Today, with all the work I have been doing in various cool coffee shops lately (Whole Foods for the morning & Stinson’s in Austin for the afternoon), I met three different people–all who asked me one question in particular: What do you do?
Lately, I have been giving my ‘elevator speech’ to people I meet and greet from day to day.
It’s funny how one of the most common questions you are asked in your adult life is: What do you do?
Similar to how, during college, the question was: What is your major?
And during high-school it was: Where are you going to college? Or, what activities do you do?
As a kid, it may have been: What do you want to be when you grow up? Or, what do you do for fun?
When I try to explain what it is that I do, I often start off with the introduction, “I am an occupational therapist, nutritionist and personal trainer”—and yet, those are only half the answer.
In responding to “that question”, lately, I have been thinking more and more about AUTHENTICITY–what is it that I REALLY do, that I am not saying?
I am not just a personal trainer, nutritionist or occupational therapist–I am a woman on a mission to change an old-school mentality of eating disorder recovery, for one; as well as (cliche as it may sound) change lives of all the clients I work with.
I am PASSIONATE about connecting people with what their personal purpose, passion and skills are; inspiring them not to settle and to believe that their goals and dreams ARE possible. In addition, I am PASSIONATE about guiding people to discover the power of optimal health through fitness and real-food nutrition.
So, in answer to the question: WHY (and what is) THRIVE?…
Imagine waking up every day, full of energy and excitement for the day ahead?
Imagine feeling healthy, vibrant and the best you ever have?
Imagine ending the war with the scale and mirror once and for all, and never needing to count a calorie or macronutrient again?
Imagine being free from guilt, stress or anxiety over food, exercise and health concerns?
Knowing exactly what to eat, how to work out, how to not waste time on things that don’t matter and how to just downright feel better.
It’s fairly simple when you have access, education and insight in how to do just that.
The problem is—there’s A LOT of mis-information out there that can make things downright confusing and even unhealthy.
My mission is to empower you with the tools you need to have a healthy, sustainable relationship with food, fitness, your body, and your daily life purpose.
In the following few moments, you’ll see how I learned just that—and how I can help you to do the same. I guarantee through our work together you will also discover at least a few new ideas to quickly increase your health (mind, body and soul) and live the life you deserve.
It all started with:
A scale, Twinkies, a StairMaster, yoga, a book, and a barbell
Here goes nothing:
THRIVE has been a work in the making for more than 17-years.
For 13 of these (age 10-23), I struggled to un-cover happiness, health, beauty and self-confidence through diets, exercise, my makeup and hair, acceptance from others, the clothes in my closet and other material things, popularity, and success.
The scale defined my identity—initially “just wanting to lose about 10 lbs.” in order to ‘fit in’ and be considered popular and pretty by my peers.
However, the pursuit of these things never fully satisfied.
If anything, they left me more dissatisfied and exhausted.
On the other end of the spectrum, I also strived for about the same number of years to ‘recover’ from an eating disorder.
I went through countless outpatient programs, hospitalizations and treatment centers, specializing in eating disorder recovery.
Over the years…
I was hospitalized over a dozen times for ‘malnutrition’, put on bed rest and I bounced from one doctor’s office, counselor’s couch or nutritionist appointment, to the next…
I counted meal exchanges and calories to try to gain the weight the doctors and nutritionist’s told me to gain…
Signed contracts and made promises to doctors, counselors and family members, agreeing that I would not participate in sports, activities or exercise until I weighed XYZ…
Fought and cried over countless meals my mom cooked, refusing to eat dinner with my family…
Ate what I was plated on my tray in treatment, with non-fond memories of double bagel days, Poptarts, fried chicken nuggets, fast food restaurant and take-out pizza ‘challenges’ and night, and whatever else programs and protocols prescribed me to eat…
Drank Boost and Ensure nutritional supplements as punishment for not being able to finish my food on the meal trays served in the hospital and treatment centers…
Rapidly gained weight during inpatient treatment, only to quickly relapse back to my eating disorder when I got back to my ‘comfort zone’…
Believed ‘healthy’ was another word for ‘fat’…
Often heard the words, ‘You could die from this,’ but never believed that to be true for myself…
Was unable to accept my body or the person I was—inside and outside…
Water loaded and wore weights in my clothes in order to ‘weigh’ more on my weekly scale check-ins and make it by, another week, without threats of going back into treatment…
Experienced feelings of loneliness and isolation—distant from peers, social life and all that other ‘normal’ teens and college students did for fun…
Lost touch with ‘who I was.’ I defined myself, my identity, by my eating disorder—after all I did not know who I was without it…
You get the picture.
I was a hot mess.
In and out of treatment, I remember feeling like no one understood really how to help me ‘get well.’
