• Prevention reigns
• Personal health guidance from practitioners who stay current with the latest research is made accessible and affordable.
• Everyone has the opportunity to gain the health knowledge they need so that they can live their fullest lives and take control of their own health outside of the medical system.
My mission is to bring the most current evidence-based recommendations to my clients and support and guide them on their path of prevention or to better health so that they can live their most fulfilling lives.
Twenty years ago I wanted to be part of the machine that cured Alzheimer’s Disease. While brain health is still my greatest passion, I now want to be part of the movement that seeks to bring whole health to a person.
Because of my father’s journey through Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), I spent the past 20 years learning all I can about possible AD prevention, mainly for my own health and future. When I began my research, there was not much hope for prevention or treatment of AD but things are changing quickly with the new focus on genetics and lifestyle modifications. While it is true that the understanding of the pathology of AD is still in its nascency, new evidence is pointing to possible prevention through lifestyle modifications around nutrition, exercise, sleep, rest, spiritual practices and emotional states. And perhaps even more important is that these lifestyle modifications can result in a better life overall through improved general physical and mental health, disease prevention and longevity.
While my father’s illness was devastating, it carved a path for my life’s interest and focus. I thought my personal research would stay with me and be confined to the cause of the formation of amyloid plaques and tau proteins in the brain, but that is not what happened. After trying every nootropic I could get my hands on, I realized that being prepared to live each day with courage and energy was more about taking care of all parts, not just the brain.
Stress, diet, movement, stillness, rest and sleep all play critical roles in the quality of our lives. I’d been going about it backward: cognitive health is a result of whole health, not the other way around.
The problem was that I didn’t know what changes to make; it felt overwhelming as I tried to implement a host of new lifestyle behaviors simultaneously. I would inevitably stop trying after a short while. Eventually, I began to get sick quite often and my normal state was exhausted.When I finally landed in the ER for a life-threatening infection, it became clear that I needed to find my way back to health and fortunately, I was armed with the knowledge I needed to do that. I just needed to alter my approach.
When I learned how to improve my health the following things happened:
• My mood and cognition improved
• The regular bouts of general physical ailments that plagued me for many years all but disappeared, and
• Life in general got a lot better.
This is why I want to bring what I’ve learned to others: lifestyle changes have dramatic positive effects on one’s health, future, well-being, and ultimately, the ability to live the best life possible.
I use the Functional Medicine approach because I believe it is the most thorough approach to health as it looks for root causes instead of focusing on symptoms. It also focuses on the whole person including spiritual practices, stress, relationships and emotional states; factors often overlooked in conventional medicine. When I implemented Functional Medicine protocols prescribed to me by my Functional Medicine physician, my overall health including my mood, improved in ways I did not think possible.
Functional Medicine can be cost-prohibitive and most of it is not covered by insurance, yet. This is why I became a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P) and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach: to help clients find their way back to whole health in a more affordable way. I am able to use lab tests to find healing opportunities for my clients and am trained in the functional medicine ethos. While I’m not a physician, many aspects of the Functional Medicine approach can be implemented without a physician. Still I always recommend that my clients see a physician who specializes in Functional Medicine if warranted.
Twenty years ago I wanted to be part of the machine that cured Alzheimer’s Disease; now I want to be part of the movement that seeks to bring whole health to a person.
The following are the foundation pillars of my Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach practice and brand.
Our beliefs can harm us or help us fly high into our potential. Do your beliefs about what you are capable of support who you want to be, who you are capable of being? Or are they beliefs that hold you back from living your best life?
It is necessary to delve into our self-limiting beliefs because when we are aware of them we can begin to move past them. The placebo effect is real: when we believe, we can move the mountains that are in our way (or climb over them). The nocebo effect is just as potent: when we believe we cannot do something or that something will harm us, we are setting the odds against ourselves.
The majority of us have a tendency to be much too hard on ourselves. This is easy to notice when we sit to meditate, or even at a stoplight, as the monkey-mind starts spinning at warp speed reminding us of all the things we should be doing better. I like to say that the meanest person to me can be me.
Here’s the thing: the process of change is fraught with obstacles and we are often our biggest obstacle. Self-compassion, being still and listening, and taking care of our needs is the best way to navigate through the minefield of our own making and through the expected obstacles that pop up in our path as we try to make real changes.
Exercise is a natural antidepressant and can work just as well as medication for mild to moderate depression. Still, most of us don’t prioritize it and that isn’t necessarily our fault because our lives don’t leave us a lot of room for exercise. Sitting all day has become the norm in our world and it is killing our bodies and our mood.
I include this as its own pillar because I believe that movement of our bodies and exercise is one of the most critical components of a healthy body and mind.
I am always astonished when I think that my heart has beat approximately 1.7 billion times as of this writing. I think about all of the situations it has carried me through and that it has not failed me yet.
When we stop for a moment and think about how good our body has been to us, how it continues to repair and heal from myriad and constant insults, how it constantly tries to find its way back to a state of balance, we would be more apt to give it the fuel it craves.
If we treat our body like the sacred organism I believe it is, all of our systems have a better chance of running at optimal capacity, including our mental and emotional states. I believe our body wants us to thrive and the right nourishment allows us the chance to do this.
Ah, to dream and to wake rested. Sleep seems magical because during sleep our body tissues grow and repair, our brain is literally washed of toxic substances, our memories are consolidated, and our creativity is fed. I keep a journal next to my bed for those moments when my sleep provides me with answers to a creative problem, insight into an emotional challenge, or a wild adventure that only the brain on sleep can devise.
I consider sleep to be the great healer for the body and the brain so I prioritize it as a Pillar of Health.
The dragonfly has always fascinated me by its beauty, expert flying skills, and its story of becoming. It begins life as a water-dwelling nymph that looks a lot like a rather unattractive beetle. It will molt up to 15 times in the water which can take years. Then, when the time has come for the metamorphosis into the beautiful creature we know as the dragonfly, it climbs out of the water and perches on a nearby stick or a plant to break out of the shell that once held all of its possibility. And then, suddenly, it can fly. Can you imagine the surprise of the sudden ability to fly?
I believe that when we strive for whole health, one day we suddenly realize we are flying. We often aren’t aware that we are living below what we are capable of, just as I imagine the dragonfly isn’t aware that water will not always be its home. It gets to take to the skies. That’s my goal for you.