My Story Led Me to Design This Website.

My story begins in Banff, Alberta, Canada where I was born into a large (6 children) family. My parents were very active and exposed us to many outdoor activities. I started getting interested in cooking when I was quite young. I just cooked the usual things like cookies, spaghetti, and easy meat dishes. I remember once when I was in my teens and I noticed that it was quarter to six and there was no dinner started (I still worry if no dinner is started by 5:00PM!). I called down to the local tennis club and got a hold of my Mom who was deep into a game of tennis. She told me, “Just throw those frozen fish sticks in the oven”. So, in our family sports were more important than food! This is why I have a whole section on Athletes. My Dad did have a few “Gourmet” dishes up his sleeve but mostly we ate like the typical Canadian of the 60’s and 70’s, Kraft dinner, canned fruit and vegetables, spaghetti, liver once a week (thankfully, I now know). Luckily my Dad was dead set against the latest diet advice of margarine and we always had butter (Thanks! Dad). When I moved out on my own I discovered that real Parmesan cheese doesn’t come in a green can, garlic was not a salt, and herbs were actually living plants!

I sort of put my love of food and cooking on hold for about 20 years when I moved to Hood River, Oregon and co-ran a windsurfing business, Windance, with my husband. We then had two children, Logan and Mackenzie, and I chose to stay home 5 to 6 days a week. This was a great opportunity to get back to cooking! I also believe that nourishing young children with home-cooked "real" food is one of the most important jobs of a parent.

When I was nearing my 40th Birthday, my health got to a point where I got scared and needed to make a big change. As a child I had many dental fillings and wisdom tooth extractions. Starting when I was 17 and continuing up until 8 years ago, I had problems with my digestion (gas, stomach aches, and diarrhea). I just kept living with these inconveniences. I also had dealt with bleeding noses and it started to increase to the point where I had to always be near a huge box of Kleenex. I was now 30 pounds over-weight, tired a lot, couldn’t sleep through the night and sharp pains in my right side of my body (gallbladder?). The thing that really scared me was that my heart started skipping and fluttering. My Cardiologist said that I was heading towards a stroke! To shorten this story a bit, I worked with many great health professionals; Dentists (total dental revision and cavitation surgery), Acupuncturist, Western and Alternative Professionals. I then came across the book “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. This was the start of true recovery and the re-discovery of my love of cooking. After following the Dietary Guidelines of the Weston A. Price Foundation, my and my family’s health improved.

After seeing such amazing health results from our change of eating habits, I studied and became a Certified Nutritional Consultant and decided I wanted to spread the word to help other people get back their health. I have also been influenced with the connection between health and food because my Mom died of colon cancer at the young age of 51. My story led me to start teaching cooking classes , give nutritional advice and run this website. I am also the Weston A. Price foundations Chapter Leader for Nelson BC Canada, where I now live with my family. Please feel free to contact me if you want to know more about my story.

I got this binder to write down my favorite recipes when I was 16!

Photo above: I was proud to show off my fridge after I had switched to this fresh healthy way of cooking. Try to find any overly processed foods in there!

Thanks for reading all the way to the end of "My Story"!

Lorraine Robinson Carlstrom, CNC