How Ariel E. used Viome to naturally regain the energy she needed to survive, and enjoy, her life as an ambitious business owner, student, and mother.
"Using my Viome recommendations, just within the last month and a half, I'm feeling like I'm getting back to that point where I can accomplish all those goals that I set out to do in a day."
- Ariel Erskine
Viome Customer
The Problem
Low energy left Ariel having to pick only one or two of the things she felt capable to do in a day.
Eight surgeries in three years, countless antibiotics, and allergic reactions from those antibiotics, which hung around for years. It all built up, Ariel got sick, and the symptoms followed her for two years.
It became a permanent energy drain that interfered with
--Quality time with her kids
--Personal relationships
--Her health goals
--Work and careers
Struggling to maintain weight only made things worse. Eating as much as 3,000 calories a day, she still dropped to an exhausted 130 pounds at 5'9". Through it all, she was horribly bloated, badly enough that it kept her up all night, preventing her from sleeping. Her doctors tried to help, but in the end she only got:"it's probably IBS, there's nothing we can do," seemingly leaving Ariel stranded for help. "I felt like the doctors had given up. I didn't have a lot of friends with similar experiences, and so I felt like I was on my own. There was this kind of stress whenever I wanted to do anything ."
But Ariel couldn't let things end that way,
"I'm stubborn, and this didn't work for me. I couldn't accept that the rest of my life was going to be picking one or two out of the ten things I want to do."
She needed a natural solution that could give her the energy she needed to run her business, be there for her children, and just keep up with her daily life. A solution that wouldn't add on to her already busy schedule.
“As a self-employed single mother, I might set out to do 10 things in a day and get eight done, and now I'm getting six, five, and then suddenly it's a struggle to get three.”
The Solution
The Personalized Diet Tool That Helped Ariel Take Back the Energy She Needed…
A Natural Solution
Ariel had tried other microbiome tests in the past, such as uBiome, but their limited diet recommendations didn't give her noticeable results. That changed when she switched to Viome and received her personalized and natural, diet and supplement recommendations:
"You (Viome) have the most expansive diet that I've tried in these two years, I feel really secure in it."
And she feels her energy AND digestion improving for it:
"I feel like I'm digesting my food, so I'm getting the nutrients from it. I'm getting the energy from it, whereas before I was eating and maybe I only got half of what I ate." "I really do think I'm getting better."
Backed by Science
Those results are not a coincidence.
That's because Viome is the only company able to look at the gut microbiome of people like Ariel in-depth enough to identify what your unique microbes need to support your health. The unique technology that allows this, called metatranscriptome sequencing, provides the unrivaled insights that inform Viome's diet and supplement recommendations, so that you know what to eat to give your unique gut microbes what they need.
And it's a difference that Ariel noticed.
"The other companies, they had this big data set and a lab. So, they'd run the test, look at what you've got, and compare it to the data set. Then they'd say that my test results were good based on the data set alone.
That's compared to you (Viome) where, there's a data set to start with, but you have knowledge that goes into disseminating the test results so that it works for me, and not just this model that you try to fit me into based on the data set alone."
Makes Daily Life Easier
An unexpected bonus, Ariel loves how easy the Viome phone app makes her grocery shopping.
"I'm at the grocery store, I'm always pulling it up and I'm like, okay, wait, what should I avoid? And you know, and it's just really, really clear."
More than groceries, Ariel regularly uses the app to know which supplements she should be using, and which ones are a waste of money.
"I use it for purchasing supplements, too. I really also liked that when you look a little deeper in the app, you can see here's the reasons we're suggesting these things, and it's really clear."
One Less Chore to Remember
As a self-employed mother, there wasn't time for a diet tool that added more chores to her life.
"I've got kids and I'm self-employed, I have a very hectic and busy life. I don't have time to remember everything on my own. It's hard enough trying to wrangle children at the store, I can't sit back and think about whether I should eat or avoid quinoa or artichokes."
This made Viome the perfect tool to accommodate her busy life.
"There's enough information that it's hard to keep track of, but because you (Viome) make the information so accessible and easy to find and read, it just takes it off your brain. I don't have to remember all of it, and can choose to put my brain elsewhere.”
Where other personalized diet plans added more things to remember, and more stress, into her life, Viome made it easier to keep track of what she should or shouldn't be eating
"Now I have this buddy of mine, the Viome app on my phone, and it can remind me of the things I should or shouldn't eat."
The Results
Natural, reliable energy, and a return to the life she wanted to live.
“I feel like I’m digesting my food and getting the nutrients from it. I’m getting energy from what I eat, whereas before I was eating, but it felt like I was only getting energy from half of what I ate.”
She’s sleeping better.
"I’m feeling more rested from sleep. So, I’m sleeping better and that’s had a profound impact on the rest of my day.”
And that’s let her cut down on her caffeine intake.
“I don’t need as much caffeine anymore. To be honest, I feel like the diet itself is sustaining me.”
With this, Ariel has been able to get back to the life she loves.
"Suddenly just within the last month and a half, I'm feeling like I'm getting back to that point where I can accomplish all those goals that I set out to do in a day. I'm getting back to a place where I get to be me again, and where I can chase after all of my dreams while being present in my kids' lives. I definitely believe that Viome was the piece of making that happen."
“I'm feeling like I'm getting back to that point where I can accomplish all those goals that I set out to do in a day. I'm getting back to a place where I get to be me again, and where I can chase after all of my dreams while being present in my kids' lives.”
The information on the Viome website is provided for informational purposes only and with the understanding that Viome is not engaged in rendering medical advice or recommendations. Viome is providing this educational information to share the exciting developments being reported in the scientific literature about the human microbiome and your health. Viome products are not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease.
