Dr LaDonna Rocha, Naturopath

Dr LaDonna Rocha, Naturopath Where conventional medicine background meets natural health modalities. Office visits by appointment only.

I'm a board-certified doctor of natural medicine, herbalist, alchemist, aromatherapist, and so many more natural wellness things. :)

Modern culture is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with hunger.Not just physical hunger—but longing itself.We are tau...
06/01/2026

Modern culture is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with hunger.

Not just physical hunger—
but longing itself.

We are taught to silence discomfort immediately:
quiet the craving,
override the signal,
stay full,
stay distracted,
stay stimulated.

And while many people are navigating very real metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, and hormonal imbalance with compassion-worthy struggles, I think there’s still a deeper question worth asking:

What happens when the body loses one of its primary languages of longing?

This week inside Sanctified Roots, we continue The Alchemical Body series with:
“The Stomach — The Silence of Hunger.”

We’re exploring:
• appetite suppression & disconnection
• the spiritual role of longing
• why meals in Scripture were deeply relational
• communion, feasting, and embodied presence
• the difference between peace and numbness
• what happens when hunger grows quiet

Because the absence of hunger is not always the presence of peace.

Sometimes the body is trying to tell us something worth hearing.

The Stomach Series is free on the Sanctified Roots patreon right now. Grab the link to the first post in the four-part series in the commnets.

One of the first things Babylon offered Daniel was food.Not because food itself was evil—but because consumption shapes ...
05/26/2026

One of the first things Babylon offered Daniel was food.

Not because food itself was evil—
but because consumption shapes allegiance more than we realize.

Babylon understood something modern culture understands too:

If you can reshape appetite,
you can slowly reshape identity,
dependence,
discernment,
and desire.

We are living in a world built around endless consumption:
food,
media,
noise,
scrolling,
stimulation,
comfort,
distraction.

And yet many people have never felt more exhausted,
more disconnected,
or less nourished.

The problem is not simply hunger.

The problem is that modern culture constantly offers substitutes that fill space temporarily without truly nourishing what is empty underneath.

This week inside Sanctified Roots, we continue The Alchemical Body series with:
“The Stomach — Their God Is Their Belly.”

We’re exploring:
• consumption vs nourishment
• craving and overstimulation
• appetite and discernment
• Daniel and Babylon’s table
• the spiritual implications of endless intake
• why fullness is not always satisfaction

Not through shame.
Not through fear.
But through thoughtful, embodied conversation.

Because the stomach quietly teaches an uncomfortable truth:

Not everything consumed becomes nourishment.

Click the link in the comments to catch Week 1 of The Stomach Series

Remember how in Judges 13:3, an angel appeared to Samson’s mother and gave her instructions for how she should handle he...
05/26/2026

Remember how in Judges 13:3, an angel appeared to Samson’s mother and gave her instructions for how she should handle her own body and health before she was even pregnant with him? Sometimes what we see as restriction and discipline is part of the preparation for something we’re called to birth. It’s so far in advance that we can get hung up on the wrong things and ruin the vessel for the blessing. Just a little food for thought for your morning…. (Painting by Carlo Saraceni)

What if calories were never the full story?Maybe the problem isn’t that you lack discipline.Maybe your body has been ada...
05/24/2026

What if calories were never the full story?

Maybe the problem isn’t that you lack discipline.

Maybe your body has been adapting to:

* chronic stress
* burnout
* pressure
* nervous system overload
* hormonal chaos
* survival mode

Your metabolism is not just a calculator.
It’s a communication system.

And sometimes the body that “won’t cooperate” is actually a body asking for safety, alignment, and repair.

🧬 Metabolic Decode opens on June 1st,
Decode the hidden patterns behind weight, willpower, and burnout.

Hormones don't just go out of balance by themselves, instead they are responding to an underlying driver. The most commo...
05/21/2026

Hormones don't just go out of balance by themselves, instead they are responding to an underlying driver.

The most common causes of hormonal imbalances we see are:

Inflammation: Chronic inflammation disrupts hormone signalling and contributes to imbalances in almost every hormone.

Stress: High cortisol levels from chronic stress can throw off your entire endocrine system.

Nutrient Deficiencies: Your hormones rely on essential nutrients like zinc, magnesium, and B vitamins to function properly.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs): These harmful chemicals in plastics, cosmetics, and cleaning products can mimic or block your hormones.

Poor Detoxification: If your body struggles to eliminate toxins, it can lead to the build-up of hormones like estrogen.

Unhealthy Lifestyle: Lack of exercise, poor sleep, and an unbalanced diet can all negatively impact hormones.

Poor Gut Health: Your gut plays a huge role in hormone metabolism and balance.

Blood Sugar Dysregulation: Spikes and crashes in blood sugar can wreak havoc on your hormone health.

