I love food, and think about it in a positive way and find ways to incorporate healthy meals into my life. I may enjoy sweets at times, but it is a choice, and not an out of control urge.
I can be around sweets and not indulge unless I really want to.
But it wasn’t always this way.
I spent many years skipping meals and avoiding food, and then over-eating out of starvation. I wanted to be lean and strong but I was feeling fat, bloated and acne prone…I would avoid eating out of fear, and then end up starving and grab whatever was around- which was usually junk. Some days the only real meal I ate would be dinner, if that.
How did this happen?
As a major food lover since childhood, and a professional chef to celebrities since my early 20′s I was obsessed with food and eating.
I have also always been interested in health and nutrition for as long as I can remember. As a passionate advocate for the environment and the ethical treatment of animals I spent most of my 20′s and into my early 30′s avoiding eating all animal foods- up to 70 to 99% of the time.
And during this time I had developed a love-hate relationship with food. You could even say that I was in an abusive relationship with the stuff. One minute I would be in heaven eating the best meal in the world but then the next minute hating myself for, well, eating at all.
I would wonder had eaten too much?
Had I eaten "wrong" or "bad" foods? Should I be eating a vegan, vegetarian, raw or another diet? Maybe the Atkins or South Beach? How much fat, protein and carbohydrate should I eat and which kinds?
Which diet was right?
It was enough to make me crazy, and feel guilty all the time with food.
During that time I struggled with out of control cravings for starchy and sweet foods from chips, ice cream, cookies, and candy and simply couldn’t resist these foods.
I also had acne, incredibly bad period cramps, PMS, insomnia and felt like I could gain weight really easily even though most of my diet consisted of organic whole foods.
I was frustrated to say the least.
Here I was trying so hard to be health conscious and eating almost 99% whole foods that I prepared myself, and I still had crazy out of control cravings along with all of the other symptoms.
After going back to school to study holistic nutrition 7 years ago, I started to shift these cravings.
Suddenly I could resist candy and sweets that were all around me all of the time.
I could eat and feel satisfied instead of starving!
I felt less anxious and started to get better sleep.
I found myself saying no when someone offered me a piece of cake at a party. And NOT because of “willpower” but because I wasn’t interested!
While everyone around me just couldn’t wait to eat the snack foods and sweets set out at a party, I began to notice that I could have cared less about them. It was a really new way of being for me.
But there was another piece that needed to fall into place for my permanent relief from food and weight obsession.
At times I struggled with sticking to my goals. I’d eat when I really didn’t want to be…
I had the classic syndrome sometimes of knowing what to do but not always being able or even wanting to do it! I had a lot of excuses at times why I couldn’t really follow through…or get into action with what I had learned.
This is where my expert use of meridian tapping began to make all of the difference first for myself, and then for my clients.
I began learning meridian tapping many years ago but never really knew how to use it in a way that shifted things until I became certified in the technique by the founder, Gary Craig.
Not only am I now craving free 99% of the time and able to follow through with a healthy eating plan and have been for several years now, but so are my clients who get the benefit of my expertise.
Credentials
I received my Bachelor of Art’s degree in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, California in 1992. After I graduated I explored graduate school in Public Health Education but ended up with a full time successful catering business to celebrities in the process, Sandy’s Gourmet Productions, for over 14 years and I still offer some cooking classes and catering to private clients today. As a chef, I have always supported local, organic and whole foods in my cooking. At the same time that I started nutrition studies in 2003, I began studying energy healing modalities such as Reiki and EFT- Emotional Freedom Technique. I became a Reiki Master from Eric Rubin in San Francisco in 2006, and was one of the first practitioners to complete the certification course from Gary Craig in EFT, in 2008 when it was first released. My experience with EFT preceded this certification by several years however. I graduated from Bauman College as a Nutrition Consultant in 2005. I have attended over 150 hours in professional nutrition seminars outside of my education.
My wellness coaching has evolved upon completion of my nutrition certification. Learning what clients want and need to help make healthier eating habits a reality and inspiring and motivating them in the process is what I have come to love the best about this work. Learning new and powerful emotional clearing techniques has helped my clients get there faster. I am inspired by working with clients to achieve freedom with food obsession and a better body image. I love how this combined approach creates such a positive and fun experience for all.
It is my mission to support women in loving food and our bodies again so we can live our dreams. In doing this, we not only support ourselves, but the health, nurturance and sustainability of the world we live in as well.
Interests
Besides having a strong interest in health and healing and all things related to it, I am a huge animal lover and work with animals too. I am a passionate environmentalist and have a strong interest in working towards creating a viable and greener future on this planet which includes permaculture and sustainable farming methods. I have been an active martial arts fan, having trained in Muy Thai kick boxing to compete, some Brazilian Jujitsu, and yoga. I especially love the pioneering work of Judith Lasiter and her Relax and Restore yoga, Hatha yoga and chanting! Another life long interest is song writing, playing guitar and singing…
Websites & Blogs
Eat Like A Goddess
Memberships
National Association of Nutrition Professionals
Slow Food USA
Weston A. Price Foundation
Association For Energy Psychology
