How my journey began…

It was not until I got sick that I started to pay attention to the foods I was putting into my body.

I was a sophomore in college. I had just read John Robbins book: The Food Revolution. I decided to go vegetarian for all sorts of reasons, but they were primarily environmental. A year from that decision I started having stomach problems. At first it started sporadically. Over time it happened more and more until it was pretty much every time I ate. Eventually I was going home from work in pain that was doubling me over. I was constantly bloated and had inflammation all over my body, I was extremely puffy.

I was told I had IBS. This was incredibly discouraging because I knew that this was not a diagnosis at all, rather a symptom. I ended up finding a doctor who practiced holistically. He explained that I had leaky gut. My gut was “leaking” undigested foods into my body, due to a loosening of the junctions in my stomach lining. This was causing the inflammatory response and the cramping and bloating. He worked with me for a year to figure out why this was going on. We did all the elimination diets you could imagine, blood work, tested for lyme disease and parasites. Nothing was explaining my symptoms. He eventually took a blood sample and conducted a food panel test. This would identify my food sensitivities. This occurs when a food has a protein in it that the body does not produce an enzyme to break down.

My food panel test unearthed a host of food sensitivities. My doc helped me with a game plan for eliminating all these foods, and within a few weeks I started feeling better. A lot better. He then put me on a protocol for healing my gut.

This gave me a first hand understanding of the power of food. I remember thinking when I was in the midst of pain… “there is no way my body can withstand this much stress for much longer”. I was lucky that I had a digestive response to these “sensitivities”. I was able to make the relationship that it was related to the food I was eating. Had it been migraines, anxiety, or depression, I may not have made the correlation.

I adopted a plant based, gluten-free, vegan diet and incorporated as many raw fruits and vegetables as possible. I was feeling amazing. I lost excess weight and my inflammation disappeared. I had boundless energy.

I became fascinated with how to truly nourish my body.

About ten years later I was feeling depleted. It was so subtle, I thought it was simply aging. The energy I was feeling in the raw food vegan days of my youth was not giving me the same results. I had a mental fog that was thick and heavy. It seemed to ebb and flow, but never disappear completely. I was eating healthier than anyone else I knew. I was fit, exercising regularly, and spending plenty of time outside. I knew I was missing something but could not put my finger on it.

Meanwhile, I was piecing together a career path in farming. I was extremely passionate about growing and providing healthy food to my community. I knew that this was something I could do to directly contribute to the world. As time progressed I had been exploring the idea in my mind about working in the wellness field. I was passionate about health, that was for sure, but also about wild foods, herbs, exercise, movement and yoga. I was incredibly passionate about the health of the soil. The connection between soil health and human health lit me up. No one that I was aware of was talking about this. Even though I wanted to get into the field of nutrition, I did not want to do it if this connection was not being recognized.

As fate would have it I reconnected with an old friend who sent me a podcast by Dr. Zach Bush on Glyphosate and Soil Health. I listened and my entire world changed. He was explaining the connection between human health and soil health that I had intuited for all those years. Immediately I knew EXACTLY what I was going to do. I was going to dive into the field. This was my pass, my ticket.

While I was in school and learning about all the dietary theories, bio individuality, and different nutritional concepts and protocols I was feeling that background depletion. Just not quite as much energy as I should have, not the mental clarity that I used to have, and trying to investigate why. I was then introduced to the concept of Regenerative agriculture. I started consuming foods that were grown organically and with regenerative principles, and my body responded immediately. I felt the brain fog lift and my energy come back. After three months of integrating these into my daily diet I felt satisfied for the first time in as long as I could remember. I felt a vitality come back on a cellular level. My physical performance has increased and my recovery time decreased. I have, for the first time in my life, zero cravings. Interesting to me that the piece of the puzzle I needed in order to pursue this as a career, was the same piece my body needed to feel complete.

I became a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach in July of 2020. I have been coaching clients through dietary changes, lifestyle shifts, and health resets ever since.

In December 2022, I achieved Board Certification through the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC).

I operate a Mobile Juice and Smoothie Bar, Root Juice, which has been traveling at festivals around the Northeast and serving the Mad River Valley in Vermont, since 2014.

New in 2021 I began cold pressing juice. Since the spring of 2022 I have a line of cold pressed bottled juice for sale year round that I offer at various events and farmers markets, as well as from my web store. Stay tuned… shipping options are coming soon! I now have commercial kitchen space at The Hub on the Hill in Essex, NY, where you can also find my juice for sale.