Hello!! Welcome to my very first blog post for Caitlin’s Cupboard. Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Caitlin. And I have a cupboard. Obviously. I am a certified health coach, a licensed massage therapist and a health nut. I have worn many hats in this lifetime, but the Mom Hat is probably the most important. I mean, I am part of the puzzle responsible for making sure the next generation is part of the solution instead of part of a problem. That’s kind of a big deal.
For me, the holistic view of health is my biggest passion. I truly believe that if you find a way to care deeply about the quality of things you put in and on your body, you will start to care more about Earth’s body, too. I want my kid to have streams to play in, fish to eat, mud pies to make. These things are increasingly hazardous with an abundance of chemicals purposefully and inadvertently being applied to everything we touch. So, that kind of makes me a bit of a modern hippy, and I’m OK with that. Reducing exposure to carcinogens, hormone disrupting chemicals, and in general not supporting billion dollar industries to live healthily is my game plan. It’s economical, it’s fun, and it’s delicious. I feel good about my nutrition and my family’s nutrition. I feel good about supporting local and small businesses.
And I straight up just FEEL GOOD.
I didn’t always, though.
I got sick a lot as a kid, and into my twenties. I had chronic annoying things like allergies constantly plaguing me, and eventually my skin began breaking down into worsening eczema. I was prone to zits. To bouts of depression. Although I was statistically “healthy”, I didn’t know what healthy felt like until I made serious changes to my diet. It’s been about 10 years since I took those first few serious steps, and I have been the healthiest and strongest I’ve been in my entire life. A few minor colds, but nothing that’s beat me up the way a cold used to. And my son seems to be benefitting from our nutritious ways as well. At 3.5, he’s remained ear infection free, fever free, and generally symptomless during colds except for some typical excess runny nose stuff. He’s never had to take an antibiotic. The lifestyle pays off. I don’t believe for a second it is luck.
Over the course of my blog, I will share many of the healthy ways we run things in our house. I started this path at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in 2006, in a program which made me question everything I thought I knew about healthy food. I will talk about those kinds of “a-ha” moments, plus advice I’ve collected over the years from a bevy of more natural inclined doctors, naturopaths, and researchers, and some old school traditional nutritional principles that just make sense to me. I will talk about what’s trending in health and nutrition. There are a lot of theories out there, and I have a lot of opinions.
But that’s not all folks! Because I am a licensed massage therapist, and spend most of my working hours correcting people’s posture and helping them rehab from injuries and chronic stress, I’ll chit chat about those things,too. Eating healthy food is only a part of my passion project. Because isn’t the phrase “diet and exercise” ubiquitous?
So there’s my nutshell. I hope to inspire you to try some healthy tricks with things you may already have in your own cupboard!