Optimum Health

My journey toward physical and emotional health began with the study of nutrition at the age of 20.  As an infant I was very ill with chronic ear infections, colds, bronchitis. Throughout my childhood and as a teenager I missed a lot of school, was sick a lot.  When I was 15 I developed systemic yeast.  Of course, this was the 60’s, no one knew what systemic yeast was!  At 19, with a young daughter to take care of, I found it difficult to keep a job, every few months I would get too sick to work, have to take antibiotics for ear infections and strep throat.  When I was 20 I moved in with a man who steered me toward a vegetarian diet.  I began to read everything I could get my hands on about health and nutrition; Diet for A Small Planet, Adelle Davis’s books, Natural Healing.  Everything I could find said that a vegetarian diet was ideal.  I began eating an abundant amount of fresh, organically grown vegetables, studying nutrition, exercising more and following an ova-lacto vegetarian diet.  My health improved somewhat.  I had grown up on a junk food diet, my mom made whatever was easiest or instant.  Lots of bread, milk, cereal, canned veggies.  But my grandmother was a fabulous cook, had a small citrus grove and grew lots o flowers, tomatoes, guavas, grapefruit, lemons, limes, tangerines.  I had developed a passion for cooking as a teenager, mainly I think because I loved great food!  Moms Minute rice and Shake’n'Bake didn’t do it for me!

At 24 years old I developed spastic colitis and horrible allergies, bad sinus infections.  At 27 I had my first bout with antibiotic-resistant pneumonia. During my 20’s I could not keep a job; every three or four weeks I would get a sore throat, sinus or ear infection. My son was born during this time and had serious bowel problems.  It was so severe we had trouble taking him out of the house.  One doctor tried to convince me he had dysentery!

At 28 years old I met Rick O’Shea.  He tried, very gently, to get me to give up dairy and grains.  I could not imagine what I could still eat, or how to feed my kids. We began a debate that lasted for years! Even though Rick had more to do with me growing, and healing emotionally than any one else in my life, I didn’t want to hear it.

By the time I was 34 I had developed arthritis in my left knee as well as in my hands and hips. At 34 I got an ear infection that would not respond to antibiotics. I experienced a severe hearing loss in my left ear. After taking anti-biotics for a year to try to clear it up, I finally asked the doctor what could be causing the infection. He told me it was from getting my ear wet when I swam or bathed! He suggested that I put Silly Putty in my ear when I showered!!

At 38, pregnant with my son Tyler, I developed yeast problems again and also was diagnosed with Miniere’s Disease.  Back to the drawing board!   Rick insisted that my hearing loss and Meniere’s disease was linked to a gluten intolerance.  I finally got all the reading material that Rick had on nutrition, and sat down to study.  It was the most logical approach to health that I had ever studied so far.  It was all very simple, yet very logical.  I dove right in.   And was I glad I did!   Within a week the yeast cleared up, never to return.   All symptoms of the Miniere’s went away completely within six weeks. And I began to experience something I had never felt before; unbelievably high energy.  I woke up grinning, couldn’t wait to embrace the day.   Even as I child I had never felt such joy and contentment.  When Tyler was born it was not anything like when the other kids were infants.  He was born at home, nursed for about 45 minutes and fell asleep.  He slept through the night!   All night.  Woke up happy.  Never cried, slept for 8 at night, every night, until about 7 the next morning!  I couldn’t believe it.  No colds, no colic, just a sweet joyful little boy.  He nursed and ate fruit all that first year.

From 1990 until 1998 I followed a diet that was completely vegan (no animal products).  My diet consisted of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.  Although I felt fabulous, the only problem I still had was an inability to gain weight. I had weighed 100 to 104 pounds all my life.  In 1998 I met a Clinical Nutritionist who began telling me I should go back to eating seafood because of the newest information on Omega-3 Fats.  Because he kept insisting, I asked him for more information on fats and their effects on the body. He gave me some articles on fats.  But I wanted to know MORE! Jeff Novick, head of Nutrition at the Pritikin Center in Miami, suggested I read a book called Fats That Heal, Fat That Kill, by Udo Erasmus. Finally, I found the depth of information for which I had been looking. After studying the subject, and realizing the impact of Omega fats on the body, I returned to eating cold-water fish. It was one of the best things I ever did! Through making that change and moving to the beach where I was able to be more active, I was able to gain 13 pounds!

I continued eating this way until 2005.   At this time I asked a group of Clinical Nutritionist I had met online to review my work. They steered me toward newer information on Traditional Diets, and the Weston Price Foundation. I again tweaked my nutrition after 4 months of intense study.  I added organic grass fed beef and bison to my diet along with organic free range chicken, rich meat stocks and substaintailly more fat.

People often ask me how I find the discipline to follow such a strict diet.  I try to explain to them that it does not take hard work to do. That the way I feel is so wonderful that it feels effortless to make the choices that I do on a day-to-day basis.

So now, at 55 years old, I am in the best health I have ever been in.  I practice yoga daily, lift weight 3-4 times weekly, dance and still have time and energy to enjoy my children and grandchildren, have a practice as a Nutrition Coach, teach cooking classes .I have written two books; “Optimum Nutrition”, and a cookbook with 810 wheat, dairy and soy free recipes.

I LOVE teaching others how to heal, how to eat right to meet their calorie and nutrient needs.  I feel strongly that the reason I was so ill gave me the opportunity to learn and be able to help others.

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