I am an avid marathon runner and health foodie. I take my health very seriously, I “walk the talk” not only to be a good role model but because I deeply value the body I live in-since it is the only one that I got! How did I get here? It all started when I was an elementary student, I clearly remember the day I was riding home on the bus and my bus mates were ferociously teasing my parents about their weight. I was so angry because it was so unjust. I didn’t understand why it mattered. I noticed the stigma associated with a larger waistline as I grew up. I was so in-tune with how society puts so much worth on body aesthetic. I became passionate that your worth was not determined by your size. Your worth is determined by the worth you give yourself. You give yourself worth by changing your habits, which include your thought habits, emotional habits, belief habits, and physical habits. I decided to go into the field of habit/behavior change & health promotion because it was the answer to address the abundance of “unworthiness” in our culture today.

I received my B.S. in Public Health Education & minor in Nutrition at the University of Wisconsin- LaCrosse. I went to intern at Vaxjo University in Sweden and taught Health Education Nutrition Classes. That experience was lifechanging because it made me so curious about how culture had such an influential role on behaviors. I came back to the states and landed my first Health Education Specialist position as a Wellness Consultant for multiple self-funded insurance pools. Here I received my Community Health Education Specialist (CHES) Certification. I spent my time sorting and analyzing through programming to see the needs of the need and if what we were offering worked. I believe that the CHES is the most valuable certification that I have earned thus far in my career. Once I received my CHES certification I brought so much more to the table in terms of the quality of care and support I was able to provide. The CHES provided me credibility because I was ethically bound to promote evidence-based promotion. It provided me the value of evaluation and the tools to evaluate effectively. It taught me how to have clear communication with grassroot members to the stakeholders. Most importantly it requires continuing education. Health and wellness is an always evolving field. CHES requires Continuing Education to maintain certification which I believe is essential to grown in this field. I have received great ongoing training through my continuing education. To name a few, I have enjoyed: WELCOA summit, National Wellness Institute Conference, and the Art & Science of Health Promotion Intensive Training on Habits.

The CHES certification was by-far the best certification I have received as a Health Education Specialist. It also gave me the ability to achieve leadership status in my field. Alone the CHES is valuable, but it takes drive, determination to receive it since it is not a required certification in the profession at this time. Having the CHES shows I am continual learner and want to provide the best work in my profession. My advice that I would give other wellness practitioners is to find your WHY. Find something that you care so deeply about that it drives an emotional response in your heart. Your passion will show in your work and take you to places where you can effectively help people.

Smart method. Real results. Nuuaria is weight loss done better. We help people integrate what they already know by changing how they think. Thinking is what created our behavior and life circumstance and only a change in your habitual thinking will change behavior and circumstance permanently. This is change work for health, emotional well-being, career and relationships. Thought create Emotions which create Behaviors. Up until now, you've only learned how to effort behavior change. The key to permanent weight loss lies in learning how to think and how to feel to create strategic behavior change. The Nuuaria Method works because it treats the root cause of excess body weight: the thought habits-perfectionism thinking, all-or-nothing thinking, overthinking, catastrophic and circling thinking. We don't teach how to DO differently, rather, how to THINK differently.

I brought the fantastic methodology and public program created by Maya Nahra, into Corporate Wellness, which resulted in a result generating weight loss program that completely changed participants lives. Health status improvement results from our 2017 pilot program, 6 months, 23 participants. Verified third-party results are listed below (self-funded insurance broker).

• 5.85% average percent weight loss
• 2-inch average waist circumference loss
• 85% reduction to elimination of metabolic risk factors, around $2,000 savings per person!!!
• Reduction in filled scripts/ medications (anxiety, heart/inflammation), a $3,000 savings- Medication costs calculated from actual medications participants eliminated based on insurance claims.
• ROI of entire 6 month program= $1: $3.67

Nuuaria health results are innovative because there is no one doing what we are doing. No one in the corporate wellness world is linking thought & emotional habits to physical behaviors and actual health change. We know when we address the unworthiness or stress emotions and the all-or-nothing thinking or perfectionism thinking Nuuaria creates LIFE LONG change. Others look at these things as separate and talk about resiliency, and stress management. We work on stress elimination, anxiety elimination. We are not the band-aids, we heal the wounds. When participants see the obesity rates drop, they’ll know it was because of Nuuaria. Our mission is to be America’s most loved, number one choice for weight loss.

The first two months of the Nuuaria Program is around behavior change using the path of least resistance and the science of a habit loop. A few areas of Behavior Change addressed include but are not limited to physical movement, water consumption, adding in a meditation practice, implementing a cleaner diet, eating when hungry and stopping when full, and implementing healthier sleeping routines. Nuuaria behavior change innovative solutions include managing members holistic health by implementing “stepping stones”-which are incremental changes that eliminate the all-or-nothing mentality- and CEO time-which is when members have to look at their “behavior stats” of the week and see how they move themselves forward. Nuuaria teaches people how to build behaviors rather than telling them simply what to do.

 The Nuuaria Program addresses culture by its continuity with our clients. There is a noticeable difference when companies utilize a consistence message no matter the participants readiness for change. Nuuaria culture change innovative solutions include providing the corporate wellness program that their members are ready for. The Nuuaria program is for people who are officially sick and tire, members who are not there yet? No problem! Nuuaria offers a 30-day habit change course for those almost ready, and how to change a habit and thought redirection webinars for those who just want to dip their toes into the topic.

Nuuaria’s core values and vision for health promotion:

1. DRIVE. We are driven.  Ask each of us. Although the drive changes throughout the phases of each of our lives, we constantly remain driven by something: Proven and measurable results, service, excellence, away from mediocrity, towards financial freedom, personal and professional goal achievement and just being better.
2. IN SERVICE OF HUMANS WHO SUFFER. We are committed to the service of humanity, driven and committed to helping humans who suffer.
3. CONTINUAL GROWTH & EVOLUTION. We are committed to our own continual growth and evolution, on a quest to becoming our best selves and living a life that is in alignment with this. We are committed to balancing the head and the heart in all that we do and moving from the heart for the betterment of ourselves, our clients and the company.
4. UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD. We are committed to practicing unconditional positive regard, accepting and respecting others as they are without judgment or evaluation. We are committed, therefore, to constant open communication, authenticity and safe spaces that allows vulnerability in all interactions.
5. PROVEN & MEASURABLE RESULTS. We are committed to proven and measurable results for our clients.

I believe the biggest opportunity in the health promotion wellness industry in the next 5 years is being the company outside of a phone application. People will always be the way we change people. No technology can ever replace the human connection. A phone app can not give love, empathy, and the essential emotions essential for lasting change. Nuuaria is the solution going forward to provide this. In the next 5 years, I am going to write a book about the common thought habits that are detrimental to our health to advance the industry. People cannot change until they realize they are in a thought habit, this book with create the awareness people may need to start their journey.