Hi, I’m Jenny
Founder + CEO
Through a series of my life’s twists and turns, I’ve ended up practicing functional nutrition. I’m willing to bet that there’s not a single functional practitioner out there who doesn’t have their own amazing story of health and healing to share. The best holistic practitioners end up practicing this way out of necessity (usually to help themselves or a loved one) versus just curiosity.
Sometimes it feels like I went down one of those crazy water slides (the ones where you’re inside of a tube) and got spit out and simply landed here…but looking back I can see this is where I’m meant to be. All of the seemingly random pieces and hardships along the way I’m now realizing serve a much higher purpose.
So here’s how it all started…
My dad’s also a small business owner. Growing up, I watched him run his business and was always amazed at how he handled things and loved talking to him about his job and company. Simultaneously, I was blessed with a stay-at-home mom who is an amazing cook. Her love of food is very contagious, so there’s that combo already brewing.
I also played a lot of sports and was very active growing up. I’m the kind of personality that needs to move, I can’t sit still. Whenever I’m feeling out of sorts the remedy is almost always yoga or a walk. And when I’m not pregnant or nursing a little, I love a good run with a rap mix, Orange Theory, or Crossfit type workout.
So, exercise has always been essential for me. All I knew about myself in college was that I loved exercise and definitely could never, ever sit at a desk all day in a typical 9-5 job. So naturally, I studied Kinesiology/exercise science and became ACSM certified. I started off as a personal trainer in a gym and it just wasn’t the job for me. Trying to sell training sessions to people as they were working out felt awkward and there was no room for growth.
My real interest at the time was learning to help people (especially women) with weight loss. At the time I had several clients who were doing all of the right things for weight loss but were still struggling. More on this later but it turns out there are several reasons why weight loss isn’t as simple as eating less and moving more.
So there I was, bored and uncomfortable working at a gym trying to help people figure out this weight loss thing. I realized nutrition was at least half of the puzzle and I really wasn’t qualified to speak on that as a personal trainer.
So, back to school, I went to become a registered dietitian!
Long story short, I {very} fatefully ended up studying nutrition in the Master of Science Program at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
While I was there, one of my classmates went on a special diet that ended up really helping her psoriasis. At the same time, I had a family member who was really struggling with some health issues (horrible debilitating acid reflux and crippling anxiety). So my thought was well if this program and diet helped with psoriasis, let’s see what it can do for acid reflux!
Through the process of helping this family member, I was introduced to a slew of things I’ve now spent several years studying and helping people with: food sensitivities, candida, dysbiosis, nutrient deficiencies, understanding the role of antibiotics and medication history on gut health and nutritional status, underlying causes of anxiety, nutrigenetics…it just goes on and on and on!
So I was learning about those things, overseeing my family member’s diet (which was lifesaving – I wish I was exaggerating), and finishing my degree. I was also going to doctor’s appointments with this family member and saw firsthand how broken our healthcare system is. Literally a pill for any ill! No looking for root causes and barely any listening to patients. We even had a gastroenterologist tell us “I’ve also got esophageal ulcers, acid reflux is normal”
Are you kidding me!?!
A doctor is telling us it’s okay and normal to feel bad? How (and more importantly why) has this become the norm?
It was eye-opening and unbelievable. Also, frustrating and unacceptable.
As soon as I graduated from my Master’s program, I started building this business. When I started, it was called Balance Fitness and Nutrition. I started with a focus on weight loss, but now my interests were starting to shift. If acid reflux and anxiety were symptoms of a larger imbalance, likely so were other diagnoses.
I started seeing the process of weight loss and struggling in this area differently, too. It’s so much more than calories in and calories out. In the world of functional nutrition, thyroid labs are looked at differently (simply being within normal limits might not be OK), and nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, toxic burden, and hormonal imbalances should also be assessed if someone is struggling with weight loss.
In the early days, most of my clients found me searching for MRT/LEAP Test providers. I did a ton of work with LEAP and really loved having a program built around food sensitivity testing. Every now and then though, I’d get a client who needed additional testing and a deeper look into his or her health issues. This led me to pursue an additional three years of coursework in more formal integrative and functional nutrition training, which I completed in 2017.
Fast forward five years, two kids, one hell of a fight with cancer, and a pandemic later…let’s just say I’m currently working on slowing down, honoring my intuition, and am probably the least judgemental person you’ll ever meet!
For more information on my professional background, check out my professional biography below!
Professional biography
A business owner, wife, mom, and now a cancer survivor, Jenny is also a registered and licensed dietitian and ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist®.
She holds a Master of Science in Nutrition from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (the study of movement) from James Madison University.
Jenny has worked in the health and wellness industry since 2006. During this time, she’s helped hundreds of clients improve their well-being through diet and exercise. Jenny is passionate about improving the health of others by helping them get to the root causes of their health issues. This passion has led her to pursue further training in Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy.
Jenny has lived in the Atlanta area since 2008. When she is not working, you can find her in her garden, doing yoga, or spending time with her growing family, friends, and beloved Dalmatian.