My personal journey started in the tiny ocean state of Rhode Island.  I spent my youth surrounded by my mother’s personable second generation Italian American family, soulfully nourished with extensive family dinners and holiday traditions.  Get-togethers always included a rich menu of pastas, pizzas, salads, and dessert coffees.  My father’s family was rooted with more native practices; gardening, fishing, crafts-making and generally grooming the earth.  I have sweet memories of tasting fresh honey directly from the hives and testing batches of fermenting berries at my grandparents’ house in the foothills of the Pisgah Mountains.  Their nuclear cultures highly influenced my passionate yet disciplined personality and obsession with slow food.  Yet, the pathology of the hard-working American household set in; we became part of the fast food civilization that marketed immediate gratification and inescapable dependency.

 

Early on, I was perennially stifled with severe asthmatic allergies and stubborn itchy eczema.  My growing efforts in gymnastics, diving and competitive swimming were plagued with broken bones and soft tissue injuries, leading to a more contemplative artistic lifestyle before the sweet age of 14 - well, because what else can one really do while resting to heal the body?  Art, languages, books and social sciences became the gateway to a greater world OUT THERE.  As my curiosity and thirst for adventure grew, I moved from city to city, state to state ever the while my health conditions worsened.

 

Sleep disturbances, hormonal imbalances and irritable bowel syndrome took residence in my life.  I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, recurring bouts of sinusitis and walking pneumonia. Cycles of steroids and antibiotics were recommended.  Low dose contraceptive pills were administered to control mood swings.  Anxiety ran rampant, more prescriptions were filled.  It was a game of medication roulette.  Then the recurring anaphylactic attacks set in.  The treating physicians were perplexed; it was one of the emergency doctors who muttered something as I drifted in and out of consciousness – “what did she eat?” – and that stayed with me as I began unraveling the multifaceted complexity of my dis-ease.  In some shamanic mythos, near-death experiences would be considered a rite of passage.  Reawakened, I now consider these crises a climatic culmination that directly relayed my dharmic calling.

 

As allopathic medicine could not cite a cause, I sought answers in Eastern traditions.  Yoga, massage, and naturopathic treatments led to pursuing acupuncture and herbalism.  I took on a vegetarian lifestyle for three years before attempting extreme elimination diets and parasitic cleanses.  Spending a fair amount of time purging, foggy and disoriented, I learned to live without gluten, dairy, nuts, soy, seeds, chocolate, or alcohol.  You know, the good things in life.  However, as I began to recover my joyful energy and digestive fire, my gifts were realized.  The old adage, 'healer, heal thyself' was never more truthful.

 

Perpetually plagued by the question “what DO you eat” while observing in close proximity the broken medical system in the US, I was resolutely motivated to modify the approach to healthcare.  My subjective understanding that the suppressive pharmaceutical strategy created worsening symptoms and encouraged habituated patterns of thought and belief.  Fervently researching medical literature on natural cures, food as pharmacology, and neurobiology intertwined with esoteric heart-centered meditations and energy healing.  Taking self-responsibility for my recovery and seeking to encourage the same in others, I offer to you this very simple innovative concept: the way out is within.

 

Becoming knowledgeable about your body functions and its’ chemistry, the role of metabolism and disease, understanding your labs and food cravings are the first steps.  Increasing your awareness of sabotaging habits, critical nutrition principles, and essential detoxification aids helps you live in better harmony. Engaging in meditation, mindfulness and movement therapies assist in the complete embodiment of your transformation.  In honoring and learning how to nourish your body and mind, you can realize your potential and fulfill your destiny.  I am here to help you get started.