My Story

“…also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man. -Ecclesiastes 3:13

Many events led me to join the field of nutrition and be who am I today. You may not be able to tell now, but I was overweight for much of my childhood while growing up in my home country of Brazil. I became obese in my early teens and struggled with being bullied at school on a daily basis. This led me to fervently desire a change in my outward appearance, to the point that at the tender age of 13, I developed anorexia nervosa (an eating disorder that is characterized by the intense fear of gaining weight, extreme food restriction to the point of becoming extremely thin and malnourished). At my worst, I weighed 76lbs. But by God’s grace, and a wonderful support team, which included my mother and sister, caring pediatrician, school nurse and kind dietitian, I was able to fully recover by my 15th birthday. Of course, it took much longer for my overall relationship with food to normalize, so it wasn’t until I started learning more about nutrition in high school, and the need for balancing nutrients for sports performance that I made peace with food. And through it all, my faith sustained me. 

My hope now is that as I venture into this new season of having my own private practice, I remain open to where the Lord leads me, and that I can dive deeper into newer areas of nutrition, including following a more holistic approach to nutrition therapy and pursuing more training in integrative & functional nutrition, which has become a passion of mine now. I also hope my future patients would have a thirst for knowledge, would desire less medical interventions to treat disease and would long for taking less medications (whenever possible). Let’s use the medicinal power of food and self-acceptance to heal you and help you achieve your nutrition goals today! 

Thanks for getting to know me! I look forward to working together.

Sincerely,

V.

Vanessa Heatwole, RDN, CDE

Vanessa Heatwole became a Registered Dietitian back in 2013, after graduating from James Madison University (Go Duuuukes!. She completed her Dietetic Internship with the University of Northern Colorado and passed the national RD exam. She later became a Certified Diabetes Educator, and serves in the Blue Ridge Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics as Communications Committee Chair.

She currently resides in Harrisonburg, Virginia, with her husband and two small children. When not working, Vanessa enjoys gardening, cooking, and dancing barefoot as a family to Brazilian music in her backyard. Vanessa speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

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