New Normal Big Life: Functional Medicine and Holistic Health for Veterans, First Responders, and Caregivers
New Normal Big Life is a functional medicine and holistic health podcast for veterans, first responders, blue-collar workers, and caregivers who feel their minds and bodies slipping after years of stress and hard work.
Hosted by TBI survivor and former Army medic Antoinette Berrafato, also known as The Wellness Warrior, this show brings doctors, functional medicine clinicians, naturopaths, and researchers into plain-language conversations about nervous system regulation, caregiver burnout, root cause medicine, veteran mental health, holistic nutrition, and what it actually takes to reclaim your health after years of stress, service, and survival.
We cover the full world of functional and natural health: root cause medicine and how it differs from the conventional care that keeps brushing you off, nervous system regulation and trauma recovery for people whose bodies have been running on high alert for years, caregiver burnout and what recovery actually looks like, TBI and brain health after military service and injury, holistic nutrition and natural protocols for chronic illness, and disaster preparedness as a health practice.
This show answers questions like:
- What is functional medicine, and how is it different from conventional care?
- Why am I always tired, no matter how much I sleep?
- What causes chronic inflammation, and how do I fix it naturally?
- How do I regulate my nervous system after trauma or prolonged stress?
- What are the signs of caregiver burnout, and how do I recover?
- Why does my doctor keep telling me my labs are normal when I feel terrible?
- What natural treatments actually help with TBI recovery?
- How do veterans and first responders get real mental health support that isn't just therapy-speak?
If you want real answers, plain language, and a host who has lived it, you are in the right place.
Start here: https://nnbl.blog/podcast/start-here
Disclaimer: For informational not medical advice and should not be treated as such. Always consult your physician or healthcare provider before pursuing any health-related procedure or activity.
New Normal Big Life: Functional Medicine and Holistic Health for Veterans, First Responders, and Caregivers
Start Here: What New Normal Big Life Is About
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Welcome to New Normal Big Life. This is the episode to start with — a clear, honest orientation to what this podcast is, who it is for, and why it exists. Host Antoinette Berrafato (formerly Lee), opens with the defining idea behind everything you'll hear: the size of your life is not determined by what happens to you, but by how you respond. If you are a veteran, someone navigating chronic illness, rebuilding after trauma, or simply ready to live bigger and bolder, you are in the right place.
Learn more about this show.
CHAPTERS:
1:30 The Philosophy Behind New Normal Big Life
3:00 Who This Show Is For
4:30 What Topics and Guests You Can Expect
6:00 How to Get the Most From This Podcast
We want to solve your biggest health challenge. Send us a text
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New here? Start with our 6‑episode playlist: https://nnbl.blog/podcast/start-here/
Free listener ebooks & guides (newsletter subscribers only): https://nnbl.blog/new-normal-big-life-ebooks-and-guides/
Rebuilding Resilient Lives Uncensored Community: https://rebuilding-resilient-lives.mn.co/share/kNbNMRnkLlpKWjar?utm_source=manual
New Normal Big Life streams free in audio and video on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
DISCLAIMER: For informational purposes only, not medical advice. Always consult your own healthcare professional.
I wore the Army uniform for 11 years—air assault medic, infection control expert, healthcare warrior—fixing bodies under tough conditions. But by 2015, my own body turned traitor. A traumatic brain injury and broken back from my military service tanked my life. I’d been an information technology CEO, sharp as a blade, three degrees including an MBA. Then—bam—couldn’t eat, couldn’t walk, couldn’t even string a sentence together. Anxiety and depression pinned me inside for 18 months, a walker, a service dog, and a fulltime caregiver made me feel like I’d gone from hero to zero overnight. One day, I’m deadlifting 500 pounds as a competitive powerlifter, the next day I couldn’t shower without help. The system I’d served? It watched me waste away. My story’s not unique. Whether you’re a veteran like me or even a teen figuring out life the healthcare system is failing you and it’s time we took charge of our own health.
