Why I Became a Nutritionist

Learn the backstory of why Laura decided to become a nutritionist as well as how she did it.

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New Mama Energy Guide

New Mama Nutrition Manual

Transcript

You’re listening to the Love and Lettuce podcast episode 33. We are getting into why I became a nutritionist, so stick around and listen in.

Hey, this is Lauren Lima, holistic nutritionist and founder of New mama nation, and host of the love and lettuce podcast. I am here to help mamas know what to eat to give them energy and help them feel fantastic. So they can better enjoy life with their littles. And remember, this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only, and does not replace medical advice from your health care provider. And it’s not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, please consult your healthcare provider to find out what is right for you. With that said, let’s get to the show.

Could you use more energy Mama, I mean, who couldn’t right?

Get my free new mama energy guide where I’ll give you 10 tips to increase your energy Step. Go to http://bit.ly/newmamas to get your free copy.

I still remember it like it was yesterday.

My then boyfriend now husband Miguel, walked up to me at no frills where I was working. This is actually where I worked for many years. It was my very first job. I was a cashier and I loved it. I was one of those kids that longed to be a cashier when she grew up and I loved playing cashier. Pressing the buttons, the groceries, and pretending when I was a kid, I loved it.

And that carried on into my first teenage job. Loved it. And literally, I would go back like I actually miss it. It was so much fun, just typing in all the codes and doing it as fast as I could and getting the money and getting the cash. The change back. It was just so much fun. And that, by the way, is where I met Miguel, my now husband, he was the grocery manager. And I was like who is that? Oh, okay. Miguel, Miguel to aisle three, please. Or I should say Miguel to lane three, please for a price check.

It was fun when I got to do that. Because, you know, I got to see him. So anyways, that’s where we met. Cute. And that was a long time ago. I was 16 when I met him. Anyway, so he came up one day. And he told me, there was a girl doing a demo down by the bread bin. Okay, so we had a bread bin where you can get one or 12 buns, whatever. And there was a girl, a lady, whatever. She was set up doing a demo.

So she was demoing, I actually think it was ham and salami or some kind of like cold cuts. She worked for a company that was doing a demo in the store no frills, and Miguel and she had gotten into a pretty interesting conversation that he told me at least he thought it would be interesting to me.

I can always rely on his outgoing self to strike up a conversation with anyone and everyone about like literally anything and everything. He’s definitely the outgoing one in this relationship. I love talking to people and having conversations, but he definitely is the outgoing one if there was just one here. So anyway, he told me that I had talked to this girl. That she was attending a school that sounded right up my alley. And I was like, Okay, so as soon as I would be able to get off cash, I went down to have a little conversation with her. And I am so glad I did it literally changed the direction of my life. At 16 years old. Actually, I think I was 17 by then.

The Institute of Holistic Nutrition

But anyway, so she told me all about this school called the Institute of Holistic Nutrition. She was a current student at the time, and she was telling me how much she loved it. And I was like, Wait, a nutrition school to become a holistic nutritionist to help people with their health by educating them about foods, nutrients, supplements and lifestyle upgrades? Heck, yes! Count me in.

I had never even thought of this as a career before. I hadn’t thought of it at all, let alone as a career that I could have. So I went home that night after my shift. I looked it up online. And I applied. Yes, that evening, I had already sent an application mere hours after learning about its existence. So I just knew it was my calling and that I would love it. And I did.

But it actually didn’t start there

So let’s rewind a bit right back to after I graduated high school. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I mean I was 17 After all, how can you possibly know for sure when you are literally a teenager what you want to do? For the rest of your life. Now, at that time, I had always loved the idea of teaching, but I didn’t have enough quote “university level” classes to apply for university straight away. I would have to attend college first with the plan to eventually transfer.

One thing that had come up for me a few times while I was in high school was the idea of becoming an esthetician. And I was like, Oh, that’d be fun. I would love to give manicures, pedicures facials, massages, the full spa experience to clients. I would love to give them that relaxing experience while painting their nails, while giving them this awesome facial that was so good for their skin but also gave them so much relaxation. So I was like, You know what, being an esthetician, that’d be really fun. And actually, that was a reason that I didn’t take university level classes when I got to choose college or university level in high school.

