Ashley Perez

Physician Assistant

Trained in Functional Medicine

 When I was in high school I started having gastrointestinal issues. Most of the time, I wouldn’t go to the bathroom for more than a week. I was told by my doctor and specialist to increase my fiber. Desperately, I tried drinking more water, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes to stimulate bowel movements. In college, it only got worse and I was prescribed a medication called Amitiza, which, only worked for 2 weeks. At this point I begged for a colonoscopy. 

 After a clean bill of health, normal labs and normal colonoscopy, I was prescribed other OTC medications daily. I was 24 years old at this point. I said, "no way- this cannot be right, this is not normal." In 2013, I intuitively started cooking my own foods and I have never had GI issues ever again. Isn’t that amazing? So simple right? 

 The crazy part is, no doctor ever asked me what I ate or to write a food journal. They would have seen in 1 minute that I was eating packaged, processed frozen foods and McDonald’s or pizza for every single meal, every day for years. My mom had no idea this was bad for your body. I was always “skinny “ and my mom always thought I needed to eat more, so she fed me whatever I would eat, which was McDonald’s and pizza. You could say I was a picky eater. 

As a child, I was also put on antibiotics COUNTLESS times. Every time I had a sore throat, stuffy nose, fever- I was rushed right to the doctor and given antibiotics. 

 When I graduated from PA school in 2013 I wanted to be elbow deep in trauma, I was an adrenaline junkie, ambulance calls got boring and I wanted more. I worked for four years in the emergency room and 4 years in ICU. Here, I started seeing the issues with modern medicine and the hospital system. Don't get me wrong, lives are saved everyday but a lot of the people that come to the hospital have chronic reversible illness.

In 2020, I was pregnant with my second baby, the contract with my ICU group ended and a pandemic shut down the world. I then changed specialities to urgent care medicine. 

That year, my son was born and overnight became covered with a full body rash. After many specialists and creams and research, I learned about food allergies, gut dysbiosis and healing from within. 

Last year, I went back to school at the Institute for Functional Medicine so that I can spread the knowledge I have gained. My goal is to help you and your family by guiding you, so that you don’t have to approach your medical journey with uncertainty and fear. 

 I don’t want to walk into a hospital anymore and see people with uncontrolled diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure… the list goes on.  If people are taking so many prescription medications then why are they STILL having problems? 

 Because no one is trying to FIX the problem! 

 If you want to take the next step and start your health journey then keep watching.  Learn new facts from our posts and reels and when you’re ready sign up to work with us ! We can’t wait to help you! 

Lisa Trinkwald

Holistic & Integrative Nutrition Coach

Pediatric Detox Practitioner

Let me tell you a short story. Once upon a time in a land far, far away known as Brooklyn, a girl was born. Hi, I’m Lisa, and I’m that girl. How did I end up practicing functional nutrition? My path here was born out of necessity. 

Chapter 1… How it All Began

As a child and into my teen years, I was under weight, had chronic infections, headaches, eczema, acne, and anemia. Everything I ate made me sick. No one knew why or attempted to find the cause aside from routine bloodwork. I was put on vitamins and sent on my way. 

Chapter 2… My 20s

By the time I was in my early twenties, I couldn’t keep any food down or weight on. I was down to 90 lbs. when I was finally diagnosed with Celiac disease. Halleluiah! An answer to my troubles. I was told to follow a gluten free diet and sent on my way. 

Chapter 3… My 30s. 

Sometime in my early 30s I suddenly started having severe and painful colon spams. Off to the doctors I went, and when my labs and colonoscopy results looked normal, I was placed on phenobarbital, not to heal the cause but to quiet the spasms. I was given a strong prescription, zero answers, and sent on my way.  

Let’s fast forward to my late 30s. My colon spasms continued and along with them came migraines, eczema, insomnia, food sensitivities, mood fluctuations, fainting, chronic congestion, and painful, full body inflammation. It wasn’t just my body that was hurting by this point; my mental wellbeing, my work, and my relationships were all being affected by my health. Why? I lived a clean, low-tox life. I ate organic. I took expensive vitamins. I thought I was doing everything right, but I was suffering. 

