About Me

My story

The time I decided to cut my own bangs, right before my 6th birthday party.

Hello, my name is Kacie and I am a recovering perfectionist.

My parents used to tell a story about how when I was a baby, I was a little later than other kids to walk, but that's because I refused to crawl. One day, I just stood up and started walking. I like to think this behavior was the spark that led to my lifelong pursuit of being perfect. As a kid, I excelled at most of the things I tried. I'm not saying that to brag, as looking back, I mostly put myself in situations where I knew if I worked hard, I would succeed. In fact, I know there's a correlation between my one year playing softball on the worst team in the league and never attempting a recreational sport again.

So, what's wrong with this, you might ask? Well, let me tell you.

I went to college to study Communication Arts and Theatre. I was not the best singer or the best actor-not by a long shot. But, I worked hard and by my senior year had landed two lead roles in back to back plays. My life was crazy at that time-between classes, a part-time job and five nights a week of rehearsals, I somehow had dropped a good amount of weight from all the stress i was under. I didn't recognize the body I was in-it felt like a mask, but one I didn't mind wearing. After college I spent a year working two jobs that barely paid the bills and by the following Summer, I didn't recognize myself-I had put on a significant amount of weight, and was in a body that I simply did not recognize.

Over the next several years, I went on to try many things to lose weight. Everything I tried left me feeling deprived, overworked and hopeless until one day I found something that "worked." What that thing is I am purposely omitting from this because it's not about the what, it's about how it made me feel-it was working. I was no longer failing. I was working towards that perfect body-the perfectionist in me was finally onto something.

I kept losing weight and kept it off for several years. Eventually though, the scale stopped moving and little by little, I started gaining back the weight. But why? I was doing everything right! The perfectionist in my tried everything-and everything equaled more restriction, less food, more rules. I distinctly remember a moment where I proudly boasted on social media that I had successfully weighed out my perfect portion of broccoli, and that it fit perfectly into my macros for the day.

Perfectionism had brought me so much success in my life-and suddenly, trying my hardest was no longer working. The harder I tried to be perfect, the more I gained.

I hit my breaking point one day at work when we had a celebration and I decided to eat two chocolate chip cookies. Nobody there would've known it, but the minute I finished that last cookie, I began falling apart. It took everything in me to hold myself together until I got to my car and had a complete breakdown. I cried the whole ride home, and when I got home my boyfriend, Craig asked what was wrong, and I told him. I knew saying out loud that eating two cookies had caused my massive sob fest probably sounded ridiculous, but it was about so much more than those two cookies.

I realized right then and there, I needed help. The behaviors I had developed were not only self-destructive, but I had developed many disordered views around food. I was afraid to eat fruit out of fear I would have an insulin spike and die (no, I did not then and still do not have blood sugar issues). I was afraid if I ate oatmeal I would gain 10 points overnight and create chronic inflammation in my body (hint: That's not how it works). I ate some nuts, but not nuts that were over X amount of carbs and refused to eat all grains and starchy vegetables (I missed potatoes so much). I was afraid I'd immediately develop a chronic illness if I let myself eat two cookies at work party. I was afraid to go out to eat unless I carefully broke the menu apart in advance. I was afraid of family gatherings where I didn't know what would be served. I was afraid, too that my behaviors would come out and scare people away-essentially, I was afraid of people finding out how afraid I was of eating.

After years of healing and the help of a really amazing therapist, I've broken through those barriers to stop being afraid to eat. Was it easy? Well, I can tell you the one week my therapist challenged me to eat one clementine a day might've been one of the hardest weeks of my life, but that seems like forever ago. Now, I don't remember a day going by where I don't enjoy fruit!

But...can I let you in on a little secret?

It's nearly never all about the food.

For me, it was about not being perfect. I was trying so hard at something and it simply wasn't "working." My perfectionism had failed me, and the only way could cope was to keep restricting to the point where my disordered eating could've taken a really bad turn.

Okay, Kacie. Where does nutrition play into all of this?

I had become interested in nutrition when I launched my Instagram account-at the time, it was a way to post pictures of my fruit salads and get recipe ideas from others who ate the way that I did. I began following several Nutritionists and discovered the Nutritional Therapy Association. I loved their focus on a real foods-based diet and maybe for the first time, I found a group of people who:

Do not promote weight loss purely for the sake of being a smaller size
Do not promote counting of calories, restriction or over-exercising
Focus on abundance, joy and celebrating food rather than using it as punishment

In June 2019, I became a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and am so grateful to get to spread my love of health, wellness and breaking free of perfectionism with others.

Through Nutritional Therapy, I learned:

The importance of a nutrient-dense, properly prepared whole foods diet
That stress plays a physical role in many functions of the body (Did you know that stress actually turns off digestion?)
Bio-individuality is key to finding a balanced, healthy lifestyle that works for you!

While we're all coming from different walks of life, I work to help clients with a common goal: Understanding the importance of fueling our bodies the right way and using food as a method to heal, while balancing the challenges of everyday life and breaking up with the idea that our bodies, food choices and lives have to be perfect.

I look forward to sharing and working with you!

In love, health and french fries,
Kacie Leigh

My husband Craig and I met in 2013 and were married in May of 2021. He shares my love of cooking, cats and naps!

I fangirled HARD at celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli's restaurant, Butter NYC

Is there anything better than a pickle from the town fair?