I grew up on the East Coast and was a very happy and healthy kid with no major health problems or complaints. Fast forward twenty years and I found myself in a hospital bed, hooked up to a feeding tube, and battling severe nausea and debilitating abdominal pain.
How did this happen? After years of living in a sympathetic state of fight or flight due to prolonged stress, and consuming a diet of highly processed and quick to cook meals, my body broke. Organs and essential body systems started giving out, and this was the wake-up call I could have never seen coming. Instead of relying on a lifetime of the pain relievers and anti-nausea medications doctors prescribed, I decided to focus my time and energy on the daily ways we care for our bodies -- the food we consume and lifestyle patterns we follow.
As a holistic nutritionist with a focus on functional medicine, shopping and cooking used to be a dreaded chore but has transformed into a grounding and soothing practice connecting me to stillness, health, and happiness. I am eager to help my clients re-discover their relationship to the healing and soothing powers of food as medicine and self care.
Change can be exciting, overwhelming and exhausting. But most often it can mean the components that make up your holistic life get compromised, and while change is underway your physical body and mental health might feel out of whack. By using a holistic health tool belt, I help clients shift their day to day equilibrium from a state of flight or fight (sympathetic nervous system), to rest and digest (parasympathetic system).
Instead of traditional “diets”, I am trained in the Eating for Health® model, which is a system that supports individuals with custom meal plans focusing on key macronutrients and micronutrients with an emphasis on eating S.O.U.L. foods (seasonal, organic, unrefined and local). I support my clients in learning how to better nourish their physical and mental health through nutrient dense nutrition, sleep habits, daily movement, finding community and stress management.
• I love to play pickleball! Some of my closest friends are through pickleball and now I enjoy competing in leagues and tournaments
• Growing up I hated green vegetables! “Growing up” is a generous term…this didn’t change until my mid-20’s
• I have been an avid horse back rider my whole life and rode on the intercollegiate teams in high school and college
• I studied Japanese for five years, and even went to Japanese immersion summer camp as a pre-teen
Let's get the credentials out of the way. I’m an active member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP) and I graduated from Bauman College with an honors degree in Holistic Nutrition. I also studied Mastering the Art and Science of Gastrointestinal Healing at the Restorative Wellness Solutions.
Degrees aside, the bottom line is I have walked the walk. I suffered for years with gut problems, took way too many medications in hopes of feeling better, and felt defeated by too many doctors who told me this was the new normal. I have had SIBO, severe IBS, C. diff infections, migraines, brain fog, bloat, anxiety and depression to name a few. I refused to live the rest of my life this way, so I did a lot of research, trial and error and made a number of dietary and lifestyle changes that allowed me to get off all the medications. On a personal level, I have navigated (some I am still sorting out!) divorce, moving, rebuilding from scratch, a career change, dating again and making friends in your 30’s.