My Journey to Discovering The Valpone Method

When this journey started, I was a 20-something single woman living in Manhattan, working in fashion, dating, and climbing the corporate ladder at Vogue and Ralph Lauren. I was doing everything “right” until I started feeling like something was very wrong. Then, overnight I went from feeling like a normal 20-something working woman to an unwell little girl on disability from my job desperate for answers. For 12-years I was on a health crisis rollercoaster (scroll down to see my TIMELINE below). During that time, I was diagnosed with 15 chronic illnesses and no one had answers; they only had guesses. Finally, lying in a hospital bed, unable to move, I was told I had 24 hours to live with c.diff colitis.

Because I was so contagious, my dad stood above my bed in a medical gown and mask in my hospital room, looking down on me with morphine dripping into my arm and put his hand out for me to see. When he opened his hand, there was a tiny bouncy ball in it. “Remember Amie Jo, You have the power,” he told me. And then he started sobbing.

The Power

When I was little, my dad, my sister and I used to play a game. It was called, “You’ve got the power.” My dad would hold a tiny bouncy ball in his fist and my sister and I would have to pry open his massive fist to get the ball. The ball was the power. If you could get the ball, you had the power.  

What my father was telling me in the hospital room that day was that I had the power, I just had to find it within myself. He knew I had the power to heal my body, my mind, and my life but I had absolutely no idea where to start. Neither did he.

Throughout the next decade, I felt as though I tried every quick-fix and ‘hack’ we’ve ever been sold about how to be healthy because I just wanted some form of relief to get my life back, see my friends, go on a date, put on a dress and feel like a human instead of an isolated medical lab rat.

Trauma and stress were always the chapters I skipped in every book. Perhaps you can relate. I didn’t really understand what trauma or stress was and how it drove our bodies into fight-or-flight mode. But I’ve since learned the place it holds in our lives and what it can do to our bodies and our minds. We come into this world a blank slate then we may encounter mean girls, ex-boyfriends, abusive partners, inflammatory foods, toxic bosses, and the stories we tell ourselves all of which are part of the physical, emotional and energetic toxicity that can keep us stuck and cumulatively contributes to us feeling unwell over time.  

During this journey, I learned the incredible power of the human spirit and I spent close to a million dollars out of pocket trying to understand what was going on inside my body on a deeper level. What I’ve learned is that you can detox your food, your home, your personal care products (all of which are outlined in my first book, Eating Clean), and you can even detox the limiting beliefs in your mind.

What I didn’t learn from Western medicine is that our brain is malleable like plastic, which means we can train it any way we like, rewire it and reprogram it from what no longer serves us. This is neuroscience. You can go from the victim and blaming to power and agency with the right support and a deep dive into the subconscious mind of our past, which is completely out of our conscious awareness.  

The Missing Pieces I Discovered

What I share with you goes far beyond conventional medicine, and the wisdom that I offer about transforming your mind, your body and your life aren’t written in any of the textbooks. I had to discover all of it myself by myself because no one else was putting together the missing pieces for me. Our health is so much more than what’s on our plate. Yes, food is a piece of the puzzle but there’s far more that needs addressing that can surprisingly shift the way we approach our health and our lives. 

My father was right, we can take our power back, we just have to find it within ourselves.    

I am here to tell you that most of us are living in a millimeter of joy, and we can actually have miles. This is not about self-help or positive thinking. This is about what it means to advance to the next level of yourself- to reach a true and very vast potential that’s waiting on the other side of our work together.

After my first book, Eating Clean became a bestseller, and  I dove into another four years of deep subconscious work to heal my body, I entered a new chapter of my life that I’m ready to share with you. Together we’ll take a look at the deep layers that are often overlooked that play such a profound role in our health. By sharing the missing pieces I put together along the way, I have moved thousands of women and myself to a place of true alignment, mind, and body. 

I share my own passion and stories to spark your curiosity and help you to feel less alone. After shedding my old skin from being unwell for so long, I’ve had to look inside myself and say, “What am I all about?” to really think about my place in the world and all I’ve been through.

