Kelleigh Wright
meet
bio.
Kelleigh Wright
Culinary Nutrition Expert​
how she decide to break from the fast food culture
Kelleigh’s awareness of the impact of our current industrial food and healthcare systems on our environment, animals, and health and her understanding of its unsustainable, precarious, and unethical nature has increased, so has her desire to ‘opt out’ of these systems. Not only to ‘opt out’, but to create and become part of something infinitely better…
what makes her awesome
A Boreal lifestyle has allowed her to circumnavigate our broken food and health care systems and given her a place to achieve optimal gut healing. Kelleigh’s purpose is to openly and honestly share her learning, preserve a setting that challenges thinking, as well as, create a community of people who also value connections that provide health, excellence and empowerment.
Kelleigh doesn’t back down. She isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo and question authority. “I’ll do it myself.” is a common response to those who create roadblocks or can’t find their backbone and so choose to hide behind bureaucracy rather than do what is right.
how can she help you, and why should you care?
It is more than just urban farming, wildcrafting and resurrecting long forgotten self-sufficiency skills (although there is a lot of that!). It is a way of life, a philosophy of living, a way to reconnect with nature, food, and community. Breaking up with Fast Food Culture is hard and finding your ‘new normal’ in the aftermath can be even harder. Having road maps and a tool box filled with diverse options for your unique situation can feel life a life saver when it is all still so new and still feels so foreign. Kelleigh has learned all of this first hand. Her Crohn's disease was diagnosed over 30 years ago and she is now living well with severe allergies and end stage disease.
qualifications /credibility markers
Born and raised in northeastern Ontario, Canada, with a background in nursing; former executive board member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; then acheived a diploma in sport and nutrition; became an expert forager, cycling enthusiast, nordic skier, cultural engineer and all around badass. She has 30 years of experience in the food industry which has lead to a specialized interest in the human microbiome with connections to food culture, urban farming and a Boreal forest to fork lifestyle.
Before becoming a certified Culinary Nutrition Expert (with honors) at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, she studied at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition, then did Paediatric Feeding and Nutrition with Stanford, Food Systems and Community Impact with Vanderbilt, food culture and the New Nordic Diet at University of Copenhagen, followed by a course at Univeristy Colorado Boulder on the human gut biome. She continues to stay curious and is currently exploring the connections to human health through nutritional ecology.
what she struggled with in our broken health and food systems, and overcame,
that relate to what she’s offering -
"the circumstances"
What was told to her at the time of her diagnosis that would not only shape the course of her disease but that of her life:
(1) diet doesn’t matter;
(2) there is no cure so learn to live with it ; and
(3) conventional treatment is the only option for disease management.
how she came to learn what she’s sharing..."the awakening /awareness"
Internet came along ten years after her diagnosis and, with 2 babies on her lap, she learned to ‘Google’ and ‘Ask Jeeves’. It felt empowering. From her little, isolated corner of the world, there were now answers to burning questions, alternative opinions and new options to consider because the drugs were no longer working or resulted in brutal side effects. By this time, regardless of what she was still being told, it became obvious that diet did matter and certain foods made life hell. Trying to conform to meal plans that promised relief, for what had now evolved into systemic health issues, had grown into its own special form of frustration. Kelleigh felt like a failure for not being able to be completely compliant. Her disease, growing list of food allergies and lifestyle never seemed to fit any of the boxes called ‘diets’. Breaking free from these expectations and giving herself permission to begin listening to what her body was telling her lead to the realization that healthy living and eating looked as unique as her fingerprints.
Training in nursing and nutrition brings an understanding from a health perspective. The continual work at urban farming brings a respect for food production. Being a single parent brought an awareness of food security. Having severe food allergies brings an urgency for advocacy concerning our current food supply.
what she knows for sure...
“the body keeps score and it always wins” - Brene Brown
A diagnosis is just a label for the purpose of problem solving - it isn’t an identity, nor can it predict the future. It’s only power is to shine a light on the map of health so you know what you are looking for and where you are going.
The very valuable lesson taught to her by Jane Hirshfield was: everything changes, everything is connected, pay attention. Kelleigh now knows for sure that eating habits, lifestyle, mind/body connection, a sense of community and belonging are more valuable for optimal health and living than any prescription she has ever filled in a pharmacy.
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