Hello!

I’m Michelle Lall, the Holistic Nutritionist behind L.A.L.L. Nutrition.

I used to struggle with my health too; In high school and into my early 20’s, I thought I was destined to be overweight with acne.

Throughout high school I experimented with skipping meals and was pretty much anorexic for about 8 months at one point. I didn’t really know how to eat well. Yes, I ate vegetables but I also ate copious amounts of cheese, pasta and bread to sustain me. Not that there is anything ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ about these foods I just didn’t know how to have them in a healthy way. These foods probably didn’t help my skin either. I was obsessed with finding the right cream or potion to help my acne. I never had more than one big pimple at a time but it always left a mark on my face and they added up! My skin was also pretty oily and I was so self conscious about it. The weight + skin issues made me feel really unattractive and my self esteem plummeted.

Into university I saw a dermatologist that helped my skin but also told me I would always need to see him as my acne was ‘genetic’. I learned to workout and eat better  (read bland vegetables + no fat) but I felt deprived and it didn’t stick. I also experienced binge cycles due to my many restrictions around certain foods (mainly desserts  – cakes, cookies, chocolate) and to repress my emotions. It wasn’t until years later I realized these binges stemmed from emotionally triggering situations and I needed to acknowledge and feel the emotions underneath.

Nearing the end of university I found a vegetarian eating plan to help me lose weight. It worked for a while but it was focused on calorie counting. Ugh. Eventually, I began to gain weight eating the same amount of calories. I hadn’t yet realized the connection of stress to weight gain. I was going through a breakup, moving, and experiencing massive financial difficulties.

I finally found another solution that I thought would help – I went to see a nutritionist. She told me I needed to start eating meat. I was vegetarian for about 13 years at that point. At the end of our 2nd session she handed me a meal and supplement plan and sent me on my way. I bought the supplements and tried the foods but it was all too much and I felt overwhelmed. There was no real support.

I was discouraged and gave up. I started eating whatever I wanted. I ended up moving to South Korea pretty soon after to teach English. I ate everything, well at least in the first month. I was teaching at an English school and ate what they ordered for the staff – a variety of foods including fried dumplings and oily take out. I ate so much it was insane. I gained some more weight. My skin started to feel gross and oily. I also  felt so so sh*tty in my body.

I knew I needed to do something. 

This was one of the first times I tried to find balance. I started to cook at home, eat at regular times, eat more veggies and fruits, and chose ‘healthier’ options. I made small changes at a time. I also stopped restricting myself from any foods. I still struggled with binging but deprivation was not the way to go anymore. Weight slowly came off as I focused on being healthy not thin.

There was still the issue of binging that I couldn’t quite control. I became curious and learned everything I could about it. I realized that when I became stressed or emotional I would binge!

In order to help myself I researched and found an amazing resource that talked about the emotional triggers of binging. Through this practice I was eventually able to recognize when I was triggered and able to circumvent the binge and go into the real issue. This eventually stopped my emotional binging as I got to the root cause of the issue – my repressed emotions.

This was such a victory to me!

Things were starting to make sense but I had more work to do. I had done an exercise a few years back on accepting my body. After years of reminding myself about the strengths of my body I reached a point where my old beliefs about being a certain size or looking a certain way became unbearable. This freed me on another level – I accepted where I was. This is not to say I was fully confident in my body but I was sick of feeling not good enough. From this space I now wanted to see what my healthy looked like without all the criticism in my head.

This was an experiment in finding out the right size, and weight for me that was healthy and not a number on a scale or a calculation. I was inspired and really committed to this. I learned more and more about nutrient-dense foods, read all the books I could find on health and alternative therapies, and started to really change how I ate. I started to really understand my body and food, what I craved (more vegetables!), how to strategically eat to optimize my health without deprivation and much more. It became easier and easier for me to make simple changes that resonated with me and boosted my health.

With each change my body got slimmer, leaner and more energetic but in such a sustainable way – this was where ‘my healthy’ was taking me. I wanted to move more, walk more, go to the gym more because I craved movement. My skin started to glow and that ‘genetic’ defect I thought I had miraculously disappeared! I had been on dermatological prescriptions for over 8 years to manage my skin and now it was not even an issue.

I loved eating healthy nourishing nutrient dense foods and went back to being plant based – what works for me.  As I ate more nourishing foods I began to crave them more and realized how other foods made me feel. I was able to choose the feel good foods more and more and let go of the ones that drained me and made me feel bad.

I was so lit up by living and breathing a healthy lifestyle that I wanted to teach others about this! I enrolled in nutrition school and combined with my degrees in biological chemistry and teaching it was the perfect way to use my education and passion.

Today…

As I look back at that person I was it’s hard to believe I went through all of that but I did and I learned a lot. Through countless approaches, such as various diets, counting calories, eating meat, not eating meat, low fat, no flavour, dermatologists, emotional and spiritual work, working out and much more I’ve learned what works and how to help others do the same.

I found out what worked for me and I am glad to say the way that I eat and live now is so much more freeing.

I never feel deprived, I love my food and I have more energy than I did as a teenager – I want you to feel that way too!

It wasn’t until I realized that I needed to look at the food on my plate in a different way and not simply as calories to be burned at the gym that I experienced real transformation. When I realized how to use food to truly nourish my body, mind and soul (yay!) I was free.

I don’t count calories when I eat or when I work out anymore. It truly is an amazing feeling to not worry about calories and to be able to enjoy eating. Deprivation is the worst! I still eat desserts and chocolate too – addict here; it is definitely part of a healthy lifestyle!

I believe it takes time to change and with simple shifts you can take control of your health; progress over perfection creates true and lasting results. I get that it is hard to completely overhaul your way of eating and living. We have emotional ties to food, we have cravings and we love our guilty pleasures. One change at a time can be powerful and doable. This is how I have changed my life and health and you can too.

I am a passionate advocate about health and wellness and strive to lead by example.

You can find me at farmer’s markets, browsing the health and wellness section at Chapters, following healthy recipe blogs, reading health focused books, working out, walking around my neighbourhood with my babe in tow, cooking and using whole foods in my meals and relentlessly talking about nutrition!

Other tidbits:

I love to travel; I’ve been to over 20 countries on 5 continents, lived in Trinidad and South Korea and have done 2 summer exchanges in France. I speak french fluently but am too shy (and probably out of practice) to speak it.

The running theme here is the French. I basically love all things French and I especially love the way the French relate to food. Check out this post I wrote!

I am also a new mom to my sweet boy Parker! The biggest teacher in my life right now 🙂

To Living And Loving Life!

~Michelle

Contact me today or Book Consultation Here.