Why I Chose Women’s Health, Nourishment, and a Slower Life

Hi, I’m Kaitlin.

I live just outside of the beautiful and historic city of Houghton, where winters bring over 200 inches of snow and summers somehow still climb close to 100 degrees. Life here is deeply tied to the seasons, and over time, I’ve realized that my approach to health has become that way too.

When I’m not working or spending time with my husband and son, I’m usually making something with my hands. I love scrapbooking memories, making handmade gifts, and most of all, tending to our garden. Every spring, I get completely consumed with seed starting. Summer becomes long days outside caring for the garden, and fall brings harvesting, preserving, and storing food for the colder months ahead. My family and I spend as much time outside as possible — hiking, canoeing, gardening, or simply slowing down enough to enjoy where we are.

Over the last few years, that love for nature and gardening has slowly grown into something much bigger. What started as a hobby has become a dream of building a life more connected to nature, food, and self-sufficiency. My husband and I have been working toward homesteading and market gardening, learning more each season about growing our own food, preserving harvests, and creating a lifestyle rooted in simplicity and intention. There is something deeply grounding about planting tiny seeds in the spring and watching them grow into food that nourishes your family months later. The garden has taught me patience, presence, and a completely different understanding of nourishment.

Looking back, I think my journey into wellness really began in 2013 when I became a licensed esthetician. At the time, I became fascinated with holistic skin care and the connection between what we put in and on our bodies and how we feel overall. I was drawn to the idea that our bodies are always communicating with us, often in ways deeper than we realize.

That curiosity quickly expanded beyond skin care. Long before “clean living” became mainstream, I found myself searching for alternative food products, natural household items, and holistic wellness practices that were difficult to find at the time. In 2014, I was the girl brushing my teeth with baking soda, charcoal, coconut oil, and peppermint while trying to swap out every conventional product in my home. I made a lot of my own products that I couldn’t find in store (actual photos from 2013-2015 below). The wellness world — and honestly, myself — have changed a lot over the last decade.

As my passion for wellness grew, so did my education. I became a yoga instructor, a certified health coach, and eventually earned my bachelor’s degree in Community Health Education with a minor in Nutrition from Northern Michigan University. Now, I am completing my master’s degree in nutrition and dietetics while continuing to shape the vision I’ve had for years: helping women and families find a more grounded, realistic, and nourishing approach to health.

This path became deeply personal for me after struggling with my own hormone imbalances and experiencing how frustrating and isolating it can feel to be dismissed or misunderstood while searching for answers. Those experiences changed the way I view health care and wellness entirely. I realized how many women are quietly navigating exhaustion, hormonal imbalances, burnout, gut issues, fertility concerns, and overwhelm while feeling unsupported in the process.

But becoming a mother changed everything even more.

The pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience with my son deepened my passion for women’s and family health in a way I can hardly put into words. I chose to have a home birth, and the experience completely transformed the way I viewed the female body, nourishment, and the importance of support during motherhood. It reminded me how powerful and intuitive women truly are when they are informed, supported, and cared for holistically.

Motherhood also opened my eyes to how deeply connected family health really is. Nutrition is not just about individual choices or numbers on a lab report. It is woven into our homes, our routines, our children, our stress levels, the foods growing in our gardens, the meals shared around a table, and the environments we create for our families every day.

That realization is what ultimately drew me even deeper into women’s health nutrition.

Today, my philosophy around wellness looks very different than it once did. I no longer believe health is about perfection, restriction, or constantly chasing optimization. I believe nourishment should feel grounding. I believe health should support your life instead of consuming it. I believe women deserve care that looks at the whole person — mind, body, and spirit.

I also believe there is something deeply healing about reconnecting with slower, more intentional living. Growing food, making family a priority, cooking meals at home, spending time outside, moving your body, resting, and creating space for joy are all forms of nourishment too.

What I offer is support for women and families through fertility, hormonal health, maternal wellness, and pediatric nutrition while continuing to build a life centered around nature, wellness, and family. Alongside my work as a dietitian, my husband and I hope to continue expanding our garden, growing food for our family and community, and building a homestead rooted in sustainability, simplicity, and connection to the land.

My goal with this space is not to promote perfection or fear around food and health. Instead, I hope it becomes a place where women feel informed, supported, understood, and encouraged to pursue wellness in a way that feels realistic and meaningful for their own lives.

A place where nourishment looks like more than just what’s on your plate.

I’m so glad you’re here. This is only the beginning.