While conventional medicine often focuses on switching on or off hormones with medications, a naturopathic approach seeks to identify and treat the obstacles preventing hormonal balance, rather than mask the problem.

Symptoms are your body's way of telling you something is out of balance. Symptoms like period pain, PMS, fatigue and low...
05/20/2026

Symptoms are your body's way of telling you something is out of balance. Symptoms like period pain, PMS, fatigue and low libido are often normalised because of how common they are.

If you've been experiencing these symptoms for a while they can become part of your daily life and might be hard to spot.

If you're experiencing any of these symptoms it's important to work with a practitioner to identify & address the underlying cause.

I’ve been watching the conversation around appetite, weight loss, GLP-1 medications, and now the recent shift from “PCOS...
05/17/2026

I’ve been watching the conversation around appetite, weight loss, GLP-1 medications, and now the recent shift from “PCOS” to “PMOS” with a lot of fascination.

Not outrage. Not panic.

Just observation.

Because I don’t think the deeper conversation is actually about weight.

I think it’s about hunger.

We are living in a culture that increasingly views appetite as something dangerous:
something to suppress,
silence,
override,
or disconnect from entirely.

And to be clear—this is not a post condemning medications or people using them. Many people are struggling with very real metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance, and nervous system exhaustion. The conversation deserves far more compassion and nuance than the internet usually gives it.

But I do think there’s an important spiritual question worth asking:

What happens when we lose connection with hunger itself?

Not just physical hunger—
but longing,
desire,
discernment,
satisfaction,
and the body’s ability to communicate need.

The stomach is more than a storage pouch for food. It is one of the body’s first organs of transformation. It teaches rhythm, discernment, receiving, and nourishment.

And modern culture has made many of us deeply distrustful of those signals.

So this month inside Sanctified Roots, I’m opening up a FREE Alchemical Body series on The Stomach:
“The Fire in the Belly.”

We’ll be exploring:
• appetite and discernment
• digestion as transformation
• the spiritual symbolism of hunger
• modern appetite suppression culture
• nourishment vs consumption
• Scripture, physiology, herbalism, and embodiment

Not through fear.
Not through shame.
But through thoughtful, grounded conversation.

Because perhaps the goal was never to destroy hunger—
but to understand what it was trying to teach us.

Click the link in the comments to access the first post in this series on Patreon.

05/13/2026

Conventional medicine is finally updating PCOS terminology to acknowledge what women — and many integrative practitioners — have known for years:

PCOS is not just an ovarian condition.

It’s deeply connected to metabolism.

Which explains why so many women with PCOS experience:

* insulin resistance
* fatigue
* intense cravings
* inflammation
* anxiety
* weight resistance
* irregular cycles
* fertility struggles

For years, many patients were dismissed, minimized, or blamed.

“Just lose weight.”
“Your labs are fine.”
“Take birth control.”
“You need more willpower.”

Meanwhile the underlying metabolic dysfunction often went unaddressed.

And listen — symptom management has a place.
But if we only focus on suppressing symptoms without asking why the body is struggling in the first place, women stay stuck feeling confused and unseen.

This name shift matters because language shapes treatment models.

And women with PCOS deserve care that looks at the WHOLE picture:
blood sugar, inflammation, stress physiology, nervous system regulation, hormones, sleep, nourishment, and metabolic health.

Honestly?
Women knew this long before medicine caught up.

Progesterone is one of the most misunderstood hormones in women’s health.Most people only hear about it in the context o...
05/07/2026

Progesterone is one of the most misunderstood hormones in women’s health.

Most people only hear about it in the context of fertility or pregnancy — but progesterone has important effects throughout the entire body.

It helps:
• Support the uterine lining after ovulation
• Calm the brain and nervous system
• Promote deeper sleep and clearer cognition
• Modulate inflammation
• Balance the effects of estrogen

Clinically, low progesterone can show up as:
– Anxiety or feeling constantly on edge
– PMS or mood swings
– Insomnia or disrupted sleep
– Brain fog
– Heavy or painful periods
– Short cycles or spotting before a period

And here’s what often gets missed:
Progesterone is highly sensitive to stress physiology. Chronic stress, inflammation, blood sugar instability, under-eating, overtraining, and immune dysfunction can all influence ovulation and progesterone production.

This is why hormone symptoms are rarely “just hormones.”
The nervous system, immune system, metabolism, and endocrine system are constantly communicating with each other.

Supporting progesterone isn’t only about replacing a hormone — it’s about understanding why the body may not feel safe enough to prioritize optimal hormone production in the first place.

What symptom do you see most often with low progesterone? 👇

Address

4466 S Staples St
Corpus Christi, TX
78411

Telephone

+13619028899

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr LaDonna Rocha, Naturopath posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Dr LaDonna Rocha, Naturopath:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category