Dr. Brandy Zachary’s own “mystery illness” brought her into a new career helping others heal by combining natural medicine and cutting-edge science.
Dr. Zachary, who trained and practiced as a Doctor of Chiropractic, went on to a career as an executive business consultant after a car accident required her to close her chiropractic office. She was a professional speaker and developed the world’s first personality profiling system, which was published by McGraw- Hill. Then she became very sick with a debilitating illness, one which medical doctors could not solve. The single mom was declared permanently disabled, had to move back to her mom’s home with her own daughter, took 8 prescriptions a day and visited the John Muir Hospital Infusion Center every 3 weeks to get IVIG treatments. She was not getting better, but incurring a mountain of medical bills.
Dr. Zachary began to investigate and research her own illness. She returned to school to study Functional Medicine. She eventually pieced her health and life back together with what she learned. Other people wanted to know how she did it, and that’s when she decided to open Body Love Cafe, a holistic health clinic that recently won a “Best of the Bay” award from Diablo Magazine.
Using functional medicine, nutrition, body work (i.e. massage, acupuncture), and coaching, the practitioners at BLC help patients find the answers to why they don’t feel well and look for solutions that conventional medicine may overlook. “Real healing is a whole body endeavor,” explains Dr. Zachary. “You cannot separate the physical wellness of your body from your mental health… At Body Love Cafe we hear you, we see you, we believe you.”
Dr. Zachary is a teacher at heart, which is why she enjoys sharing her knowledge at many free classes offered at BLC. She also teaches other functional medicine doctors. Her favorite days are when she helps a patient discover that “aha” moment when they make the connection and begin to understand what is going on in their bodies. Alleviating suffering is what motivates her every day.
Although the work is serious, the staff likes to have fun too. Laughter is great medicine, after all. In fact, Dr. Zachary once made it to the semi-finals of the Bay Area Comedy Competition. Dr. Zachary now lives in the Northgate neighborhood with her new husband, her 18-year-old daughter, and their cat named Kiki.
Check out their free classes and other great programs at www.bodylovecafe.com.
By Kara Navolio, Resident since 1991