Over the course of a year, I saw twelve different doctors across a variety of specialties. Every single one of those doctors said my labs looked “normal,” so I must be fine. I was not fine. Every single one of those doctors dismissed me with nothing more than a cursory exam and sent me on my way. 

I left the last doctor’s office in tears, but I refused to give up on myself. If those doctors weren’t going to help me, I was going to help myself. And I did. I studied. I researched. I sought out experts. I discovered functional medicine. I found answers. I learned that I had specific genetic variations that impaired my detox pathways and impacted the way my body metabolized certain vitamins. So, even though I was eating a healthy, nutrient dense, whole foods diet, it was the wrong diet for my bio-individual needs. I changed my diet, my supplements, and my habits, and, in doing so, I changed my life. I learned so much and felt so healthy and strong that I wanted to share all I learned with others. Then, one day, a good friend said, “Why don’t you just go back to school for this?” So, I did. But, my story isn’t over yet. Onto the next chapter.  

Chapter 4… Motherhood

One thing I knew for sure was that I never wanted my daughter’s health to suffer the way mine did. So, when she had chronic low WBC counts and woke up covered in keratosis pilaris, a form of eczema, shortly after her first birthday, I whisked her off to the doctors. And what do you think happened? Three separate pediatricians and one highly respected allergist all dismissed her symptoms. We were told that her conditions were “normal” and that maybe someday she would grow out of them. We were sent on our way (Notice a pattern here?). 

This time, I knew better. If her doctors weren’t going to help her, I would. I became certified in pediatric detox, I researched more, and I learned more. Once again, I turned to functional testing and immediately found answers. You see, skin issues are almost always gut health issues, and those gut health issues might be caused by a toxic burden. Find the root, heal the cause, and resolve the symptoms. And that’s just what we did. 

Does my story sound familiar? Have you been told that your labs are fine, so you must be fine and then sent on your way? Have you been told that your symptoms are normal? Well, let me tell you something: Common does not equal normal, and prescriptions that treat the symptoms without identifying and addressing the root cause does not equal healing. 

I healed. My daughter healed. And guess what? You can heal too. If no one has told you that yet, let me repeat it…. YOU. CAN. HEAL. 

That sick little girl from Brooklyn… she lived healthily every after. But that’s not where this story ends. This is where your healing journey begins. 

Kathleen Spera

Registered Nurse

Health & Wellness Coach

Personal Fitness Trainer

Do you ever think about your life and wonder, How did I end up here? How did I become this version of me?  I’ve been asking myself that a lot lately. It’s led me down a path of reflecting on my younger self, and, more and more, I realize that everything I ever did, the good, the bad, and the in between, has led me to this exact place in life.

Hi, I’m Kat - wife, mom of three young kids (I even survived a round of two under two!), SAHM turned registered nurse turned health and wellness coach and certified personal trainer for Elemental Health & Wellness. I’ve always had a passion for learning and taking courses, so much so that I’ve been nicknamed a “professional student.” And here I am. Still learning. Still growing. Still changing. I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

What was it about my younger years that made me who I am today?

As a kid growing up, I always struggled with my weight and appearance. I was “the fat kid” among my peers despite doing all the same activities they did. Soccer, softball, skiing, bicycling. You name it, and I did it. Toss in 90s diet culture that seeped into the 2000s, and my self-esteem hit a depressive low. My high school sports of choice were cheerleading and wrestling, which I absolutely loved; however, they also were weight driven. Think about it… wrestling weigh-ins, smaller framed girls being the cheerleading flyers. I was constantly being reminded of my weight. How I wish I could talk to my teenage self and teach her about balancing macros, about how detrimental skipping meals can be to her health and hormones, about how strength training over hours of cardio would give her stronger bones and a healthier metabolism. Knowing what I know now could have helped saved me from a long journey of failed yo-yo diets and an unhealthy relationship with food. 

As if my self-image wasn’t already bad enough, acne hit me during my pre-teen years and continued into my 20s. I was bombarded with chemical treatments: medicated creams, medicated face washes, hormonal birth control, and tons of toxic makeup to cover up. Not once was my diet questioned, yet my main source of nutrition was coming from boxed foods, fast foods, and “cool/new” advertised foods. Once again, if I had the knowledge about how the microbiome in my gut affected my skin, yet another sore spot of my youth could have been spared. 

