Hello

    My interest in nutrition started when I was growing up on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Western New York. I remember being very young when I found out about medical conditions like diabetes and heart disease. I was always very curious to know more about how those conditions came about so that I might avoid them in my future. Once I hit middle and high school, I was fully engulfed in the toxic diet culture and the pressure to be thin that was rampant in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I gathered as much information as I could, but it was all very confusing since most of the information available was from magazines or TV commercials. I noticed a lot of conflicting information and felt the impacts of massively popular diet crazes, which motivated me to dive deeper into finding out what really happens in our bodies relating to food and nutrition.

 

    I began my studies at Syracuse University, fully intending to pursue my curiosity about the human body and medical conditions by enrolling as a pre-Med major. I was fortunate enough to have a Registered Dietitian in my family network who recognized my strong passion for food and healthy eating relating to the prevention of chronic diseases, and she encouraged me to give the Dietetics program a try. Once I took my first nutrition class, I knew it was the right path for me, where I could pursue becoming a health care provider and an expert in the nutrition field. 

 

    I took a long leave of absence from higher education when I became a mom to my son, and during that time being back at home with my family and working in my community, I really understood how great the need was for qualified nutrition care. There were so many people around me who were struggling with nutrition-related chronic diseases, and the magnitude of the effects became all too clear once I witnessed my own family members suffer from the complications. When my grandmother passed away in the summer of 2012, I really wished I could have been there for there for her in a qualified way. I was deeply moved by that close-up experience, and I continued my education knowing that there were so many families just like mine who had to witness the devastating effects of conditions like diabetes and end-stage kidney disease. 

 

    My determination to become a health care provider led me to the dietetics program at D’Youville college, now D’Youville University. There, I was able to finish my bachelor's degree and obtain my master’s degree in Dietetics, as well as secure my Dietetic internship. Although I didn't initially plan on enjoying Clinical Nutrition in the hospital setting as much as I did, I found the experience of providing acute nutrition care be greatly formative of my career path and sense of duty. Seeing so many patients in need of intensive medical interventions and witnessing the power of optimizing a person’s nutrition status on their healing and functionality eventually led me full circle back to the world of prevention.

 

    The complexity of cases that I've been privileged to be a part of while working at esteemed Level 1 Trauma Centers in both Buffalo, NY, and Tampa, FL, deepened my commitment to helping patients live healthier happier lives before the need for care in a hospital.  Although optimal nutrition does not cure every single malady or medical condition, it certainly does form a strong foundation from which we can build the healthiest possible lives from. 

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    I started full circle nutrition with the vision of providing Nutrition care and counseling to the full person in the context of their full lives. I also practice dietetics with a mindset focused on abundance versus scarcity, especially when it comes to managing body weight or nutrition-related medical conditions. This means that I work with my patients and clients to find and choose from a multitude of nutrition strategies and foods to attain their goals. Full circle nutrition is about discovering the things we can fill ourselves up with to live a full life we want.