That was then…This is Now!

Are you ready to start your transformational journey?

Do you wake up some mornings wondering if you will ever feel like your vibrant self again?

I struggled with this frustration for years… and I struggled ALONE as no one seemed to understand my challenges and really help investigate what is actually going on inside of me. 

• WHY did I feel so exhausted every afternoon?
• WHY did I keep gaining weight even thought I was eating real food and low carbohydrates?
• WHY did I struggle with my strength, pace and performance when I was training?

You don’t even have to be a competitive athlete to relate to my symptoms.  You could just be struggling with brain fog, memory issues, depression and feeling overwhelmed in life! 

Life is NOT a Race… It is a Journey.

Starting back in March 2013, my “Red Flags” of doing TOO much in life had accumulates and overfilled my “beaker of stress”.  Suddenly, or as I recall, I woke up one day 30 lbs. heavier, exhausted and weak.  I lost all of my enthusiasm for life and I had NO IDEA what happened to me… or WHY?

For many years I was on a mission to get answers and a quick “magic pill” so I could have my athletic vibrant self-back again.  I shared in my book that I went to multiple doctors (10 over the years!), naturopaths and functional medicine experts to find a solution. 

Many times, I was given multiple lab tests and they treated the lab result.  Experts would treat the paper and not look at the WHOLE picture to figure out the WHY and HOW. 

Now as a certified FDN Practitioner and Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I have figured out the importance of investigating the WHOLE picture and collect the missing pieces of the puzzle together to help restore an individual’s body, health and vitality back together again – back into balance or homeostasis so all the important players are working well together as an orchestra playing in sync to create beautiful, magical music.

In 2013, when my “old normal” self-began to disappear and a “new normal” self-started to evolve… but I never settled or stop believing that I can restore my body systems back to optimal level when I found the right, individualized “D.R.E.S.S. for Health Success” protocol based on ALL of my clues to dysfunction and imbalances.

What were some of my red flags in the beginning of my obvious burnout and breakdown?

1. I suddenly gained 30 pounds without changing what I was eating.
2. I lost muscle tissue and gained fat weight- my body composition shifted.
3. I gained belly fat and increased fat around my hips
4. My body was slow to recover from workouts
5. I started experiencing weird injuries and inflammation
6. My body couldn’t handle regular foods that I ate without getting an instant headache
7. Drinking coffee in the morning became a poison to my gut and brain.
8. My mood swings and patience seemed to change daily (hourly)
9. My hormones seemed to be on a roller coaster with night sweats
10. Every afternoon I needed a nap but every night around 2AM I was wide awake!
11. My running pace went from a 7:30 minute mile pace to a 10-minute mile pace plus walk breaks. 
12. Libido was a zero… no interest and no time as we had to get up to workout and get to work then it was time for bed!

The old me, before breakdown and burnout of all my body systems, was able to run a 3:12 marathon PR in Boston plus complete an Ironman Triathlon at the top ten female and top in my age group (2^nd usually because of the dang swim!!)

As I started seeing difference doctors and practitioners for help- I would stick with their protocol then give up to only find another practitioner.   I was impatient and I expected immediate results … never thinking that I probably took 5-10 years of “living life as a race” to dig myself into this deep of hole! 

I wanted to burn the extra 30 pounds of fat off my body immediately and feel energetic again.  I wanted my body and vibrant self-back again – as well as have the energy, strength and endurance to race in triathlons, marathons and cycling events. 

At the time my life changed in 2013, I had NO ENERGY or STRENGTH to follow my training plan, race schedule or survive in daily life.  As a typical Type A personality, driven, high performing individual would do – I continued to learn more on podcasts and online health blogs to figure out how to get my self back again.  Every “expert” that I went to would treat the lab results and give the appropriate supplements for what I needed …. which is what I wanted. 

Lessons learned. 

I was the one who needed to take ownership of my Health (RE) Building Journey and make the lifestyle changes required to repair, rebuild and restore the WHOLE me back to my optimal self. 

No one could help me until I was ready to help myself.