Instead, time and time again, the symptoms of my eating disorder were band-aided with packaged, processed and sugar-laden foods.
Exhibit A: Twinkies.
I’ll never forget my first week in my first treatment center, my first ‘challenge snack’ (one was served each week): Twinkies.
The staff directed us, one by one to walk through an assembly line to select the Little Debbie Snack cake of our choice for our afternoon snack.
Ding Dongs. Oatmeal Cream Pies. Or, Twinkies.
As I sat at the dining table, peeling back the packaging, a staff member sat by my side, peeling open her Ding Dong, and giving me a pep talk, I remember wondering how exactly eating a food-like product made me more recovered?
This was only the beginning of treatment and my relationship with food and my recovery to come: Often wondering why and how if I just ate what I was told to eat (Coca Cola, McDonald’s Egg McMuffins, Pizza Hut pizza, Poptarts, Eggo waffles, Cocoa Puffs, Snickers bars, etc.) I would get ‘better.’
In theory, time and time again, in treatment, it seemed like that was the answer after all? Eating the things I avoided in my sickness would promote wellness, right?
However, time and time again, I would take on these challenges and eat what I was told to eat in treatment, only to find the extreme exposure overload daunting and unsustainable once back in the ‘real world.’
In actuality, during treatment, I really never learned much about developing a healthy, nourishing relationship with food, or a balanced approach with food, and, before long, I would run right back to my ‘old ways’ (ie. eating disorder) out of comfort and distaste for how the overload of processed and junk foods had made me feel.
Enter: The StairMaster.
On the same note, as the years in and out of treatment lingered on, the StairMaster became by BEST FRIEND.
Movement and exercise was rarely addressed or discussed during my time in treatment or therapy, outside of ‘Just don’t do it’ or ‘Sign this contract stating you won’t do it until you weigh XYZ.’
While these measures were at times, warranted, due to my poor health status, I felt like a prisoner in my own skin—mandated by others how to move my body; or treated as if my desire to move or participate in physical activity was a cardinal ‘sin.’
Consequently, my relationship with exercise was more so a rebellion, or crying out, against being controlled by others—and something that gave me a sense of control and achievement when I could spend my hours stepping away on that StairMaster or spinning my wheels, like a hamster on a wheel, checking off the list of my same ol’, same ol’ workout routines.
Why was no one really able to discuss this with me and help guide me, lovingly and supportively so, in a life-giving, appropriate way to train? As opposed to turning away from the issue at all, or condemning me for my behaviors?
Enter: Yoga
In treatment, the answer to this question was always: “Yoga.”
When in doubt, the safest, gentlest, and (seemingly) ‘only’ way to move my body was yoga, especially during treatment.
Don’t get me wrong—I am not bashing yoga. There is a time and place for everything under the sun—and yoga is one of those, but years and years of treatment meant many a yoga stretch session (or rather, ‘Shavasana’-corpse pose-for most of the hour). I suppose, in the long run, it made me stronger (mentally if anything).
The years of treatment and cycles of ups and downs (weight, food rules and behaviors) continued on in the same cycle, that is, until I began to get a glimpse of a ‘way out.’
Enter: A book
It was during that summer of 2011, before my second year of graduate school was about to start, that I came across a New York Times’ Bestseller called “The Paleo Solution” and it intrigued me. In essence, the book by Robb Wolf is just about eating real food.
Real food: protein, carbs, fats, all of it—and taking care of your body—not beating it down.
I had not really heard of that term ‘paleo’ before, but what I did come to find out is that the word ‘Paleo’ often gets a bad rep. Critics tout it as a crazy ‘caveman diet’ or ‘just a fad’—but, years later, what I came to discover is that it’s not really a diet at all. It’s a lifestyle and way of eating that has been around since the beginning of time, before 80% of the products in our grocery stores became food-like products, or CrossFit was coined, or weight loss or weight gain goals were even an issue. Just eat real food. Not necessarily raw, or being so devout or rigid in ONLY being able to consume organic produce, or not being able to eat in a restaurant….but just the basic, fundamentals of nutrition—real food.
As I read this, in conjunction with the best book of all (the Word), I began to wonder if such a relationship with food was possible? For so long, I had maintained and created food rules that were longer than a week’s worth of to-dos in my daily planner.
No carbs. Diet drinks. Low fat, no fat. Minimal protein. Veggies are the ‘only safe foods.’ Fruit has TOO much sugar. Nutbutter, coconut oil and avocados are ‘scary.’ Egg whites only.
And on and on!
At the time, I was unable to fully embrace or experiment with this new lifestyle, but throughout the course of my ‘intervention’ and subsequent 11-month treatment stint in Miami, Florida, it was then that I began to make up my mind that, no matter what, life was going to look different on the other side—I was not going to run back to ED.
And what happened?
