Words of Inspiration and Transformation
There is no greater intrinsic reward than when I hear kind words from clients I have worked with. Rather than just selecting the “highlights,” I provide the health journey story written in their own words.
I hope you find them inspiring and encouraging.
Thank you to all my past clients for being such a central part of my life purpose!
Chris Kalinich, BCHN®️
Ellen's Testimonial
I met Chris in 2021. I moved into my Arizona home in October 2019. I was retired. My plan for meeting other folks in the area was to volunteer as soon as we got settled. Then Covid happened about the same time I was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2020. I had surgery and radiation and was advised to adopt a plant-forward diet to decrease my chances of recurrence. My head was spinning. So overwhelmed! A pandemic? Breast cancer? Radiation? A plant-based diet?
My husband was super supportive, but he was as panicked as I was. The rest of my support system was 1400 miles away. Panic and anxiety became part of my daily life. Then I met Chris. She was so personable, so calm, so knowledgeable. She told me the new diet would not be overwhelming; it’s an opportunity to improve your health and your energy level.
She met with me one-on-one to introduce me to this unfamiliar world. She taught me the basics of a plant-centric diet as well as the basics of nutrition. She gave me recipes, techniques, and lots of encouragement.
I signed up for her monthly newsletter, which is well-written and informative. I’ve emailed Chris asking questions and her answers were incredibly detailed and research-based. I’ve also received group instruction from Chris about a nourishing diet and nutrition. Her teaching style is organized, but not rigid. She answers questions quite intelligently and goes the extra mile to help people adapt foods and recipes to their specific needs.
Chris is able to explain the science of nutrition in a way that is easy for the layperson to understand. I highly recommend Chris as a nutritionist and teacher. She has helped me go from a panicked state to one that is fairly comfortable with my ability to prepare a variety of nutrient-dense dishes with balanced nutrition. I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know and learn from Chris!
MaryJane's Message
Chris has been a great support and source of information as I work my way through an elimination diet protocol. She is an intuitive listener and problem solver, providing guidance and direction based on a wealth of knowledge. In one of our sessions, she uncovered the reason for an ongoing gut problem: an ingredient in a supplement was the culprit. Problem solved!
One of my favorite Chris quotes is “You are feeding your cells”! This started me towards a deeper level of understanding and quest for knowledge about the connection between food and health. And a great side effect is my increased enthusiasm for cooking and eating well! I hope to learn more from Chris about functional nutrition and how I can optimize my health.
Susan's Story
When I first contacted Chris, I was shooting for the moon, thinking I would like to try a plant-based lifestyle. Instead, I landed in the stars, feeling fabulous about shifting to vegetarian. Chris has a gentle and kind energy that helped me understand this is enough for me, for this moment in time. I had gone vegetarian nine months before, but my entire culinary repertoire consisted of soups. We were experiencing day after day of triple-digit temperatures in an exceptionally hot summer in Arizona. I knew my culinary repertoire needed to expand to stay on track.
Chris helped me understand how food could be medicine and see the bigger picture beyond a one-off cooking demonstration or class. We discussed my chronic inflammation which has been part of my health journey for many years. My inflammation blood markers (CRP) have hovered in the mid-30s” s (reference range: 1-6 is considered normal). I felt like Chris immediately understood clinically what I understood intuitively; this invisible fire inside could be at the root of my health issues (brain tumor, pre-diabetes). My inflammation markers have dropped significantly. Even though they are still out of the “normal” range, they are slowly headed in the right direction.
Chris shared nutritional information and simple recipes in a way that was easy to implement right away and made simple changes to my meal prep and diet that were not at all overwhelming, like something as simple as “eating the rainbow” and adding flaxseed to things already in my diet.
Chris provided just the right amount of support, information, and accountability I needed to strengthen and sustain my commitment to eating with a “Food as medicine” intention. She was always very responsive to all of my questions, ranging from blood and lab work interpretations and supplement recommendations to providing recipes for my beginner’s skill level and demonstrating proper vegetable cutting techniques when I arrived at one of our sessions with a bagful of extra-large parsnips!
With Chris’s guidance, my confidence and commitment to a healthy diet and increasing my nutritional levels are a huge part of my ongoing journey of learning to live well with two inoperable brain tumors.
Sandy's Share
I first became aware of Chris’s nutritional expertise through the nonprofit group, Sedona Women. It was at several of their meetings that I heard Chris speak on nutrition and then had the opportunity to work with her on a committee. After Chris’s presentation sharing her personal health story and dietary approach, I became very curious about eating more plant-based but didn’t think that I could take on the planning/cooking changes required for such an endeavor or talk my husband into it, for that matter. But Chris’s passion for healthy lifestyle choices remained in the back of my mind.
Then came the fall of 2021 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As part of an initial visit to the surgeon, the healthcare group gave me a notebook full of resources to help with a variety of associated areas in life, including nutrition. Listed there as one of the nutritional counselors was Chris! I now had the motivation to make the changes that I knew would be good for both me and my husband, and I knew just who to see to get me on track.
Let me back up: When I asked the breast cancer doctors what type of diet is the best for someone with this disease, they unanimously suggested either the Mediterranean diet or a plant-based diet. When I probed further, the plant-based diet seemed to be favored but doctors felt that it was difficult to get patients to make such a radical change to their eating habits. I was not at all worried about enjoying plant-based eating; I knew I felt best when I ate meals like this and enjoyed healthy foods, but I wasn’t sure I could learn how to cook enough variety or come up with enough ideas to make our eating both well-rounded and interesting.
On my first visit to Chris, she established what my current diet looked like and what my goals for change were. She assessed my knowledge about nutrition and gave me multiple resources for growing in that area. She also provided resources for other areas of concern that I had. For someone on cancer drugs, developing osteoporosis is a concern. Would my diet provide enough calcium? Chris had literature to help me become more knowledgeable on the subject and solutions for handling any problem in that area.
In follow-up sessions, I continued to grow in my knowledge of healthy eating. Chris helped me understand what supplements are necessary for someone eating a plant-based diet. She was able to suggest bloodwork tests to assess my dietary health. She again had ideas for adding easy-to-make recipes to our growing repertoire.
I am writing this in 2023. I’m 20 pounds lighter. I feel better than I have in decades. I am physically active and feel motivated to take care of myself. I can’t recommend Chris more highly as a nutritional counselor, educator, and mentor. She has played a major role in this healthier me!