My Functional Health Coach Story

Hi, I'm Valerie and I'm a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. I focus on helping children gain physical, emotional & mental health naturally.
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I'm also a mom and teacher. My husband and I have raised four beautiful children. We homeschooled, for several years and they went to public school too. I've taught in public schools as a special educator and run a Montessori preschool for 13 years. 
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When my kids were little, I thought we ate well. We ate lots of vegetables and not too much junk. Many years later, I realized that I didn't know what was truly healthy. I had fallen into the traps of food labels and advertising claiming foods were "healthy" or organic". And it likely added to my kids later developing health problems such as acne, allergies, eczema, and anxiety. 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 habits while they were young and at home.

Since raising my children, I’ve learned about Functional Nutrition and my training showed me something important. It's the huge impact that food and the environment have on our children's learning, behavior, and physical and mental health. Many symptoms of allergies, acne, eczema, rashes, digestion, cognition, behavior, mood, and more can be caused by and reversed by improving diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and other environmental factors. ​

As a preschool teacher, I see firsthand what children bring to school to eat. At our school, we request that children bring in only healthy snacks. Less than half of the "healthy" types of snacks we see are actually beneficial for children's growing brains and bodies. 

​I know no parent would knowingly feed their child food that causes symptoms. There's a lot of good information out there. And there's a lot of misinformation out there. And it's hard to make sense of it all. Many parents know they want to make changes but are overwhelmed. So to consider making huge changes to diet and lifestyle can feel way out of the realm of possibilities. But it can be done! ​

Through my training as a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, I've learned how to support parents to improve their child's physical, emotional and mental health naturally. And I've made it my mission to help parents and children learn to make healthy changes one step at a time.

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

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