After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2011, declining for 6.5 years, then thriving for the past several years upon my exit from the autoimmune paradigm, this dramatic improvement in my personal health led me to change careers to become Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition (BCHN®), Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner™ (FNTP®) and a Wahls Protocol® Certified Health Practitioner in 2019. I published a book about my recovery on The Wahls Protocol® in January 2020. In it, I document Seven Seasons of my personal healing.

Multiple Sclerosis symptoms impacted me immensely. My decline was gradual for many years, slowly losing the ability to run, hike, bike, walk more than a ½ mile when I used to do Tough Mudders, run races, and be incredibly active. I was a teacher and a fitness instructor for 20 years.  I used to drag the right side of my body. My balance was horrendous. You could hug me and I would fall over if I didn’t catch myself. I had a difficult time lifting my right leg, experienced drop foot, and excessive weakness on the right side of my body. Invisibly, I fought severe fatigue, significant cognitive fog, impaired word retrieval, hot and cold temperature sensitivity, numbness, lack of feeling in my right foot, tingling, burning, and slurring of my words, especially as the severe fatigue crept in daily. I am/was a master compensator so I constantly tried to make it so no one knew how bad I was getting.  In the Fall of 2017,  my Multiple Sclerosis symptoms were so debilitating that I had to quit my teaching job.  I couldn’t hide the severity of my symptoms anymore.

Feeling desperate, I revisited the “Minding your Mitochondria” Tedtalk I had seen in 2015, the same Tedtalk that when I brought it up to my former neurologist, I was told that “those people don’t last long.”  So, I didn’t pursue it until 2 years later until my job loss.  I watched it again and felt immediately determined, hopeful, empowered, and energized.  It just felt right!  I switched my thinking from conventional to functional and entered the world of holistic nutrition.  Nutrition was my doorway into healing.  Now that has expanded dramatically and I would love to share that expansion with YOU!  

One of the most important things I did adjacent to my diet and lifestyle shift, was to establish my why.  I needed this why to get me through the challenges I encountered in reframing my mindset from conventional to functional.   Why did I want my health?  For me, my kids were my why. They were my why because I was not able to participate in life with my kids the way I had always dreamed of.  I was an avid athlete and down for a new experience, I was always all in.  Until I wasn’t able to do those things with my kids anymore and that broke my heart.  Simple things that we take for granted like going in the pool, walking through a park, sledding…    In our work together, you can use your why to strengthen resolve, resilience, and your determination to get through those challenging moments.

That brings me to how I got here.  My decline and tremendous recovery directed me to an unanticipated life purpose of supporting others in constructing their own personal healing.

Healing is NOT linear.  Healing is COMPREHENSIVE.

I bring a unique, empathetic perspective to my practice as both a former patient and current practitioner.

I understand the intricacies, the challenges, and limitless celebrations of implementing diet and lifestyle changes as well as other areas that may not fit into those two categories of healing.  The clients I work best with are committed individuals who are ready to make necessary diet and lifestyle changes.  In our work together nothing is off limits.  If you are all in, I’m in.  The innate healer, that’s you!

“You have been assigned this mountain to show others that it can be moved.” – Unknown

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