How I got here.
- The beginning
Raised in the herb garden
I was the toddler playing in the herb garden and picking cherries off the tree instead of climbing the backyard swing set. I was snapping the ends off green beans at three. Our food looked different from my friends' food, and in our house, whole foods and natural remedies came first.
As different as it felt back then, I'm so grateful for the direction it gave me.
A Michigan kid with dirt on her hands.
- Whole food at five
My first Standard Process formula
When I was five, my mom took me to a chiropractor who used muscle testing to understand what my body needed. That was the day Standard Process became part of my life.
By the time I was a young gymnast, whole-food supplements were simply part of how our family took care of itself.
- Resilience
Losing my mom, and finding my why
When I was fourteen, my mom was fighting cancer. Whole-food nutrition and integrative care were a big part of that journey, and that season opened my eyes to how much our everyday choices matter.
Losing her so young could have broken my focus. Instead, it fueled it. I poured that determination into the pole vault, earned a scholarship to Eastern Michigan University and graduated in 2005 with a degree in Dietetics and Nutrition.
The vault taught me that greatness takes precision, balance and a strong foundation.
- Becoming Dr. Braund
From the runway to the practice
I earned my Doctor of Chiropractic at Life University in Marietta, Georgia, and opened my first practice in St. Marys, near Kings Bay Naval Base, where I also served as president of the Kings Bay Rotary Club and, in 2017, won a CrossFit competition. Today my practice, AlphaCare Health, serves the Golden Isles.
I specialize in Upper Cervical Specific Chiropractic, and I use Nutrition Response Testing, muscle testing and blood labs to find functional nutrition gaps, then build a whole-food plan around them. I've also published research, including an article on ankylosing spondylitis.
Find the root, then build a whole-food plan around it. That's the heart of how I practice.
- My why
Healthy kids, for generations to come
I'm deeply passionate about helping children grow up healthy. My mission is to educate and empower families to make natural, nutrient-dense choices that support growth, development and vitality, one child and one family at a time.
