How She Ended 10 Years of Acne, Insomnia & Anxiety in 1 Week
You’ve tried it all.
Birth control. Spironolactone.
Cleveland Clinic. Functional medicine doctors.
And still—you’re stuck.
Acne that won’t quit.
Anxiety that hijacks your brain.
Gut issues that make food a minefield.
And worst of all? A decade of waking up at 1–3 AM every. single. night.
Sound familiar? Then you’re going to love Libby’s story.
Because this isn’t just another “wellness hack” blog. This is the story of a woman who poured ten years into healing, only to find that mainstream and even functional medicine missed the real root causes.
Until she ran the right tests.
Until she stopped guessing.
Until she found the Better Belly Blueprint.
And within days—yes, DAYS—everything started to change.
Why the Old Way of Healing Fails
Let’s get real. The “solutions” women get handed for acne, anxiety, or insomnia are a joke.
Doctors love to push:
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Birth control
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Spironolactone
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Antidepressants
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Sleep meds
But these don’t heal. They mask. They silence symptoms while the real problems rage on.
Even the Cleveland Clinic and local functional medicine doctors couldn’t get Libby answers. Why? Because they weren’t digging deep enough.
👉 Here’s the truth: You cannot heal if you don’t know the root cause.
Acne isn’t just “hormones.”
Insomnia isn’t just “stress.”
Anxiety isn’t just “in your head.”
Your gut health, food sensitivities, liver detox pathways, and even mineral imbalances are all connected.
Miss one piece? You stay stuck.
Libby’s Breaking Point
Libby’s health story started early. In middle school, she developed painful acne—not just on her face, but across her chest, back, and shoulders.
In college, anorexia shut down her hormones. Acne went away temporarily, but gut and hormone chaos followed.
She “recovered” on the outside. But the symptoms never stopped.
Years later, her body took a sharp nose dive:
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Insomnia — waking 1–3 AM every night
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Anxiety and obsessive thoughts
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Lichen Sclerosis (a painful, itchy autoimmune skin condition)
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Gut dysfunction — bloating, constipation, stomach pain
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Stubborn acne on her jawline
She tried conventional medicine. She tried functional medicine. She even traveled to the Cleveland Clinic.
Nothing worked.
Until she decided to run the 5 foundational labs in the Better Belly Blueprint.
The Game-Changing First Step
Here’s where things get wild.
Before Libby even had her lab results, she started the Liver Protocol inside the Blueprint.
And within one week—ONE WEEK—her insomnia was gone.
Ten years of sleepless nights… solved in days.
Why? Because waking between 1–3 AM is one of the biggest signs of liver dysfunction. Her doctors had missed it. But once she gave her liver the support it needed, her body calmed.
She could finally sleep again.
That alone was worth everything.
But this was only the beginning.
The Acne Trigger No Doctor Caught
Like many women, Libby thought her acne was “hormonal.”
But her Food Zoomer test revealed something shocking: she was highly sensitive to grains.
Rice. Corn. Wheat. Oats.
Within a week of cutting out grains, her acne disappeared. Completely.
Not only did her skin clear—her anxiety and obsessive thinking dramatically improved.
👉 This is the gut-brain-skin connection in action.
You don’t hear that in dermatology offices. They’ll throw antibiotics or spironolactone at you. But they won’t check if your nervous system is inflamed by food.
And that’s the difference between masking symptoms… and healing them.
Anxiety, Obsessions, and Grain Brain
Let’s talk anxiety.
Libby had done years of therapy. And while therapy gave her tools, it never fixed the obsessive thoughts.
But when she cut grains? Her brain calmed down.
She read the book Grain Brain and realized: grains can cause neurological inflammation in sensitive people.
For Libby, this wasn’t “all in her head.” It was biochemical. Her food sensitivities were hijacking her nervous system.
When she removed them, she finally felt peace.
👉 Healing isn’t about willpower. It’s about removing the invisible forces working against you.
The Nuts About Nuts
There was one more shocking twist.
Libby’s autoimmune skin condition, lichen sclerosis, was flaring like crazy. She journaled everything she ate, searching for a trigger. Nothing made sense.
Until she ran another Food Zoomer panel.
The culprit? Nuts.
She had been eating almonds, cashews, and nut milks daily—thinking they were “healthy.” But for her, they were fueling inflammation.
The day she cut out nuts, her symptoms stopped.
Her hand eczema disappeared too.
👉 Moral of the story: “Healthy” doesn’t mean healthy for you.
Healing Layer by Layer
Libby’s story shows what real root-cause healing looks like.
It’s not one magic pill. It’s peeling back layers:
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Liver support → Sleep restored
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Grain removal → Skin cleared + anxiety eased
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Nut removal → Autoimmunity calmed + eczema gone
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Pathogen protocols → Gut healing underway
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Mineral balance (copper toxicity + zinc) → Next step for deeper mental health
Every protocol built on the last. Each step revealed another piece of the puzzle.
That’s why so many women stay stuck. They stop after one protocol, or one elimination diet, or one supplement.
But healing requires a roadmap. A strategy. A way to peel the onion—without guessing.
The Hidden Truth Doctors Don’t Tell You
Doctors won’t tell you that your gut health drives your skin, sleep, and mental health.
They won’t tell you that food sensitivities can fuel autoimmunity.
They won’t tell you that waking at 1–3 AM is a red flag for liver congestion.
And they definitely won’t tell you that someone as educated and determined as Libby—a registered dietitian, health expert, and researcher—could still miss the real causes without the right testing.
👉 Because testing isn’t just about information. It’s about clarity. And clarity creates confidence.
Libby believed her body could heal. She just needed the missing pieces.
What You Can Learn From Libby
Here’s what Libby’s story proves:
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Healing doesn’t have to take forever.
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You’re not “broken” if nothing has worked yet.
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Food sensitivities aren’t random—they’re testable, trackable, and reversible.
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Insomnia, acne, and anxiety have root causes.
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Real healing happens when you stop guessing.
If you’ve been stuck for years, your body isn’t betraying you. It’s asking you to look deeper.
And when you find the right roadmap, change can happen fast.
Your Next Step
If you’re tired of piecing together answers, it’s time to stop wasting years and start healing.
You have two options:
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Better Belly Blueprint → The proven DIY system Libby used to finally heal. Run the labs. Follow the protocols. Join group coaching for extra support.
👉 Join the Blueprint here -
VIP Program → Want us to do the work for you? The VIP program is our white-glove, personalized option.
👉 Apply for VIP here
You don’t have to stay stuck. You don’t have to settle for “managing symptoms.”
Like Libby, you can finally find answers that last.
So, are you ready?
Your healing starts here.
EPISODES MENTIONED:
- 112// The Hidden Drivers Behind Anorexia – with Libby Stenzel, RD
- 267// The Best Food Sensitivity Test for You, with Vibrant Wellness
- 45// The Gut-Skin Connection: Is your gut flaring up your skin?
- 254// The Gut-Brain Axis: Why Healing Your Nervous System Isn’t Working
- 41// Anxiety, depression, or ADHD? One reason to check your gut
HEAL YOUR GUT TODAY!
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- Want to learn how BBB works? Watch this FREE training walking you through how to heal, once and for all!
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- Want to make sure that VIP is right for you? Book a FREE 20 Min Application Call!
RESOURCES:
- Subscribe to our Weekly Podcast Newsletter
- Download the entire Better Belly Podcast Vault!
- Download my Free Constipation Relief Guide
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- Get the Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis Spreadsheet
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- JOIN → Join our FREE Facebook Group
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