My Story

I used to run 3 miles every other day. Fast forward to March 2014, and I could barely make it from the couch to the bathroom.

I’d had a series of bad reactions to prescribed medications beginning with Larium, an anti-malarial medication taken in preparation for the Peace Corps back in 2010, which left me with severe intermittent chronic nerve pain that came and went for years.

In 2014, I decided to try to treat the pain with more prescriptions. After a series of bad reactions to the prescribed medications, I found myself in an exponentially worse situation than I’d been in before, living with excruciating pain, crushing fatigue, and a laundry list of other symptoms that continued long after I'd stopped taking any medications.

Too sick to leave the house, and this being before remote sessions were widely available, I began unraveling my mysterious health situation on my own, with the help of the internet. Feeling like western medicine had failed me, I explored a wide range of alternative and holistic health options. I explored different types of meditation, mindfulness, sound healing, grounding, and more, and I went on to see a variety of healers, therapists, and even trained in energy healing myself as my health improved.

One of the biggest things that has had a huge impact for me over the course of my healing journey has been diet. As I untangled threads from the elaborate knot that my health had become, I learned about food sensitivities, which changed my life in a tremendous way. I learned about salicylates, oxalates, amines, glutamate, tyramine, sulfates... and the more I learned, the better I was able to take care of myself and heal.

I am still on this healing journey. And, these days, I am able to eat a wide range of foods and even go out to eat at some restaurants! I go to the gym, do yoga, and go hiking in the woods. My mind, body, and spirit are healing and getting stronger, and my quality of life continues to improve.

Now, I am a Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach who specializes in working with folks with salicylate sensitivity and other food sensitivities. I graduated from the Institute of Transformational Nutrition® in November 2024, and I am continuing my education with a specialization in Holistic Health.

My training also includes a B.S. in Biology from Syracuse University, coursework in Global Health Sciences from UCSF, and the many years of informal online health and nutrition education that I gained over the course of my healing journey.

My lived experience informs my coaching practice, in which I use a mind / body / spirit approach that honors the wisdom that each person has within them.