I have had the wonderful opportunity to be involved in Fitness and Nutrition for over 37 years ago. As a personal fitness consultant and former Fitness Director of the Aurora Highlands Golf and Country Club, Timberlane Fitness Centre and Tetra Pak Fitness Centre at the beginning of my career, I gained a wealth of knowledge on how to improve our nutrition, fitness level and overall wellness.
Later in my career I went back to school to add Holistic Nutrition to my knowledge base and that not only changed my personal health but also the health of my clients, friends and family. Through working with hundreds of clients over the years I have gained the experience that allows me to share one of my greatest passions in life: “How to Age Gracefully”.
Growing older is part of life and not something that everyone is given the opportunity to do, therefore I think it is important to honour aging and take the best care of ourselves that we can for ourselves and those we love and care for.
Most recently I too and a course is the Physcology of Eating and I am proud to say that I have added becoming a “Mind Body Eating Coach”. It was a fascinating program and I have learned so much about not only the What to Eat but the Why and How.
As a Registered Holistic Nutritionist
I have a very busy nutritional consulting business which I run from my home where I meet with individuals one on one , with families or during phone consultations. I love to offer my clients and friends nutritional advice along with exercise and lifestyle recommendations to improve their overall wellness.
I also offer nutritional, health and wellness seminarsm workshops and “Lunch and Learns” to small and large business groups, women’s groups, community centres and church groups. Some of the many co-operate businesses that I have had continue to lecture at are: York Support Services, York Region District School Board and the York Regional Police to the Catholic District School Board, Seneca College, Private Schools, Town of Markham, Sunlife, Goodlife, Bulk Barn, Winners Inc., Running Room and Running Free etc. Topics can range from stress management to balancing your hormones to why diets don’t work and what does. For a full list of topics click here.
As a Master Nordic Pole Walking Instructor
One of my favourite forms of exercise is walking and I have had the pleasure of teaching Nordic Pole walking classes for the past 11 years. I offer these classes to the public and private sector.
I also lead weekly Nordic Pole walks groups on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in Aurora and evening walking groups from time to time. For more information click here.
As a Master Nordic Pole walking instructor for Canada, I also have the pleasure of teaching Nordic Pole Walking Certification programs to those who would like to become Nordic Pole Walking Instructors or to those who love to Nordic Pole Walk and want to learn more about this wonderful sport. For more information click here.
Some Professional Qualifications
Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Yoga Teacher, Certified Fitness Technician, Cardiac Technician and Nordic Pole Walking Master Instructor. I was also a Certified Cardiac Technician and learned so much from working with cardioilogist giving patients stress tests but I found that I was not able to share my passion or knowledge of nutrition and wellness in a hospital setting and chose to happily switch my focus to share in the public and workplace settings.
Personal qualifications
I have been happily married for 34 years and a proud mother of 4 grown children who have all graduated from their chosen Universities. One of my daughters is a Naturopathic Doctor and it is so wonderful to learn from each other and give lectures together. One of my greatest joys is sharing my passion for living life to it’s fullest and sharing my passion for overall health and wellness with everyone I meet.
Improved health is a journey, not a destination.
Personal Story
Fitness and Overall Wellness have always played an important part in my life
My favourite activity has always been walking and from a young age I enjoyed long walks with family, friends or alone. As a young girl, I skated for 7 years and danced into my early 20’s. My passion for dance allowed me to enjoy teaching aerobic and dance classes for many years at the start of my career in the fitness industry. During the 1980’s and 1990’s it was all about “no pain, no gain” and I enjoyed adding more hours to my training schedule.
During this time I was also given the opportunity to row as a Master Rower for Canada. It was all about the exercise and my nutrition background at that time was limited to Canada’s Food Guide. I would soon learn that nutrition and recovery are an important part of everyone’s life especially for those who exercise and or train hard. After years of exercise and ignoring the signs and symptoms of my over training I was challenged with 3 auto-immune diseases from Sjogren’s disease to Ulcerative Colitis then Crohn’s.
My Healing Journey
I knew there was more to nutrition then the 4 food groups and that my intake of sugar to increase my energy may not be that healthy but it took me many years of discomfort to make healthier changes. I made small changes in my diet and supplementation and as a result felt “small” changes. It was not until I finally enrolled in the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition on my road to becoming a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, that I was able to learn what was necessary to make the proper changes in my health that began the reversal of the many signs and symptoms that I had been ignoring for years. It felt amazing to finally be on what I now call a “Healing Journey” that allowed me to reverse symptoms such as: a low thyroid, anemia, Osteopenia, cluster headaches, skin and digestive issues to all 3 auto-immune diseases as mentioned above. Through improved nutrition and lifestyle habits I have been symptom free for many, many years and feel stronger today than I did years ago.
These challenges have allowed me to become the Holistic Nutritionist that I am today and able to appreciate everyone’s healthy journey with empathy and optimism about the role that food has as medicine in all of our lives.
I am proud to say that this is one of my most recent certifications and I look forward to sharing what I have learned with those I care about!
