A Letter From Our Founder, Estela
Feb 13th 2020
If you are here....you are interested in knowing a little bit about me and about why we created Switch2Pure. Thank you for being here! The excitement and true craziness of launching Switch2Pure.com has calmed and I thought there is no better time than Lyme and Celiac Awareness month of May to share a 'behind the scenes' look as to why I started Switch2Pure.
The short of it is, "I've been there".
I grew up in South Texas. Spent a lot of time outdoors, played sports and enjoyed a healthy upbringing. Well, let's be honest, it was still the 80s and 90s, so the nutritional value of the snack food we ate was not that great, but otherwise our family placed a high priority on exercise, eating well balanced diet high in protein and living a loved-filled life. We all thought that was enough. We were wrong.
I went off to college and law school. This is when my long journey of doctor's visits, unidentified medical issues, fatigue (chronic fatigue), hormone fluctuations, cardiovascular issues to name just a few. One doctor even thought I had lymphoma at one point. At that time, I was diagnosed with a blood disorder than only about 50 people in the country had and is often found only while people are suffering with cancer (I even went on chemotherapy to cure my "blood disorder"). I quickly got off of chemotherapy as we did not see results from the medication (what a huge mistake!).
A few years later, I married and had my first child. It was after that that the fatigue, and chronic issues got exponentially worse. There would be a hormone issue, and then, it would resolve. There would be a heart issue, and then, it would resolve. My doctors all reiterated the same thing repeatedly "we don't know what' s going on, but it seems everything is fine". BUT, why then, could I sleep 14 hours and still feel tired? Why then, would my heart rate randomly spike to 180 while just sitting still? Why could I not hike or play tennis or do any other sport with the stamina that my peers seemed to have?
Once this had gone on for about 10 years, I decided to put my attorney | sleuthing skills to the test. I had done "alternative medicine". I had practiced yoga since I was 16. I had done all the right things (minus the toxic few years of alcohol and nicotine). It all seemed to be in vain and no medical practitioners had any real suggestions for me! And, if you know me well, you know I don't take "NO" or "Maybe" or even "I don't know" for an answer. I wanted real, quantifiable, measurable answers!
I did what I do best....I started researching, and researching, and researching some more. I found a doctor and a clinic in NY called the Eleven Eleven Wellness and a few other amazing physicians, along with great resources like the Medical Medium. They used real science to try to piece together one's unique bioidentity to give insight as to what may be the source or root cause of one's issues.
I learned that the microenvironment we are in, the food we eat, the sleep we get, the detoxification....all of it mattered. So I dove in head first (well, maybe I was already laying down) - I did an elimination diet at that time and determined that I was hugely sensitive (if not allergic) to gluten. I removed that and cleaned up our homes' microenvironment from home cleaning products to personal care products. We ditched it and switched it in a BIG way (and my family - sometime looking along with sad eyes were all in)! I saw a huge difference in my health and felt so much better. No more headaches. The brain fog was almost completely gone. The levels were somewhat normalizing. Substantially so much better! I realized that doing the research took a lot of effort and time | Time that many people may not have. I cut thru the marketing jargon, finding the products that were safer and still luxurious. I mean, I still wanted my fancy shampoo and foundation! I just wanted it to not tax my immune system. This was NO EASY TASK!
I did that for years and continued to feel good.....but when my white blood cell count started to go down below normal range, the doctor's response was, "don't worry we have a pill for that." Turned out, the pill was a life-long chemotherapy drug. WHAT?! I was back to the drawing board. I decided I needed to look harder and really do more tests to determine what was causing my white blood and my body to always be in "fight mode". I saw a new and wonderful, female Functional Medicine, Integrative, Ayurvedic MD and also several biological dentists (mercury, cavitation, and root canal). I started doing lots of blood draws (one time I had 28 vials pulled). Through lots of genetic testing, micronutrient testing, western bolts, sensitivities, allergies we figured out a few things. I did have Celiac, but more importantly, I also had Lyme (Borrelia and Babesia to be exact), and because of my liver genetic panel it was also clear that it was hard for my body to metabolize certain drugs and to detoxify from environmental toxins. Not to mention my 1 additional food allergy (to a milk protein that all lactating animals produce) and my 7 food sensitivities. It was only then that the picture was complete for me. I worked harder than ever before. I up'ed the meditation. I cleaned out the cabinets even more extremely than before. I curbed the sugar to an all time low. I cleaned our home environment from top to bottom (luckily, I had water and air purification already in place because I have always subconsciously known I was sensitive). Had my last mercury removed, my cavitations cleaned out and that eternally inflamed root canal gone forever. It was then and with dozens of supplements and shots on a daily basis that I did get better. BUT, I GOT WAY BETTER!
You see, the small changes in my microenvironment mattered. The food changes mattered. The lifestyle as a whole matters. The products we put on our largest organ, our skin, on our eyes, and our scalp...it all matters! In totality, they make a HUGE impact. I started Switch2Pure because I have been the new mom so nutritionally depleted I couldn't think straight, the person who is out and about and can't find one thing they can actually eat. The person who has gone in circles with doctors from hormones, to cardiovascular to everything in between with no answers. I have been the mom who has to tell her 10 year old, "you have Celiac too!" and hold back the tears because you feel so bad!
I started this website because with the right knowledge we can be bigger than many challenges placed before us. I know we are bigger than Celiac and Lyme. I started this website, so that there was ONE place. ONE trusted source. From ONE human being, who had been there. Plain and simply.
I've been there.
I knew I had the luxury standards down (products that work as well as your old toxic trusty standbys). But, I am not a scientist....So, I hired scientists to create a database called the Purist List to make sure all of my product offerings were the least offensive as possible - #SAFERMADESIMPLE. These products won't borage your already taxed immune system whether you have an autoimmune or not. May you never be in a situation like over 100 million Americans are with autoimmune. We hope you are here and in a place of proactive health!
To find out more about our mission click here: Mission.
Cheers and blessings of good health to you today and always! Estela
PS - ON the PRESS bar on the main page are a few articles. I think that the House of Harper, Paper City, Editorialist share our story very well.
And I love this description from Houston 100, Founder Estela Cockrell is taking the guesswork out of clean products with a curated site full of pure + natural + non-toxic beauty, skin care, home and wellness solutions that are just as effective as they are safe. Switch2Pure’s pure, yet powerful, stock features a bevy of brands — from non-toxic makeup by Au Naturale and Lauren B. nail polish to home cleaners by Eco-Me. So make the jump and Switch2Pure."
Resources:
Wellness - Switch2Pure.com for the most pure and least offensive personal, beauty, home products at great prices!
For Lyme Disease - I highly recommend a personal friend and true genius physician. Dr. Horowitz books. Can Get Better
For Celiac - Celiac.org
