How i got started and how I got here

I grew up in the sunny state of California where I learned to love sunshine and exercise from an early age. But I have always struggled with anxiety and depression from a young age. I think I learned naturally that sun and exercise could combat that, but it took me a long time to put the nutritional aspect together with physical and mental health and wellbeing. It took longer to put the sleep and stress components together too, and those are all things that I work on still to this day. Anxiety and depression will always be a part of me, but they no longer control me. 

I worked in the corporate world after college and got my MACC (Master's of Accounting) and CPA license. But I was never really happy, and my health suffered as well. I decided to be a stay-at-home Mom after getting pregnant but when the kids were in middle school it was time for me to go back to work. I had been keeping books for a small non-profit, but I knew I couldn't go back to being an accountant or work in an office. I was an avid tennis player that was known for my fitness and injury prevention knowledge and some friends convinced me that I would make a great personal trainer. I learned absolutely everything I could and got accredited through a number of well-known programs. I loved the work and have built a successful business on my own. 

As the business grew, I kept learning more in order to give to my clients what I found they needed the most. They had daily overuse injuries, lower back pain, pelvic floor issues, gait dysfunction, and need preparation and rehabilitation before and after surgeries. But as I ran out of topics their questions turned to their health issues. Hormones, glucose, cholesterol, stress and sleep were common topics. They wondered how to get more protein or calcium or how to lose weight. While I could answer some of their questions with the training I had, I also realized that I had so much more to offer. I knew it was time to go back to school. So, I enrolled in the Master's of Integrated Health program at George Washington University with a concentration in Nutrition.
 

This program encompasses all topics I love and lets me explore new ones that I didn't even know about. It has given me the knowledge and confidence to start teaching whole life wellness strategies, help others gain the base they need to talk to their doctors and make educated decisions and explore better pathways to improved nutrition, dietary structures, sleep, stress, and hormonal health.

My mom had a huge influence on me. She was a fitness instructor and daily exerciser. She ate well and lived well. These were great examples. And yet, I was not always the healthiest. I grew up in the 80's drinking Diet Coke, Captain Crunch Cereal, and Snack Well cookies. We ate margarine and lots of low fat and simple carbohydrates. I gained weight and with it my mental health suffered. In my early 20's I started following a better fitness program and felt a lot better, but it was a long time later that I really learned the right way to eat. 

  It was not until I hurt my back at age 45 that I really made a change. I was unable to get out of bed for almost two months and while I was there I read David Ludwig's Always Hungry. Based on lower carbohydrate principles and a total elimination of "non-real" foods, my health transformed. I got leaner and stronger. I've never looked back. A low carbohydrate diet is not for everyone though and I believe that a diet needs to fit the human that is consuming it. I believe in helping anyone improve their health and outlook using principles from vegan to omnivore to carnivore with macros of higher carb, lower fat or higher protein. 

There is so much controversy in the nutrition world. And for every controversy a different diet structre: high carb vegan, low carb carniover and everything in between. I've learned enough now to know that the diet camps like to find justification for their prefered dietary preferences, but the truth is it comes down to several core princples. Eat less processed foods and sugars, eat more real foods including protein (doesn't matter if that's meat or vegetable based) and make sure you have a diet full of variety and nutrients.  What's more important is that its a diet based on real food and one you can sustain for more than just a few weeks. There is a best plan out there for you and we can work together to find yours.