Family Wellness


A Simplified and Customized Approach to Nourishing You and Your Family

Nourishing Labs provides individualized, simple and phased nutritional advice and support. Melissa uses the latest research and the principles of eating whole foods, to women and their families, in a non-judgmental and empathetic way, to help them make lasting changes to lead more balanced, active and vibrant lives.

Why I am different as a nutritional consultant:

  • I have both a classic and holistic education in nutrition that allows me to combine the two to achieve optimal outcomes.
  • I am empathetic to the journey and challenges having been on my own roller coaster of poor diet choices over the years. I used nutrition to help address my own illnesses, IBS and Hashimoto’s and help two of my children deal with life-threatening injuries.
  • I have invested the time to develop a program designed for families that is compassionate and sensitive to your families goals.

I have also developed many tools in helping families with their transformations. In eight-ten sessions we work together developing a customized approach to your healing process. The sessions can evolve similar to my steps set out below and will always begin with Session 1.

Session 1: It’s All About You And Your Family

Good nutritional advice starts with understanding you.

  1. What are your personal health goals?
  2. What is your lifestyle?
  3. What are your energy and stress levels like?
  4. What is you and your family’s medical history?
  5. What is your current diet like? Exercise?
  6. How much time do you have to cook?
  7. Do you enjoy cooking?  What are your favorite foods?
  8. What do your kids eat?
  9. Are there concerns you have about your children’s health?
  10. Are you the type of person that likes to change quickly or slowly?

What you will get out of Session 1:

  1. Clear articulation of your health goals and baseline
  2. Health Diary
  3. 1-3 personalized recommendations to take home with you.

Session 2: Your Nourishing Starting Plan

This is where we really get started and we will have this session as soon as possible after Session 1. Based on your needs and preferred rate of change, we will review a starting plan.

This will include three key aspects:

  1. Put on Your Nourishing Plate
  2. Take off your Nourishing Plate
  3. Family Wellness

First, and my favorite, is ‘Put on Your Nourishing Plate’.  Too often we think of good nutrition as what we have to take off our plates, but I like to think more positively about what we could be putting on our plates.  Over time, I often find the foods that are not supporting our health goals are crowded out.  I will provide you with specific advice on what you should be adding to your diet.  This almost always involves more vegetables (we should be having 5 serves a day) so I will provide you with ideas and recipes on how you can add more vegetables to your meals.  I also have a range of recipes for kids that are fussy vegetable eaters (don’t we all have at least one of those).

What You Will Get Out of Session 2:

  1. 1-3 personalized recommendations to take home with you
  2. A customized menu plan for the week for you and your family
  3. A range of recipes that will entice even the fussy veggie eaters.
  4. Depending on how fast you would like to make changes, I would also make recommendations on foods that may be out of your comfort zone. For example, bone broths, fermented foods and kimchi.

Session 3: Take off Your Nourishing Plate

Take off Your Plate.  At this stage, the focus will be on taking off the plate any really detrimental foods that are counter-productive to your health goals.  This becomes so much easier when we have completed step 1 “put on your plate.” The key here is to remove any processed foods and vegetable oils.  I will provide you with a list of healthy alternatives to some common foods to make this transition easier.  Again, this will be based on where you are starting from and how quickly you want to change (remember this was a journey for me and I did not change overnight so no judgment here!).

What You Will Get Out of Session 2:

  1. 1-3 personalized recommendations to take home with you
  2. A customized menu plan for the week for you and your family
  3. Address concerns and difficulties that arise from the last meeting.

Session 4: Family Wellness:

Now that we have incorporated healthier, nutrient dense foods we can incorporate ways for continued and balanced meal planning. This may include a one-on-one consultation at home to re-style and simplify your kitchen pantry. We can explore and look for ways to reduce processed foods. It is also a way to understand how to navigate food labels to gain a better understanding of where the hidden sugars are lurking in your kitchen pantry. The key here is to remove any processed foods that could potentially be adding to any health concerns you have for you or your family.

What You Will Get Out Of Session 4:

  1. 1-3 personalized recommendations
  2. A customized approach that allows you to enjoy the foods you love while developing healthier choices
  3. Address any additional concerns and difficulties that arise from the last meeting

Session 3: Digging Deeper

No Carbs, high carbs, low fat, low protein etc…. These mixed messages drive me crazy!! ? There are so many misconceptions about these macronutrients and their contribution to weight loss, weight maintenance and weight gain. I do not talk specifically about counting calories but about a personalized approach to eating whole foods and balancing out the needs of your body. We can discuss an overview of how these macronutrients affect energy and mood swings and how to make them work to your advantage to feel your optimum.

What You Will Get from Session 3:

  1. 1-2 personalized recommendations to take home with you
  2. A customized approach to proteins, carbs and fats
  3. Healing recipes to support a nutrient dense meal plan.

Sessions continue to become increasingly customized at this point to address specific concerns that arise while working together on a deeper level. They can include:

  • Eating for optimum digestion
  • Rethinking breakfast
  • Food to optimize your teens skin
  • Incorporating good oils
  • Snacking made easy
  • Becoming a label detective
  • Helping to manage puberty
  • The challenging lunchbox

I will draw upon my experiences to guide you into welcoming into your life:

  • Balanced moods
  • Healthy skin
  • Steady energy levels
  • Immune system strengthening
  • Robust digestion

Nourishing Lab offers:

  • A customized approach that can target the individual or the entire family.
  • You will receive 1-3 personalized recommendations at each session and email support between sessions.
  • Handouts, recipes and resources at each session.
  • Transformation for you and your family within the context of a comfortable, judgment free and safe environment.
  • Please inquire about pricing for one session or multiple sessions.