My Story

I’m Andrea (Andy) Johnson, a certified Integrative Health Practitioner and member of the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine. I provide 1:1 virtual health coaching services, specialising in digestive/gut health, hormonal health, weight loss and anti-ageing.

Why did I become an IHP? Full disclosure – I haven’t always been so health-focused and spent most of my life ignoring any issues in the hope they would eventually disappear. You could say that I took a “head in the sand” approach to my wellbeing. Although I have always considered myself to be a healthy person, I suffered for years with digestive issues and felt completely drained and depleted of energy after having children.

Skin issues started appearing at childhood…

My personal health issues started out when I was a child – I always bruised easily and developed an allergy-like reaction to grass, sand and insect bites, so growing up in New Zealand I was constantly itchy! In my twenties, I started experiencing various digestive issues which I proceeded to ignore because I didn’t know any better. My skin then began outwardly displaying what was going on inside me via acne, rashes and chronic urticaria (hives).

Once my symptoms were exposed externally via my skin, I naturally felt embarrassed about the state of my appearance and finally decided to take action. I went to several doctors for my acne, rashes and urticaria (hives), and tried every test and conventional treatment going, however nothing made any notable difference, so I gave up trying. The acne eventually disappeared but I had chronic urticaria for well over ten years…

Diagnosed with coeliac disease…

After having my first child my digestive symptoms worsened, and I was later diagnosed with the auto-immune “dis-ease” coeliac. I was distressed to learn I could never eat gluten again (it had been the mainstay of my diet), however I immediately felt better once I stopped eating it, and lo-and-behold the hives with which I had put up with for such a long time – disappeared.


Over the years, not a single practitioner asked me about the foods I was eating or the state of my digestive health so they wouldn’t have known that there was a huge clue as to what was causing my skin issues…. It still amazes me to this day that this one simple fact could have prevented years of feeling hot, itchy and embarrassed!

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The cumulative effect of stressors…

Removing gluten from my diet improved the state of my skin and reduced the ‘pouch’ that protruded from my lower abdomen, but the cumulative effect of a hectic work, home and social life had taken their toll and I never felt well-rested. I played competitive sport and exercised regularly, but always felt puffy and bloated. And the brain fog and poor memory that developed after having children never subsided. Then when I hit 40, I started experiencing PMS, tinnitus and vertigo.

My lightbulb moment…

When I couldn’t get out of bed one day because I had terrible vertigo and felt nauseous standing up, I knew there was something seriously wrong and I had to stop pretending that my issues were normal. Not long before this occurred, I had serendipitously read The Rain Barrel Effect on the advice of my sister who had experienced her own health issues. Reading this book was a light-bulb moment for me; everything about the issues I had been experiencing since childhood suddenly made sense. I completed a 21-day Dr Cabral detox in quick succession and the effects were so profound that it ever changed the course of my life. I signed up to the Integrative Practitioner Course produced by Dr Stephen Cabral and have since graduated from all three IHP certifications.


I chose to change career from the corporate world of financial services to a health coach because I recognise the information I have learned is invaluable and needs to be shared. I love helping people become the best version of themselves – whether it’s by overcoming digestive issues, rebalancing hormones, or losing weight to regain their energy and glow.

It’s my mission to help as many people as possible

find the true root cause of any health issues they are facing and rebalance their bodies via a tried and tested method called the DESTRESS Protocol™ as well as state-of-the-art functional lab testing.

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