Rethink Nourishment. That is the name of the business I established in 2014, as part of my “Things To Do Before I Turn 30” list. One summer morning and “mental health day,” I walked into the county clerk’s office, third in line, with paperwork in hand. I remember feeling nervous, thinking, “Sure I don’t have a game plan, but this is one step in the right direction. I’ll figure the rest out.”

Little did I know that it would take me four years, and many days, weeks, and months on end of feeling stifled in my own thoughts, with seemingly never ending periods characterized by darkness, confusion, self-doubt, hopelessness and the like to have THE THING that I needed most, CLARITY, finally emerge and offer relief.

Humble Beginnings & “The Cloud”

Don’t get me wrong, I did hustle, and I did do some work under my business name in 2014 and 2015. My sister helped get me my first client, by offering to pay for one of her staff to embark in nutrition consultations with me, and I sold some grain-free, dairy free pies for a couple of holiday seasons. With a full-time job at hand, neither seeing clients nor selling pies, really took off.

In those four years, I also went through several legal pads and excel sheets, to create several iterations of what exactly I would offer in this food and nutrition business I intended to establish. I had the “right idea” at least a dozen times, but reverted to uninspired and misaligned each and every time.

The Rebirth & Pursuing “CLARITY”

So what changed? Well for starters, in 2017, I decided for about the sixth time, that I could not go on working my job of six years. This time, life circumstances were more amenable than prior years to allow for that kind of change (translation: it was the first time in three years that I did not have all-consuming life events sucking up every little, last moment of my free time).

In addition, I appealed to my greatest ally, my husband, with tears, cries, and pleas of desperation to band with me to get me out of my job in 2018. It wasn’t easy, but it worked.

In early 2018, I left my job for the pursuit of CLARITY… knowing that, with time, the ugly, dense, dark cloud that had hung over my head in my endless pursuit of fulfillment in careers that were not right for me, would lift and give me the confidence and clarity needed for me to discover and realize my true potential.

Thus in 2018, with some detours along the way, Rethink Nourishment was reborn.

Synopses of the Protagonist

Let me pause this story, and tell you a little bit about who I am. As my current profile reads, “I am Claudia, daughter of immigrants, devoted wife and mother, lifelong achiever, and proud perfectionist.”

Texas born, I developed an American streak of independence, self-sufficiency, and hope for big dreams and a strong work ethic from my parents who worked relentlessly to provide. One dream, I dreamt of often, perhaps because my parents always talked about owning a coffee shop, was the dream of owning my own food business.

As a child, I earned the title of “teacher’s pet,” not because I liked sucking up to my teachers, but because I was smart, well behaved, and even at a young age, I possessed a relentless drive for achievement. Though my sense of achievement took a back seat for most of my teen years to make room for boys, I did begin to develop an awareness of food and how it impacted my weight.

Struggles With Weight and Body Image

My struggle with weight began in my early childhood when I experienced punishment for eating practically nothing and was later shamed for helping myself to thirds at dinner. From the age of six on, I viewed myself as “fat,” though I was a little chubby at best.

I will never forget my freshman year in high school, when a boy in my history class asked me if ate too much turkey on Thanksgiving. In all honesty, my Argentine grandmother had just visited my family and fed us fresh baked breads, stews, desserts, and other delicious dishes for days on end.

Nonetheless, the boy’s comment sent me into a spiral of unhealthy eating habits and beliefs that I would not outgrow until I was a young adult. I began sucking in my stomach wherever I went and skipped breakfast daily. For lunch, I drank sugary lemonade and ate one Almond Joy chocolate bar, and I skipped dinner whenever possible. If I ate large portions of junk food, I would try to make myself throw up.

Through high school, I went in and out of diets and exercise regimens that led me to feel fatigued and take three hour naps after school every day. Despite flat abs and a cute figure, in my perfectionist mind, I still believed that I was fat.

Before attending college, I was terrified of “the freshman 15,” so I decided to lose 15 pounds before going to college. I exercised for several hours a day, cut out all sugar and fat, and often ate poorly balanced meals, with very little protein. I lost an unsustainable 15 pounds before moving into my dorm room that summer.

Hold On— Maybe I’ve Got This Figured Out

As a college student, I made friends with other girls who liked to work out every day, ate slightly less strictly, and maintained my slim physique. But when I thought that I had discovered the secret to maintaining my “ideal weight,” I learned that my high school sweetheart and I were having a baby. We were optimistic about raising a child while finishing our education, so we moved off campus and began preparing our own meals at home.

