About Me

My Story

You are sitting in your doctor’s office listening to him say - your labs look normal, just continue taking this medication and everything will be alright. But you feel anything but. In fact, you feel worse than you have ever felt in your entire life. You try to tell the doctor that you are still having symptoms and ask what else you can do to feel better - perhaps there is a diet you can try, or an exercise that will alleviate your chronic pain, or a supplement he can recommend so you can sleep better. But he says there is nothing else you can do - diet did not cause your autoimmune disease and will not improve or cure it. But you can’t help but think that this cannot be your life, that there is something else you can do to help yourself feel better and break this endless cycle of exhaustion, pain and suffering. 

That’s exactly what happened to me.

Hi, I am Natalie and I am an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. 

My professional life started in a corporate world where I worked as a project manager in the financial sector for a number of years. When my son was born I went back to school and became an early childhood teacher and eventually opened a preschool in Staten Island, NY. I absolutely loved it and wore all the entrepreneurial hats while single handedly running the business, but the relentless stress of doing it all, combined with little sleep and intense 5 am workouts finally got to me, and in January 2020, after a very traumatic time in my personal life, I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, a chronic autoimmune condition affecting thyroid. My body was literally burning itself out, going 100 miles an hour even in my sleep. I was exhausted, had no energy to do anything and could barely get out of bed. 

I knew then that in order for my body to heal, something fundamental had to change in my thinking. I immediately put myself on a Paleo diet, replaced intense workouts with yoga and walking and hired someone to help with the preschool so I could periodically take time off to recharge. I also started working on my sleep, stress and mindset, all the pieces that were missing from my understanding of what health and wellness should be. I learned that self-care was not self-indulgent, but necessary, and that getting restorative sleep was imperative for healing. I learned what foods triggered my symptoms and how to make dishes that were nourishing and tasted amazing. It was an uphill battle, as I was put on medication that made me hypothyroid with all the corresponding symptoms of crippling fatigue, brain fog, digestive issues and weight gain, but I persevered and eventually was able to put Graves in remission. I will live with and manage this condition for the rest of my life, there will be flare ups and setbacks, but in a way it is also a gift as it taught me to listen to my body’s signals, hit pause when necessary, use my intuition and treat myself with love and respect.

Eventually my experience and love for all things wellness grew into a desire to help others achieve the kind of transformation I went through. I decided to become a health coach so I can help driven, type-A women like myself who are struggling with a multitude of chronic symptoms start to heal and get back to their vibrant confident selves. I graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, where I built on my personal experience and trained in techniques on coaching, behavior change, nutrition and lifestyle modification and countless other strategies that cultivate a balanced approach to health and wellness. I am also an Autoimmune Paleo Certified Coach, trained in dietary and lifestyle shifts that have been proven to reduce symptoms in a variety of autoimmune conditions.

If you are experiencing a variety of chronic health symptoms on a daily basis and you have been putting career, family, kids and social obligations above your own health and getting sicker and more burned out in the process, I have been in your shoes. I know exactly what it takes to get back to feeling well, to have energy again, and to restore your drive and motivation to go after your big goals. I can help you get there. 

Schedule your free initial consultation today to get started!

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