My Why

Let's Get Into It

Maybe it was growing-up as a classically trained dancer and competitive swimmer, but I've always felt very connected to my body. My body is my instrument, and when it's not properly tuned, I can tell.

Both by nature and nurture I was always a "healthy" eater. My Mom's favorite story to illustrate this point is my beeline for the salad bar every time a friend had a birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese. It wasn't until high school after a summer intensive with American Ballet Theater dancing 8 hours a day, 6 days a week for a month that things went sideways. 

Despite eating everything that was available to me, the level of activity was so high that I lost a bit of weight and as a result, my period. While I wasn't bothered by not having to deal with the messy side of a monthly cycle, I was aware that it wasn't "normal". In the early 2000s, having a dedicated resource to educate young athletes about nutrition and how to properly fuel their bodies just wasn't a thing.

After my activity level resumed its routine, so did my cycle. I decided to earn my Bachelor's degree in Business Management in lieu of dancing professionally, got married in 2012, and wanted to get movement back into the forefront of my life. So in December of 2015 I enrolled in the first ever online training program for a 500 hour Yoga Teacher Certification. Two weeks later I got pregnant. 

In March of 2017 after growing, giving birth to and keeping a baby alive for 6 months, I finally completed my Yoga Teacher Training. Even after delivery, I felt connected to my body, but it didn't feel great. Nursing was hard. My milk supply never really felt like it was there, and my energy couldn't have been lower. Again, I had symptoms I couldn't explain and worse, had no idea who to tell or what to do about them. Ironically, my nutrition was potentially the worst it had ever been. There's nothing like total sleep deprivation and healing from a c-section to make you forget everything you know about good habits. Even in the 2010s, there just weren't resources readily available for new Moms to help them fuel, recover and adjust. 

Like a good Mom I soldiered on, was back at work, and forged our new routine as a family of three until the day that changed everyone's lives - March 16th, 2020. Day 1 of lockdown. 

The company I worked for was supplying scrubs, equipment and PPE to medical professionals, so while I was at home, we were busier than ever. My daughter, then three and a half, didn't have preschool and needed homeschooling and attention. Even in this global crisis, all we had were social media trends to navigate health and fitness. No real, accessible guidance for families to stay active, eat well and release our stress caused by this collective trauma. My stress was so severe the physical symptoms hit me all at once, about four weeks later.

I woke up in the middle of the night with my throat so swollen I thought I was struggling to breathe. It was sore. I was convinced I had COVID. No doctor's offices were open. At telemedicine appointments the practitioner just assumed you were positive and told you to head to the ER if you were feeling short of breath. I didn't have a fever, or a cough, or anything else to point to actually having some sort of virus. I had more virtual visits, took two rounds of antibiotics, but I still had a sore throat. I barely spoke for 6 months. It was soul-crushing. 

Finally, with what felt like great relief at the time, I was diagnosed with LPR, or "Silent Reflux". I immediately went on the PPI Nexium and stopped eating every potential acid reflux trigger. No dairy, no citrus, no chocolate or cinnamon, no tomatoes, nothing remotely spicy, even black pepper. Nothing too oily, no nut butters. I ate a lot of graham crackers. I rapidly lost weight, energy, and even my hair. Instead of finding relief from my symptoms, they multiplied. 

By 2023 I had educated myself enough to know I didn't need to keep taking the Nexium, and stopped. I started a probiotic to help proliferate some of the healthy gut bacteria I had lost, and encourage some digestive regularity. I had now also been diagnosed with high stress, GERD, and IBS. I had undergone an ultrasound, a laryngoscopy and an upper endoscopy, not to mention more blood work than I had during the rest of my life combined. I got exactly zero answers. 

There was still a lack of accessible resources, so I sought out alternative practitioners, and they were the only ones who made any impact for me. They spent the time, really listened, and offered actionable insights to the root causes of my symptoms - not to mention they were a fraction of the cost of the fifteen minute appointments and relentless tests I had been receiving elsewhere.

As I began to heal, it sparked my passion for wellness in a whole new way. Our bodies are so incredibly complex, and symptoms manifest for countless physical, physiological, psychological and spiritual reasons. I began to realize everything was connected, and had I been education so many years ago, maybe I would have been better equipped to handle everything from adolescent athletics to post-partum and lockdown. As I was rambling all of this to my acupuncturist, she suggested I look into the Nutritional Therapy Association. A week later, I enrolled. 

The philosophy of Nutritional Therapy Practitioners was exactly what I had been searching for. Holistic, accessible, sustainable wellness through optimizing Five Foundations of health. Taking a bio-individual approach that accounts for each person's predispositions, behaviors, genetics, and intuition. Together with my Yoga Teacher Training, I knew as an NTP I could help others achieve what had become all too ellusive in our modern culture: feeling GOOD!

New studies, more social media accounts, podcasts and products are popping-up every day - the information overload isn't easy to navigate. Yet most of us spend too long without the access to resources that listen to our whole story, take bio-individuality into consideration, and help us identify practices for long-term wellness. That's why I created SPO Nutrition. Whether you're a busy parent trying to fit fitness and supportive nutrition into your lifestyle, fuel your athletic kids, or optimize longevity as you age, together we can build a plan to help you live your healthiest, happiest, most active life.