My Story

I have always wanted to be in a helping profession and I picked Nutrition back when it was still pretty much in the infancy of its scientific development. Unfortunately for me, the cutting edge scientific knowledge of the day (early-mid 80’s) was decidedly aimed at low fat, low cholesterol interventions being the savior of us all.  How we went so dramatically wrong is the subject of many books, articles, podcasts and videos, but the medical establishment , like the Titanic, takes time to turn around.

I, on the other hand, can turn on a dime, and so I decided to establish a private practice and wellness coaching service that focuses on taking control of our lives and our health, using real foods and a low carbohydrate, high healthy fat approach.

I have been a Registered Dietitian for over 35 years, but in 2016, I added to that knowledge base by completing the Primal Health Coach Certification, an in-depth course that explores all the facets of a lifestyle based on Ancestral Health principles. The changes that can be experienced by using this lower carb, high fat, whole foods based approach are nothing short of spectacular and I have a passion to share these strategies with others.  After three decades of being only marginally successful at helping others to improve their health, I now have the knowledge and tools to transform my client’s lives – and I am seeing it every day.  

I live my life focusing on the three main components of health.  The first is Nutrition or Nourishment, how we choose to fuel our wondrous physical body.  The second is Movement, otherwise known as Activity or Exercise, but those terms are rather limiting.  The third is Spirit, taking care of our emotions, our thoughts, our approach to rest, sleep, and stress management.  All of these parts contribute to overall health. And all are addressed in the programs of my practice.  

After decades of amazingly good health and smooth sailing, I was suddenly  sidelined in summer 2018 by the presence of a large, fast-growing cyst in my abdomen. Despite no-one expecting it, it turned out to be cancerous – a Stage 1C2 high grade serous ovarian tumour.  The cyst had been ruptured inside my abdomen for easy laparoscopic removal, so I was faced with requiring chemotherapy to ensure that any escaped cancer cells were killed and could not seed further tumours in my abdominal cavity.  Suddenly, I wasn’t the smugly “perfectly healthy” dietitian and women that I had been.  A big part of my identity had just been lost. I had become a patient and a “person with cancer”.  Like becoming a parent, once you are a “person with cancer”, you are never again not a “person with cancer”.

Doing a deep dive into the research around cancer and nutrition, I discovered the metabolic nature of cancer and how the damaged metabolism of cancer cells can be used to weaken them. Our nutritional choices have an awesome power to influence the course of cancer treatment.  Mine is an N=1 experiment, but my experience has been nothing short of remarkable and I have a passion to share these nutrition interventions with others.