If I had to pinpoint it, my journey into health and wellness began when I started working as a chiropractic assistant in my first year of college. I had never heard of a chiropractor before applying for the job; I was lucky enough to witness first-hand how non-invasive treatments helped heal patients and spared them the pain of having to undergo surgeries. I loved being a small part of their healing journey. It sparked my desire to learn more about the human body, and it inspired me to pursue a career in healthcare. 

My drive to help others led me to becoming a medical assistant, then back to school to get my bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in psychology. One thing led to another, and I found myself applying for nursing school while pregnant with my firstborn son.  The nursing program prided itself on teaching us patient centered care and the ability to advocate for patients. Much to my disappointment, when witnessing how ‘real world nursing’ actually was, I realized I would’ve been a slave to hospital policies and insurance reimbursements. At that point, my dream of helping others truly seemed far out of reach. 

Having experienced multiple pregnancies, it’s hard to put into words how passionate I’ve become about maternal health and wellness, both pre and post birth. Becoming a mother was an eye-opening experience for a multitude of reasons. Witnessing firsthand the lack of support and education on maternal wellness has fueled me to want better for our current and future mamas.

As if trying to help myself heal from birth physically and mentally and return to some level of homeostasis wasn’t hard enough, I also had a tiny human whose wellbeing was completely reliant on me. Through breastfeeding and baby-led weaning, I was trying my hardest to learn anything and everything I could regarding infant nutrition. There was little to no support or guidance. It was as if it was all supposed to come to me instinctually. It did not. The struggle of starting from zero knowledge in that area and the added pressure to not screw up your child’s first years is something that isn’t talked about enough. Most of the marketed baby foods, toddler treats, and even mother ‘milk producing’ snacks, I’ve since learned, have ingredients that can be damaging to gut health. Hindsight of my firstborn’s journey helped educate me to make smarter choices with my second and third children. 

You would have thought after my son, I would have had it all figured out, but no. Even with the gained knowledge from my first, my younger two kids both threw me for separate loops. We discovered that my second-born suffered from egg intolerances; she suffered frequent spit-ups as an infant, then would projectile vomit soon after eating once she started solids. After piecing her symptoms together on my own, I had to eliminate eggs from not only her diet, but from my own diet too, since it still passed to her through my breastmilk. Now, we’ve figured out through our own trial and error that my thirdborn can’t tolerate cow’s milk dairy products; it causes him loose stool and eczema. These dietary struggles are not easy to navigate. They’re frequently brushed aside by medical professionals as “common.”  However, common does not mean normal. 

When you’re trying to do what’s best for your kids, it’s easy to lose yourself along the way. During the pandemic, I struggled with undiagnosed PPA/PPD. I had to be my own advocate and find my way back from that lonely place through virtual support groups. I came across a wonderful virtual PPD group set up by a local new-mom-oriented wellness center. I also was lucky enough to have a friend reach out to join her virtual fitness community. I started working out with a popular virtual fitness group during summer of 2020, and that “professional student” in me dove into learning everything I could about fitness and nutrition. I discovered practical and easy to implement nutrition guidelines that help me shift toward a largely whole foods diet for my family and myself. I saw and felt firsthand how something as simple as changing my diet improved my mental and physical health. It gave me the stamina to keep up with three young kids and still have energy for myself at the end of the day. I see other moms struggling just to get through the day on coffee and adrenaline, and I want them to know - there’s a better way. I want so badly to help other moms learn from my own real-life experiences. To have strength and true energy again.

I’ve always known in my heart that I want to work with and help people. I feed off the energy of others and love to spread hope and motivation. I want us to all feel the absolute best we can. I want to share my knowledge with others and help them find practical strategies to make healthy changes and create consistency in their habits. 

Each stage of life has helped shape who I am today, and today I’m the healthiest and happiest version of myself. And guess what… You can be, too. I want to see YOU thriving and living your best life, starting today!