Hello.
My coaching practice sits between functional medicine and positive psychology. Food is beautiful, healing and restorative when made with care and a little research.
Before I trained to be a functional medicine health coach, I spent a decade working in food - collaborating with James Beard Awarded chefs, doing recipe development for restaurants & packaged foods, and teaching cooking classes at the Culinary Center of Kansas City.
Often times, when doctors tell us we need to make dietary changes it feels like we are being asked give up flavor, traditional family recipies, fancy dinner parties with friends, easy meals with kids and our favorite restaurant dishes. While change is required, I absolutely believe you can still have meals you deeply enjoy - and that joy is key to healing.
My path to functional medicine:
My interest in functional medicine stems from my maternal lineage - my grandmother had MS & my mom has fibromyalgia and lupus. As I approached 40, I realized that I was in the window of time both of them began to experience symptoms.
Underlying genetic factors compounded with grief, trauma, hormonal changes and a conventional American diet were factors at the onset for both of them. Functional medicine provides a lens that looks at coexisting complexities and offers preventative solutions.
I chose the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy’s health coach program because it provided the strongest foundation of training for health coaches working with functional doctors, nurses and nutritionists.
Health care providers practicing Functional Medicine will often prescribe lifestyle changes - and that’s what we can work on together! If you’re not working with functional healthcare providers - that’s ok.