Hi friends, welcome to the new normal, Big Life Podcast!
We bring you natural news and stories about nature that we hope will inspire you to get outside and adventure, along with a step-by-step plan to help you practice what you’ve learned and create your own new normal and live the biggest life you can dream. I’m your host, Antoinette Lee, the Wellness Warrior.
In 2015, I was down to sips of broth—six weeks without solid food. My skin reeked of death; I’d smelled it before, tripping over a corpse in Queens, NY as a teen cross-country runner, then again in the Army. Lying there in 2015, my soul hovering over my body and my service dog Phoebe beside me, I knew the clock was ticking. Surgery was weeks out, but I wasn’t making it to the next appointment. I was done—except I wasn’t.
That day, I stared death down and thanked God for the ride—world travel, four languages, sports, love, a life lived loud as a Christian woman. I’d seen it all, from Queens to Korea. But I made a deal: ‘God, if I get one more day, I’ll crack the code on why I’m this sick—and I’ll spend my life helping others climb out of the same hole.’ Spoiler: I’m still here. And now, I’m your wellness warrior—following in the footsteps of OGs like Doctor Stella and Mike Adams to torch the sick care system, call out Big Pharma and Big Ag, and hand you the tools to fight back.
Picture this: 2015, I’m a ghost—20 meds wrecking my kidneys, brain fried from TBI, walker-bound. Fast forward—I’m a sponsored adventure sports athlete, a veteran with a hidden disability, no cane, no caregiver. How? Archery rewired my brain—words came back. Whitewater kayaking ditched the walker in 30 days. A year later, I was free— Phoebe’s mostly a pet now, not a lifeline. No more pills, just natural medicine and smart choices. I’d trained in five medical fields, but blind trust in doctors nearly buried me— three times. Not you, though—I’ve got your back.
Then there’s Matt—my cofounder and life partner, a Marine blown up by two IEDs while kicking in doors with the Marines in Iraq and lived. Fishing and kayaking pulled him out of the dark; we met on a veteran camping and kayaking trip. Together, we built the American Adventure Sports Club—AASC—using group talk and hardcore outdoor challenges to help folks heal. Vets mostly run it, but it’s for everyone—kids, families, seniors, low-income folks, disabilities or not. Weekly clubs, annual adventure camps— we’re dragging people out of sick, tired, and hopeless lives into nature’s grit and good health.
This isn’t just my story—it’s yours. Veterans, you who’ve stormed doors or patched wounds—you’re not disposable. Men who grind, women who push, kids dreaming big, seniors too sick to enjoy their second act—the system’s failing us all. But we’ve cracked it: adventure sports, real talk, natural fixes. Matt and I tested it—kayaking, archery, fishing— stuff that works when pills don’t. On the New Normal Big Life Podcast, we’re your playbook—weekly news, nature stories, step-by-step plans to ditch the stiffness, the weight, the despair. You’ll look better, feel sharper, live bigger.
Next time you’re stuck—physically, mentally—ask: What’s my move? We’ve got answers—safe, effective, natural or conventional medicine, stuff you can take to your doctor. I nearly died trusting my doctors, Big Pharma, and Big Ag blindly; you won’t. Join us. Get outside. Fight for your new normal.
We’ve done the research and have tried what we’ll teach you about getting an accurate diagnosis and safe and effective natural or conventional medical treatment options that you can discuss with your healthcare team.
Each week on the New Normal Big Life Podcast, we’ll bring you natural news and stories about nature that we hope will inspire you to get outside and adventure, along with a step-by-step plan to help you practice what you’ve learned and create your own new normal and live the biggest life you can dream.
Until next time, friends, I'm Antoinette Lee your Wellness Warrior here at the new normal big life podcast. I hope one day to see you on the river in the back country, or in the horse barn living your best life.
Tag New Normal Big Life or NNBL.Blog on social media so we can celebrate your good health and big life. If you’re a visual learner, you can watch an informative and entertaining version of this video on YouTube on the @NewNormalBigLife channel or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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