2006

There are times in our lives where everything seems to fall apart at once, and that was certainly the case for me. Not only was my marriage coming to an end, but my father had fallen ill. Within a period of 6 months I’d gotten divorced, said goodbye to my dad, sold a home and, moved into the city and lost 14 pounds—far too much weight for someone with a small frame like me. Truly, I looked awful and felt worse. As much as I thought I was keeping it together the underlying stress was evident in my appearance. I was less than a size 2, weak, and certainly not nourished. A very good reminder to all of us that “skinny” doesn’t necessarily mean “healthy.”

2010 – 2011

I’ve trained for and run a couple of marathons to raise money for cancer research in memory of my dad and loved ones. Running wasn’t always a love of mine, although it was a passion for my dad. He ran 4 marathons in his lifetime and countless road races, including his annual run up Mt Washington. However, once I had a cause and started training, I developed a passion for it. I ran the Boston marathon in 2010 & 2011.

Although I worked with a great team on how to eat properly during the training period, I essentially created a burning metabolism and lost weight. This time I lost about 7 pounds and looked healthy and lean. The problem was, after running consistently every week for over 2 years, I kept up the same high carb, high calorie diet post-marathons. My metabolism naturally slowed down as a I burned calories less and less. And guess what happened? Weight gain.

I learned that although running and training is such an amazing experience, the extreme cardio is not a sustainable way to keep your body healthy.

2013

Returning home from a business trip, I experienced a sudden intense pain in my chest, lost my voice completely, could hardly move my jaw, and was too weak to push my luggage. When I finally made it home, I called my doctor and her exact words were, “Get to the hospital, it may be your heart.” I couldn’t believe it. Here I was in shape, a fairly healthy eater. What was happening? Thankfully, after several hours in the emergency room and multiple tests I discovered that it wasn’t a heart issue, but a common form of indigestion known as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). (I know, it doesn’t even sound pretty).

It was treatable with medication and cleared within a couple of weeks. The Doctor, suggested I stay on the medication, however, I did not want to be on meds if I could help it. That was when I got really curious about the role my diet had played in these symptoms and decided to change it all up and get clean. I went to a nutritionist, started a 30-day cleanse, and eliminated alcohol, caffeine, sugar, soy, dairy, wheat, and eggs, common allergens that cause inflammation and digestive issues. I worked with a health coach to figure out what I actually could eat and got great recipes, shopping lists, and educational tips.

After 30 days I felt amazing, so I continued on for 60 days and then 90 days. My energy improved, my skin was glowing, I was sleeping soundly, and I lost a few pounds. Eventually, I would reintroduce some foods to my diet, but I remained committed to a clean diet. And never had to take the medication for GERD since.

From there on out, I was hooked on healthy living and loved the challenge of figuring out how to stick to my routines while traveling for business.