A native of Washington DC, Dr. Meg grew up with a scientist mom who organically farmed most of their back yard on a small quarter acre lot in the city to protect her family from pesticides and herbicides decades before it became a conversation in the general public. Simultaneously, her sweets loving father brought home Twinkies, doughnuts, potato chips, and ice cream. One of the six of us were always sick, running to the doctor for antibiotics from the latest infection.
By the age of 27, after receiving a cascade of diagnoses, calling in sick to work for weeks at a time, being on multiple prescription drugs and only getting sicker, Dr. Meg decided to take her healing into her own hands after reading an article on alternative medicine in The Washingtonian Magazine. Once she did, her health dramatically improved in less than a week when her nutritionist urged her to drop gluten, dairy, sugar, food chemicals, caffeine and alcohol. It was a start but she had a long way to go.
Dr. Meg threw herself into the study of natural medicine, psychoneuroimmunology (mind/body medicine), spiritual health, spiritual philosophy, personal development, nutrition, and holistic psychotherapy and continues to learn more each day. She began to realize that food is the underpinning for wellness but true and lasting healing lies in the power of the mind, heart, and soul to heal the body. She then opened Harmony Oaks Bed & Breakfast and Healing Retreat Center in South Carolina as a way to bring together groups to eat pure food out of her organic garden and adopt healthy thoughts through holistic retreats, workshops, and individual therapy.
After completing her doctoral studies in 2004, she wrote a three book workbook series and moved back to Los Angeles in 2005 where she set up a successful private therapy practice in Beverly Hills. She became a columnist for a local women’s magazine, wrote two more books and co-authored two additional including the Amazon best seller, Audacious Creativity.
In 2008, she received an opportunity to film 27 of her gluten and dairy free recipes as a food allergy chef for a spin-off of Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die.com called Eat, Drink or Die.com. Suddenly she was on the same page as Jamie Oliver, Paula Deen and Tom Colicchio as a chef to watch and learn from. She released her cookbook and began to work as a private chef for Hollywood’s elite.
Throughout that time, she has healed over a dozen illnesses to include, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, PTSD, and chronic sinus infections. She has drowned, survived childhood abuse, gone through divorce, and was struck by lightning. Through all her adversities, she has found ways to turn them all around through the undeniable power of the human spirit to grow, change, learn, and expand. She now helps clients through her coaching programs Get Well with Dr. Meg and Delicious and Healthy Personalized Food Plan and heals underlying emotional patterns in her ground breaking Whole Person Integration Technique. Dr. Meg believes that we each have the ability to heal ourselves and it all starts with a decision to do so.
What motivates you?
Health, wellness, real organic food, connection with others, helping self and others heal in mind, body & soul and love in its endless forms.
Describe a difficult situation you were in and how you overcame it?
I was struck by lightning on Venice Beach, California in July of 2014. It damaged three areas of my brain, my central nervous system, a disc in my lower back and the nerves and muscles in my legs. I had a very successful private chef business, creating anti-inflammatory diets for celebrities in Hollywood. I was to expand my business that very week when I had to go on disability for a month. I was forced to cut my business in half and it would be over a year before I began to feel myself again and have enough energy to live a semi-normal live.
I deemed my time on disability as “The ultimate time out from the Universe.” I asked myself this question: “Am I living my life to the highest extent of service that I can provide to humanity?” The answer was, “No”. Everything I have done since asking that question has been a step towards answering “YES”, every single day!
This is when I finally combined my background as a doctor of holistic psychology with my skills and talents as a celebrity nutrition expert and chef. I created a coaching program and podcast series called Get Well with Dr. Meg to help people with chronic illness heal themselves with food and the power of the mind. After all, I had healed fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, ulcers, chronic infections, depression, and PTSD in my own body and have helped thousands do the same in my 20 years of practice and study. Overcoming adversity is a language I am fluent in and helping others do the same is my great joy and passion.
If I had to boil down overcoming difficult situations into one key thing, I would say that every single time I made a decision that I was going to heal myself, I sought the help to make that happen and I believed with every cell of my being that it would be so. And so it is.
What are your goals for the future?
I have big goals to reach as many people as possible through books, speaking, radio, TV, social media, and any other means I can to teach them how to eat to support their health and how to use the power of their own minds and hearts to get well. Most chronic illness can be healed with these two things and I am super passionate to help turn it all around.
What’s your favorite snack?
I created a lemon, mint, pistachio pesto recipe for one of my private chef clients that I LOVE to have with carrots, cucumber rounds, or spread on tomato slices. I love it so much that I have brought this recipe into corporations to show them how simple it can be to make this delicious, nutritious, brain food snack. I also love raw cacao pudding and smoothies!
What is your favorite quote?
“Every passing moment is another chance to turn it all around.” – From the movie Vanilla Sky
“Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Believe in what you want so much that it has no choice but to materialize.” – Unknown
