In 2011, nine days before my birthday I had a stroke. My entire life crumbled right before my eyes.

To say that I was shocked is a huge understatement. Up until then, I was in the gym a minimum of 2 hours a day so I thought I was at the top of my health game. That was not the case by a long shot.

All I was doing was stacking supplements, dieting REALLY hard and wasn't happy with how I looked or how I performed. I was incredibly hard on myself, never celebrating my achievements and wins.

Instead I was always beating myself up and self-love was nothing but weakness to me.My 45 minute sprint runs were a massive disappointment, and I would ask myself why I didn’t do a full hour.No matter how much I would do, nothing was ever good enough.The stroke forced me to slow down.The doctors never found a cause for it and sent me home with the standard post-stroke medications.

Unable to work and go back to the gym, I panicked and despaired, wondering if I would ever be able to restore my health. I needed to be healthy, at least for my children.So I began doing research.What I discovered forever changed me and my life.I had no idea how important mindset really is.No matter how clean the diet is, if the mindset is not where it should be, no amount of healthy food and working out can keep ill-health at bay. Mindset literally creates either health or disease, one thought at a time. Diet and lifestyle add to it.

I realized that along my mindset, my diet had been horrible. I was avoiding eating things because it said so on TV. I was afraid of eating fat and sugar like they were the plague. When I realized that all sugar and all fat are NOT created equal, I was finally able to start my healing journey. Sugar in an apple is not the same as the sugar in a pastry and the fat in an avocado is not the same as the fat in bacon. And protein is definitely not the most important nutrient the body needs – it’s actually the least important.

My body had been starved of nutrients that it desperately needed for optimal health and my mindset was too negative for health to even be possible.The medications prescribed by the doctors as my post-stroke care were not helping me heal, in fact they were making things worse.The side effects were making me sicker and my health seemed more out of reach than ever. I wanted to heal myself more than anything and was willing to do whatever it took. I wanted to be around for my children, if for nothing else.

I couldn't even bear the thought of leaving a 5 year old and a 10 year old without a mother. When I ended up back in the hospital I realized that I needed to make a change and I needed to make it NOW. Life doesn't offer a rehearsal. I only had one chance at the real thing. After learning about how important mindset is, I set on a journey of transformation.

I took control of my thoughts and directed them towards self-love, appreciation, gratitude and healing. Since eating is something we do multiple times a day, I decided that I will never starve my body of what it needs to function properly ever again. And because health is built on habits, I set out to replace the ones that didn’t serve me with ones that would not only help me heal, but continue to keep me healthy for the rest of my life. For the first time I saw a bright future full of hope and amazing health. I enrolled in school to learn all that I could because I wanted to help others suffering from poor health and the pain that comes with it – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

I learned that amazing health is possible for EVERYONE, no matter how dire the situation seems. If I could come back from a stroke - a leading cause of death (under cardiovascular disease) - healthier than ever, anyone can achieve the same level of health.

I’m now a Holistic Transformation Coach. I say holistic because that’s how I see my clients - as whole individuals, more than just a body and more than just a mind. We are all the sum of a multitude of things, each crucial to overall health, success and happiness. After studying nutrition, holistic approaches to cancer, regenerative detoxification, hypnosis and mindset development, I know the pillars of true health and a superior life.

All that helps me design custom transformation programs that eliminate limiting beliefs, erroneous paradigms and programs that are detrimental to a healthy and happy life. I coach to support transformation of the whole individual - mindset transformation that supports new beliefs and health transformation that supports the body's natural inclination towards superior health, vitality and longevity!