Why I’m Creating a Healing Program for Women with Chronic Illness

When I look at my daughter Emma, who is 8 years old, I can’t help but think back to when I was her age. That was when my own body began to speak in whispers of pain and fatigue. At the time, no one could explain why an otherwise vibrant little girl was so tired, sore, and struggling to keep up with life. By the time I turned 13, I had a label: fibromyalgia.

What I didn’t know then was how much that diagnosis would shape the next 30 years of my life.

I spent decades navigating the western medical system, moving from one doctor to another, hoping for answers, hoping for relief. I tried countless medications, sat through sterile appointments, and often left with more questions than clarity. At the same time, I ventured into the natural health world - herbal remedies, alternative therapies, and protocols that promised miracles but didn’t always deliver. Some of it helped, some of it didn’t. All of it left me searching.

And somewhere in that search, something inside me shifted. I realized that if I wanted to heal, I couldn’t simply hand my body over to someone else’s authority. I had to become the expert of my own experience.

That realization set me on a path of deep research, relentless trial and error, and eventually, formal education. I became a Holistic Nutritionist not just to earn a title, but to understand my body on a cellular level. I studied food as medicine. I explored targeted, high-quality supplements. I looked at sleep, movement, and lifestyle through new eyes. And perhaps most importantly, I dug into the unseen layers of healing: trauma, stress, and the way the nervous system holds the echoes of the past.

It wasn’t an overnight transformation. Healing rarely is. But slowly, through persistence and self-compassion, I pieced together a life that felt less like survival and more like freedom.

Today, my reality looks very different. I’m a single mom raising a bright, curious daughter. I work full time as an Educational Assistant while still running my nutrition practice in the evenings and weekends. I make time for family dinners, walks with friends, date nights with my partner, and workouts that actually energize me. My body still carries a chronic illness, but my life is not built around limitation anymore.

I am not surviving. I am thriving.

And that is why I’m creating this program.

Because no one should have to spend 30 years stumbling through the dark to find answers. Because women living with chronic illness deserve guidance, support, and a reminder that their bodies are not broken. Because the endless cycle of appointments, pills, and “learn to cope” messages isn’t the only way forward.

This program is my heart work. It’s everything I’ve learned - through both education and lived experience - woven into a roadmap that’s practical, compassionate, and rooted in the belief that healing is possible. It’s not about perfection or a quick fix. It’s about helping women move from barely getting by to living fully, in a way that feels sustainable and empowering.

For me, this feels like destiny. A calling I couldn’t ignore if I tried. I’ve carried the weight of chronic illness, and I’ve carried the hope of something more. Now, it’s time to share the tools, insights, and strategies that helped me step into my own healing, so you don’t have to feel so alone on your journey.

When I think about launching this program, it feels less like a project and more like a birth. A new chapter not only for me, but for every woman who will step inside and realize she is capable of more than just counting spoons. There is joy. There is energy. There is life to be lived - beyond pain, beyond fatigue, beyond constant survival.

This course is coming in January 2026. It’s my gift to the women who need it most: the mothers, the dreamers, the fighters, the ones who are tired of being told “this is just how it is.”

You don’t have to walk this path alone. Healing is possible. And I can’t wait to show you what’s waiting on the other side.

P.S. In the meantime, if you’re walking through work, motherhood, and chronic illness too - and you feel like your body is begging for support - I’d love to help you find more energy, ease, and nourishment. You can learn more about my nutrition practice and book a free consult to work together 1-on-1.

With heart,
Alexis Tanner | The Nutritionist Mama
Holistic Nutritionist
Guiding women to heal chronic illness through nutrition, lifestyle & nervous system support.