About 

Raw Food Chef

Integrative Nutrition Health Coach 

Plant Based Sports Nutritionist 

It all started when...

I realized that I could choose how I wanted to feel on a daily basis. Whether that was sick and tired or alive and thriving -  it was my choice. 

When I was growning up, I was sick ALL the time. It seemed like antibiotics were candy and I could never get enough. From strep throat and bronchitis to constipation and weight issues - I had it all, all the time. I felt stressed, tired, and sick - even as a teenager. Even though I was always considered to be the health nut by my friends, it was a constant battle. 

My dad was a chef, so I was always into food and loved to experiment with new recipes, but that didn't mean they were healthy. One day a friend challenged me to a plant-based diet. I thought she was absolutely insane, but I did it. After 7 days I felt like a new person, and I knew there had to be something to it. Needless to say, once again, my new "health journey" took a wrong turn when I became obsessed with losing weight. After all, this was the first time in my entire life I wasn't considered to be "thick," and I loved this new attention I was getting. The numbers on the scale continued to drop, and I found myself dealing with anorexia. This quickly led to infertility, digestive issues, and an impacted colon, not to mention mental health issues. I became scared of food. I didn't want to eat because I was scared I would return to my "old self." That is, until I found the world of raw food. 

When Matthew Kenney came to Oklahoma City I fell in love with their concept and slowly shed my fear of food. I became their raw food pastry chef and found my passion for food and health once again. This journey led me all across the world and back. I had an internship at a retreat center in Turkey, studied in South Korea, and moved on to work in Amsterdam for a raw food and juice retreat company. I was loving life and these new experiences - or so I thought. 

During this time I had put on weight again and had become very judgmental of myself, even though I felt like I was doing everything right. I ignored my inner dialogue and continued to advance my career- until I was stopped in my tracks, literally. Being run over by a car put me in the hospital -  only to discover a tumor living on my thyroid. Though this tumor was said to be benign, I knew something wasn't right. I felt like I had been ignoring my own body for so long that I let something manifest inside me and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. "Why was this happening to me? I eat right, I exercise daily, why am I sick AGAIN?" 

I moved home to focus on healing my own body and found myself feeling more lost than every before. Doctors told me I had leaky gut, celiac disease, I was pre-diabetic, I had a toxic liver, and just about everything else they could find. "WHAT?!" I believed them, and I did everything they said. I took the supplements, did the detoxing, cut out all the sugar and the grains, spent a fortune, and guess what -  it only got worse.   

This sent me straight into depression. I didn't talk to my friends, didn't want to leave the house, and I was ashamed. "How did this become my story? I'm supposed to be the healthy one." I had never felt so alone and confused. I read all the books, watched all the documentaries, and tried all the diets and cleanses I could find. Nothing was working. 

Then, much to my surprise, I met a health coach who asked me some pretty deep questions. These questions opened the door to my healing.  During this healing process, I went to England for a month and went through a miro-biome transplant, or a fecal matter transplant. This was a huge part of my physical healing. However, shortly after my treatment, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of thyroid cancer. My tumor had doubled in size in a matter of weeks and had spread to some of my lymph nodes. I will never forget that day or the tone of the woman who called me to deliver the news. Even more so, I will never forget the way I felt in that moment. I was terrified, shocked, but also very grateful. This moment changed me and everything I believed in. I now knew that my answers were not going to be found in a book that I read, or a doctor I spoke to, or a documentary I watched. My answers to personal freedom and vitality were inside of me, and only I could listen to them. The way I felt was MY CHOICE. I had chosen cancer, it didn't choose me. Now I was given the opportunity to let it go. I surrendered to myself. I vowed to stop fighting and to truly surrender; to let go of what I was avoiding, and to let go of this disease. Two weeks later I had my thyroid and 9 lymph nodes removed. I did the radiation that was expected of me and I have never felt better. 

My health is my choice. How I treat my body is mental, physical, and emotional. Though my personal experience may or may not resonate with you -  I'm here to share with you how to find your own vitality. I'm here to open the door that someone once opened for me. 

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the video found on my Home page. 

xo

Emma