About Me

Do you recall sitting at the dinner table, endlessly, until your vegetables were consumed? I sure do. I was raised to eat a vegetable with every dinner. In fact, Mom made home-cooked meals almost every night. As a family, we ate out infrequently— grabbing fast food only once or twice a year while on road trips to the cottage every summer. 

Fast forward to college, and my healthy lifestyle went out the window. The acne scars on my face are a gentle reminder of the toll an improper diet, stress, no exercise, and lack of sleep can take on a body. 

I learned the importance of physical movement and stress management by studying kinesiology in college, working and participating at a yoga studio after graduation, becoming a certified STOTT PILATES instructor, and, later, getting my master’s degree in physical therapy. But I hadn’t yet mastered the importance of nutrition. And I had pain in both of my thumbs, which hinted at the arthritis that ran in my family.

It wasn’t until my second child was a year old that I broke down and took a food sensitivity blood test, referred to me by a dietitian.

The test was life changing.  After learning what foods and food additives my body did and did not like, I applied that knowledge to my diet and equated my resulting boundless energy to a “runner’s high.” I decided to dedicate the next several years to this new “diet,” and began to feel my gut healing itself. 

Fast forward a couple more years.  I was still on the diet, but stress had crept back in. Further, I was sleep deprived and had gained weight.  

I had heard of intermittent fasting, so I thought I’d give it a try. I delayed eating until late morning—or after noon sometimes—and soon my body adjusted. One day about two months later, I decided to step on the trusty scale. I couldn’t believe it: I had lost ten pounds! Ironically, the measured muscle and body fat percentages hadn’t changed, only my overall weight. I hadn’t altered anything in my daily life but the type of food I was taking in, and when I was consuming it. All I could equate this weight-loss to was the loss of built-up inflammation. Most telling, the pain in my thumbs had disappeared! This experience invigorated me and proved to me how crucial it is that we see food as medicine and take charge of our own health.

And here, ultimately, is what brought me to you. Ever since I had retired as a physical therapist, I felt drawn back to health care, but I couldn’t figure out where to step back in. Every time I drove by a hospital, an in-patient rehabilitation center—anywhere people were in need of health care—I felt a strong pull. I frequently drove by a beautiful, impressively large building on a nearby corner with an inviting fountain out front. I wasn’t sure what it was, and then it hit me—this huge building was for memory care. But was a building this size necessary? With my interest in nutrition and holistic health rejuvenated, I knew then what I needed to do. Instead of working at such a facility, why not learn how to prevent people from needing to go there in the first place?

I did my research and found that the accredited Institute for Functional Medicine offered an upcoming 12-month course in Functional Medicine Certified Health Coaching. During this course, I was grateful to have learned data-driven studies, taught by researchers educated at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Duke, to name a few, as well as by numerous health coaches with years of experience treating people of all conditions. 

Little did I know how my childhood lifestyle, and experiences ever since, would influence my choices into adulthood. In my eyes, your life is seen through a non-judgmental lens. Functional Medicine Health Coaching has instilled in me some of the most insightful, thought-provoking perspectives and strategies to help you get in touch with the core of who you are and where you want your health and well-being to go. Let’s get started!