A Holistic Nutrition + Fitness Coach
Hi! My name is Jacquie, and I’m a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I want to share my story with you to help you understand that health and wellness is a journey and not something that happens overnight. My motto in life has always been “life is about the little things.” This is why I named my business “Little Adapts By Jax”. At the beginning of 2016, I decided that I was no longer going to do any sort of strict diet and/or workout regiment. I just wanted to make really small changes when it came to eating and working out that allowed me to live my life without feeling restricted. The key to living a healthy lifestyle is wanting to take care of yourself and your body. It is important to remember that in order to find this balance you have to be kind to yourself and trust that over time you will discover the right diet and lifestyle for you. My blog is a way for me to share my advice and recipes with you as well help those that need a health coach for a more personalized journey with love and support that you need to lead a healthy and happy life! Below is my journey to how I got to today.
My Journey
I played sports when I was in high school so I never really had to think about eating healthy and working out until I was in college. I’m sure you can all relate to this that it is sometimes difficult to balance school, social activities, work, etc. Even in college if I felt like I needed to lose some weight, my roommates and I would do the “South Beach Diet” and 10 pounds came right off in two weeks, just to gain it back in a few days. I also went through phases throughout the summers where I would run everyday and look great for the start of the fall semester. However, this never lasted either as these “crash” diets were never sustainable long term.
After college, it got even harder as I commuted from Long Island to NYC for a full year and literally had no time to work out. Then my career progressed into a traveling sales role where I had to travel 3 weeks out of the month. This may have been the most difficult time in my life when it came to eating healthy and working out because I ate most meals out along with getting drinks with my colleagues either before or after the meal. Due to the stress of being in sales and literally living out of a suitcase, I started to develop cystic acne, bad digestion, and overall just exhausted. For a while, I dismissed it as I had been able to eat whatever I wanted my whole life and never had issues. As time went on, my skin got worse and my stomach was always bloated. It got to the point where I was always crying and upset because of how sick I felt. I had gone to various doctors who told me to go on Acutane for my skin and that my digestion issue was just another form of IBS. I decided to take matters into my own hands and started doing research on the internet and eventually learned about elimination diets and common trigger foods. I noticed that dairy was a big trigger for me as well as large doses of gluten. When I realized how much dairy effected me, I was pretty upset since I loved cheese, ice cream, chocolate, etc. The ironic part is that my dad literally owns a dairy company. I have to tell you this was really tough for me in the beginning and continues to be something that I deal with constantly. I just took it day by day and did as much research to find alternative products and recipes for the foods I once loved.
As for working out, I mentioned earlier that I played sports in high school and finding a routine and building good habits took some time. My favorite form of exercise has always been running. Running helped me in two ways: 1. Kept me in shape 2. Helped me deal with stress. During the time I traveled for work (which was about 3 years ago), I trained for my first half marathon with my fiancé. This initially forced me to work out on the road and stay in shape. From there, I went onto do 5 more half marathons – each time training a new person for their first race. Eventually, I went onto do my first marathon in NYC (2015). Now that I have a few races under my belt, I still continue to do about 1 race per year but have found other forms of fitness that I love, including spin, barre, yoga, circuit training, boxing, and even a Miami dance class. The key is to find a form of fitness that you love and works for your body, and you’ll be much happier for it.
