My first Blog! Introduction to Deb’s Dietary Diary

My first Blog!  Introduction

My name is Deb Saunders, I am 43 years old, married 23 years and have 2 kids (son 19 and daughter 12).  I currently work as the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) for a large non-profit in Roanoke, VA and am enrolled in the Radford University MBA (set to graduate fall 2015).  My job role as CCO is to proactively access overall organizational risk and audit for compliance.  I realized early on in my career when businesses access and managed risk proactively their performance and outcomes were much stronger than businesses that didn’t apply this approach.

As years passed, I developed some irritating health side-affects which started affecting my work performance and my daily life. Both my children and my husband also struggled with various random symptoms that Doctors did not find alarming but would not think twice to write a prescription to help manage the “symptoms.” My medicine cabinet started to fill up with pills which in turn created more side-affects.  It was then I realized I wasn’t interested in covering up the problem (or treating the symptom) I wanted an answer to what was causing it!  So I decided to try applying the very familiar Risk Based Approach to my family’s individual healthcare. Knowing I wasn’t an expert in this field I started educating myself through books, blogs, websites, and other material and I started building my knowledge in nutrition and applying it to this risk based approach. I knew myself and my family better than any doctor and I decided to take charge of my own healthcare and use the doctors to lean on for advice.  Our bloodwork is now charted and family history documented.

I have become passionate about nutrition and the importance of educating yourself so that you can solve many of your own health concerns by tuning in to what your body is telling you.  I am not a doctor and do not hold myself out as one, my stories are my opinions and my life experiences. My hope is that you will learn something from each blog, as I have learned, and focus on the importance of assessing and managing your own risks!  If you’re waiting on a doctor to do it for you, you will be waiting awhile!

“In order to be as healthy as you can be, educating yourself is the key”