As you’ve probably seen from what I share on Instagram, the healing process is a long process of unraveling and each year I reclaim more parts of myself that were lost for over a decade. In 2018, my personality came back. In 2019, my creativity came back. And more and more comes back to me each month, which lead me to create this work, which is designed to bring you to a new level of deep self-acceptance and worthiness within yourself. Knowing you can reach that level is what inspired me to create The Valpone Method™, which shows you step-by-step how to detoxify your body, your mind, and your life so you can step into who you’re meant to be. If you’d like more, we can work privately together. My goal is to set you up for a path of hope and to teach you how to have more autonomy over your health and your entire life.

My creative drive, my child-like curiosity and my passion to share science-backed research to get you to the next level of yourself are what make me feel alive. I am always seeking growth in myself, in my craft, and in my relationships and I deeply believe we must embody the connection between the physical, emotional, and energetic layers of our body for true health to manifest in our lives. This doesn’t have to be a chore, it can empower us to step fully into who we are and add to our sense of self-worth on a daily basis. 

I have a pretty strong engine to keep growing so you can expect to see a lot of shifts and a-ha moments in your own life from what I have created for you. Now it’s time to step into the very next version of yourself as well.

My Transformation Timeline

PHASE 1 // The Triggers that Popped My Balloon

How My Body Shut Down

My 20’s

• I had past emotional experiences from my childhood that shut me down emotionally and energetically on a level I was unaware of. I was a people pleaser, highly sensitive, walking on eggshells, over-giving, ignoring my own needs, and not listening to my body. I had absolutely no idea I was doing any of this. 
• I experienced a traumatic college breakup where I went into a state of shock (lasted 14 years) and I fell into a numbed out trance-like state feeling completely disconnected and disassociated. I felt like I had to prove myself to be accepted and loved. This situation created a huge limiting belief that I was not enough and completely tanked my worthiness. I blamed myself for over a decade thining there was something “wrong” with me. I started living in survival mode run by cortisol and adrenaline. All of this was completely out of my awareness because I am a very positive, happy, outgoing, “life of the party” kind of person, which is why it was so hard for me to understand I had suppressed emotional pain.
• My focus was on calories and working out at the gym because I thought that was what “health” was all about. My life revolved around my external appearance.
• I started my corporate career in NYC at Ralph Lauren in design and then at Vogue magazine. Overworking and pushing myself “no pain, no gain” was my subconscious programming. I numbed myself out with work and keeping myself ‘busy’. I had no idea I was doing this (and what was driving me was the underlying physical and emotional pain that was too strong to look at). 
• A cumulation of additional emotional experiences shut me down even more. I checked out mentally and was emotionally numb, not feeling any of my feelings but again, I had no idea I was doing this because I’m a naturally “happy” person. Many of us check out and leave our bodies during this time because life itself becomes too overwhelming and this is exactly what happened to me.
• I was on disability from my corporate job because I became so unwell. I was lost, confused and felt isolated and scared. I was a Western medicine lab rat for over a decade, in circles with steroids, water pills, antibiotics, given 24-hours to live with c-diff colitis, myositis and more. I started a blog called The Healthy Apple, taught myself how to take photos and cook without gluten, dairy, soy, sugar and inflammatory foods and started my own business to keep my mind off of what was happening in my life.
• I felt trapped in a world with established rules and no alternatives to medicine. I was still trying to convince myself that I was doing the right thing with Western medicine because trying something new and alternative medicine was too scary. 

