Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenna Volpe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jenna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The most top-of-mind risk I’ve ever taken has to do with meeting the man who is now my husband, who basically ripped the rug out from under my entire life as I knew it up until that point in time.
In 2017, on a whim, I had booked a trip to Toronto, Canada (from Boston, MA) to attend a class on metaphysical healing. (Booking the trip and attending the class were not the risk! Stay tuned.)
I wasn’t looking to meet anyone in Toronto; I was there to learn how to give Life Activation healing sessions, and also to try and get my “spark” back. I had been feeling trapped in the mundaneness of day-to-day life for a while, and I had felt like I was losing myself to the life I was building with a man who is now my ex.
Needless to say, I ended up meeting the man who is now my husband (Michael) on this trip! I missed my original flight there, so we actually met serendipitously in the hotel lobby, in line while checking in, the night before my class (which he was also enrolled in).
By the end of the week, since it was a small class, a lot of us became friends. After everyone in the class all said our goodbyes, Michael left me with a letter at the airport which changed the entire trajectory of his life and mine.
He shared in the letter that he felt like he had known me forever, and that he believed I was a special soul mate. He then proceeded to wish me the best of luck, saying he hoped our paths would cross again someday. I remember my jaw dropped to the floor, and tears of unspoken truth streamed down my face at the airport as it occured to me I had just found “The One”.
Regardless of how things may turn out with Micahel, I knew in my heart there was no way I was going to be able to go back to Boston and return to the live I had with my now ex. It was suddenly very apparent that the guy I was engaged to at that time was not the person I was meant to be with. We had been growing apart for a while, and it was time for that relationship to end.
Nothing ever felt so clear and yet, people in my life were worried I may have been brainwashed in Toronto. To them (understandably so), I sounded crazy, naive, and impulsive.
Regardless, less than a week after returning home, I called off the wedding with my ex, and ended up moving out the following week so I could start over.
After the dust had settled from the breakup, I reached back out to Michael to let him know what had happened. I thanked him for being my “catalyst”. I honestly had no idea what was going to happen and had no expectations, but either way I was grateful that his bravery and openness gave me the courage to finally get out of a situation that was clearly no longer in alignment!
That summer, Michael and I started dating (long distance, since we were living 2000 miles away from each other at the time). We fell in love very fast, and never looked back.
In 2018 (about a year after meeting Michael), I uprooted my fulltime brick-and-mortar nutrition practice from Boston, MA to start a life in Austin, TX with Michael and his daughter. It was scary as hell but again, I knew in my heart it was the right move.
It all worked out!. A quick update: Michael and I are now happily married, we have a dog together, and we’re building our dream home on a patch of land out in the country. My nutrition business is thriving, and I’ve actually pivoted to move away from brick-and-mortar towards a 90% virtual practice (since the pandemic) which allows for more location freedom and opportunity to support clients in different areas of the U.S.
To this day I’m eternally grateful I allowed my heart and intuition to lead me to Michael and the life we’ve built together. We often count our lucky stars that we found each other.
The biggest lesson I gained from going through all of this was that it’s safe to let my heart and intuition lead the way. I hope others who see this story will feel inspired to do the same! The heart knows things the mind will never be able to fully understand.
Jenna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a multi-passionate, holistic-minded clinician with an affinity for nature and the healing arts! Everything on my journey has happened FOR me – even the challenges, which have often turned out to be blessings in disguise.
My passion for nutrition, herbs, “food as medicine” and holistic healing initially became clear at the age of 16 while I was volunteering at a hospital coffee shop. As an old soul. I ended up having an impromptu conversation with a customer who ordered a cup of gree tea, and educated me on the many health benefits of its antioxidants. Intrigued and curious, I went home that day and scoured the internet to learn as much as possible about green tea and antioxidants – which led me to all things nutrition!
That initial interaction sparked an inner knowing and realization that nature provides us with the resources we need to be healthy and well, and it’s up to us what we decide to do with these resources. As a result of that epiphany, it wasn’t long before I started making big diet and lifestyle changes, followed by getting a bachelor’s degree in nutrition, and eventually becoming credetialed as a registered dietitian. The rest were bells and whistles – certifications in group fitness training, Reiki, and lots of continuing education in the field of herbal medicine and holistic health!
My understanding of holistic nutrition and functional medicine was taken to the next level inadvertently when I developed a slew of chronic digestive issues and immune imbalances as a young clinician in my early 20s. This stuff all turned out to be caused by my gut microbiome being out of balance, after a combination of lifestyle factors including one too many rounds of antibiotics paired with a few years on birth control pills, a history of many years of processed, sugary foods multiple times a day, and of course high stress levels related to being a college student and dietetic intern. These things all led to dysbiosis. leaky gut syndrome, esophagitis, IBS, anemia, and subsequent food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities which made everything worse.
Before I figured out what was going on, for years I was brushed off by doctors. They prescribed me Tums and Gas-Ex and Lactaid to manage symptoms of IBS, Prilosec for the heartburn, iron pills for anemia, and antihistamines for the allergies. But deep down I knew all of those issues were connected somehow. I just needed help figuring everything out.
