I find that going with the grain doesn’t work very well when the goal is surpassing expectations + chasing wildest dreams.

That’s how I came to the serendipitous path of connecting the human spirit, holistic nutrition + sport.  Going against the grain – imagining something different. Something more. Something deeper, more meaningful.

Nearly 18 years ago, I started my career as a professional endurance athlete while living on a subtropical island in Japan. I had the perfect weather for training for ultradistance events, but none of the prescribed foods that my coaches were suggesting I eat. The stress of finding “things I could eat” to fuel my training was greater than the 30-hour training weeks I put in preparing for my race schedule. I knew that there had to be a better way.

One day, the stale energy bar I had stuffed in my pocket on a 125-mile bike ride flew out, leaving me on the side of the road with just a few yen to fuel my return home. When I took the first bikes of the onigiri rice cakes I bought from the convenience store, my eyes turned to hearts and my whole world turned upside down. It felt as if my black and white life as an athlete had been colored in with the rainbow of flavors from this incredible, simple, but new-to-me food that looked like anything but the “clean” foods “athletes are supposed to eat.” I never looked back – eating foods that lit my body up, foods that I craved, was my new strategy for fueling a life of elite sport and adventure. And it worked.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve first and foremost been a dedicated student: of self-study, Eastern medicine, Western sports nutrition, conventional dietetics, culinary arts, food systems studies, ecology, yoga and meditation, Ayurvedic medicine and more. I graduated with a diplome in Patisserie + Baking from Le Cordon Bleu, a BA in Social Ecology + Economics, am a board-certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor, USAT Certified Coach, hold both 500-hr and 200-hr RTY certifications, and have spent the better part of the past 10 years working exclusively in the sports nutrition industry as a consultant, recipe developer, and nutritional counselor.  The unconventional combination of these inquiries has made me a highly intuitive and suitable teacher for others interested in achieving their greatest potential, but also embracing an amplified harmony – in sport and in life.

My professional path has been anything but conventional, even replicable. And, as a chef, practitioner, and athlete, my approach remains against the grain. I imagine you’re in the same boat which is how you’ve arrived to this digital space where delicious, powerful, healthful food, sport, and a liberating perspective on nutrition collide. I’m betting that you’re interested in finding a way to feel better, live deeper, perform better, and find more happiness in it all…just like I was. Congratulations – just by dreaming it, you’re on the path!

This digital space is meant to be both a clearinghouse of information for you to discover on your own, and to provide a myriad of ways for us to connect to turn up the volume on the excellence in your life.

Tune in, go deep + get grooving!