Darci

No one’s life turns out the way they expected it to. It just doesn’t happen. And it didn’t happen to me either.

I grew up in a house where healthy eating was not the rule. It was the exception. There were always cookies, ice cream, pasta, meat, and every other unhealthy food you can imagine stored in our kitchen. We ate at restaurants on a regular basis.

I liked cheese so much, I remember putting slices of American cheese over chocolate chip cookies. It sounds disgusting, but I thought it tasted pretty good. I didn’t know anything about healthy eating or that what I was eating was causing future health problems, which would be the bane of my existence for many years.

I was basically healthy and fit as a child despite my very Standard American Diet (SAD). I had friends. I played outside. I had a normal life. Everyone I knew ate like I did. I wasn’t unique.

When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I often lined up my stuffed animals in my pseudo veterinary clinic. There were lots of procedures and also lots of love for my patients. So one summer day, I walked into my parents bedroom and announced, “I am not eating animals anymore!”

My parents thought that my announcement was really cute, and they smiled a lot when I went without meat that night at dinner. I kept up my refusal to eat animals, until a few weeks later when they had our family doctor tell me that I had to eat fish – you know, because that’s how you get protein (an untruth used to scare me into eating fish).
I didn’t want to do it, but I was a kid and I didn’t want to live at the dinner table while they waited for me to eat my fish, hours after dinner was over for everyone else. I learned to accept fish in my diet.

As an adult, I gained and lost weight on various diets. Even though I was not significantly overweight, I believed I was. I tried every diet. I did a lot of research. But I also lived in chronic pain due to injuries and bone issues. I had a heart condition and other health concerns. Losing weight on all of these “diets” did not get rid of any of it.

At 28, major surgery on my knees was not an option I wanted to entertain. My doctor agreed. So physical therapy was scheduled, and I accepted that I would be doing that for a long time. As far as my spine, tailbone (from an old accident) and my hips, I would just have to live with the pain.

Eventually, I did gain a lot of weight and was also on heart medications for a non-weight related heart condition that I had quietly suffered from my entire life.

I started working for a large corporation and began sitting at a computer all day. Over the years, I gained and lost a bunch of times but never to a point that I couldn’t easily take weight off. I didn’t expect to end up in the situation I was about to face.

Ultimately, I ended up becoming the heaviest I’d ever been. In my life, I never imagined I would be anywhere near that overweight.

I continued suffering from most of my chronic health issues. A lot of the symptoms had been occurring for a few years and some went as far back as I can remember. Still others, I didn’t even recognize as symptoms at all. And there was the weight…

I retreated from friends, family, my life. While I do thrive on having time alone, I was always extremely social prior to the significant weight gain. I started to become a different person in this self-created existence.

I was siting in front of the television one evening and ended up turning the channel to PBS. An infomercial was on. It was Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s presentation about his book, Eat to Live.

Since I had been a vegetarian, tried lots of different “diets” and researched more than a lot of trained professionals, I had no doubt that this was something I should consider. It was God leading me to this exact moment in time for me to finally get back on my path and start living my life.

Dr. Fuhrman coined the term, “Nutritarian”. What is a nutritarian? Someone who focuses their way of eating on nutrient density – someone who primarily eats greens, beans, nuts, seeds, fruit, berries and drinks water.

I am not a vegetarian. I am not a vegan. When people are confused about the naming convention, I tell them that I’m “vegan squared”.

Even after seeing a myriad of health issues disappear, including a chronic eye infection, chronic knee pain related to a bone issue, spinal injury pain evaporate, allergies become non-existent, and my life-long heart condition a thing of the past, along with all medication, I was still in need of losing more weight, and people’s eyes glazed over when I passionately described my health miracles. It wasn’t until I lost most of my extra weight that people were truly willing to listen to my story and even consider my “extreme” way of eating for themselves.

Eventually, people started trusting me not because of my education, research and knowledge, but because they could relate to me and they saw my results were real and achieved in a healthy way. Since then, I have seen family, friends, and clients change their lives. Is it easy? No, it will never be easy to stick to a 90% plant-based, whole food diet in this society, where temptation combined with the ignorance and greed of some of our public and government entities push the poison we should be avoiding.

Since I a reached my goals and got my life back, I have become a licensed master neurolinguistic programming (NLP) practitioner, certified life coach, motivational coach, emotional and social intelligence coach, master weight loss coach and a certified integrative nutrition health coach.

What makes me a good coach to help you reach your life and health goals? I have been there. I know what it feels like to be sick, in pain, and overweight. I know how hard it is to be social when you are unhappy and physically exhausted every day of your life. I also know how to turn your life around so that you can spend the rest of your time on this planet enjoying every moment, full of energy and the motivation to get out there and live the life you dream about. All of our health and weight loss programs are holistic and customized for each person. No two people require exactly the same recipe for leading a healthy and sustainable diet and overall way of life. We start with the basics that are backed by the only long-term nutritional studies with thousands of participants and an equal amount of pages of data. What we do works. You don’t have to suffer to get healthy or lose weight. You can improve your life in ways you never imagined, all the while eating delicious foods and feeling happier than you have in years.

I graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where I learned innovative coaching methods, lifestyle management, and over 100 dietary theories.

I studied under the world’s top health and wellness experts, including:

• David Katz, MD, MPH, director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center
• Walter Willet, MD, DrPH, chair of nutrition at Harvard University
• Andrew Weil, MD, director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine
• Gabrielle Bernstein, bestselling author and life coach
• Mark Hyman, MD, founder of The UltraWellness Center
• Susan Blum, MD, MPH, assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine
• Geneen Roth, bestselling author and expert on emotional eating
• David Wolfe, raw food leader and nutrition expert
• Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, professor at New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health
• Mark Bittman, food writer for The New York Times and bestselling author
• Joel Fuhrman, MD, family physician and leading expert on nutritional healing

Think Intentional was the result of meeting my partner and discovering that the passions we both hold in our hearts for serving others and leading people to their best life is a unique combination that is greatly needed in this world. Our faith in Christ does not take away from our business or purpose in this life, but instead lends itself to giving us a better foundation for putting the needs of others first. This is why we also feel strongly about philanthropy and giving back as we grow both personally and professionally. Our faith and our dedication to serving allows us to focus 100% on our clients and charitable efforts. This brings a strength that is constantly reinforced across every aspect of Think Intentional.