The Green Door Life Team
Melanie is an autoimmune illness advocate and functional nutrition coach in the Boulder Colorado area. Her passion is helping folx feel better and have more energy via nutrition and movement support.
Her health journey started early, she was born with several autoimmune disorders and made it her mission to better understand her body and how to advocate for her chronic illnesses (which is overlooked in today’s healthcare system). She strives to live in balance between her goals and what her body can happily do.
Looking to fuel her body correctly for constant energy and to lower inflammation, she became a client of the Green Door Life in early 2021. The program completely changed her perspective on food and lifestyle. She is now working towards her NANP board certification in holistic nutrition via Nutrition Therapy Institute so she can best support others with complex autoimmune bodies like herself.
She believes that all parts work together. It’s important to look at the whole, not just individual pieces of what your body is telling you on this health journey. She loves working with clients who are stumped on how to make their body feel better, are naturally curious, are open to testing different strategies together, and want to heal their relationship to food and movement.
Challenges I have Overcome Through Health Awareness
- Auto-immune and genetic disorders. My body is more complex than your average bear. I used to feel really powerless and sick all the time. It got better for me when I began self-advocating for what I needed, learning to set the right boundaries for my body and with my community, and looking at how my body works and how I could test different approaches. I love helping others advocate for themselves and approach their bodies with curiosity and a ton of love. I am chronically ill, but that doesn't mean I can't lead a beautiful life, its just a piece of it I have to be in balance with.
- I've struggled with all or nothing or falling off the cliff when I've gotten ill in the past. I used to beat myself up and be furious I couldn't do what I wanted to do. I'm so grateful to have learned that listening to my body is vital and that doing a little is better than nothing. Now if I'm in a flare-up, I prioritize lots of rest, instead of hating that down time, I choose to enjoy it and do things I don't normally get to do. I also make sure to get my walks in, and eat yummy nutritious food so that my body can focus on healing. I end up recovering faster and can then get back to my workouts after the flare-ups end.
- I've struggled with complexity of medication and salt in my diet. Some examples of issues they caused were bad interactions, blood pressure drops while working out that would make me pass out, issues with high water retention which made me feel like I was having slower progress than I wanted. Having great coaches patiently help me sort through and dive into those meds and help me re-focus on body recomposition vs the # on a scale was a game changer for me. I'd love to help others who struggle with plateaus that may be more complex than at first glance. I hope we can unravel them together.
