ABOUT ME

Hi there! 

My name is Mara. I am a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, a mother, a wife, a midwest gal, a microbiome fanatic and a nature and podcast lover. I like to think outside the box, be my own health advocate, and educate as many ears as possible. I am on a lifelong quest to educate individuals on the importance of taking care and listening to their amazing bodies.

A little background:

I had a great life growing up! Amazing parents, great family, and good friends, but most of my life my health was "off". I had recurring urinary tract infections from age 3-20, and horrible acne in my teen years. I was on antibiotics 1-2x a year because of those issues. I passed out a few times in my teen years (the cause was “unknown, everything looks good”), disordered eating habits, bad digestive issues, heart palpitations, low iron, irregular menstrual cycle, and fatigue. All things that many think are “normal”, as I did over those years too. I didn’t think much of it because I could function, and it wasn’t debilitating. I was also young and it didn’t even cross my mind that something was off.

Until my body was like “nope, can’t do this anymore” and It crashed. Hard.

Fast forward to November 2019, three months after I had my daughter. This is when my health went on a downward spiral. It started with gut issues (gas, constipation, cramping, bloat), then brain fog, anxiety, horrible fatigue and hormonal imbalances. I knew something was terribly off but I couldn't find any answers from my doctors or midwives. That’s when I decided I was going to be my own health advocate.

I started researching relentlessly, watching summits, reading blogs, and started following naturopathic doctors, NTP's, and other holistic minded people. I would literally type in “#gutproblems” to try to find answers and hope someone else was in the same boat. I felt so alone! I took in as much as I could, which was overwhelming at times, and started making small changes.

When my health crashed, we were living in Louisiana due to my husband being in the military. I contacted a new local alternative doctor, who gave me the 5-R protocol (a plan used to repair the gut), to take magnesium, digestive enzymes, and electrolytes. I said Okay! It helped a little, but not enough.

Four months later we moved back to Wisconsin and I set up an appointment with a Functional Medicine Doctor. We did lots of blood work and discovered I had extremely low vitamin D, low omegas, very low white blood cells, leaky gut, bacterial overgrowth, mold exposure, and more. He created a supplemental protocol for me that improved my health greatly. He was the first Doctor to make a big shift in my healing journey, but it wasn’t enough. We started to go in a circle, and it was getting repetitive at appointments. The appointments became impersonal and he said some not-so-nice comments, so I was out.

I kept researching and implementing things into my life and slowly got better and better. I decided to look at the Nutritional Therapy Association website, watched some intro videos, read up on the program and the philosophy and completely fell in love with it! I signed up and started the course when my daughter was one and I was working full time. It was a-lot at times, but it was SO worth it.

Ultimately, my own struggles led me to my passion, helping people reach optimal functioning. I did it for myself and have seen so many others do it too. I want people to feel alive again, because it is possible!

Im so glad you came across my website, and hope to have the pleasure of meeting you!

With love,

Mara