About Wild Veggie WomanI don't even remember where the name originated, but it always seemed to fit. Even though I'm no longer vegetarian, I'm wild about vegetables! In fact, I eat more veggies now than I did when I was a vegetarian. Weird how that can happen..
My real name is Stacie Whitney and I've always loved to talk about food! Food has shaped the path & flavor of my life. I became a vegetarian when I was 11, not for health reasons, but more because I was a pretty hard-core animal rights activist back then. I was a veg for 14 years, a vegan for the last 5 of those. Then one day, after eating fish on a wilderness survival course, my mind felt clearer than I could ever remember. My ability to focus and pay attention became acute, and I realized that something had been missing in my diet all those years. I began to listen to my body, instead of my mind. In addition to voraciously reading every book about food, diet or nutrition that ever came my way, I've also worked in several health food stores, a herbal apothecary, and in several restaurants & cafes (some veggie, some not). I've always been interested in education and the outdoors, and even spent a couple of wonderful years earning a Masters in Environmental Education. But I soon after recognized that my passion for health, well-being and food needed to play more of a role in my working life, so I attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), in New York City, to become a Holistic Health & Nutrition Counselor. I loved being in school with hundreds of others who were as passionate as I was (some even moreso) about food, nutrition, and holistic health. I was SO inspired by my fellow students, and by all of the incredible teachers we had (a few of my idols - I was beaming for days after). I made some amazing friends, some profound lifestyle changes, and some remarkable networking connections. After graduating, I set up my own practice, where I was seeing clients one-on-one. But I soon became aware that I was eager to reach a larger audience. I began doing some writing, teaching and even tried out public speaking on holistic nutrition topics, which I really enjoyed. And I felt so empowered! I'd always been interested in nutrition & health, but suddenly, I was doing it as a career. Before I graduated, I had 6 clients, and 4 of them had approached me. I'd done 2 public talks (on sugar), when my phone started ringing, and I had requests for more! Yes, people were calling me to be a public speaker at their event! My practice was growing nicely, when my husband and I got itchy feet and decided to leave rural Maine (where we'd spent the last 3 1/2 years) and travel for a while, with the intention of looking for a new home on the journey. I knew I could return to the nutrition work wherever/whenever we landed, because everyone eats! And in today's world, people everywhere are confused about what is truly healthy, and what is real food.* *Note* I tend to babble on a bit about IIN, because I found it such a transformative, empowering experience. If you want to know more about the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, you can sign up for a free Health Coach Starter Guide here . And tell them I sent you (Stacie Whitney). The guide is free, with no obligations, and if you decide to enroll, I get in their good books. ;) I am always happy to chat about, and answer questions about IIN, so you can also contact me here. At the end of an incredible voyage, which lasted about a year, we found ourselves back at Findhorn, in Scotland, where we'd first met years before. We're still here today, and now have a beautiful daughter. We are learning and growing each and every day! Along the way, my diet has been ever so varied. Inspired by one of my teachers, who believed that experience counted for everything, I've tried just about every diet out there, whether for weight loss, health, or just curiousity. Part of the purpose of this website is to relay my findings, and hopefully save others the trouble, by summarizing my discoveries. In the end, I truly believe that healthy eating is simple. We can make it as complicated as we wish, but it takes a great deal of time and energy to do so! Want to know why eating healthy is important to me? Click here! The idea for this website came a couple of years ago, when I was working on manifesting my dream job. I still felt drawn to my nutrition work, to helping others help themselves get healthy. And I still had that drive to reach a larger audience than the one-on-one practice had offered. But living in a rural area without a car, this seemed slightly challenging. And when my daughter came along, I suddenly didn't have the luxurious amounts of time and flexibility I'd had before. The internet was the perfect solution. I feel so lucky to have stumbled across Site Build It (SBI) in my search for lucrative work that combines my passion, creativity, and desire to stay at home & travel when I want. For more about what
SBI is and has done for many mothers who want to work from home, click here.
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