Why I Became a Nutritionist. Everyone has a back story – mine is not all that thrilling, but maybe this will help anyone wondering why I am such a Nutrition Nerd!
I was interested in nutrition as a Biology major in college and I even tortured poor rats by depriving them of protein for my senior thesis. While getting my Master’s in Public Health I took a few courses around nutrition and health education, my other love.
In 1985 I developed chronic fatigue, which wasn’t well known at the time. After visiting many doctors who couldn’t give me any answers, I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands and my own kitchen. “Let food by thy medicine” (Hippocrates) became my new motto.
I eventually enrolled to get my Master’s of Science in Nutrition and have been helping folks ever since. I appreciate all my learning about functional medicine because there is usually some way nutrition can help improve almost any condition. Even the genetics issues can be improved with nutrition as I learned from Dr. Kendall Stewart in Austin, Tx.
Even with my nutrition knowledge, I realized that I needed to understand why people were successful or not with making lifestyle changes. My training as a wellness coach has helped me understand how I can help people truly adopt healthy behaviors for life. “The client knows the answers” is the health coach’s motto and my job is to help them find their own answers. That’s why I wrote my book- so people could be their own health coach and write their own successful back story.
