My Journey to Functional Nutrition

Young plants growing in pots on a sunny windowsill.

My journey into Functional Nutrition started long before I knew there was a name for it.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of spending summers in peach orchards and in the kitchen with my mom. We made glistening strawberry and peach jam, baked sourdough bread, and filled the house with the sweet smell of simmering fruit and fresh baked bread. I loved watching simple ingredients transform into something nourishing and delicious.

My mom had a way of adding healthy ingredients into everyday food. It wouldn't just be chocolate chip cookies. It would be chocolate chip oatmeal carrot cookies.

Over the next twenty years, I worked as a chef, pastry chef, business owner, and culinary educator. I spent countless hours in kitchens learning about ingredients, flavor, fermentation, and the ways food brings people together. At my bakery, I made naturally fermented sourdough breads using live cultures and traditional methods. Food was always at the center of my life.

Over the years, my work expanded beyond restaurants and bakeries. I taught cooking classes, helped families learn how to prepare nourishing meals, and guided people in creating practical kitchen routines that fit their lives. Whether I was teaching meal prep, helping someone navigate food sensitivities, or showing a family how to make healthy meals feel approachable, I found myself drawn to the same question.

It was unlike anything I had eaten before. Most of the meals I grew up with followed a familiar formula: a meat, a vegetable, and a starch. This meal was different. There was a cucumber, tomato, feta, and quinoa salad, fresh garden greens, homemade bread, hummus, fried eggplant and zucchini, and herbs woven throughout the dishes.

It was the first time I remember experiencing a meal where plants weren't just a side dish—they were the star of the plate. Everything was colorful, flavorful, and surprisingly satisfying. Looking back, it expanded my understanding of what food could be and sparked a curiosity that would continue to shape my life and career.

On the drive home, my mom and I couldn't stop talking about everything we had seen and learned that day. We had both left with a new spark. I asked her to take me to the library so I could check out books on herbs, and that curiosity never left me.

Around the same time, another experience sparked a different kind of curiosity.

When I was fourteen, I visited a small family herb farm with my mother. While she attended a Reiki session, I joined a nature walk where we learned to identify medicinal plants and herbs. I tasted a persimmon straight off the tree for the first time and later stepped into a small apothecary lined with jars of dried herbs and tinctures. I was completely captivated. Afterward, we shared a meal made from ingredients grown on the farm. I remember asking endless questions.

Our bodies are constantly working toward balance.

That question eventually led me beyond the kitchen. I realized I wasn't only interested in preparing nourishing food. I wanted to help people build lives that supported health from the beginning. Pregnancy and the postpartum season felt like a unique opportunity to help families establish nourishing habits and rhythms that could benefit both mothers and children for years to come.

Inspired by books like The Continuum Concept and Spiritual Midwifery, I became fascinated by an approach to birth and postpartum care that trusted the body's natural design. I wanted to help mothers recover through nourishment, support breastfeeding, honor natural rhythms, and create an environment where both mother and baby could thrive.

Those experiences confirmed something I had been discovering all along.

Looking back, I can see that she planted many of the seeds that would later grow into my interest in nutrition and cooking.

How do we make nourishment realistic and sustainable in everyday life?

Healing isn't usually about finding one perfect answer. More often, it's about understanding what's getting in the way and removing enough of those barriers for the body to begin doing what it was designed to do.

While I loved supporting families during that season of life, I realized I was continually drawn toward understanding the bigger picture of health. I wanted to help people connect the dots behind their symptoms, understand how different systems influence one another, and use nutrition and lifestyle as practical tools for healing. That curiosity eventually led me to pursue training in Functional Nutrition.

When they're given the nourishment, support, and environment they need, they have an incredible capacity to adapt and move toward healing.

While I was building my career, I was also quietly navigating my own health challenges. For much of my life, I experienced episodes of fainting, daily headaches, fatigue, dizziness, allergies, chronic constipation, and a collection of symptoms I couldn't explain or seem to fix. I spent years trying to understand what was happening and why I felt so lousy. I was already eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, taking supplements, and trying many of the things I believed should help, but nothing really made the difference I kept hoping for.

Many of my appointments ended the same way. My labs were normal, nothing appeared to be wrong, and I was left without a clear explanation for why I didn't feel well. While I was grateful whenever testing ruled out something serious, I often left feeling frustrated.

I wasn't looking for something to be wrong with me.

I was looking for someone who was willing to keep asking questions.

Looking back, I don't think that curiosity ever began in one moment.

Even before I knew there was a name for Functional Medicine, I was drawn to the wisdom found in traditional foods, herbs, fermentation, and cultures that viewed food as an important part of health. I was fascinated by herbal remedies, tinctures, Chinese medicine, and the idea that our relationship with nature still had something to teach us.

My notebooks slowly filled with recipes, research, questions, herbs to learn about, garden notes, ideas to try, and observations from my own health journey. The more I learned, the more I realized that nothing in the body happens in isolation. Digestion influences hormones. Sleep affects stress. Our environment shapes our microbiome. Food, movement, relationships, and daily habits all influence one another in ways that are both remarkably complex and beautifully connected. The more pieces I uncovered, the more I wanted to understand.

That curiosity eventually led me to pursue formal training in Functional Nutrition.

Someone who wanted to understand.

After a health scare and a car accident, I realized I didn't need another green smoothie or another supplement. I needed to understand why, despite doing so many of the "right" things, I still didn't

feel well. That realization changed the course of my health journey. Looking for root causes rather than simply managing symptoms. But like many people, I had put it off. Insurance didn't cover it, and I couldn't justify the expense.

The accident and the anxiety that followed changed that. I realized I could no longer afford not to invest in my health. Conventional medicine had ruled out many serious conditions, but I still didn't have the answers I was looking for. I needed support that I couldn't give myself.

As I began making progress, my curiosity only grew. I wanted to understand why certain changes helped, why others didn't, and how all of the body's systems worked together.

If you've been searching for answers, doing everything you know to do, and still know something isn't right, I'm glad you're here.

I know what it's like to feel frustrated, exhausted, and stuck searching for answers. I know what it's like to leave appointments without the understanding you were hoping for, wondering why you're still struggling even though you're trying so hard to take care of yourself.

You deserve more than quick fixes or feeling like you have to figure everything out on your own.

You deserve someone who will listen to your story and keep asking questions.

Today

Today, I bring together my background as a chef, my training as a Functional Nutrition Counselor, and my own experience navigating chronic symptoms to help women better understand their bodies and uncover the patterns behind their symptoms.

My goal is to help you understand your body, make informed choices about your health, and build practical, sustainable habits that support your well-being for years to come.

Whether we work together or our paths simply cross here, I hope you leave feeling more informed, more empowered, and more confident in the choices you make for your health.