My pathway to optimal health

Happy New Year everyone! One of my New Year's Resolutions is to start blogging again. My goal is to write about different nutrition topics, post meal plans, post my favorite recipes, post workouts, explain how I fed my son and why he is an adventurous eater at 14 months, and any other topics that you suggest. Here is my story on how I got to where I am today.

Me and my son, Griffin summer 2015

After graduating from Colby-Sawyer College with a degree in Exercise Science, I began my profession as a personal trainer. After five years of training at Manchester Athletic Club, I brought my career to Equinox in Boston where my knowledge and enthusiasm for exercise and nutrition blossomed. After working with Marnie Lawler, who is a certified Nutritional Therapist, I was able to heal my ongoing issues which then inspired me to earn a certification as a Nutritional Therapist from the Nutritional Therapy Association.

My passion for health and well-being stems from my own experiences.  Through childhood and adolescence, I struggled with anxiety and depression, an eating disorder, severe gastrointestinal issues, and focusing in school.  Growing up, my parents strived to feed my family a healthy diet.  The majority of our meals were cooked at home, and we were not allowed to have soda, junk food, or sugary cereals.  Everyone in my family was very active and my parents thought the best way to support an athletic lifestyle was to consume carbohydrates (they were mostly refined); at the time, they believed they were embracing a healthy diet.  During my high school years, my anxiety and depression became debilitating and, in search for a sense of control, I developed an eating disorder.  I was also finding it difficult to focus in school and as a result was losing motivation to succeed.  I talked to my doctor about how I was feeling and was prescribed medication.  At each yearly check-up, I would report to the doctor that my struggles were only worsening, which just lead to increased doses and/or stronger medications.  Never once did the doctor address diet, and by the time I entered college I was on four different medications that did not seem to be helping.  It was then that my journey to self-heal began.  I replaced my medication with exercise.  I found that a dedication to daily workouts allowed me to gain some better control over my anxiety and depression, my digestion, my overall focus, and my relationship with food.  

Fall 2015 6K at Franklin Park.  It's amazing how great you feel
during competing when you eat well.

While exercise was an essential piece to my puzzle, my journey to feel truly healthy was not yet solved.  After college- though many of my struggles had been improved with exercise- I was still finding myself eating when I felt anxious or depressed.  In turn, I started putting on some weight and my clothes were no longer fitting.  I thought the solution was to further increase my exercise, so I became motivated to begin competing in marathons and triathlons.  After placing in my age group within the first few races, I was hooked.   I became very competitive in my endurance events,  but during the years of competing I suffered several injuries as a result of over-training.   During a bike ride with Marnie, they got to talking about nutrition and how she had used nutrition to heal a lot of my own family’s issues.  I ultimately discovered the final link to optimal health was to improve my nutrition.  I worked on my diet, and after several years, I was able to more effectively improve my anxiety and depression, heal my gut, clear up my complexion, improve my energy, prevent injuries, and improve my race times.  After achieving such astounding results, I was inspired to pursue my own certification in Nutritional Therapy so I too, could help others heal themselves through nutrition.  I now enjoy teaching people how they can feel better every day by nourishing their body with real food and exercise.