Wellness Reimagined: Amanda Christodoulou of H L Coaching Group On 5 Things That Should Be Done To Improve and Reform The Health & Wellness Industry
An Interview With Maria Angelova
Spread awareness of the fact that our bodies do not mess up. Any symptom you are experiencing is a response by your body to the environment that it is in. Genetics play a role, but they are not your destiny. You can change your environment and lifestyle to change your health. It is a very simple concept made unnecessarily complex.
Inour world of constant change, and with life moving faster than ever, topics such as mental health, self-care, and prevention have become popular buzzwords. But there are misconceptions about the meaning of self-care and exercise. Many opt for quick solutions — surgery, pills — to dull the problem without adequately addressing the underlying cause. Meanwhile, many parts of the industry are unregulated and oversaturated. People with years of training are competing with people with weekend training. Many providers are overworked, overwhelmed, and underpaid. The general public is not educated about asking the right questions when selecting a wellness provider. In the face of all this, what can be done to correct the status quo? In this interview series, we are seeking to hear from a variety of leaders in the health and wellness industries who agree that the wellness Industry is in need of an overhaul and offer suggestions about what can be done moving forward. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Amanda Christodoulou.
Amanda Christodoulou is an Integrative Health Practitioner with a virtual practice serving clients globally who have predominantly been failed by the conventional symptom. She believes that every single health concern can be traced back to a deficiency or toxicity that causes imbalance and her job is not done until she has determined the root cause and addressed it. She is so passionate about helping people that she packaged the most common health concerns she has seen with a plan to resolve them into an affordable eBook called Quit Complaining!
Thank you so much for doing this interview. It is an honor. Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal backstory? What has brought you to this point in your life?
Thank you so much for including me. My introduction to the body was actually through fitness. I started teaching group fitness at 16 years old and 10 years later became certified in Pilates. I opened Pilates studios but I felt there was something missing that I wanted to offer my clients. In hindsight, it was the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of health while I was only officially certified to work on the physical. I became passionate about holistic health when my (much younger) sister was diagnosed with ADHD, prescribed adderall, & later an adult blood pressure medication to knock her out at night. I sought alternative techniques and I am happy to say that she is no longer medicated nor suffers from any of the side effects the medications caused today. Personally, my life changed gradually throughout my transition to motherhood. From conception to prenatal care, pediatrics, and then rebalancing my hormones post breastfeeding, I was appalled by the lack of care, appropriate solutions & frankly, knowledge that was available to me by my medical doctors. I knew there had to be another way and I have been collecting education ever since to help others find these same answers & more.
What is your “why” behind the work that you do? What fuels you?
People who are desperate for answers. People who have exhausted themselves trying to find someone to listen to them, and to acknowledge that something is off or different or wrong. People who don’t just want a “clean bill of health” but optimal health.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now?
I started a company with a colleague, Ty Stone, called True Health. We are the yin and yang of health & wellness. We have a very complementary outlook on the physical and mental body and together create a harmonious approach. Our first project, Quit Complaining!, is an eBook designed to empower people to achieve optimal health by understanding how they reached the imbalances they’re experiencing and what to do about them using functional medicine and holistic techniques. The purchase of the book grants you access to loads of free resources and exclusive discounts. We are building a community of like minded, knowledge hungry people and the future holds many additional products for people to reach their goals with autonomy.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
What comes to mind isn’t exactly funny, but makes me smile in amazement. I always focused on Instagram for social media and one day put up a “storytime” Tiktok. I had no idea what I was doing, how to edit, how to get noticed, but it was a story about me helping my son’s nanny at the time with ovarian cysts and it went viral! Since then I’ve become an influencer and this simple little hunch totally changed the course of my career.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. From where you stand, why are you passionate about the topic of Reimagining The Health and Wellness industries? Can you explain what you mean with a story or an example?
Unfortunately, my passion is fueled because I feel that the information I have should be used to protect people from deception. This sounds so intense, but with everything I have seen starting in my own family and throughout my entire practice, people really need a health advocate. One example I see far too often is the removal of organs with zero postoperative instructions to make dietary changes. This is not one story, but a story of many clients who reach my practice with horrible gut health, had their gallbladder removed years ago and never knew they needed to change their diet or supplement bile.
When I talk about Reimagining the Wellness industry, I am talking about reimagining it from the perspective of the providers as well as from the perspective of the recipients and patients. Can you share a few reasons why the status quo is not working for both providers and patients?
Back in the day people would call their family doctor to come over to their house and treat them. Now, patients are lucky if they get 15 minutes of their doctor’s time, there is no sense of real care, and they don’t leave feeling like the intent is to see them well. Because of the way this system has changed over the last few decades, people seem to be understanding that they are bio individuals and their diagnosis, prescriptions, and short visits are simply not enough to care for the robust human they truly are. Another hole in the system is that specialists, and even primary care physicians, tend to look at the body as if each system operates completely on its own. For example, a woman with reproductive system problems is rarely asked about her stress levels, toxicity, diet, sleep routine or anything else that could affect the delicate hormone balance. The answer is almost always birth control and underlying issues still remain when she may have been able to overcome her complaint with a natural, free, safe alternative.
