My interest in cooking started at a young age when I was gifted The Sunset Best Kids Cookbook. My parents encouraged my brother and I to experiment in the kitchen and we learned how to make a few basic staples like chili, cornbread, and tomato soup- all recipes I still make today with my own nutrition inspired modifications. In high school I signed up for Culinary Arts, where I learned the basics of French cooking as well as knife skills, kitchen utensils and food safety. I continued my passion for cooking after leaving home, learning from friends and professionals along the way.

I draw most of my inspiration from colors! I think food should be enticing to look at as well as consume. I especially enjoy using contrasting colors or attempting to include all the colors of the rainbow in a dish. Color also indicates nutrients so the two go hand in hand. Follow me on Pinterest to see more.

My interest in nutrition started out as a desire to educate myself on what was going to help me heal from the inside out. Sharing this knowledge with others seemed like a natural next step! In 2013, I started my nutrition practice in response to the overwhelming number of nutrition related health issues we are experiencing today. Autoimmune disease has skyrocketed, becoming more common than heart disease and cancer. It is apparent that we have gradually moved away from eating foods that are nourishing, and instead reach for those that are fast, cheap, and refined.  Civilization today is overfed, but at the same time starving to death, nutritionally speaking. At the end of the day, it is our every day habits that promote optimal health or send us on our way to disease. While thinking of this basic mantra, I came up with the name for my nutrition consulting business- My Healing Habits!

I minored in Exercise Sports Nutrition at the University of California Santa Barbara out of personal interest and became fascinated with the human body and it’s ability to heal. Wanting to further my knowledge after graduating, I enrolled at Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition and became a Certified Nutrition Consultant. When I decided to go back to school, I had to choose between becoming a registered dietician or a holistic nutritionist and I ended up choosing the latter. I had no interest in working in a hospital which was the end goal for many RDs. The school I attended offered a comprehensive program that provided an in-depth knowledge of whole-foods nutrition as it contributes to the prevention of illness and the promotion of optimal health. Today I get to work with people who are interested in taking their health back- in a way that makes the most sense: through food!

You can have the healthiest diet in the world, but if you are not assimilating the nutrients you take in, it won’t do you much good. Focus on your digestive health! Stimulate your digestive tract each morning with lemon, apple cider vinegar or bitters in warm water. Don’t eat foods you know you are allergic to, or that give you gastric upset. Include healing foods in every meal. Refer to the My Healing Habits Food Pyramid for more ideas.