What does that mean? I get to be an advocate for women seeking a natural approach to feeling and looking their best, and I have the clinical experience and tools to help them do just that. When a woman seeks care in our office, maybe she’s already been diagnosed with a hormone imbalance (such as Hashimoto’s/low functioning thyroid, pre-diabetes, or estrogen dominance etc…), but very often she hasn’t, and she need not have a diagnosis to benefit from our help. Most patients come to us on the advice of a friend or family member who is a patient, and who recognized the same signs in her friend as we’ve helped her with. Things like low energy, interrupted sleep, abdominal weight gain, brain fog, anxiety, lessening libido, PMS and cramping, hot flashes and night sweats, adult acne and skin issues, digestive/GI issues, dryness and a host of other seemingly unrelated issues. With rare exception, most of these things begin with a combination of inadequate nutrition over time and periods of stress where our body just had to work harder without the rest and raw materials needed for rebuilding reserves and proper repair. Maybe we were burning the candle at both ends while going to school or working, raising a family, working out, volunteering, taking care of our parents… Somewhere along the way while our body tried to keep up with our life, it began to get depleted and nutrient deficient, and you began to see and feel it in lots of little ways. The trouble is, in our culture all of these things are so common, they’re considered to be normal. So, we call this experience “aging”, and we’re either told that we’re imagining things or we just have to deal. It’s not normal though, and there are lots of early warning signs your body tells you that it’s off track. Different organ systems will demonstrate strength and weakness, toxicity, and nutrient deficiency in many cases much earlier labs will ever show imbalance. We use these signs to our advantage through hands-on testing to locate imbalances which you can feel. We then test specific whole-food nutritional support against any weak areas to find what works best for your body, so you can rebuild and feel better. At the heart of what I do is to help identify and resolve underlying health issues rooted in nutritional deficiencies that cause imbalances (including hormone imbalances), and help women feel in control of their health again.
Dr. Kimberly Higney | Owner of Cardea, Natural Women’s Health Practice
Tell us about YOU!! (Who are you & What do you do?) I’m Dr. Kimberly Higney. For the past 12 years I’ve owned Cardea, a natural women’s health practice on the New Hampshire Seacoast. I help women restore hormone health and metabolism through personalized root-cause nutrition and functional medicine.
What makes you different/stand out in your industry? I love this question because I have an amazing team, and we work hard to provide the very best care, and we are unique in a few key ways:
We are precise and thorough because your needs are important. When working a patient, I start by determining their body’s specific needs and priorities with a thorough physical exam (and specific lab testing, when indicated). The exam involves precise hands-on muscle testing to identify any body organs under stress (food sensitivities, heavy metals and toxins, nutrient needs). Our exam also includes high-resolution facial photo analysis that can reveal longstanding mineral deficiencies, which when replenished can fill in fine lines and reduce “age/liver spots” naturally. Our office is unique in this process.
We offer personalized care that is different for everyone. The specificity of our exam allows me to create a personalized plan of care, including recommendations for detoxification, organic whole-food supplementation, herbs, and lifestyle recommendations for right-sizing sleep and workouts (sometimes a girl needs to eat more fat and take workouts down a notch to get her body on track!).
Exceedingly high product standards. Because the muscle testing I use clearly demonstrated what is and isn’t beneficial for your body, I need to have a very high standard for anything I recommend, so I only use whole-food concentrates for patients (from farms, not factories ☺), never isolated/synthetic supplements or even those labeled as “natural” but whose ingredients prove otherwise.
Ongoing support and a little cheerleading when needed. Depending upon a patients needs we’ll create a schedule to meet for a few minutes every week or every other week for a period to check in and make sure weak areas are getting stronger and we’re seeing progress, and to make any course corrections. We also love to acknowledge and celebrate your victories!
What do your clients love about you? This is what a few of our clients have to say:
“Clients love that you care. You listen, and question, and encourage. You cheer us on and it matters to us because what we are doing seems difficult and to feel that you are with us through it all (the family issues, the physical issues, the deaths and births and daily life) is an amazing feeling. No one who is a patient of yours feels alone, but rather we feel cared for – not just in a physical sense but emotionally too (whether that is your intention or not).”
“What makes you different is that you are there all the way for your patients – you give 110% of your time and thought and energy to them. In other words, you CARE, and that, my dear is so, so rare – it’s what makes you an amazing doctor to work with!”
“She is extremely knowledgeable and can leverage the body’s own ability to heal by determining what the body needs to enable itself to heal naturally. Her depth of knowledge is astounding.”
What is the best advice you can share with others? Find work/service that lights you up, seek people who inspire you to be your best, and welcome thoughts and ideas that challenge you to grow. Be grateful, and stay curious.
How has Women’s Business League helped you? I’ve met the most talented, creative, driven women business owners through WBL, and am inspired by the potential that the greater WBL community has for raising up women’s business.
Dr. Kimberly Higney
Owner of Cardea, Natural Women's Health Practice