About Michelle
Like many, Michelle’s earliest memories of food come from her mother. Growing up, Michelle and her mom spent a great deal of time together in the kitchen. It’s where Michelle first learned about the magic of food. The flavors and textures. The way different ingredients come together to form something so much greater than the sum of the parts. It’s also where Michelle first learned that food is about so much more than nutrition. She saw the way her mom talked about food, and the way she looked when serving a new dish to their family. It was these moments that Michelle realized the full power of food, learning that it was as much about love as it was about fuel.
But as time went on, Michelle also learned that the power of food is not always positive. With the struggles of adolescence setting in, Michelle – like
many of her peers – began developing a difficult relationship with food. The age of body image and peer pressure set in, and Michelle no longer felt the
same love towards food that she did growing up in the kitchen with her mom. Thankfully, Michelle had a wonderful support group around her, and emerged on the other side of these struggles stronger than ever before. And it was in this moment that she realized what she was destined to do: help others like herself better understand the power of food, and teach them how to overcome their own challenges related to food and nutrition.
To accomplish her mission, Michelle studied Food, Nutrition and Health at The University of British Columbia, and upon graduation, completed the
training and certification required to become a Registered Dietitian. She then began work as an Oncology Dietitian, helping cancer patients develop
better nutritional plans in order to aid in their recovery. While Michelle loved the patients she was helping at the Cancer Centre, as time went on, she wondered if she could be doing more. It seemed that her work, while important, was only helping people who had already fallen ill. What if she could start leveraging the power of food to help people before they got sick?
And so, with nothing more than a dream and determination, Michelle opened up Westcoast Nutrition, a full-service nutritional program dedicated
to providing clients with proven, modern advice and tools to take control of their nutritional health. Whether it’s an athlete looking to better fuel their
performance, or a busy professional that turns to food to cope with stress at the office, Westcoast Nutrition offers personalized nutritional advice, skill
development, and the emotional support required to help clients break deeply engrained habits, and feel healthy and confident in their own skin.
In addition to the clients she serves at Westcoast Nutrition, Michelle continues to teach Sports Nutrition at Langara College. Oh, and she still spends time in the kitchen with her mom, who always has something new to teach her about the love of food.
About Westcoast Nutrition
Food doesn’t have to be the enemy…
Yet, so many people feel this way. Everyday stress and busyness, pressure from family, and years of feeling bad about our bodies can develop into a relationship with food that becomes so much more complex than just fuel and mindful pleasure. And it’s here where food becomes an enemy, leaving us with poor habits, emotional eating, and putting our body’s needs last. Westcoast Nutrition knows this story well, because we’ve experienced it first-hand.
Like many, our Founder and Registered Dietitian Michelle faced her own difficult period with food during her teens. But thankfully, she emerged from these struggles stronger than ever, and vowed from that day on to help others do the same. And thus, Westcoast Nutrition was born…
With modern society’s limitless access to information, it should be easier than ever to build a healthy lifestyle around diet and nutrition. Unfortunately, a great deal of the information available is outdated, incomplete, or downright false. That’s where Westcoast Nutrition comes in. Our passion for research and knowledge is second to none, and we relentlessly pursue the most modern of food and nutritional studies. We take pride in constantly learning from dietitian and nutrition experts across the country, ensuring we have the most current scientific information available.
Why do we go to such great lengths to stay educated? Because our goal is to provide modern food advice for the modern world. Each and every one of our clients receives a personalized training program that’s built specifically for their needs and based on the most current and accurate food science. The result? Our clients rebuild a healthy relationship with food, and are once again able to feel healthy and happy in their own skin, now and forever.
The official stuff:
Michelle is a Registered Dietitian and graduated from the University of British Columbia’s integrated program in 2009 with a BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health.
Before moving in to private practice full time, she taught sports nutrition at Langara College and spent close to a decade supporting patients going through cancer treatment with BC Cancer.
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