The Real Reason I Changed Careers…

I have loved my nursing career. I’ve valued every experience the US Navy and my various nursing roles offered me.

I began working as a nurse in 2013 at a military hospital and quickly advanced into leadership: charge nurse, preceptor for new nurses, and eventually administrative and quality management roles. I worked on med-surg units, post-op recovery floors, gastroenterology and endoscopy teams, and in outpatient primary care clinics. I cared for adults, kids, and geriatric patients—and just about everything in between.

But as the years went on, I noticed a pattern I couldn’t ignore.

I was always documenting and always passing meds. Always seeing the same patients return weeks or months later with another issue. I didn’t have time to actually talk to them. Between the orders, transfers, heavy patient loads, and constant demands, I barely had time to ask how they were feeling, let alone help them understand why they felt that way.

We’d give them a medication to solve one problem, and that would create another. Or it wouldn’t work at all. And the worst part? So many of them didn’t actually feel better. If anything, they felt worse. More exhausted. More frustrated. And like no one really saw them.

I worked with patients considering or recovering from bariatric surgery, and I saw how hard it was on their nutrient status and overall well-being—energy, hormones, digestion, mood. Yes, they lost weight. But I kept wondering... was that the only outcome we were measuring? Was that the only thing that mattered?

Eventually, I left the military. I was craving a different pace and a different kind of nursing. I even worked in a quality management role for a while, reviewing surgical data and outcomes. But no matter what setting I was in, the same frustration kept surfacing.

I loved caring for people. I always have. But I realized I wasn’t helping them in the way I knew they needed.

What Conventional Healthcare Gave Me (and What It Couldn’t)

My experience as a nurse gave me:

• Critical thinking skills
• Deep compassion and empathy
• Attention to detail
• Problem-solving ability

But the system itself was focused on symptom management, not root causes. It didn’t leave space to ask why. It didn’t give me time to truly listen to people’s stories, or understand the exhaustion, overwhelm, and dismissal they had already been carrying long before they walked through our doors.

Many patients felt that this was just “how it had to be.” That they were stuck with the cards they were dealt.

And then... I became a mom.

After having my first child, everything shifted. I experienced birth trauma, anxiety, postpartum depression, and fear. Then came the gut issues. My son struggled with digestion starting in infancy. We saw pediatrician after pediatrician, GI specialist after GI specialist. But no one was hearing me.

I kept getting dismissive answers like:
“Well, it’s not this, so he’ll probably grow out of it.”
“Try this medication and come back in a few months.”

Then I had my daughter, and she had her own digestive challenges. That’s when it clicked.

I began to piece together the connection between a mother’s microbiome and her children’s. I looked back at my history—chronic digestive issues since high school, multiple rounds of antibiotics as a child, skin problems, fatigue. And I realized: This all connects.

In 2022, I did my first TinyHealth gut microbiome test on my son and this was a huge turning point for me (and my whole family). I started working with a naturopathic doctor, doing functional testing for myself and my son, and it was life-changing. The progress was slow, but within a year after prioritizing his nutrition, removing things that weren't working, and adding in gentle supports, we found ourselves again. My son was a different kid, and I was different too. 

My Big Career Shift

I started reading everything I could. The more I learned about nutrition, the gut microbiome, functional lab testing, and the body’s ability to get better when supported in the right ways, the more blown away I became. I had to learn more. I had to help others.

I still remember sitting on the couch one night, telling my husband about some certification programs I was considering. He looked at me and said, 

That’s when I knew.

I enrolled in the Nutritional Therapy Practitioner program through the Nutritional Therapy Association. It was scary and exciting. Not everyone understood what I was doing, but I did. For the first time, I was building a career that allowed me to care for people in the way I always wanted to.

How I Support Families Now

Today, I get to do the work I dreamed of but couldn’t quite define before. Although I am practicing as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, my nursing background hasn’t left me. It shows up in how I advocate, how I educate, and how I hold space. But my approach now is so much more aligned with what families really need.

Now, I...

• Ask questions no one’s ever asked before
• Take my time :) (this is my favorite part!)
• Look for root causes instead of offering band-aids
• Support the whole person—and the whole family. Yay!
• Work on improving stress, lifestyle, food, and environmental factors. Stress is a huge part of the work I do as an NTP.
• Use functional lab testing when it makes sense. Depending on the situation, testing gives us more clarity, eliminates guesswork, and allows us to identify what’s going on a bit deeper.

Some types of testing and tools I use in my practice:

• GI-MAP stool testing – digestion deep dive
• TinyHealth microbiome testing – microbiome imbalances and more
• MRT food sensitivity testing – find hidden inflammatory responses to foods
• HTMA mineral analysis – stress patterns and mineral imbalances
• High-quality, practitioner-grade supplements – chosen intentionally for YOU based on your symptoms and results to support your health without overwhelm

Every tool I use is thoughtfully selected to match your needs, not thrown in just because I do it with everyone. More often than not, the real magic is in what we do with the information—building doable nutrition and lifestyle shifts that create lasting change.

More than anything, I walk with my clients. I’m helping them discover what works best for their life, body, and family.

If you’ve ever felt dismissed, brushed off, or completely overwhelmed trying to figure out your health or your child’s, you’re not alone. That’s exactly why I do this work.

This Is What Real Wellness Looks Like

Wellness isn’t just about taking another pill. Or another supplement for that matter. 

It’s about what we eat, how we move, how we rest, and how we live. It’s about someone finally listening long enough to ask the right questions.

As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I get to do what I always wished I could do at the bedside. I help people feel seen, supported, and capable of real change.

Feeling better is possible.
If you’re ready to start, I can help.

Click here for help starting your wellness journey

Until next time XO,
MaryRose

The Microbiome Mom

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