What Led Me to a Career in Nutrition

A defining moment in my life was when I delivered my first baby. All this love poured out of my heart. I looked at my beautiful baby girl and vowed to take care of her and be there for all the important parts of her life like growing up, going to school, getting married, and having children of her own. Because I was an older first-time parent of 37 years, I knew I needed to take really good care of myself. I knew that being physically fit was key.

Soon after the birth of my daughter, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. This also made a very big impact on my life. I wondered how she got cancer. I knew she didn’t have the best diet and began to learn about how diet impacts health on many levels.

I had lots of questions but was confused with all the messages I was hearing about nutrition through the media. For example, one day I would read that an egg was good for me and the next day I would read that it was not good for me. One day I would read that a carrot was good for me and the next day I would read that it was not good for me.

I learned a lot through my own research but thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could learn about nutrition for myself and my family and then share it with others in a career that I love?” This made sense to me so I began researching schools that taught nutrition. I found a school with a thorough curriculum based upon integrating many different dietary theories and understanding that what works for one person, may not work for another person. I enrolled in a two-year intensive program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

At the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I learned that I was eating the standard American diet (acronym SAD) – what most Americans eat -- lots of processed, sweet, "chemicalized" foods. Once I studied food at a deeper level, I was shocked to find out what was going on in our culture, nutritionally-speaking, and how unhealthy diet and lifestyle cause so many health problems.

I turned my diet around and all of my own health conditions improved or disappeared altogether -- just by changing what I ate! The health conditions that improved were acne, recurrent yeast/candida infections, low iron levels, fatigue, and low back pain upon waking each morning.

I looked around me and knew that I was not the only one who could benefit from nutritional knowledge and support. There are many people out there who want to eat well. They just don’t know what or how to eat. Now, I devote my career to helping busy adults improve their health by eating better and balancing lifestyle. My clients are looking for easy, affordable solutions and I am happy to share my expertise with them. I find it very rewarding to improve the health and wellness of all those with whom I work. I love the field of nutrition and I am honored to change lives for the better.