Recommended Reading

My Health Story

The Trigger that Pops Your Balloon

Unworthiness + Not Enough-Ness

The People Pleaser

The Highly Sensitive Empath

How to Become Brave & Fearless with Your Health

PHASE II // The Next Layer

Beyond Western Medicine

My early 30’s

• I discovered functional and integrative medicine, which was a whole new layer of looking deeper at the body. The focus was on anti-inflammatory food and supplements and alternative protocols.
• I was diagnosed with dozens of chronic health issues others had misdiagnosed for years: Lyme disease, hypothyroidism, candida, SIBO, heavy metal toxicity, mold toxicity, meningitis, and more. I was living in a pile of brain fog that felt like jet lag every day and a hangover because my liver was so toxic, my hormones were imbalanced and I neurologically wasn’t right after the Lyme and c-diff colitis. I was living in a constant state of fear and anxiety in a daily struggle, trying to survive because I felt like no one was on my team trying to put the pieces together for me.
• I received more answers from doctors but started gaining weight and having hormonal issues, which stemmed from the c-diff colitis and steroids. 
• I was given an incorrect dosage of a “natural” hormone cream by a doctor that spiraled my body into a six-year period of PMD, brain fog, anxiety, and massive complications. I became “too complicated” for doctors to help me anymore and at this point, food, supplements and working out didn’t help anymore. This was my lowest rock bottom and I was desperate for anything to help me get relief.
• I felt shame and humiliation and thought I was the only one going through this so I repressed my emotions because I didn’t know what to do with the overwhelming feelings and imbalances inside of me.
• While still dealing with a lot of this, I published my 1st book, Eating Clean: The 21-Day Plan to Detox, Fight Inflammation, and Reset Your Body, which became a #1 bestseller and a media favorite.  

Recommended Reading

Before and After: How I Overcame a Toxic Situation

How to Get Out of Survival Mode to Heal Your Body

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional Medicine Testing

My #1 best-selling cookbook, Eating Clean

PHASE III // Getting My Life Back

The Next Chapter

Mid 30’s

• The catalyst for my next layer of healing was that I found myself desperate after being given the wrong dosage of a hormone cream and experienced the symptoms mentioned above that were debilitating. Getting better meant going deeper because solely treating the physical body was no longer helping.
• I discovered an even deeper layer of healing: energy work and mind-body medicine. I then started to realize that for true healing to manifest, we must look at how the mind and body are closely connected, the two must be in alignment.
• I began to understand that trauma is more than going to war or a bloody scene in a movie but something many of us have that we don’t realize and it’s running our entire system. Understanding this, a new level of awareness opened up inside of me and I realized there was more to health beyond treating the physical body. 
• After six years and dozens of types of deep energy work and mind-body neuroscience, I was able to rebuild my body and rewire my brain and reset my nervous system back to homeostasis. I went from a numb and anesthetized way of living to feeling fully present and alive. I started to come back to life and my creativity, self-expression, and personality came back.
• I rebranded from The Healthy Apple to Amie Valpone, which is now a platform for a much larger conversation in which I’ve reframed the work I do because I’ve evolved since the 24-year old girl who started this business and because you deserve to know the missing pieces I discovered that were not found in books or doctor’s offices. I launched Dear Amie to bring you deeper into understanding how our physical and mental health is tied into aspects of ourselves that are often overlooked and not taught to us. I created The Valpone Method™, which is the three-layered approach to healing your body and your mind. This method includes absolutely everything I learned in my 12 years of deep healing and is my way of giving back and sharing the answers I had to discover myself that weren’t found in a book or doctor’s office.
• My focus was on intuition, understanding the subconscious mind, neuroscience and rewiring the brain. I discovered how our conditioning creates mental blocks in our lives that keep us stuck, symptomatic, unwell and scratching our heads “Why?”. I soon saw how many of us are in our own way so we can’t even see how we’re causing our own obstacles and health issues. Moreover, we can’t see what’s triggering our physical symptoms because we have only been taught to treat the physical body with modern medicine. 
• My 12-year journey to becoming a healthy woman has inspired me to leave my work in the medical field behind because I’ve discovered a much deeper way to heal the body. My work showcases a lifestyle of nourishment through personal storytelling as the intersection of wellbeing, food, and self-expression. My work has become another way to reframe health for me beyond the way we’re all taught. I am sharing with you a new way of living and being by bringing you to the next level of yourself. I see my healing as an opportunity to explore new unconventional ways of being alive and my hope is that my work inspires you to do the same, to become more conscious of what you’re putting into your body and into your mind, and how to believe in yourself to know anything is possible. If I can get through these last 12 years in once piece, you can do it, too. 

Recommended Reading

My Year of Healing: The Breakthrough that Changed Everything

Defining Trauma & How Trauma Impacts our Health

How to Trust Your Body Again Part I

How to Trust Your Body Again Part II

Self-Acceptance