If you have ever seen the cartoon or movie scenes where there is a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, that is what meal time was like in my marriage to my high school sweetheart. I worked hard to plan “healthy meals” with baked chips, sprouted, low sodium bread, and pureed asparagus, hidden in rice, while he would bring home frozen pizzas, burritos, snack cakes, and fast food cheeseburgers. At my worst, I could devour two double stacked fast food cheeseburgers with a side of fries covered in cheese and bacon and still have room for dessert.

While fast food cheeseburgers were certainly a low point, I went through some high points in my diet and exercise journey, and I ate mostly healthy as I completed my coursework for my degree in Nutrition. However, my diet did not transform to what it is today until I was working in my industry, divorced from my high school sweetheart, and experiencing excruciating knee and elbow joint pain while running and lifting weights-- and even in my wrists, while gently steering my car to drive it.

Discovering My Food Sensitivities

As it happens, around the same time, I interviewed for a nutritionist position with an integrative physician who recommended elimination diets to help patients identify food sensitivities and heal. I did not get the job, but I did become curious about elimination diets. Through research and experimentation, I discovered that my body hated gluten and possibly dairy… and this is THE MOMENT my life changed.

The next eight years involved a lot of experimentation and self-diagnosis, where I recognized, for the first time, the relationship of my symptoms, such as insomnia, psoriasis, depression, night sweats, joint pain, inflammation, and MUCH more, with certain foods that I ate. I eliminated gluten completely from my diet and kicked my “four cups of coffee a day” habit.

Over time, with refinement (and I keep refining), I developed a diet that works optimally for me and is 100 percent gluten-free, mostly grain, dairy, soy, and legume free, low caffeine, and minimal alcohol. Of course, I still practice sound dietary principles, such as eating lots of fruits and vegetables, keeping sugar to a minimum, drinking lots of water, consuming healthy fats, eliminating processed foods, selecting quality plant and animal ingredients (organic, grass-fed, etc.), and more. However, structuring my diet to avoid gluten and reduce certain foods such as dairy, caffeine, and alcohol has made the greatest difference, and my aching joints and other debilitating symptoms have disappeared completely.

**Update (5/2/2019) I want to update you so that you know that I tweaked the services and areas I focus on, in Rethink Nourishment.

In this blog post, you might read about some services I no longer offer, such as boutique cooking classes, gluten-free catering, and restaurant consulting! I guess I wanted to offer everything I am good at, as it relates to nutrition. However, I decided to stick to my roots, and the reason I started Rethink Nourishment in the first place,— to change people’s mind about food, to help people have a happy, healthy, and more free relationship with food— something I believe we all deserve and can accomplish!

As it relates to this core message, I offer nutrition counseling to help people navigate their food relationship.

Back to the Present

This brings me back to Rethink Nourishment in 2018. Why? Over the years:

1. I tested tons of gluten-free and Paleo recipes, learned to maintain a consistent weight, broken diet addictions, became skilled in the art of negotiating my diet, and shared my tactics with, and motivated many.

2. I educated and encouraged thousands of people through nutrition and cooking classes and training.

3. I advocated for clear labeling of prepared foods or restaurant menu items, so that people like me, trying to avoid certain foods, could make informed decisions.

4. I applied my perfectionist tendencies to plan the most perfectly thought out, curated menus, décor, and ambiance, for everything from my daughter’s first birthday party, to my wedding, to a Super Bowl party, and much more.

My family and friends have screamed to me, “YOU are TALENTED, just DO IT already!”

The ACHIEVER in me is finally ready to go for it-- for myself, for the people I will serve, and for those who will receive, from those who I have served.

Read below to learn more about how I serve.

Rethink Nourishment offers curated, boutique cooking and nutrition classes and workshops that entertain and teach while providing a signature, curated experience.

Rethink Nourishment’s offers exclusively gluten-free catering services and can accommodate a wide range of special diets including Paleo, dairy-free, vegetarian, and more. Ingredients are selected for flavor and are as organic, local, and sustainable as possible.

As a nutrition professional and passionate advocate for clear labeling, Rethink Nourishment offers customized, one on one consulting to help restaurants meet the needs of customers with restrictive diets.

With humble beginnings in nutrition coaching, Rethink Nourishment offers diet and lifestyle coaching to individuals trying to lose or maintain their weight, manage their dietary restrictions, achieve their best health, and make lasting dietary changes.

If you or someone you know is experiencing an eating disorder, visit the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) website for help and support. If you believe that you have a food allergy, visit the Food Allergy Research & Education website. Visit this website for more information about elimination diets.