My Full Stor

My interest in “health” began in my early high school years. I was the average 15-year-old girl who felt the need to find acceptance among my peers. I took an interest in working out and eating “health foods” in order to maintain my adolescent physique. In my later high school years, around the age of 17 I began to experience extreme constipation. My normally healthy self was now struggling to function, find energy and feel good. Unsure of the cause, other than the possibility of my medications affecting my digestive system, I blamed the most logical and well-known issue: gluten. I put myself through extreme phases of eradicating all gluten traces from my diet, but the moment I would eat any bread or sweet treat my stomach pain and  constipation would take over. These "yo-yo"eating habits continued for about four years, at times reaching such extremes that I was unable to walk because of the shooting pain up my back and weeks with no bowel movements. It was not until my sophomore year of undergraduate college studies that I decided to research my problems and finally allow myself to feel better. I wanted to restore my body’s functionality to its full capacity.

With the help of my mother, my interest and love for nutrition began. I no longer wanted to be “healthy”, I wanted to feed my body what it needed to function at its best. I became much more aware of the ingredients in my food, the processing, cooking methods, and how these things would affect my digestive system. I began diversifying my food choices, cooking most meals at home, meal prepping, adding in fermented and probiotic rich foods, and eating the rainbow. These methods are not the “end all be all” solution for healing your body, but I began to see enormous amounts of improvement, leading to a continued interest in healing and overall wellness. I continued to research the best ways to keep my stomach and digestive system in proper working order. About a year later, I realized that I no longer struggled with constipation. 

I have come to live by two philosophies for my nutrition life. The first is that “no size fits all”. The second philosophy I have is that we have been provided all of the nutrients to fully nourish our bodies, we just have to learn to listen and respond.

I am so passionate about nutrition and using research to help heal and empower others. Aside from nutrition, I am constantly striving to implement lifestyle practices to benefit my body, and share these practices with my clients. I completed “Yogafit Level 1 Training” in 2016, spent summer 2017 in Portland, Oregon taking an intensive yoga training to complete a 200-hour yoga certification, and completed an additional 200-hour certification through “CorePower Yoga” in Scottsdale, Arizona (You can find my Yoga Bio here). I have learned so much about myself, anatomy, alignment of the body, and a mindful lifestyle during these experiences that I have fallen in love with the practices of yoga and strength training. They are so closely knitted into the anatomy and physiology of our bodies. There are so many benefits to slowing down, deep breathing, building strength and stretching out our muscles. I love to educate my students while I am instructing workout classes or personal training. During my free time, I love to research different foods, nutrients, and how they benefit the body. I am constantly making meals, snacks, and desserts to best use these ingredients. I often to take ideas and find ways to put a more nutritional or functional spin on recipes to share with others. These things are my passion and I hope to share them with you!