Whole Self Nutrition

My name is Jasmine and I have a Masters in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from University of Western States. I have extensive knowledge in nutrition and health improvement. I have training in nutrition and its relation to metabolic issues (ie insulin sensitivity and type 2 diabetes), stress, athletic performance, as well as weight management. My primary goal is to help people achieve their goals while building a healthy relationship with food. I am unique in that I have struggled with being overweight and struggling with an eating disorder for many years. Because of my personal struggles with food and weight, I am better able to relate to a large population of clients.

I am in a unique position as a certified nutritionist in that I struggled with my own nutrition for many years. As a child and teenager I struggled with my weight. I was the "fat-kid" amongst my friends, ashamed to eat my lunch at school afraid of what people might think/say, avoided playing sports because I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up, and refused to step on the scale at the doctor's office out of fear of what that number would be. I don't how much I weighed at my heaviest, but I know that at the beginning of my freshman year of high school I weighed almost 200pounds and I gained a little more weight after that.

Then, before my junior year of high school I decided I was tired of being overweight. I stopped drinking juice and soda, started walking 2miles everyday, stopped eating candy and chips, and over summer vacation I lost about 20pounds. Feeling slightly more comfortable in my body I became more active, started taking kick-boxing classes at my local community center and riding my bike 10miles on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This was all well and good until about half way through my Junior year when I read in "Seventeen Magazine" that a net loss of 3,500 calories was equivalent to 1pound of weight-loss. I diligently started tracking calories in and calories burned. The weight fell off faster. I became a slave to the scale.

By the summer between junior and senior year I was well on my way to an eating disorder but because I had been so heavy before, my weight still hovered in the "normal" range despite the fact I was eating less than 1,000 calories per day and exercising for 3-5hours a day.

Senior year I joined the cross-country team and fell in love with running. Unfortunately, this only spurred my restrictive eating into a full-blown eating disorder because as I continued to lose weight my running got faster. Coaches and teachers approached me with their concerns as I continued to lose weight throughout the school year. By early spring of my senior year of high school I had lost well over 80lbs, was hovering mere pounds above what would be considered "underweight," my hair was falling out, and my menstrual cycle had been absent for nearly 9months. Yet, I still did not think anything was wrong.

It took another 6 years before I finally admitted something was wrong and sought out treatment. I began seeing a therapist who specialized in eating disorders. She encouraged me to start working with a nutritionist, but it took a full year of therapy before I was ready to confront my fear of food. But, when I finally did confront that fear and began feeding my body what it needed, I felt better.

It took several years, but I finally found balance in my life and my relationship with food and exercise. After learning so much about nutrition and what it can do for one's body and spirit, I decided to pursue a masters in nutrition.