Hi, I’m Vanessa!
I’m a nutritionist, fertility awareness method instructor and functional health coach. Basically, it’s my jam to help women and menstruators regulate their cycles, kiss PMS and bloating goodbye, and feel confident in their bodies.
If you’re battling with acne and painful periods, are feeling lost in your health journey or disconnected from your body, I feel you. At 12 years old, I started struggling with my body image and cystic acne, which led me down the road to bulimia and extreme insecurity. After a decade of frustration, antibiotics and hormonal birth control, I dove into the world of health and wellness. I couldn’t believe how much I didn’t know about my own body and fell in love with becoming the strongest and healthiest version of myself.
Learning about my hormones, digestion, metabolism and cycle completely changed my life – I was able to clear my acne from the inside out, regulate my period and heal my relationship with food. This is what motivates me to advocate for women everywhere and help them along their health journey; my mission is to make learning about your body easy, accessible and fun so everyone knows that having PMS, painful periods and hating your body is not your destiny!
When I’m not working with clients, you can find me hanging with my friends & family, walking Kipper (our family dog), recording podcast episodes, shopping for something pink, playing volleyball or reading a good thriller (reccos always welcome)!
Education and Credentials
Nutrition Therapy Practitioner, NTA
Fertility Awareness Method Instructor, FEMM
Functional Health Coach, Kresser Institute
Bachelor of Science, Dalhousie University
MY FULL STORY
When I was about twelve years old, I started to struggle with my body image, weight, self-confidence, and relationship to food. At the time, I had no idea how to navigate these feelings and fears of being overweight, unattractive, undesirable, lost and uncomfortable in my own body.
So, I turned to binge eating as a mechanism to cope with my emotions, which unfortunately led me down the path to bulimia. This was something I struggled with on and off until I was in my twenties. It was something I always thought about and couldn't shake no matter how "clean" I tried to eat, how many workouts I did or how much weight I lost, it was never enough and I would find myself eventually reverting back to old patterns.
Around this time, I also began to struggle with cystic acne (classic), which is a total confidence grenade to anyone, but especially a young woman just starting high school. I was so embarrassed, defeated, upset and frustrated with my skin I remember crying about it multiple times throughout the week, not wanting to ever be in front of my family or friends without makeup on, cancelling plans because I didn't want anyone to see me, and feeling like this was something I was going to have to live with forever.
After seeing dermatologists, trying antibiotics, medicated creams and literally dozens of products and skincare lines (sorry, mom), I decided to talk to my doctor and ask if there was anything he could do to help me.
I didn't know what I know know about acne returning (and sometimes getting worse) when you come off birth control, or that I should have prepped my body for 1-2 months. I just stopped cold turkey, and like clockwork, my acne returned. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it was in my early teens, but oh boy was she still back. At this point,
I got a copper IUD, and started diving into the world of hormones, women's health, birth control, acne healing and more to figure out what was going on. I couldn't ignore the incredible information I was learning, throughout high school and early university, I started to fall in love with health and fitness, but this was next level for me.
He took one look at me and said, "Okay Vanessa, we've got two options here, accutane or birth control". You can imagine my excitement about being told there is not one, but TWO solutions to my acne! Little did I know, neither of those were actual longterm fixes, just bandaids. After some convincing, my mom let me go on the birth control pill when I was about 15 years old. Miraculously, my acne cleared in a matter of months. But, I struggled with feeling anxious, moody, irritable, and having more severe binges than ever before. I also decided to go full on vegan at this time too. I stayed on the birth control pill (and continued privately struggling with my eating disorder) until I was 19 years old when I decided to come off.
I started to learn so much more about hormones, nutrients, mindset, stress, metabolism, digestion and my cycle that I was able to clear my acne from the inside out, regulate my period, heal my PMS symptoms, give my body the nourishment it needed and dramatically improve my relationship with food, all which led me to finally end the binge & purge cycle once and for all. From there, I found the fertility awareness method for birth control (after having complications with the Copper IUD) and have never looked back. As painful as it was, I am so thankful for this entire journey for leading me down a path of education and now a career centred around helping others on their health journey.