Hi! I'm Lauren, a Holistic Health Coach.
My personal health journey has taught me how to properly fuel and value my body. My days are filled with boundless energy, a positive outlook, great sleep, a healthy work-life balance, movement that helps my body glow, and habits that make choosing healthy options easy.
Smoothie Time
Where did I start?
I understand how it feels to constantly battle with weight and body image. All of my childhood I felt chubby and overweight. These feelings affected my confidence and self respect. Throughout high school I joined countless weight loss programs, tracked my food, logged my activity, and battled against the demons that told me that I wasn’t beautiful or lovable.
During college the situation worsened, I gained the freshman 25+, had a terrible body image and hid behind my humor. Finally during my late 20s I found exercise that suited my body type and helped me gain the self-confidence that I desperately needed. My light started to shine!
What REALLY motivated me to change?
My sister was 36 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Months later, my father was also diagnosed with cancer. These health crises spurred me to take a serious look at what I used to fuel my body. I was compelled to discover a path that would help me avoid disease as much as possible, instead of needing to recover from it.
My personal quest for nutritional and holistic knowledge began in 2011. This incredible journey led me to enroll at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in 2014. Over the past decade I have listened to my body and learned how to nourish it. I have clear skin, bright eyes, endless energy, a positive mindset and a healthy weight. Health is not a destination, it is a journey. Come join me!
What is a Health Coach?
A health coach guides, encourages, teaches and motivates people who want to discover their own path towards a healthy lifestyle. I listen to my clients and pay attention to how they want to improve their health. Together we discuss their goals and why they want to achieve them. Then, as a team we develop a plan, create action steps to support the plan, and evaluate choices along the way.
There is no one-size-fits-all plan because every body is different. Each individual has their goal, their own definition of what health is. My role is to listen without judgment and encourage people to take the next step on their path.
Who am I?
I have been teaching high school and middle school Spanish for 28 years. Throughout my teaching career I have taken students on incredible adventures to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, England, France, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Spain, and Tanzania (Maybe more places, I just can’t remember!). I have found that during all of these experiences where we go to see different corners of the world, we learn most about what is inside each of us.
In 2013 at the age of 38, I married the love of my life who is my number one supporter, cheerleader, and best friend. As we walk our path together, we learn, we make mistakes, we achieve dreams and we laugh a lot (We also read a lot of books!). There is no better partner for me than him ♥️ Our daughter keeps us on our toes, running in the parks, playing in the waves, swimming and diving in the pools and experiencing life with beginners’ eyes.
When I am not wife-ing, mom-ing, teaching or coaching you can find me reading, walking on the beach or around town, chatting with friends, hanging out with family or spreading positivity. Lead with love was the mantra of an incredible role model and friend of mine, Chris Hamsher. So whatever I do, I aim to keep love and kindness in the forefront of every action, thought, and word.
How did I get started?
I worked with an incredible health coach, Jennifer Kelly, for a 6-month period, loved every second of my journey and realized that I needed to know more. I enrolled in the same school she graduated from, The Institute for Integrative Nutrition and kept learning. Initially, my only goal was to educate myself about nutrition.
It was my personal goal to become the healthiest person I could be, focusing on staying well and avoiding disease. I had just seen my sister lose her battle with cancer and felt broken seeing how it affected her children, husband, our parents and our friends. I had just gotten married to an incredible man who is a cancer survivor. I knew that we needed to make intentional choices to stay healthy for each other and for our future family.
Before I knew it Healthy But How was born! I am an educator at heart and I know that my mission is to spread the word about how what we eat affects our health, our thoughts, our actions and our quality of life.