Hi there! My name is Tatiana (Tati for short) and I am SO happy you are here. I am the founder of Simply Balanced with Tati, a community for womxn navigating life, work and love with a chronic illness. I am a certified holistic health coach, and I am passionate about living life simply, balanced and true to me.

For my entire childhood (and into my adulthood) I had stomach and digestive issues. There are times that I look back and remember my issues being worse than other times, but almost all of my memories are accompanied with having a stomach ache. Birthday party? Stomach ache. Graduation? Stomach ache. Holiday? I probably had a stomach ache. And the worst part? Doctor after doctor couldn’t tell me what was wrong. At one point I could barely eat anything and in turn became extremely thin (I was always very thin due to these issues, but it was taken to a new level) and a certain doctor told my mom that “it was all in my head and I probably just had an eating disorder.” So, to say I’ve seen it all when it comes to the healthcare industry is truly an understatement.

Fast forward to college - the time of your life when you’re supposed to have the time of your life. Right? Well, unfortunately for me a lot of those memories are also accompanied with stomach pain. I missed out on a lot of fun with my friends because of my stomach and

that left me feeling depressed, broken and completely alone.

December 2015 changed my life forever. I went home to San Diego on my winter break of senior year to have corrective jaw surgery (it was scheduled thing that we knew basically my whole life was supposed to happen). It was an extremely intense 5-hour surgery that left me with my mouth wired shut and on a liquid diet for weeks. What came from that was my first Ulcerative Colitis flare and weeks spent in the hospital. This was the first time in my entire life that anyone was telling me what was ACTUALLY wrong with me. For years I wanted some kind of answer, and now I was finally getting them. I remember I was so sick that the gastroenterologist told me and my family that “this was one of the worst Ulcerative Colitis cases” he had ever seen. There was talk of removing my colon if the medication they put me on (Remicade) didn’t work. I remember feeling both relieved that I finally had the answer to what was wrong with me, and terrified that I now had an incurable chronic illness I would have to live with for the rest of my life.

It took almost a full year to recover from both my jaw surgery and my life-threatening flare. Although I had to take time off of school, I still graduated on time (which I’m both super proud of and super surprised about). I moved to Portland, OR with my boyfriend and dog

and started to finally be able to LIVE.

Once I was finally healthy and in remission (yay!), I had to start from scratch when it came to my relationship with food, exercise and the way I looked at my body. All of a sudden, I could eat anything I wanted without getting sick and in turn I gained weight. I started to hate my body and feel uncomfortable in my own skin. As someone that was never really able to (or really needed to) exercise, I had no idea what to do. I ended up becoming way too obsessed with working out and eating “clean.” I did what sadly a lot of people feel like they have to do when they hate their bodies - restrict and over-exercise.

I am listening to my body, exercising when I want to because I ENJOY it and eating the foods that make both my soul AND my body happy. 

It wasn’t always like that though. And I still have daily struggles with my health and wellness. BUT everything that I have gone through is what has brought me to today and I want to share that with all of you! My hopes for Simply Balanced with Tati is to give a voice to women everywhere living with chronic illnesses, and to create a community of strong, fearless women who want to better their relationship with themselves, their diagnosis, food, their bodies and their overall wellness.

I’m BEYOND excited to share my journey with all of you! I hope you stick around and join me on this crazy adventure.

XO Tati