Hi there——I can’t believe I am writing my first blog post! I have to be honest, it feels strange—but good because, I am excited to be sharing everything I know about health and wellness with you. This is a topic that can be one of frustration and confusion, so my hope is that these posts not only help with that, but lead you to feeling more confident and empowered overall.
I guess a good place to start is how I got here (on my couch writing this). I wasn’t raised by health nuts, or even parents who thought much about health, food or exercise at all. I grew up the oldest of three in a very typical middle income American family. We ate cold cereal for breakfast, lunch meat sandwiches packed for mid-day and Prego sauced pasta for dinner. Our food choices were based on cost and ease to prepare. No one had gym memberships or even running shoes for that matter, but we had each other and were happy. Unfortunately I lost both of my parents to disease while they were in their 50’s, it’s those losses that forced me to sit up straight, pay attention to my health, and start looking outside the box.
I enrolled in Institute for Integrative Nutrition and learned about all the different diets and health topics from the very professionals who founded them. During that schooling I was drawn to Veganism as the lifestyle that made the most sense to me. The other ‘diets’ we studied made sense to me in some ways, but the vegan/plant-based way of life felt right in every way. After graduation I worked as a health coach, helping guide clients to make positive changes in their lives and loved it. But, I kept coming back to what I believe is the foundation to health—eating healthy plant-based food. Because I am a picky eater, meaning I won’t eat food that doesn’t taste good (I mean, why would I?) I knew I needed to learn how to make amazing meat and dairy free meals. So, back to school I went, I received two cooking certifications and completely fell in love with preparing fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. I feel so lucky to be able to work as a Personal Chef, and help others find the beauty in choosing to see food in a new way. My husband and I eat a 90-95% plant-based diet, our daughter eats vegetarian always and vegan often, and our son is an omnivore. I believe we all have the right to decide for ourselves what is best for us. I understand that change is hard and life is not perfect (ever). I don’t judge people on their diet choices. I don’t think that everyone has to be 100% plant-based, but I do know that we all have to get closer to it than we are now. The chronic disease rates and the current climate crisis are driving our need to make changes, and I’m happy to help make it as easy and delicious for you as possible.
My hope for this blog, is that it will be an uplifting, and inspiring place to come for new ideas and recipes. I would like it to be a place that helps you feel empowered by the choices we get to make rather than any guilt or shame.
Every positive step we take towards bettering our health, and the health of the planet are beneficial and deserve to be celebrated. We are powerfully in control of our destiny, our genes do not dictate what will happen to us, WE DO!
Cheers,
Chef Steph
