Meet Kirsten
About Kirsten
I am your 4-in-1 nutrition and food literacy coach. My coaching program is built upon my expertise as a:
- Nutrition professional certified by Bauman College with Honors
- Organic Farmer & Local Food Advocate
- Long Time Restaurateur & Chef
- Patient & Consumer of Holistic Healthcare who uses food and lifestyle to overcome chronic and autoimmune disease
If you are feeling like your health and mental focus are slipping away–whether dramatically or slowly but surely, I understand. I’ve been there. The reason I am so passionate about food and health is that changing the way I eat and rehabbing my lifestyle saved my life.
I’ve spent the past decade learning EVERYTHING I can about food and how to harness its power in my life…and yours.
I didn’t plan on being a nutrition consultant. Heck, my Bachelor’s is in Russian Civilization (Smith College) and my Master’s is in Library Science (IU).
Life has twists and turns and mine led me to the power of food. In 2006, I was 35 with a toddler and in a health crisis that had been building my whole life. I was dealing with:
- Asthma that required numerous inhalers and prescription pills
- Constant sinus infections and colds
- INTENSE and disabling fatigue after 9-10 hours of sleep
- Pain-a lot of it
- IBS that been with me since childhood and it was worse
- Undiagnosed autoimmune disease. My body was attacking itself.
- Most terrifyingly, my brain wasn’t working. I’m a nerd. I define myself by my brain.
I could barely maneuver through my day because I felt like both my body and my brain were trying to function while walking uphill and underwater.
I believed, and had for a long time, that I just lost the genetic lottery and was doomed to a life of poor health. I was wrong.
I am the type of person that wants to know WHY. So, I decided to figure it out.
I found new healthcare providers with real answers. I started learning everything I could about what could be causing my extensive list of troubles. I studied our food system and became intimately involved with the production of my own food. I studied nutrition but also farming, food politics, and the forces shaping standard dietary advice and dogma. I learned how to make everything from cheese to vinegar to sausage.
You don’t have to become an expert. You have your areas of expertise. This is mine and I’m here to help you maneuver this.
I learned about real food and why we all desperately need it.
I didn’t find a healthcare team all at once and I didn’t figure it all out at once, but I made a steady (and often rapid) climb toward health. I’m still climbing. There is no magical end goal. It’s a daily decision to love and care for myself.
Now I have:
- Energy
- Focus
- Joy
- Pain-free living
- Happy digestion
- Controlled autoimmune disease
- No asthma
- Strong immune system
Most importantly, I no longer feel that my body is my enemy, but my partner.
I now know that genetics is only about 30% of the picture of chronic and autoimmune disease.
I know that brain health, productivity, mood, and energy start with food.
My body is one that is more susceptible to the onslaught of the modern diet and the toxins that surround us, but that does not define my health story. It just means I must take great care of myself.
I believe I saved my life. I was headed toward disability and early death.
We have the power to drastically regain our health. That is what drives me and why the decision to spend my time sharing that knowledge with others is an easy one.
In order to give you and myself the cutting edge information and proven formulas for renewed health and vitality and a brain that works, I became a certified Nutrition Consultant (through Bauman College with Honors) and have added to that a lot of specialized training on the intersection of gut health with illness.
This science-based approach to restoring gut integrity and health is the key to renewed health and vitality.
My additional certifications: