About Me
Hello and Welcome!
My name is Carin. I am a certified Integrative Health and Lifestyle coach and I’m so excited to be working with you! I am quick to laugh, inquisitive, compassionate and I tend to view the world from a "glass is full" perspective. I'm passionate about puzzles, the power of why? and creating solutions.
I am an extroverted introvert that truly enjoys meeting people and earning their stories. I am genuinely curious about you, your experiences and want to understand what makes you tick; what makes you, you. Our belief systems are unique puzzle pieces that ultimately interlock together creating the person we are. That’s not to say that the pieces can’t be reordered and shuffled – We can change and modify our belief systems; our thoughts. In doing so we change the puzzle; the picture. I am passionate about finding the pieces that might need to be modified to fit the picture that each of us holds as our ultimate self.
I’ve long been a puzzle and problem solver and even in my career as a computer engineer I often thought outside the box; probably because I rarely saw myself as needing to be inside a box to begin with. I enjoy using any and all tools available to me to create a solution for my customers and clients that will provide the most favorable outcome for their wants/needs/goals. I thrive in working collaboratively with those who are ready to make changes and transform the circumstances of their unique situation.
I truly believe we all deserve to be our most joyous, adventurous, happy, healthy selves. We all have a story. I’d be honored to earn yours.
My Story
My path to wellness began when I realized that I was waking up tired and seemingly struggled to get through my most basic of days. And, if I had a day filled with travel and meetings? Ooomph. That felt like torture. I remember sitting in my car, after just having parked at the airport as I was heading out of town for a business meeting, feeling like I was in the bottom of a really deep hole and not really seeing how I was going to get myself up and out of it. Have you ever been to the beach and seen a family digging a hole deep in the sand – possibly with the intent of having dad climb down in only to be covered back up to his shoulders? That’s what my pit felt like. Only I knew I was at the very bottom and should the sand be pushed back in, I’d suffocate. It was then I knew I needed to find someone to help me climb out of that hole.
I found a counselor. Then I found a doctor. I was diagnosed with severe Adrenal fatigue and found out I had developed and inherited some pretty interesting food allergies – wheat, dairy, agave, almonds, peaches, cherries, plums and potatoes. Yep, good ole potatoes – that’s the inherited one. My body was in such a state of overwhelm and inflammation that I would react to most minute amounts.
The most intriguing part? I didn’t get itchy, have welts, runny nose or watery eyes. Nor, thank goodness, was I anaphylactic. Nope. These foods either affected my mood or my body or both. I’d want to crawl into my bed, pull the covers over my head and hide from anyone and everyone. Or every joint in my body would ache – think of the high fever type of flu aches. Or the “easiest” reaction was simply feeling nauseas for about 4 hours.
Through all of this, I was working in a fairly demanding job I truly loved as a Microsoft Solutions Architect. I enjoyed meeting with customers, hearing what their challenges were with their current system and environment and then coming up with a solution to that. I thrived with the creativity of that and loved connecting with my customers one on one. But my body was sick and it was tired and it was telling me just how badly it was. So, I made the difficult decision to take a leave of absence from the high-tech world.
I was fortunate enough to be in a position to take a 1-year sabbatical. In that time, I focused on my belief systems and on the now non-negotiable food elimination and restructuring plan. As I got my inflammation and moods under control, my friends and colleagues began asking questions. I found I was as passionate in sharing my experiences with others as I was in creating solutions for my customers and that clearly came through in my responses to the questions. Over time, I realized that I had a story to share. One that I was happy to tell to anyone who wanted to hear it. And, one that helped others address their own health and wellbeing.
In fact, it was a friend who asked me if I had ever considered becoming a life coach. To be honest, I didn’t even know what a life coach was. But something about it resonated deep within my being. I walked away from that conversation knowing that I had been shown a new path as every fiber of my being felt like it was filled with champagne bubbles. I practically skipped home and started googling “What is a life coach?”. I liked what I was reading, but it didn’t quite fit … me. I liked sharing my experiences with food and how they affected my blood, my body and my mood; my overall health. And, that’s exactly what I googled next “What is a health coach?”. Now THOSE results resonated with me.
Further research led me to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the world’s largest nutrition school per graduating class. Powerful teachers who are the leading doctors, PhDs, researchers, and authorities in nutrition and healthcare today taught me a wide variety of skills in business, coaching, nutrition, and lifestyle choices.
The rest, they say is history….