Because I was like, You know what, I’m gonna go to aesthetic school. I don’t need those university level classes. Let’s just do the college level – make it easier for myself, because I don’t need the other ones. Well, as it turns out, it was a lot of fun to be an esthetician. I loved it. I saw clients at home, mostly my mom’s friends, and my friends would come over, and family. The guestroom upstairs which used to be my sister’s room when she lived with my parents. I use that room as my spa room. And I loved it. I also worked at Luba Mara spa, which is no longer but it was like an awesome spa in Hamilton. And yeah, I loved it.

But I still needed something more

And as much as I truly did love giving my clients an awesome spa experience. pampering them with pedicures, facials, massages, body treatments, I found that the conversations I had with them was actually my favorite part. These conversations often got into health and I loved sharing with them. What little I knew back then.

Oh, yeah, I’ve heard a free range chicken is better.
Oh, yep. Coconut oil is definitely the thing to eat.
Have you heard avocado is all the rage.

Like whatever little I knew back then. And I mean, I did definitely know snippets. My parents were more on the healthy side growing up. And so I got exposed to the health food store that actually I ended up working at, we will talk about that soon. But I remember shopping there from when I was such a little girl, I loved it. And so I was exposed to health supplements, the alternatives, you know, healthier alternatives to the typical ingredients and the typical foods from an early age. And I really commend my parents for that. I really am grateful because they opened that up to me. So it was already like this natural normal thing.

And so now fast forward years, when I’m working with my aesthetic clients, I was able to have these conversations and really enjoy educating other people from what little I knew. They were like, what, Oh, interesting. And I found that I love talking about this stuff. Okay. Okay, what needs to happen, hear them? You know, like all those things that I would read in magazines or learn about at the health food store. Again, that’s coming up soon.

The AHA Moment

So let’s talk about what was the aha moment for me? Well, I knew in my bones that there was something different out there for me, but I just wasn’t sure what. But I did know that I’d always had an interest in nutrition and health. And now I knew I loved passing on the info that I learned and chatting to anyone who would listen I was like, Hey, have you heard about this? Hey, did you know about that? And some people were like, BORING, and others were like rock, really cool. So I just loved it.

Enter demo girl during one of my shifts at no frills because I kept working there. Well, after becoming an esthetician. I will always be grateful for our conversation and Miguel’s outgoing personality, which meant that obviously he would strike up a conversation with her and find out where she was going to school. But really, it was a chance meeting that was obviously meant to happen. After all, this is how my life now is and I freakin’ love it.

So here’s how I did it

After the school, the Institute of Holistic Nutrition. After they received my application, they contacted me to schedule an interview/meeting with the founder, Elizabeth. Oh, Elizabeth. She is this bright and vibrant personality with a huge smile and a warm disposition. And I immediately fell even more in love with my new school. I was just like, Yep, this is it. So I signed up for the full time program, which would have me attending classes four times per week. It meant that I would be moving just over an hour away, living there during the week, and coming home on the weekends. And that is when I started working at my local health food store.

Goodness Me, shout out to you, Goodness Me Natural Food Market. That is a store that I’ve shopped at since I was so little – since I can remember. And that is a store where I worked for over 10 years. It turned out that I kept working there as I became a nutritionist, of course. And well after school finished. I absolutely loved it. And I only stopped working there after I went on that leave with Ellie. My first who was now four, I had plans to go back. But then I was like, You know what, I am staying home and doing my own thing. So I can be home with my kids, and have my own business in nutrition.

And listen, I’m so freakin happy with my life. I’m so excited, and I absolutely love it. But I did love those years that Goodness Me as well, so much fun! So when I would come home on the weekends from nutrition school, I would work at Goodness Me. I absolutely loved that whole experience. I was learning and soaking in as much new information as I could during the week. And I was getting to use my newfound knowledge as I helped customers with their health questions on the weekends.