Why do you think there is a good opportunity now to improve and reform the health and wellness industry?
Because people are hungry for it. Not hungry, starving. Not everyone wants to be their own health advocate or their family’s. People want to be able to trust that their health authority truly has their best interest in mind. Questions and doubts are popping up from food labeling to prescription drugs. Working parents don’t want to have to worry that they aren’t getting the best opinions for their children. Everyone needs to be able to trust their chosen health authority for their peace of mind and ultimately, optimal health.
Can you please share your “5 Things That Should Be Done To Improve and Reform The Health & Wellness Industry”? Please share an example or story for each if you can.
- Medical doctors should look at other collection methods besides blood. Blood is homeostatic fluid and may be best to diagnose disease, but saliva, urine, hair & stool samples might better identify bioavailability of markers or pathogens, deficiencies, toxicity & imbalance in an individual.
- Bio individuality should be promoted first & foremost. No two people are alike and therefore no one diet or exercise program fits all. We need to normalize trial & error, and to get away from trusting any influencer with a six pack!
- Sleep, rest & recovery should be glorified. After an era of promoting “rise & grind” culture, we are coming to understand how important it is to rest. 10 years ago trendy types of fitness became more accessible and are now often conducted in a group setting. Fitness enthusiasts were ecstatic to be able to train like athletes. The caveat is, athletes prioritize recovery. Ice baths, massage, off-season & so on allow an athlete to perform the way they do when it matters. Society needs to recover and sleep like an athlete if they want to train like one.
- Bridge the gap between physical and mental health. Our body is not comprised of separate entities and systems plus a totally separate mental & emotional part. We are one being. Everything we go through emotionally can manifest into physical symptoms or disease. Part of healing is in the mind. Physical & mental health & wellness are two large industries of their own that should be ONE.
- Spread awareness of the fact that our bodies do not mess up. Any symptom you are experiencing is a response by your body to the environment that it is in. Genetics play a role, but they are not your destiny. You can change your environment and lifestyle to change your health. It is a very simple concept made unnecessarily complex.
From the recipient and patient side of the industry, can you please share a few ways that patients and recipients should reimagine what the wellness and healthcare industry should provide?
Recipients should reimagine a world where their symptoms are seen as clues that lead their provider to an underlying root cause. They should avoid putting a bandaid on the symptom at all costs and focus on the toxicity or deficiency causing an imbalance in their perfectly designed body. They should also feel confident knowing that their provider is not going to dismiss them without finding what is underneath their cause for concern.
What do you think are the biggest roadblocks to reforming the industry? What can be done to address those hurdles?
Unfortunately, the biggest roadblock is that everything I have described in this interview goes against the way that our traditional healthcare providers are taught. Pharmaceuticals are pushed as the only option for issues that health practitioners like myself don’t believe are necessary. We believe that nutrition is the most important factor while there is little to no nutritional education in Medical school. Disagreements like these leave people with questions about who they should trust and perpetuate the disagreement.
I’m very passionate about the topic of proactive versus reactive self-care and healthcare. What do you think can be done to shift the industries towards a proactive healthcare approach? How can we shift the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike?
I believe that instead of paying an excessive health insurance premium monthly, we should start each year with a handful of functional medicine labs that are looking into our hormone balances, gut health, mineral deficiencies, inflammation, toxicity and vitamin levels. If all of this testing plus a review with a health practitioner and suggestions to carry the patient throughout the year ends up costing the same as 2–3 months of your insurance premium, this may be all you need for the entire year! The 10–12 month savings can be used to see any specialist necessary such as a gynecologist, or allocated towards any protocols, detoxes or supplementation that you are recommended. Right now we are conditioned to believe we absolutely need health insurance in case of emergencies, but if we proactively took our labs every single year we need not be so worried. Individuals can hold major medical insurance for those emergencies of course.
Thank you for all that great insight! Let’s start wrapping up. Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
Everything is super important. Until you are sick. Then you realize there was only ever one thing that was important. Your health. — Aubrey Marcus
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)
Paul Chek! I have participated in many education programs, but when I studied through the Chek Institute my life changed completely. He is a visionary who has had major influence long before social media made it easy to share. He has a unique perspective and offers no apologies for doing things his way. I admire his passion and outlook.
I appreciate your time and valuable contribution. One last question, how can people reach or follow you?
Thank you so much for allowing me to share with you today! I am @the.holistic.mama on Tiktok & @aholisticcoach on instagram. You can purchase a copy of Quit Complaining! eBook on www.quitcomplaining.com and I am now on youtube too! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZUnr5uKDcxtfTOWVoZoCg
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher, and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness, and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at [email protected]. To schedule a free consultation, click here.
