Live your
healthiest life!
About the Perfect Pear
I am a certified nutrition and wellness coach and I am passionate about helping others create positive relationships with food and live healthier lives.
About Mary
After a career as a lawyer and then as a stay-at-home mom to 3 (a very picky eater, a vegan turned vegetarian, and an omnivore!), I became a Nutritious Life Studio certified nutrition and wellness coach. I am AADP certified, and am a student in the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Graduate Certificate Program. I use simple lifestyle changes to guide others to create a better relationship with food, meet their nutrition goals, and live their healthiest lives. I offer a caring, non-judgmental approach to educate, empower, support, and encourage you to reach your goals.
WHY DID I BECOME A NUTRITION COACH?
As a child and young adult, I had an odd relationship with food. From being a very picky eater as a young child, to becoming a worried eater as a preteen and teen (afraid of gaining weight), I never really gave much thought to the enjoyment or nourishment that a good meal can bring. When I was a new mom, I took up running and felt that as long as I was running, I could eat whatever I wanted. Running worked to keep weight off . . . until it didn’t. The older I got, I realized that running wasn’t enough. So, I tried restricting calories. I could barely make it through a week because I was hungry and irritable ALL of the time. I tried a low-carb diet but, although I did lose weight, it was not sustainable. One piece of “forbidden” food and I was spiraling down a path to again eating whatever I wanted and gaining all the weight back and then some. All those months of deprivation – what a waste!
I was tired of allowing my weight to dictate how I felt about my body. I knew there was a better way, but it wasn’t until I became a nutrition coach that I began to fully appreciate what my body needed, and not just with regard to food (sleep, hydration, stress reduction, and more). I learned how to change my relationship with food, to view food as a source of joy and nourishment, and to create a positive body image centered not on a number on the scale, but on how I felt - energized, in-control, and happy! At middle age, I feel the best I have ever felt; I don’t stress about food intake; I don’t think about calories; and I make empowered and intuitive decisions about what to eat. If any part of my story resonates with you, if you are tired of deprivation diets, if you want to develop a healthier relationship with food, or you simply want to nourish your body to face the challenges of mid-life, I can help you.
Why the name Perfect Pear?
Several years ago, my sister and I were on a trip together and she purchased a pear at a produce stand. She bit into the pear, and with simple joy, exclaimed, “this is the best pear I’ve ever tasted!” I never forgot how that small bite of a piece of food brought her so much happiness. Have you ever bitten into a pear, or any piece of fruit, that is at the exact stage of ripeness – the flavor is bursting, the texture is neither too hard nor too soft – it is simply perfect?
What was the feeling you experienced at that first bite - excitement, happiness, or hope that the rest of the piece of fruit would be as delicious as that first bite? Excited, hopeful, and happy is how I want you to feel about the journey you are about to begin. Together we can set you on a lifelong path of celebrating delicious food, nourishing your body, and living your healthiest life!