I couldn’t believe that was an actual job I could have helping people reduce undesired symptoms, while greatly improving their health. Using supplements, using natural foods, making these simple, seemingly simple changes in their diet from one thing to another. Taking one thing away, replacing it with another thing, adding in one more thing. And seeing the profound difference that could make. I would see these customers over and over. And they would say, oh my goodness, this is how I feel.

Now, this is the symptom that I want to look at helping now. This is the result of that thing that we talked about last week. I live for this stuff, and I still do. I love hearing how people’s health changes based on the foods that they eat, the supplements that they take the better sleep, that they get the way that they move their bodies. Yes, I absolutely live for it.

Today, the clients that I get to work with are new or newISH moms

So basically, these are moms up until the kid goes to school or the kids go to school. So it’s moms of newborns up to about four years old. And these moms, they want to know what to eat to have more energy, so they can better enjoy their motherhood. Because they’ve got no, they’ve got no options, they’ve got no choice but to be in this place called motherhood, this stage of life called motherhood. I love helping them know how they can better enjoy it, and how they can fit it into their already busy life.

New Mama Nutrition Manual + More

As a mom of two girls and a boy myself, I love sharing my knowledge and experience with other mamas. My very first online course is called the New Mama Nutrition Manual. You can go there, learn more about the course and my friend, you can sign up. This is what I offer one on one to my clients. But in an online course that you can do from the comfort of your own home. You can go through the entire three things in one day, or you can do it slowly.

This is the knowledge that I give to other people. This is what I love to help other people with. These are the basics that go further. These are the basics because they’re pretty simple to hear and implement them into your life, but they go further because they can make such a difference in your health and therefore in how you feel. I want your experience of motherhood to be an amazing one.

Of course, we’re gonna have days when we’re tired and of course, a lot of this has to do with our sleep as well and how much rest we’re able to get. But a lot of it has to do with our nutritional status and we have ultimate control over that we have. 100% power over that. I know we’re busy. I totally get it, I am right there with you. But we have the choice to have a better experience or not, based on our food choices. So, my friend, get into the New Mama Nutrition Manual. It is there waiting for you http://bit.ly/newmamas.

The bottom line

I became As a nutritionist, because I realized the importance of eating well and treating the body the way it deserves. After all, it’s the only one we’ve got. And I was literally itching to teach this to others. And thanks to some chance meeting that was obviously meant to happen, I discovered the pathway I could take to get me there. So I am just forever grateful for the conversation with the demo lady for my shift that happened to be that day. For rewinding even further back to high school.

I remember sitting beside Debbie, this girl named Debbie, she was sitting beside me in class one day, and she told me, I’m going to go apply at no frills tonight because I hear that they were hiring. And I was like no frills. I’ve never shopped there before. And I literally hadn’t, it just wasn’t a grocery store that I went to. Because there are so many and I just never had been there, I don’t think… maybe a couple of times. And I decided you know what, I’m gonna go apply there as well. And I actually don’t know if Debbie ended up applying there. But she didn’t end up working there. So I have no idea.

But I went for it. And I’m grateful for that. And I’m grateful for the demo Lady and the fact that I had met Miguel and he was working that day as well. It obviously all came together for a reason. And I’m just grateful for this place that I’m at in my life now where I get to be a nutritionist from home and teach online. I freaking love it. I love going on Instagram and getting my behind the scenes in my stories of how I make it work in my life. In my busy life, my busy mama life.

And I love doing reels and other Instagram posts where I, again, give you the behind the scenes but also show you recipes, tips and tricks, and health advice. I freaking love it. So, if you have any questions for me, please do go to Instagram. And you can send me a DM, Yes, you can, and I will get back to you there.

So I will talk to you next week. And I hope that you have an amazing week. Bye for now. And don’t forget to get your free copy of my new mama energy guide.

Just go to http://bit.ly/newmamas for instant access. Thanks for listening to the Love and Lettuce Podcast. To find out how to work with me and for more great info, check out newmamanation.com. This is Laura. Until next time, love and lettuce.