From chronic restriction to plant-based nourishment and trust.

My relationship with food and my body was not always a good one. I know what it feels like to be confused and stressed about eating.

I spent way too many years obsessing about the scale, feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and ignoring my own hunger and fullness cues. My weight was up and down depending on whether I was restricting, or overeating at the time. I lived on a “junk food” vegetarian diet and constantly felt bloated, out of control and terrible. My disordered eating started in childhood and accelerated into my teens when things got scary.

I started to get professional help at the age of 16, and I slowly started to improve my nutrition and how I viewed by body. Working on my own relationship with food as a teenager and into my 20’s changed the trajectory of my life. I knew I too could help people who felt as overwhelmed and guilty about food and eating as I had felt.

I earned my Bachelors of Applied Science in Food and Nutrition at Ryerson University in 2000 and completed my Dietetic Internship at KFL&A Public Health in 2006. Today, I am finally at a place where I trust what my body is telling me, and honor my hunger and fullness cues with intuitive eating. I’m not perfect, but I finally view food as a source of nourishment, not stress.

It wasn’t until I consistently ate a balanced, mostly whole food plant-based diet, that I truly felt my best. It also wasn’t until I let go of the restriction and deprivation mentality that I truly felt free. For me, sometimes that includes eggs, wine, dairy, chocolate and fish if I feel like it. Hello #Flexitarian lifestyle.