My Wellness Journey

My personal health journey, how I healed & why I started LFG

🌿 My Story: Where It All Began

It began in high school. I constantly felt tired, bloated, anxious, and off.

I was considered “healthy,” my labs were “normal,” and yet… I just didn’t feel well.

This carried through college, and over time I became deeply curious about wellness—specifically the science behind how we eat, move, and live, and how those choices shape both how we feel and our long-term health.

At Cornell, I studied biology, public health, and economics. I had always been interested in the science behind how our choices impact our biology and health outcomes.

I started consuming every podcast, book, and research study I could find on lifestyle and its role in driving health outcomes.

After college, I entered the world of private equity, investing in late-stage companies. I eventually transitioned to early-stage venture capital, focusing on innovative health and wellness companies.

Throughout my 20s, I immersed myself both personally and professionally in the wellness space—researching, networking, investing—while also experimenting and educating myself on anything that might help me feel better.

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⚡ The Turning Point

In my mid-20s, everything changed when I made the decision to go off birth control.

I had already started to clean up my diet, reduce toxins, and exercise regularly, so I couldn’t understand why I was still taking a pill of synthetic hormones that essentially shut off communication between my brain and ovaries—disrupting a core biological process that’s considered a woman’s fifth vital sign and is imperative to our health. It just didn’t feel aligned with the way I was living—or, quite honestly, with what I believed to be healthy.

So I took a big step toward improving my health and pulled off the band-aid. I went off the pill.

But when I did, nothing happened. No period. Instead, I experienced breakouts, dermatitis, bloating, fatigue, weight gain, and anxiety. I felt worse.

For the past 10 years, the birth control pill had been covering up some pretty major hormonal imbalances—not healing them or helping them, just band-aiding them. So when I pulled off the band-aid, I was left with the reality of what was actually going on underneath.

Worried and uncomfortable, I went to my traditional doctors looking for answers. What I got instead were one-size-fits-all solutions—more band-aids, no root-cause care.

• My OB/GYN told me to go back on the pill and “figure it out later.”

• My endocrinologist said my thyroid (TSH 4.5) was “normal.”

• My primary care doctor offered me SSRIs for anxiety.

• My dermatologist suggested antibiotics and steroids for my skin.

None of it addressed the root cause—and all of it risked making me more unhealthy in the long run.

Why would I pump my body full of pharmaceuticals when no one could tell me why I was experiencing these symptoms in the first place?

I knew there had to be a better way.

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🔍 Discovering Functional Medicine

That’s when I found functional medicine—an approach that looks at the whole person, considers all your symptoms and experiences synergistically, gets curious about why symptoms are showing up, and aims to heal the root cause, not just mask it.

Through more targeted testing (beyond the typical “normal” ranges used in conventional medicine), I discovered I had:

• PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome)

• Hashimoto’s (an autoimmune thyroid condition)

• SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and gut dysbiosis

• Dermatitis, eczema, and psoriasis driven by gut imbalances, inflammation, and autoimmunity

All of which had been missed by my conventional providers.
All of which are deeply interconnected—and all of which can be healed at the root level through lifestyle changes.

Not to mask the symptoms, but to truly address the underlying dysfunction driving them.

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💫 How I Healed—Without Bandaids

Instead of treating each condition in isolation with medication, I took a holistic approach. I wanted to heal the core issues, feel better, and actually heal my body.

Ate real, whole foods—cut out processed foods, sugar, and anything made in a lab. I ate real whole foods. If it didn't come from the earth, it didn’t go in my body. Real whole foods are not protein bars, vegan cookies, or protein ice cream. They are sweet potatoes, organic chicken, nuts and seeds, and blueberries. One ingredient. Actual food.

Balanced my blood sugar—Especially important for PCOS, which is rooted in insulin resistance: eat carbs that come from the earth (think potatoes, rice, fruit, squashes), always pair them with a fat (like olive oil, nuts, seeds, or avocado), and skip the carbs that are refined and processed—like cakes, cookies, crackers, and breads.

Reduced stress, prioritized sleep, and committed to therapy and mindfulness practices—I learned how to sit with myself—feel my body, notice what it was experiencing, and be with it—not react to it, but truly experience it. I began to understand what was driving the underlying feeling of constant fight-or-flight, what I was running from, and what I was avoiding feeling. I learned to sit in the discomfort and learn what it was trying to tell me.

Switched to non-toxic personal care, home, and cleaning products—We are swimming in a sea of toxins—from our personal care products, cookware, skincare, candles, bedding, to our water. Toxins are everywhere and incredibly harmful to our health. To truly heal, we can’t keep overloading our bodies with harmful chemicals. This will just keep us running in quicksand. Transitioning to a lower-toxin lifestyle was pivotal to my healing.

Stopped drinking—No matter how you cut it, alcohol is just another toxin. It contributes to hormonal imbalances, inflammation, poor sleep, and anxiety, and makes it harder for our liver to detox other chemicals and even our hormones. It weakens the immune system, impacts brain health, and contributes to the development of nearly all chronic diseases. It also makes me feel horrible—so it was time for it to go.

Swapped cardio for strength training—There is certainly a time and place for cardio. It’s incredible for cardiovascular health, mental well-being, and building endurance and resilience. I find it most effective in the form of HIIT or interval training, which I aim to do 1–2 times a week.

