Every person is different and has different needs nutritionally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  I help people listen to their body and intuition to find the answers of better health that our already inside the individual. I believe in empowering people to create and maintain healthy lifestyles through changing the way they eat and live.  Enhancing the quality of your food will enhance the quality of your life and is a great way to practice self-love!  When you love on yourself, everything in your life – relationships, work, family and spirituality – will dramatically change!  I help you get there with food.  

I love teaching people how to enhance and elevate their lives.  Food is an important avenue toward doing this as it fuels our bodies and our minds.  I am passionate about helping people have better lives by teaching them in a fun way how to eat more nourishing foods, while in the process uncovering and solving health issues.  I love traveling, massages, deep breathing, hearing the ocean, hiking, being outdoors soaking up the sunshine, listening to music & dancing, hugging, snuggling with my cats, date nights with my besties & soul gatherings with my tribe, enjoying good food with good friends as often as I can, and sharing my food knowledge with others.  I spend hours reading about the latest food science and pouring over healthy food blogs.  You'll always find me in the kitchen whipping up a "nice" version of something "naughty."  I am passionate about finding balance in every area of life, and helping others do the same!  

I was fortunate to be introduced to "real food" from birth and had a very healthy upbringing.  My siblings and I were not allowed to eat cane sugar, mainstream cereals or snack foods, fast food, or chocolate – I thought carob was chocolate until I was introduced to the real thing in second grade!  I grew up on organic tofu, turkey, chicken and fish, homemade soy milk, juice-sweetened candy and Tiger bars (protein bars that I thought were candy bars), with some natural snack foods mixed in.  Most food that other people seemed to have in their freezer was made from scratch in my house.  Waffles, pancakes and whole grain breads were all homemade with natural ingredients.  I even learned how to read labels at a young age to know to put the package back on the shelf if it contained artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or any other unpronounceable ingredients.

As I got older, I went through the natural phase of rebellion.  My parents divorced in my early teens and I noticed soon after that there was far less monitoring of what my siblings and I ate, especially since we often had to fend for ourselves.  Exposed to foods by friends, I found myself eating fast food, bagel bites, pizzas, fries, brightly colored candy, soda and Doritos.  It felt so good to eat these “forbidden” foods!  It was around this time I began noticing I was gaining weight (puberty didn’t help matters) and I entered high school having access to even more unhealthy foods.  This pattern continued into college.  My diet consisted mainly of Top Ramen, macaroni and cheese, beer and gas station nachos!  Between all the drinking and late-night food binges, I gained the “freshman fifteen” and then some.  Occasionally, I still sought out organic foods and natural ingredients because I knew they made me feel good. 

Three weeks before my senior year of college, my beloved older brother was killed in a car accident. Coping with unbearable grief, I clearly remember deciding to medicate with food. There was something about a pint of ice cream or a giant plate of nachos that had a numbing affect. And, so I ate. I graduated college and moved home having no clue what I wanted to do with my life, and I stumbled into the catering world where I got to enjoy decadent food during my shifts. I remember being 25 and attempting to zip up my pants for work, noticing it was a struggle. I decided in that moment I wasn’t going to buy bigger pants and that it was time to figure out what the heck to eat! I began reading every diet and nutrition book I could get my hands on, and during my studies I discovered how the body becomes toxic, and how specific foods help to detox the body. This was also when I learned that my chronic constipation was making me sick, and I let go of inflammatory foods to improve my digestion. I was constantly experimenting with new foods & ingredients, and I’ll never forget the raw vegan cooking class I attended live where I learned about chia seeds, how to make green juice, green smoothies & homemade almond milk! I went home that day and ordered a juicer and my Vitamix; the rest is history!

I had gone back to my roots, choosing organic, whole foods, and decided to let go of the “forbidden,” chemical-laden food-like products that took a toll on my health. I noticed as I changed my diet, I began to feel better emotionally and physically. The changes I made allowed me to face my grief and make positive changes in my life. I lost the weight, got rid of years of chronic inflammation, and found the courage to follow my calling to help educate others on health and nutrition.  This became the foundation I would later stand on while navigating divorce & recovering from codependency. This time I chose to cope with grief & PTSD by adding in plenty of green stuff that helped me stay centered & grounded, instead of numbing with food that made me feel sick. 

As I continued to dive deeper into nutrition, I eventually decided to leave my job in the event industry and moved to Brooklyn, NY where I launched my coaching business. I had the amazing opportunity to spend 3 months in Bali in one year, first as a student, then as an intern and then as an instructor for a plant-based chef academy! This is when I knew I was more than a coach; I was also a chef! My love for cooking & educating came together, and over the years I've hosted private and group cooking classes, catered birthday parties & small events in the health & wellness industry, prepared food for retreats, and honed my skills for preparing anti-inflammatory, allergy-friendly food by private chefing for individuals with very restrictive diets. With the pandemic came the explosion of online coaching and classes, and I took my business virtual. My expertise in understanding food as medicine coupled with my gift for flavor balancing and making "healthy food" taste good, allows me to meet people where they are at, helping them uncover blindspots when it comes to noticing where they can bring in more nutrition. I don’t believe in quitting anything cold turkey, however I do believe in finding the healthiest version of your favorite comfort foods so that you can begin to upgrade your plate, and ultimately your life!

I am a big fan of green juice and green smoothies, and I will always love nachos (only now they are packed with plant-based goodness!). In spite of my experiences with pain, loss, grief, heartache, weight struggles and addiction, my passion for creating a healthy and happy life for myself and my loved ones has continued to grow. I’ve learned a lot from how I was raised, how I have eaten at certain points in my life, and how I now feel with a healthy lifestyle. I share all of this with you because I know how scary and difficult change can be – but sometimes feeling the fear and taking action anyway, allows you to have a better, more fulfilling life than you could imagine. There are many ways to get there; I show you the path by showing you what to eat!

I am a certified nutritionist and health coach with certifications from the Natural Healing Institute in Clinical Nutrition, and from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in Health Coaching. I’ve been inspired by the work of Natalia Rose, author of The Raw Food Detox Diet and I learned how to cleanse the body studying advanced detoxification under her in New York. I traveled to Bali and attended Pure Joy Academy where I received my Raw Food Chef and Detox Counselor certifications. My ongoing education has given me the tools and information necessary to educate people on how to eat better and coach people on how to create and stick to a healthier lifestyle. As a Certified Nutritionist (I like to call myself a “Nutritionista!”), I can tell you the top one hundred most nutrient dense foods. As a Certified Health Coach, I can explain the concept of bio-individuality – how one person’s food is another person’s poison, and that we all have uniquely different emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. As a Chef, I can show you how to upgrade your favorite meals and teach you how to practice balance with food. And, as a former Event (wedding) Planner, I can also teach you how to have a lot of fun doing it!

I invite you to visit the rest of my website and check out my services and upcoming events. Enjoy!

Interested in helping others reach their health goals?  You can become a Certified Health Coach too.