I have a bit of a zero to hero, ok maybe reluctant hero story that I will share with you in a bit. But the Cliff Notes version is that I went from hating PE to being a coach and playing Division I sports in college; from developing an eating disorder, to spreading the gospel about eating right. For more than half of my life, health and fitness have been on the top of my list of priorities in life. In addition to coaching volleyball, I was a coach for the American Heart Association’s marathon team.

Sports have been a huge part of my life and led me to be more health-conscious than I probably would have been otherwise. Sports have even helped me conquer an eating disorder. Like many girls in junior high I was obsessed with my weight. In hind sight, I was being ridiculous because I was a shrimp; however, at the time gaining weight suddenly as I hit puberty really stressed me out.

I had a wake-up call during a track meet when I hit a wall because I hadn’t eaten that day. I’m competitive and hate losing. I was even more competitive as a child so losing a race that was mine to win, devastated me. I swore to myself that I would never do something that stupid again. So I have taken the eating-properly-in-order-to-compete-effectively lessons that my coaches taught me very seriously and I have shared that philosophy with others when I’ve been a coach.

The first set of interviews that I’d like to share with you follow along the eating disorder theme: from eating too much to too little, to being the person who counsels others to eat better in order to conquer a serious illness like diabetes.