However, constant long-duration cardio can be just another form of stress on the body. Strength training, on the other hand, is one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity. It builds lean muscle mass, which:

• Increases bone density

• Improves metabolic health by boosting your basal metabolic rate and enhancing insulin sensitivity

• Increases energy

• Helps prevent injury

• Boosts mood

• Strengthens the immune system

• Improves our resilience to stress
  & much, much more…

Walked 10–15K steps a day—Life-changing for metabolism, clearing the mind, balancing hormones, strengthening the immune system, supporting digestion, building lean muscle, and aiding detoxification. The benefits are endless.

Took the right herbs and supplements to support my body—The key word is support. Supplements are supplemental to our food and lifestyle—you can’t out-supplement a poor diet. They work in tandem to support each other. The right supplement plan is also incredibly individualized. I’ll refrain from sharing mine and instead encourage anyone who’s curious to work with a functional practitioner to develop the best plan for themselves.

Committed to acupuncture—Acupuncture is incredible and has helped me tremendously in balancing my hormones, reducing stress, and lowering inflammation.

Created an environment that supported healing—I realized, “you will never be regulated in a dysregulated environment.” I left a toxic job, prioritized aligned relationships, and did the inner work to explore what really brings me joy and took the steps to move toward that.

Eventually, I started my own business. For years, I thought wellness was just a hobby and finance was my “real” career. I kept leaning into creativity, passion, and joy. I committed to building a life I love. I earned my Functional Nutrition certification and launched Let’s Feel Good.

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✨ Where I Am Now

With commitment, focus, and dedication to the core areas I shared above, here’s what happened:

• I got my period back

• My cycles are now regular at 28 days—almost pain- and PMS-free

• I put Hashimoto’s into remission—no more antibodies present on blood work

• I reversed PCOS symptoms

• I healed my gut and skin—no more dermatitis, eczema, breakouts, or rashes

• I healed my gut—no more SIBO, dysbiosis, leaky gut, or bloating

• I lost 30 pounds and built lean muscle

• I got my energy back—no more afternoon dips, fatigue, or exhaustion

And most importantly, I feel better than I ever have before.

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💡 This all lead to a big realization

How we live determines how we feel—and how we feel is the biggest driver of our long-term health.

When I was going through my own healing journey, I was living in NYC, working at a venture capital fund, and investing in health and wellness companies. I was surrounded by young, driven people—and yet so many of them just didn’t feel good.

I started to notice a pattern: fatigue, bloating, anxiety, hormone imbalances, insomnia, breakouts, stubborn weight, inflammation. It wasn’t just me—it was an epidemic. A quiet one. One that’s often normalized, brushed off, or just medicated.

But not feeling good is not normal—and it’s also one of the clearest early warning signs of chronic disease.

We don’t wake up one day with diabetes, heart disease, or an autoimmune conditions.

Chronic illness develops over time, often rooted in those subtle but persistent signs—being tired all the time, feeling off, inflamed, anxious—that we’re told are “just part of life” or “nothing to worry about.”

When we ignore or medicate those signals without understanding why they’re happening, we give dysfunction the opportunity to compound into disease.

We are the providers of our healthcare.

We have the power to listen to our bodies, to take those signs seriously, and to reconstruct our lifestyle in a way that helps us feel amazing today and protects our future health.

What we put on our fork, how we move, how we sleep, the way we care for our minds and bodies—that is our healthcare. And we are the providers of it.

Traditional medicine is incredible for acute care. But it wasn’t built to heal diseases that are a product of our modern lifestyle.

And the truth is:

90% of chronic diseases—like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and dementia—are driven by lifestyle.

Yet so many of us are dismissed by doctors or told our symptoms are “normal”—until they’re not. And while medication can mask those symptoms, it doesn’t heal the root cause.

Over time, what’s driving our symptoms gets worse. That’s how we end up sick, medicated, and disconnected from what vibrant health actually feels like.

But here’s the good news:

If we change the way we live, we can feel incredible now—and protect ourselves from disease later.

✨ Let’s stop normalizing fatigue, anxiety, bloating, breakouts, mood swings, and everything in between.
✨ Let’s stop medicating symptoms without asking why they’re happening.

You deserve to feel amazing and we’re here to help you get there.

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⚡️ Let’s Feel Good

Let’s Feel Good (LFG) is a wellness brand and lifestyle implementation platform created to help you cut through the noise and take simple, effective steps toward feeling your best—every single day.

Founded by wellness guru, certified functional nutrition expert, and health & wellness investor Annie Ripp, LFG delivers actionable wellness education and tactical implementation guides built for real life.

No extremes. No fluff. Just practical routines, better-for-you swaps, and science-backed habits that actually work.

At the core of LFG are our Wellness Guides, released every Wednesday—each one a complete, research-backed, implementation-ready resource focused on a specific area of health (think: building a healthy pantry, clean skincare, or how to stay healthy while traveling).

These guides are designed to help you make real, lasting changes to your daily routines and habits—so you can feel your best from the inside out.

LFG also shares free daily tips, product swaps, and routines via Substack Notes, Instagram and our podcast (coming soon!).

✨ Don’t forget to subscribe for full access to all our Wellness Guides and exclusive resources!

& if you share it with 5 friends (and they subscribe), you’ll receive lifetime, unlimited access to our Wellness Guides 💞

Quick reminder- This newsletter is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. I’m simply sharing my personal experience—please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health or wellness routine ❤️

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MEET THE FOUNDER

Hi, I’m Annie!

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