I didn’t.
I began to try things differently. Try my hand at seeing what eating real food (and enough of it) could do for me to fuel my body; Try my hand at loosening my grip around eating to nourish my body and fuel it to live—rather than living to obsess about the calories, fat grams or macronutrients in each meal. And you know what? I began to feel amazing—from the inside out. I could think clearly, my digestion improved, I slept amazing, I had energy throughout the day.
Light Bulb.
Food does a body good.
That was inspiration 1: inspired to share the ‘good news’ with others that health (and years of damage to the body prior) could be improved through good, real food.
I began to reverse my osteoporosis that had plagued my body. My glucose levels regulated. My hormones became more balanced (ie. eating fats does a body good). My heart problems went away. My blood work normalized. My blood pressure became stable. My hair and nails grew longer and stronger. Crazy talk, huh?
The next part of my “transformation”, as far as my development of ‘new (thriving) life’ took place when I met a barbell.
I had never really picked up a barbell prior to my recovery. As mentioned above, the StairMaster and cardio equipment in general had been my best friend. I knew how to use light dumbbells like no body’s business. Why did I need to load a barbell up and lift it? I was all about the ‘tight’ girly muscle toning workouts anyway.
However, as I phased out of my last round of treatment, I, too, knew that my exercise routine would need to look quite different than it had in my eating disorder—I just honestly had no idea what this really meant (other than yoga of course from treatment).
As I began to explore what this looked like, I just so happened to cross paths with a gym owner and his wife at my church in Miami who invited me to try out a new form of fitness—CrossFit.
I was somewhat familiar with CrossFit from my college days when I had interned at a local ‘box’ in town, but never fully sold out to the CrossFit methodology—as, I have mentioned, my StairMaster was my best friend.
Nevertheless, I decided to dive in and give it a try.
What I ended up discovering?
So much more than the cover of a magazine I had been striving towards!
I found strength from the inside out. Lifting heavier weights and being ‘ok’ with touching thighs, a little bit of a booty, and rounded shoulders. I discovered a new challenge in practicing (and ‘getting’) skills like pull-ups, handstands and double-unders, as opposed to six-pack abs, a gap between my thighs and airbrushed tanned and toned arms. I found ‘fun’—finding joy in movement, outside of compulsion to burn more calories, or log X-amont of hours in the gym each day. I discovered function in my real life—the ability to lift my own suitcase into the overhead bin on airplanes, or carry all my grocery bags on both arms at once! (incredible Hulk style). Most importantly, I discovered community, love and support for who I was and began doing life alongside others and with others—as opposed to hiding in isolation.
From there on…while THRIVE was merely just a dream, a wish, a hope in my heart and head, I began to work on and cultivating the lifestyle, therapeutic, fitness and nutrition practice that I had always wanted—but that had never been (that is until now).
Through THRIVE Wellness & Recovery—I now partner with clients from ALL walks of life with varying background, health statuses, goals, hopes and desires. While I am VERY PASSIONATE about working with girls and women in recovery from eating disorders, I am equally as passionate about partnering with the general population at large to make their “impossibles” possible.
From the gal who hasn’t worked out in ages, since 3 kids ago, and just wants to feel good again…
To the person diagnosed with Diabetes and feeling in over their head on how to truly make SUSTAINABLE life change and reverse their crazy insulin levels…
To the corporate businessman who has no idea how or what to eat for feeling their best, as well as managing stress and incorporating fitness into their weeks…
To middle school and high-school girls who want to feel better about themselves from the inside out…
To the woman who just doesn’t have the time to cook healthy or keep to a consistent fitness routine—
I absolutely adore being the coach, guide and counselor for people from all walks of life. I have embraced my unique gifts of a strong mindset and selling out to the benefits a lifestyle centered on living with purpose and practicing self-care can bring, and ultimately, THRIVE is about sharing this with others.
Ok…so WHY THRIVE?
It is my mission on this earth to pay it forward and truly LIVE after being dead to this world for almost 14-years of it.
I, too, want to change the eating disorder recovery model as it is currently known—empowering individuals to discover life outside the eating disorder and heal their bodies with the fundamentals of healthy living—good food and functional movement (finding what works best for YOUR body—not one philosophy!), and genuine joy, sense of purpose and passion—doing what you love!
I offer an innovative, holistic approach to those seeking guidance in life change or support in their current circumstances and goals. Individualized services may include:
- Nutrition Consultations & Coaching
- 1:1 Personal & Group Training
- Lifestyle Redesign Counseling & Hands-on Experientials
- Eating Disorder Recovery Therapy & Coaching
- And Consultations for Eating Disorder Recovery Treatment Providers and Practitioners.
How’s that for an ‘elevator pitch’?
Not quite, but in answer to your question: What do you do?
I change lives.