the doctors continue to give drugs to a young child? I stood in our farm kitchen holding a green drink, wearing my skinny jeans, and watching my son run around outside with our dogs.
The thought came to me very clearly: People need to know.
I had found my passion after all. I enrolled in nutrition school to learn all I could about how food can heal. I became a Certified Holistic Health Coach (CHHC) through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City; I then became a Certified Natural Health Professional (CNHP) through the National Association of Certified Natural Health Professionals. I discovered the power of plant-based nutrition and how crucial organic and local food is to our country and to the world. I took classes in cooking and had new culinary worlds—vegetarian, vegan, raw—open to me. I began my consulting practice as a health coach specializing in nutrition. I advocated, I blogged, I took people on farm tours, I spoke to women’s groups, I went on TV, and I began effecting change in my community and beyond.
I continued to shop and cook with the seasons, and I discovered the joys of seasonal eating—the feeling of being connected to my community, to local farming, and to the weather. My family loved fresh applesauce from our old apple tree in late summer, and an abundance of squash and pumpkins in the fall. We ate hearty root vegetables with warming spices in winter, and in spring the asparagus and fresh greens felt clean and light, like the season itself.
Discover Your Nutritional Style was born. I was ready to get busy, to teach and empower other women to live their purpose, to be their best self, to achieve ageless beauty, vitality, and health from the inside out, using the healing power of food. I was ready to help them find their own Nutritional Style.
Tell me what you eat,
and I will tell you what you are.
—Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 1825
What’s Your Nutritional Style?
The little black dress (LBD) is iconic and always in style. Think Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, or Gwyneth Paltrow, the embodiments of effortless chic. Designers Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karen, and Michael Kors feature LBDs regularly as the staple of any stylish woman’s wardrobe. My guess is you have at least one, if not several, hanging in your closet.
The best LBDs go with anything, and can take you from a dinner party in the spring to a cocktail party in the summer to a business dinner in the fall, and still look amazing and sleek at a semi-formal holiday event.
While the little black dress is a foundation piece for any woman’s wardrobe, your favorite one isn’t the same as your best friend’s. You adore silk, and she’s comfortable in a lightweight knit. You prefer knee length, and she loves several inches higher. A high waist suits you, and her shape looks best in a straight chemise. While we all love and need our little black dresses, each of us has different preferences when it comes to this basic wardrobe item. We each choose the one that fits our personal signature look.
Once you settle on your little black dress, you adapt it as needed. You add a hot pink sweater and a colorful retro necklace with black tights and heels for the spring dinner party. Summer cocktails call for a lightweight pastel pashmina and swinging chandelier earrings to go with your suntanned legs and gold strappy sandals. You pull out a black fitted jacket for the fall business dinner, add a pop of color with a gorgeous Hermès scarf, and balance it with nude legs and nude heels, the epitome of business chic. You look drop-dead elegant at the holiday party, showing toned, bare arms, layers of pearls, and satin heels with a bow.
Not everyone has a little black dress—or feels the need for one. Maybe you’re more a blue jeans and sneakers sort of person who never needs to dress up. You still make those jeans your own, because you’re you, with your own unique style. Your personality comes through, no matter what you wear. And no matter what you have on, your own needs are still there.
Your Nutritional Style
Just as the little black dress is unique to you, so is your Nutritional Style. Just as the little black dress calls for different accessories throughout the seasons, your Nutritional Style must change with the seasons as well.
Your Nutritional Style is the eating style that makes you feel like the best version of you. Eating for your Nutritional Style gives you energy and allows you to live a sustainable lifestyle without causing stress and anxiety to your body or your mind.
Eating for your Nutritional Style gives you energy and allows you to live a sustainable lifestyle without causing stress and anxiety to your body or your mind.
It’s not religion, and it’s not scientific. It’s about discovering your own best way of eating, living, and feeling great. It’s the one that lets you effortlessly release excess weight and returns your natural vibrancy and glow from the inside out. Just like choosing the clothes that make you feel your best, it’s about finding the Nutritional Style that works best for you.
Think of your food and nutrition as unique to you, and not as a way to fit into someone else’s plan or ideal. You’re not meant to live life going from diet to diet that you’re either on or off, and you don’t want to feel good or bad about yourself based on whether or not you stuck to a diet someone else created.
Here’s the best part. Your style can, and should, evolve over time; and it can, and should, change and adapt with the seasons.
The Healthy Omnivore
An omnivore is someone who eats all kinds of foods, including both animal and plant foods. I’m using the term Healthy Omnivore here, not regular ol’ omnivore, because anyone working with me is going to be the healthiest version of an omnivore possible. Animal protein includes red meat, pork, chicken and poultry, fish and all seafood, eggs, and dairy foods, including milk, butter, and cheese.
As a Healthy Omnivore, you eat lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, and an assortment of plant-based proteins, such as beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. You’ve learned to eat the right amount of animal protein, an amount that won’t weigh you down or clog your digestion.
The main way omnivores get into dietary trouble is by taking this Nutritional Style too far. When you rely too heavily on animal proteins, consuming them several times a day, it can lead to sluggish digestion, constipation, lack of vitality, dull skin, and weight gain in the short term. Significant health issues, such as heart disease and even cancer, could show up in the long run. Unhealthy omnivores usually indulge too frequently in processed foods, such as pizza, breads and baked goods, and low-quality snacks and sweets. These foods dull your taste for fresh ingredients and whole foods; they crowd out more nutritious foods from your diet.
If, as you read this, you realize you’re an unhealthy omnivore, let’s first focus on upgrading you to Healthy Omnivore status. As your eating patterns evolve, we’ll revisit your eating style season by season, while still allowing you to keep the variety of foods you love.
Don’t worry. If you choose this eating style for the long haul, you’re in good company. Both the Dalai Lama and Michael Pollan believe that animal protein is necessary for optimal health. We’re going to make you the healthiest omnivore possible.