I left no stone unturned, eventually working with a team of holistic practitioners who helped me crack my code. With help from a holistic nutrition coach (while being a registered dietitian at that point) I overhauled my lifestyle and reversed all of those chronic health issues over the course of a year.
Going through all of that first-hand as a “wounded healer” helped me to gain a new level of compassion and understanding for what so many people worldwide are experiencing day-to-day, and knowledge and experience around how I can actually help them to break free of those issues by addressing everything at the root-cause level.
Enduring those challenges and coming out on the other side inspired me to start my own private nutrition practice in 2014. The practice started out brick-and-mortar and has since evolved into a mostly virtual model. It started out 1:1 and is now expanding to small group coaching and online courses, so I can reach and help more people.
All of that said, if readers are looking for a holistic, evidece-based and multi-dimensional way of navigating long-standing health issues that stem from the gut, I would be honored to help out in any way I can!
I invite readers to check out my functional nutrition and herbal medicine blog (www.wholeisticliving.com), my podcast (The Whole-istic Living Podcast), and my online programs (Kitchen Alchemy: Holistic Nutrition Fundamentals, and the Complete Gut Repair Roadmap) if they would like to learn more about how to heal naturally via “food as medicine”.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Navigating through my own gut health issues which started my senior year of college and continued all the way into my early 20’s as a young registered dietitian was very humbling, and necessary for me to “unlearn” certain things in my career.
Up until that point in time, I accepted most of I was learning in school and in my internship and even my first fulltime job as the “facts” because it’s what I was taught. The information and education being shared in these settings were framed as “evidence-based” and “science” and “research” and the likes.
On the acute clinical level, the things I learned were accurate; however, what I really wanted to learn was how to PREVENT, address, and reverse health issues on the chronic, functional level. These were not things I was ever taught were possible in school or in hospital settings.
While there were certain aspects of conventional nutrition I was never really on board with (such as artificial sweeteners for people with diabetes, and margarine for people with heart disease, to name a few examples), I didn’t realize until getting sick and working with a holistic nutrition consultant (while already being a registered dietitain) how much I had to unlearn.
For example, during the time I was sick, I was eating a lot of whole wheat flour products, fat-free dairy, alll the beans, and even organic, natural foods that were still loaded with sugar and/or soy protein (such as certain types of whole grian cereal and protein bars). I had NO idea those were all foods that had been making or keeping me sick due to their impact on my already-compromised gut microbiome.
I also had to get comfortable accepting that fats (even saturated fats like coconut oil and butter/ghee) were not necessarily the culprit of heart disease – it comes down to other factors like too much highly processed food (refined sugars, trans fats, fried food) and undermethylation, to name a few alternative examples.
I was forced to open my mind to ancestral wisdom and try new “functional foods” like bone broth and fermented probiotic foods.
I learned all about the impact of chlorine and fluoride in tap water on the gut and had to “unlearn” what I knew to be true about tap water.
I had to “unlearn” the statement “sugar is sugar,” which so many registered dietitians continue to preach. In reality, not all food sources of sugar has the same effect in the gut microbiome or on cancer cells or even glycemic index in some cases.
I learned why folic acid (the synthetic form of a B vitamin all women of child-bearing age are advised to take everyday) is not for everyone, especially those with certain gene mutations.
Integrating my clinical knowledge with this ancestral wisdom that I was forced to learn, understand and embody on my own healing journey was everything. It was a reminder that we don’t know what we don’t know. I now find the more I learn, the less I know.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Last year (2021) I made a big decision which was to stop offering one-off initial nutrition consultations unless there would be further commitment. I also terminated 6 of the 8 contracts I had with health insurance companies I was previously an in-network provider with.
As a solo-entprenuer and healthcare provider, being in network with multiple health insurances was initially positive and helpful, in that it brought lots of wonderful new clients into my world who may otherwise not have found me or chosen to work with me.
However, in 2020 when insurances started covering telehealth nutrition services, I couldn’t keep up with the high demand, high turnover and low commitment I observed working in this outdated healthcare business model. It felt very surface-level, transactional, and not aligned with my purpose or calling.
I now only enroll clients who are commited and who are in alignment with the specizlied type of services I offer (versus everyone and anyone off the street who just wants a meal plan and a session covered by their health insurance).
My 1:1 and group programs are a vehicle for transformation for those who are committed, coachable, and ready to learn & do the deep work on their gut-healing journey.
I’m currently also moving away from seeing 1:1 clients altogether, in preparation for the next season of my life, which is to start a family! In the last few years I’ve started launching small group coaching programs, online courses and more, and I aspire to bring blogging into my new business model as well.
It’s been a lot of fun pivoting and trying out these new client delivery models so far. I’m excited to see how these endeavors continue to unfold!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wholeisticliving.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wholeisticliving
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholeisticliving
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-volpe-rdn-ld-clt-15293516/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wholeistic_rd
- Other: Energy healing website: https://www.jennavolpe.com
Image Credits
Alicia Leigh Photography