I couldn't figure out why.  I wasn't exercising the way I had in the past but I certainly wasn't sedentary. I was putting on weight like nobody's business and couldn't get it off. My hair was dry, brittle and falling out. My thermo-regulation was off, I was having vision issues, throat issues, nervous system issues, episodes that felt like mini strokes, heart palpitations, arrhythmia and irregular heartbeats. I ended up in the ER multiple times for concerns about my heart. I had neuropathy on my face and skull and it hurt to touch my hair at times. Sometimes I felt like my brain was in a bucket and someone was swinging the bucket around. I got bitten by a tick, got cellulitis, a bullseye and was treated for Lyme disease on two separate occasions. I had nine UTI's in 6 months and way too many rounds of antibiotics.  I had had some GI symptoms since I was a child but they became exponentially worse to the point where I was afraid to eat out or or to eat foods that didn't have ingredients I knew I could tolerate. I had stomach pain, was bloated, gassy and struggled with chronic diarrhea. My once hyper focused brain started to drift and I could no longer complete the number of tasks I used to and everything felt daunting and overwhelming. My once never-ending energy was gone and I struggled to get through my days. I got to the point where I was too tired to go home at the end of my work day. I would sit at my desk telling myself to get up and finish the cleaning so I could go home... and, I just wasn't capable of doing it. I would sit at my desk for hours before I had the energy to finish my tasks and go home. It's really wild to go from being such a competent, high energy, productive person who can keep up with everything to someone who is out of shape, has chronic fatigue, brain fog and lack of mental focus, serious GI issues, and not enough energy to make it through the day. 

Over the years I had been seen by multiple doctors/specialists including neurologists, cardiologists, opthalmalogists, ENTs, MDs, a Urologist and a GI specialist. I also had a ton of testing, wore holter monitors multiple times, had my brain scanned for tumors, had my thyroid tested, and was tested for celiac disease... They all told me I was fine... but I knew I wasn't.

The human body and its function have always fascinated me. I truly believe that our bodies are always doing their best to heal and if we can just get out of their way and support them properly they will find their way back to health. So I found myself going back to school again. This time to learn more about our bodies, how they function, and how we can support them in their healing process. In 2022 I graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. In January 2023 I graduated from Functional Diagnostic Nutrition and soon after that I earned Board Certification as a Holistic Health Practitioner.

These education programs have been life changing for me as the skills and knowledge that I have gained have enabled me to take back control of my health. Functional lab testing paired with my new health detective skills allowed me to investigate my health on a deeper and more informative level than it had ever been investigated before. I discovered that I had parasites, H-Pylori, and an imbalanced gut microbiome. My body was not properly digesting protein, I had high oxidative stress with potential DNA damage and a sluggish liver and gall bladder. My hormone tests showed that my cortisol was tanked all day long and that my  body was in a state of exhaustion. My progesterone, estradiol, and testosterone were also low further complicating my health picture. My tests also showed indications of leaky gut and high histamine. My food sensitivity test flagged 21 different foods many of which were healthy foods that I consumed often (turmeric, chicken and apples). My mineral test showed that I had mineral depletion as well as mercury and aluminum toxicity! I also made the connection that I have been living and working in mold for much of my life and this has likely contributed to many of my health issues. As much as I hate to see my test results come back like this suddenly everything made perfect sense. Finally, I had answers and a place to start!

Now that I'm into my healing journey I am beyond thrilled to have my energy back! When I wake up in the morning I feel ready to take on the day. I can honestly tell you that I didn't even remember what that felt like (it's good guys, it's REALLY good).  My gut health issues are resolved and my asthma and seasonal allergies are too (they only show up if I eat something on my food sensitivity list). My hair is the healthiest it's ever been and for the first time in my life people have been telling me that I have pretty hair (so weird after 46 years). I lost 30 pounds following my food sensitivity diet after not being able to lose weight for years. Unfortunately, healing is not linear and sometimes we have set backs... I had a bad stair fall and took out both of my feet which has made standing, walking and exercising hard and I gained some of that weight back. I'm just now starting to be able to exercise again and it feels so good! I've done a lot of work to force myself to slow down in life and to manage my stress levels and it's all paying off. It sounds so cheesy but I have my life back. 

Recently I was reflecting back and realizing what a huge difference this health shift has made in my life. A couple of years ago I had my niece and nephews over for a sleepover and I could barely keep up. I had activities planned for them but I just wanted to sit down because I was absolutely fatigued. I struggled to make it through what should have been an easy overnight visit. Fast forward to last October when I drove for twelve hours and then watched them for four days. I got them to school, to their after school activities, took them shopping, cooked all of the meals, cleaned up, did multiple baking projects and then helped them decorate their house for Halloween. I did this all and was able to enjoy every second of it. One year prior I wouldn't have lasted a day at that pace.  

Anyways, you get the picture! I feel amazing and while I still have work to do I have this immense sense of gratitude that I have been able to recover my health and come this far. Moving forward I am excited to be able to help people who, like myself, have struggled to find answers to their health concerns. If you are someone who has tried everything and is not sure where to turn next... Functional Diagnostic Nutrition may be just what you need to get your health, your energy and your life back!