“What’s happening to me?” I wondered. I was in a doctor’s office at least once a month. One morning, I woke with purple bruises on the inside of my finger joints. That’s strange, I thought, I haven’t done anything to bruise myself. My doctor took one look and said, “Rheumatoid arthritis.”
The year my son turned four, I had seven sinus infections. We were forced to count them because it seemed to me that I was living on antibiotics, and my next step was surgery. Antibiotics had become my “feel good” drug, keeping the infections at bay and giving me a week or two of energy at a time. Once off the drug, I would go down again within three weeks. I’d begin to feel tired and groggy, and get frequent headaches. I had trouble getting out of bed, and I was taking antidepressants and struggling with feelings of hopelessness.
One evening, after rallying myself out of a two-week sinus infection and a migraine, I attended a lecture at a friend’s home. She asked how I was doing, and hearing that this was my first night out in weeks, she looked me in the eye and said, “Have you considered that your immunity is seriously compromised? Could your diet have anything to do with all this endless illness?” Something about that shook me to my core. What could happen when your immunity is compromised? The roster of ailments and diagnoses ran through my mind that night. Infertility, allergies, migraines, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, depression, weight gain, mononucleosis, chronic sinus infections, hopelessness . . . fear. What would be next?
The next day I decided to seek alternative help. Before my marriage, I’d managed to be pretty healthy despite all the long hours, extensive travel, and stress. I always said it was because I was something of a self-taught student of nutrition. I ate a healthy diet even while I was wining and dining—or being wined and dined—as part of my job.
Through a fog of sinus headaches and migraines, I called the nutritionist my friend had recommended. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I realized that carrying an extra 40 pounds or more was having an effect on everything. Based on her recommendations, I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm and started receiving boxes of fresh, local, seasonal veggies every week. I started cooking every day, and vegetables became my friend again. I ate salads at every meal (even breakfast) and I gradually started to feel better. I lost a few pounds. I started walking every day and began yoga classes.
Basically, I fell in love with healthy food again. I healed, gradually. I lost weight, gradually. I began to feel like me again, ever so slowly. The migraines gradually went away. The aches and pains went away. One day, I realized that I hadn’t had a sinus infection in a year. It had been so long since I’d seen him that my doctor called to see if I was OK.
By working with a holistic nutritionist, I learned that I have some food intolerances that were contributing to my aches and pains. I eliminated those foods from my diet and started to feel even better.
Healing My Son
At the age of six, my son developed symptoms similar to those I had experienced. He had a chronic cough; the doctor diagnosed asthma. He caught every virus that passed through his school for almost a year. Then he was diagnosed with mononucleosis. That was the final straw for us both. We needed to make some changes for him as well.
After consulting with his doctor, step one was to take him off all the drugs he’d been prescribed. Step two was to take him out of school for a few months to avoid the constant exposure to germs from other kids. Step three was to eliminate dairy from his diet. I cooked healthy, organic, local food every day.
At the end of three months, we visited his doctor. The doctor drew blood and ran tests; he was impressed by how much more energetic, happy, and responsive my son now was. I told the doctor what I had been doing to improve my son’s immunity. He was skeptical, but said, “He looks ready to get back to school, but I’ll call you in a few days with results.”
When the doctor called me, he said, “Your son’s tests are perfect. Please keep him off pharmaceuticals and keep him on your home remedies. They’re working.”
This was my turning point. I thought: What if I hadn’t taken this into my own hands? What if I had kept going down the path to being overweight, tired, and exhausted all the time? What if I’d let the doctors continue to give drugs to a young child? I stood in our farm kitchen holding a green drink, wearing my skinny jeans, and watching my son run around outside with our dogs.
The thought came to me very clearly: People need to know.
I had found my passion after all. I enrolled in nutrition school to learn all I could about how food can heal. I became a Certified Holistic Health Coach (CHHC) through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City; I then became a Certified Natural Health Professional (CNHP) through the National Association of Certified Natural Health Professionals. I discovered the power of plant-based nutrition and how crucial organic and local food is to our country and to the world. I took classes in cooking and had new culinary worlds—vegetarian, vegan, raw—open to me. I began my consulting practice as a health coach specializing in nutrition. I advocated, I blogged, I took people on farm tours, I spoke to women’s groups, I went on TV, and I began effecting change in my community and beyond.
I continued to shop and cook with the seasons, and I discovered the joys of seasonal eating—the feeling of being connected to my community, to local farming, and to the weather. My family loved fresh applesauce from our old apple tree in late summer, and an abundance of squash and pumpkins in the fall. We ate hearty root vegetables with warming spices in winter, and in spring the asparagus and fresh greens felt clean and light, like the season itself.
Discover Your Nutritional Style was born. I was ready to get busy, to teach and empower other women to live their purpose, to be their best self, to achieve ageless beauty, vitality, and health from the inside out, using the healing power of food. I was ready to help them find their own Nutritional Style.
Tell me what you eat,
and I will tell you what you are.
—Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 1825
What’s Your Nutritional Style?
The little black dress (LBD) is iconic and always in style. Think Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, or Gwyneth Paltrow, the embodiments of effortless chic. Designers Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karen, and Michael Kors feature LBDs regularly as the staple of any stylish woman’s wardrobe. My guess is you have at least one, if not several, hanging in your closet.
The best LBDs go with anything, and can take you from a dinner party in the spring to a cocktail party in the summer to a business dinner in the fall, and still look amazing and sleek at a semi-formal holiday event.
While the little black dress is a foundation piece for any woman’s wardrobe, your favorite one isn’t the same as your best friend’s. You adore silk, and she’s comfortable in a lightweight knit. You prefer knee length, and she loves several inches higher. A high waist suits you, and her shape looks best in a straight chemise. While we all love and need our little black dresses, each of us has different preferences when it comes to this basic wardrobe item. We each choose the one that fits our personal signature look.
Once you settle on your little black dress, you adapt it as needed. You add a hot pink sweater and a colorful retro necklace with black tights and heels for the spring dinner party. Summer cocktails call for a lightweight pastel pashmina and swinging chandelier earrings to go with your suntanned legs and gold strappy sandals. You pull out a black fitted jacket for the fall business dinner, add a pop of color with a gorgeous Hermès scarf, and balance it with nude legs and nude heels, the epitome of business chic.