I am so glad you are here!!

To help you get to know me better, I thought I’d share a little about my story and how it is that I am now a certified life coach on a mission to help women change their lives by changing the food they eat and the thoughts they think!

My journey began what feels like eons ago…probably somewhere between 2008-2010…when I was diagnosed with Lupus.

I remember sitting in my doctor’s office feeling dumbfounded and speechless as I processed my new diagnosis. 🤯

What did having an autoimmune disease even mean and what the heck even was Lupus? All I knew up to this point was that I had lost a bunch of weight, I could’t shake bronchitis, and I was very, very tired all of the time.

So I asked, “Does this mean I am going to die?”

And she replied, “Well, some people do die from complications associated with Lupus, but you are not there today.”

And then I asked, “Is there anything I can do to get rid of it?”

And she replied, “No, unfortunately. You just need to take this medication every day.”

And she sent me on my way. 😳

I felt confused and lost and scared. I was only in my mid-late 30’s and my daughters were in early elementary school. I didn’t want to die, but I had no idea what I was even dealing with.

So I started researching, and I learned that some researchers believed that autoimmune diseases like Lupus were caused by environmental factors, one of which being the food we eat. 🍟 🍔 🥤 🍪 🧁 🍦 🍩

They found that highly processed food weakens and then permeates our gut linings, getting into our bloodstreams causing systemic inflammation. Our bodies can’t distinguish what is allowed and what is foreign so they start attacking everything.

That’s when I decided to take myself and my family on a “clean eating” journey–eliminating as much processed food from our diets as possible. 🥗

Fast forward a few years.

Now in my early 40’s, I found myself at a crossroads in my marriage.

The girls were now in late elementary/middle school, and I cringe to say it, but I despised my husband. We fought all.the.time, and I believed that he was 100% the problem. I remember slamming my fist down onto my dresser one night saying, “If you don’t change before Emily (our youngest) graduates from high school, I am leaving,” and then very indignantly walking away. 😤

You might be wondering, “What does this have to do with your food journey with Lupus and life coaching?”, but I promise it all ties together.

After giving my husband an ultimatum, I started reading personal development (self-help back in the day!). I was looking for validation for feeling the way I was feeling. I was looking for others to say, “Oh girl, you’ve got it bad. Your husband really is a jerk!”

But that’s not what I found.

Instead, I found authors telling me that I too was culpable. That the way I was thinking about myself and what was possible for my life was detrimental to my marriage. 💔

I was very bitter, very angry, and very negative. I was nose-deep into what I know now to be a victim mindset. And it wasn’t until I changed my mindset that my marriage and my whole life blossomed.

I also stumbled across Whole30 during this time period too.

If you are unfamiliar with Whole30, Whole30 is a 30 day elimination diet where you remove grains, legumes, sugar, alcohol, and all processed foods from your diet and eat lots of protein, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. The premise is to remove foods known to cause inflammation in your body for the 30 days and then to slowly add them back in to see what your body can tolerate.

There are so many benefits to doing a round of Whole30 (which I will detail in a later post), but what sold me on the program (I mean, I bought the book on a Sunday and started on that Monday), was improved fitness. 🏃‍♀️ 💪

You see, when you are stuck in a vicim mindset, everything in your life suffers–your relationships, your physical health, your performance at work, your fitness, your attitude…that negativity permeates EVERYTHING.

At the time, we were training for a full marathon (26.2 miles) and I could barely squeak out 8 miles before crying in the middle of the road (true story).

I was so desperate for a change, that giving up lots of stuff for 30 days in exchange for an improvement in my running would be totally worth it.

And this, my friends, is when everything came together…this is when I learned first hand how changing the way you eat and the way you think changes EVERYTHING.

In those 30 days, I lost 8 pounds, slept better than I had in years, managed my stress better, gained glowing skin, ran 15 miles effortlessly (and consequently ran my 2nd best ever marathon), had energy like I had never had before, and for the first time in a very long time, felt happy. 😃

That first round of Whole30 was literally the turning of my life.

Because I was working on my mindset via the personal development AND I was feeding my body good food, I was able to show up as the best version of myself in all areas of my life–especially in my marriage. And I am proud to say that we are still together well after Emily graduated high school (she is now finishing her sophomore year in college).

I believed in the power of changing our food so much that in 2017 I launched my own local meal prep company called Prepped Girl where we made healthy breakfasts and lunches from scratch (ie: no processed ingredients) and delivered them to our customers’ doors early Sunday morning so they would be prepped and ready to go for their busy weeks ahead.

I wanted ALL women to experience a transformation like I did.

I can say with unwavering certainty that had I not learned how to change the way I think and the way I eat, I would not have bought our Class A Motorhome in May 2021, sold our home in July 2021, quit my 28 year teaching career and shut down Prepped Girl to move into our Motorhome in August 2021 so I could travel the country with my husband and my dog. 🚌

And now, as a certified life coach (and hopefully soon-to-be Whole30 coach 🤞 ), I am on a mission to help women live their best lives too (whatever that looks like for them–not everyone wants to live in a house on wheels!) by changing the food they eat and the thoughts they think.

I plan to use this blog to share about my travels (because, why not?!), epiphanies/life lessons learned, mindset tips & strategies, education on food, recipes, courses and workshops I am running, and so much more!

I hope you come to my little corner of the internet, find lots of useful stuff, and stay awhile!

❤️