trained chef

By Gina Cousineau

As a nutrition expert and trained chef, you might think I am outside of my scope of practice when I tell you my goal is to save my clients’ lives, not only one plate at a time, but also through teaching them how to advocate for their health.

Unfortunately, as I have written about previously, our health care system doesn’t have the checks and balances necessary to prevent your needs from falling through the cracks. This, paired with an individual’s desire to wish away their ailments, really sets us up for increased disability and shortened lifespans.

Trained in integrative and functional nutrition, I consider myself an interventional health care practitioner, who works in conjunction with your medical providers to help you champion for your own well-being.

All prospective clients tell me they know what to do; they just don’t do it. And while I understand change is painfully difficult, if you were offered baby steps to move toward improving your health and longevity, would you consider it?

I believe your answer would be a resounding “yes.”

I always start with the question to prospective clients of “what is your goal?” If weight loss is your end-all, then feed the multibillion-dollar diet industry and choose one. Fact is, and you already know this from personal experience, you will lose the weight (or at least some of it), but you will not be able to keep it off.

So, instead, let’s consider changing that goal to “health gain” and allow the scale to move in your desired direction as a perk, not a priority. This small shift in your mindset can really help you focus on making more healthful and wholesome changes in the kitchen, as well as with your activities of daily living.

No restrictive and punitive diets, and no killing yourself in the gym; just imagine.

Daily, I shake my head as individuals tell me they believe they can “out-train that bad diet.” They can’t. Your fancy coffee drink takes 10 minutes to consume, and few of you can train hard enough in an hour to balance just those calories.

While the nutrition space of late is pushing mindful and intuitive eating, I personally believe that there is nothing instinctual about your eating as an adult.

Starting next month, I will launch a series of live webinars, recorded for your convenience, focusing on advocating for your health and reducing your risk of lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, colorectal cancers, and more.

While nutrition and fitness will be part of the conversation, preventative care will lead the way.

Because I only have one opportunity a month to influence your well-being, I have decided to offer my loyal readers, along with these webinars, the opportunity to participate in a complimentary 50-minute private session, in-person in my home office in San Clemente or via Zoom.

While I hope to get in as many of you as possible over the next few months, your fully completed application will dictate which of you will be chosen.

Within this application, you are able to share your family health history, as well as your own story, and these details provided prior to our meeting, will allow for a fruitful and comprehensive opportunity for you to help yourself advocate for a long, healthy, independent, joyful life.

Simply go to mamagslifestyle.com and register in the pop-up in the center of the page. Indicate which paper you found us in, as only readers will have this opportunity to meet with Mama G.

Gina Cousineau is a local nutrition expert who specializes in weight loss and helping her clients improve their health. As a trained chef with her BS in Dietetics and MS in Integrative and Functional Nutrition, her goal is to help her clients enjoy every morsel they consume, learning how to move with ease in the kitchen while using their “food as medicine.” Subscribe to her weekly newsletter for complimentary cooking classes, recipes, webinars and more at mamagslifestyle.com, or reach her at [email protected] and 949.842.9975.