I am fascinated by the connection between our physical and emotional wellbeing.

In this interview, I talked to Clara, a Denver based nutrition therapist, to chat about her views on food and health and how she empowers herself daily to live her best life.

How do you work to help people feel better physically?
- I am a certified nutrition therapy practitioner so I work with clients who have a range of different health symptoms and complaints.
- Having a highly clinical education in nutrition, I blend this scientific knowledge of biology and physiology, with my deep and personal understanding of the emotional components of dietary and lifestyle change. By blending the clinical with the energetic, I create customized nutrition and lifestyle programs that facilitate true mind-body transformation for my clients.
- On a physical level, I work with people from the perspective that their symptoms are clues to the physiological imbalances taking place in their body. Instead of trying to mask symptoms with whatever means possible, I figure out the root cause of my clients’ health issues. I do this by using my clinical training in, and deep understanding of, human physiology and nutrition. With this knowledge and experience, I address the specific nutrient imbalances, body systems failures, hormone disparities, and energy production issues.
- I find that as I teach people how to support their bio-individual bodies through real food, good quality sleep, joyful movement, proper digestion, and stress management techniques their physical symptoms start to disappear.
As you help people feel better physically, what impact do you see that having on their mental health and relationships?
- It’s difficult to say what happens first: the physical improvements or the mental and relational improvements.
- I believe deeply (and my experience working with people speaks to this) that the mind and body are connected. I think of real health as having four sides: physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental. If we don’t look at, and address all four sides of this ‘total health box’, then we will never be able to fully heal.
- With this belief driving every customized nutrition and lifestyle plan I create for my clients, I see my clients’ physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health improving all together, as one. They are all interchangeable.
- For example, when you start to feel more energetic because your physiological energy production is unhindered by toxic foods, then it becomes easier to think more positively about moving your body. When you move your body in a way that feels good and energizes you, you’re more inclined to feel more emotionally stable. When you feel more emotionally stable you are more likely to pursue personal development and activities that give you a sense of purpose and connection.
- This is just one simple progression that could begin by simply by eating in a way that makes your physiology more efficient and conducive to easy energy production.
What's something you've learned about wellness that they didn’t teach you in school?
- I’ve learned that real health success stories come when a person stops trying to find the answers to their health problems outside of themselves, but, instead, starts to rely on their body’s own signals to determine what is good for them and not good for them.
- Admittedly this takes some coaching (that’s what I’m good for!) and time to deconstruct old habits and learn your body’s language again. But learning your body’s language, trusting it to tell you when something is off, and having the commitment to make a change when your body does give you that sign, is the most powerful tool for your health.
If you could suggest one thing for my readers to do to help them live their best life, what would that be?
- I would suggest to your readers that they create a morning routine.
- A morning routine can be the first baby step that leads towards huge habit shift in the long run. It’s a commitment to starting each day in the same, grounding way.
- Commit to waking up a set amount of time before you have to leave for work or before your kids wake up and drink some warm lemon water, do some stretching, meditate, eat a breakfast full of protein and good quality fat, then drink your coffee, and get ready for you day.
- This is just an example, you can do anything that works for you and makes you feel sane, grounded, and cared for. The power in a morning routine is that it sets the stage for your whole day and makes it many times more likely that you will stick to healthier habits if you don’t feel rushed, out of control, or frantic.