For years, I continued to try to “get better” and “get healed” but something was definitely missing.  I continued to life a busy life everyday and packed my schedule with something else when I was not able to train as I used to during the “Extra hours” in my workday.  I continued to wake up early, workout, work, workout, work with clients then work at home plus I wrote two books during those years!  I continued to register for triathlons and running races each year to only cancel because I was too tired and too slow to be able to complete the event -plus I didn’t want to just “finish” the race but I wanted to finish strong and top in my age group or why bother doing the race! 

The WHOLESTIC Method eight elements… plus FDN Practitioners work on creating individualized protocols for clients based on their investigation called “D.R.E.S.S. for Health Success®” where we work on their:

1. DIET
2. REST
3. EXERCISE
4. STRESS
5. SUPPLEMENT Protocol

The new me had to change it I wanted to get better but also get the right combination of functional lab tests run for my needs and then an individualized protocol to repair my imbalances and “broken” parts! 

Now my SLEEP is essential – maybe just as important or more important as my exercise session (stress reducer for me- happy place when outside).

I do not blame the aging process as others would tell me – plus that is one of my top pet peeves to tell someone “you are just getting older” or “I am just getting older”.  Excuses.

My health is an ongoing priority as life happens – as the stress in 2020 and I always need to pay attention to my stressors, external and internal, then make adjustments when I have TOO MUCH going on or TOO MANY sources of chronic stress that I feel this overwhelming sense of anxiety, irritability and sleep disturbances (major red flag). 

My solution?

Press pause, reset and reboot. 

and.

TEST and not GUESS what are your H.I.D.D.E.N. sources of CHRONIC stress as:

1. Hormone imbalances
2. Immune dysfunction (gut health!)
3. Detoxification issues (hello liver and drainage pathways!)
4. Digestion dysfunction (bloating, gas, inflammation, leaky gut…)
5. Energy systems (mighty mitochondria)
6. Nervous systems (sympathetic dominance?)

As a health “investigator” now, I focus on helping each client as a unique, bio-individual and bio-chemical make-up.  We all have different ancestry backgrounds, genetics, lifestyle habits, microbiomes, exercise habits and more.  No one has the same thumbprint – so there is not one size fits all approach.

We need to start, as in we do in Nutritional Therapy, with our foundations and that includes:

1. Eating a nutrient dense, whole foods diet that balances your blood sugar
2. Proper digestion
3. Blood sugar regulation
4. Essential fatty acids
5. Essential mineral balance
6. Hydration

There is a reason that I always ask my coaching clients and write about it is not just about WHAT we eat but also – WHY, HOW, WHERE and WHEN!

Food is medicine – but we also need to be able to digest, breakdown and absorb our food properly – as well as eliminate our waste products via our drainage pathways.

The WHOLESTIC Method! 

Transform the WHOLE you from the inside out to improve your performance and longevity.

If you are struggling to BURN FAT, optimize health and improve your vitality each day then schedule a call with me here to discover more about my coaching programs and to see if we would work well together. 

Stop being stuck in the cycle of “Trial and Error”.

Start taking care of the WHOLE you by working with a well-matched Health Detective that can help guide you onto your health transformational journey.

• Don’t you want to live your best life?
• Don’t you want to be the best version of yourself?
• Stop blaming and start embracing the aging process today. 
• What are you waiting for? 
• Are you struggling with chronic fatigue, weight gain and burn out?

In 2013, I went from racing top in my age group in 2012 to gaining 30lbs. “over night” and so exhausted I was unable to create enough energy to ride my bike or run.

I was wide awake in the middle of the night but exhausted all day. My body changed from being in the best shape of my life – to feeling fat, sluggish and heavy.

Does story sound familiar to you?

Check out my personal story and more that I have shared on my website to help other ambitious, driven, high performing individuals get their body and vibrant self-back again.

You may be doing all the “right” things to burn fat, optimize health and improve athletic performance but you are not getting the desired results.

Now I am coaching clients to help them avoid heading down the road that I did back in 2013.

Learn more in my free resources on

Let me know if you want to talk more and discuss what I do today as I follow my purpose.

Schedule a complimentary call here to discover more