My Functional Health Coach Story

Hello, I'm Valerie. 

I'm a Vegetarian Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner &  Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach. I coach individuals and families who want to focus on dietary and lifestyle goals for improved physical, mental & spiritual health. 

I was raised on the SAD (Standard American Diet) and when I became a vegetarian, it was a SAD version of that. However, I didn't know better at the time. Since then, my training in functional nutrition has taught me all about the importance of food and lifestyle factors in all areas of health. Most diets feature meat heavily, but I'm a vegetarian at heart and have worked and continue to work on educating myself and supporting others on how to eat vegetarian while maintaining balance.

As a parent and teacher, I understand and have ongoing experience with the challenges of feeding kids healthy food and balancing lifestyle factors. When my kids were little, I thought we ate reasonably well. We ate plenty of vegetables and not too much junk, or so I thought. I had fallen into the traps that many people fall into. Food labels and advertising claiming foods are "healthy" or organic". So much of the food we're sold is not healthy for our bodies and over time can be incredibly harmful to health. My children are grown now, and I wish I had learned earlier the truth about how food, sleep, movement, and stress can affect physical and mental health. Then, I could have influenced their lifelong habits while they were young and at home.

It wasn't until my training, years later in functional nutrition that I realized how little I actually knew about healthy eating. My training also included a lot of information on non-vegetarian diets which led to a lot of self-doubt for me, but thankfully, I also learned a lot about maintaining health without eating meat and animal products 

Current science has shown that many symptoms of: allergies, acne, eczema, rashes, digestion, cognition, learning, behavior, mood, and more can be caused by and reversed by improving diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and other environmental factors.

​I've seen the difference in my family and clients that even small improvements in nutrition and lifestyle can make and am grateful that I get to work with people on their quest to improve their physical, emotional and mental health naturally.

​Many people know they want to make changes but are overwhelmed with all the information and misinformation that is out there. The idea of making huge changes to diet and lifestyle can feel way out of the realm of possibilities. But it can be done! I've seen the difference that even small improvements in nutrition and lifestyle can make and am grateful that I get to work with people to support them on their quest to improve physical, emotional and mental health naturally.

​I hope you'll invite me to support you on your journey toward holistic wellness.

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