Why I want to help you

I have had borderline high cholesterol since my early twenties. That has always been frustrating, because I have made healthy food choices and stayed active the whole time. My cholesterol hovered between 200 and 220 mg/dL anyway.

Genetics is part of it. My family history is not good. One grandmother died of a heart attack at 69, and it was not her first. One grandfather did not recover from quadruple bypass surgery. Another died of a heart attack a year before I was born. My remaining grandmother lives with diabetes, though she might argue that point.

I have always been interested in nutrition and in the idea of food as medicine. That is what led me to a double bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science and to becoming a Registered Dietitian in 1999. I am also a Licensed Nutritionist in South Dakota. I opened my own practice in 2007 and have specialized in heart health since, teaching people how to manage cholesterol and blood pressure through what they eat.

“My own cholesterol is now in the 160s. That came from making conscious changes and staying with them. It has held for years.”

When it creeps back up I know how to bring it down again with intentional changes. That is really what this comes down to. Not a one-time fix, but knowing what moves your numbers so you can do it again when you need to.

That is the point of this site. Not a diet, not a supplement, not a quick fix. The specific changes that move your numbers, in the order that makes them easiest to keep, so you have something real to bring to the conversation with your doctor.

Education

1. 1999Kansas State UniversityB.S. Nutrition and Exercise Science, Cum Laude
2. 2000Department of Veterans Affairs Medical CenterDietetic Internship

Experience

1. 2007 to presentPrivate Practice DietitianSelf-employed
2. 2001 to 2006Community Health DietitianSouth Dakota Department of Health

I particularly enjoyed community nutrition. I worked with people managing elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol, and I saw how much difference the right information makes when it is specific enough to act on. Knowing what to do is one thing. Actually changing how you eat, week after week, is a different problem entirely.

A few things about me

I live in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I stay active, and I have a habit of signing up for things that have me questioning my life choices, usually somewhere in the middle of training and again at the event itself.

In 2023 I completed 29029 Mountain at Snowbasin in Utah. You climb 29,029 vertical feet, the height of Everest, and you have 36 hours to do it. It took me 32. In 2024 I did 29029 Trail at Lake Tahoe, which is three mountain marathons in three days.

These days it is mostly pickleball, plus hiking, kayaking, and biking. I have three daughters who keep life interesting.

I read constantly and will read almost anything. Fiction, nonfiction, mystery, adventure, whatever is in front of me.

I love to travel. Some favorites so far are Glacier National Park, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, Tulum, Normandy, Hawaii, Washington D.C., and New York City.