MEET STACY

My Purpose

In the years preceding my second career as a fitness professional and nutritional health and wellness advocate, I was frustrated with all of the confusing health information. Web searches weren’t really a thing early on, and once it was, finding reliable sources to trust was challenging. I followed my heart into functional medicine nutrition with expert-level movement optimization training for two reasons:

Reliable Information

To merge health information and unveil the intersecting parts from various schools of thought–western medicine, eastern medicine, the fitness field, the nutrition field, and the like. My goal is to make it easy for my students and readers to discover the common denominators that persist in true health across the centuries.

Clear Solutions

My guidance and tools boil it down to a few simple truths and simple solutions in health that will clear away much of the confusion that has been caused by an ongoing dump of new and sometimes conflicting health information. We need clarity. We need solutions.

Join me to discover the persisting cornerstones of wellness over time–for both cures and prevention. In my process, I lay out simple strategies for conditions often feared to be irreversible.

Where It All Started

I grew up as a physician’s kid, where watching live surgeries on TV or picking up a medical journal to see kid-snickering pictures was just…normal. As I grew older, I continued to pick up journals and medical books about different diseases, inflammation, all filled with images of labeled anatomy. Poop talk was common at our house-- what it should look like, how to make it healthy by mainstream medical standards. (I thought everyone talked about these things!)

I have fond memories of dressing up in my "Little Tyke" nurse’s uniform and visiting my dad’s patients in the hospital while he checked on them. These visits must have been the start of my developing a love for people and a desire to help people find wellness. I found myself experiencing deep compassion as they struggled with their physical illness, and I was so happy that he could make them well, and I could make them smile. The two of us were a team that hopefully left them "Healthy and Smiling!"… Which is my goal for this website, for what I do, and mainly, my hope for you.

A friend called me up to chat, "Hey! I’ve been thinking about you!" Somehow we ended up talking about antioxidants that day for over an hour! She had recently come across some medical studies and proceeded to educate my science-hungry brain as I pelted her with questions: "What exactly is an antioxidant?" "Where are they found?" "Why do we need them?"

My dad and I were actually taking about five vitamins at that time meant to work together as antioxidants. The new information she presented to me was about plant-based nutrition as antioxidants. Of course! It made so much sense! The lab-made extracted anti-oxidant supplements couldn’t possibly absorb nor be as effective as natural plant sources intended for our consumption.

When I went home, I picked up my father’s medical journals to see what they were saying. I was surprised to see such a large number of new articles about food as medicine targeting various conditions: broccoli, spinach, pineapple, etc. (nutrition isn’t taught in medical school, so it’s up to the doctor to self-educate).

The articles I read alarmed me because I knew we weren’t eating nearly enough: a few fruits? Maybe one or two vegetables, sometimes over-cooked? on a GOOD day!

We had also just gone through a very scary 4 years where I had skin cancer with several surgeries, and several very close friends and family were struck with frightening health problems: my mother developed kidney cancer, we had a couple of friends die of cancer, one friend died of Lou Gerig’s disease, other friends developed auto-immune disorders, an unruly number of friends were unable to get pregnant, several children we knew developed asthma, diabetes, and other problems formerly only heard of in adults!

Uncovering Clarity

I was hopeful to learn that simple produce and plants have the power to protect our cells from invasive toxins! (Anti-oxidants) This sent me on a journey to fully understand the body even more with the intent to educate people I cared for and possibly help prevent some of these illnesses from striking!

I called up my father, a gastroenterologist, to ask his opinion and sent him the research my friend had sent me to review. He was so impressed that very soon after, my parents and my family embarked on a new health journey.

We added simple steps to get more produce in our diets including a well-studied and researched whole food plant-based concentrate and began studying ways to cut out the bad stuff and add in more of the good. I also began researching new ways to cure common problems without the use of medication.

At the same time, I started working out with a brilliant, famous hard-core trainer in high demand, Tom Owen, who carved my muscle, helped me get rid of fat, and improved my nutrition. My experience with him motivated me to pursue more education and numerous certifications to expand my knowledge on health and fitness while I taught others.

I gravitated towards exercise for cancer, correcting muscular imbalances, healing injuries, and learning various formats of exercise which come with crucial benefits.

The science shows that movement and nutrition work together to form a cocktail of amazing chemical processes in the body that have the power to change everything! With the right nutrition and the right mix of exercise, we are able to manipulate the body to respond positively to the demands we make, thus improving health and all body systems.

My digestive system improved for the first time ever, (SIBO, candida, and constipation disappeared AND stayed away) sinusitis went away, my mother’s arthritis in her thumbs improved, and all of us had fewer colds, meaning our immune systems were stronger. My father’s dad died at 50, and brother died at 40, but now my father is 84 and rides his bike for miles every day!

Now, two decades after fueling with whole food nutrition and clean top-of-the line professional supplementation like I use in my practice, coupled with the appropriate diet and movement for my age and season, I realize that I have found a new normal…the "normal" problems I had in my 20’s like migraines, sinus infections, constipation, and body aches are no longer a problem! I feel BETTER than I did in my twenties.

Whether you are looking for nutritional support, weight loss, or exercises to help you reach your goals, or a support system and plan customized just for you, I can help. I invite you to click the button below to find the simple, uncomplicated path to feeling better!