I’m a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, specializing in *Healing with Food * Weight Loss and Energy *Kids Health. I’m also a healthy cook/foodie (mostly vegan) and nature lover. It brings me so much joy to see how much better my clients feel in every aspect of their life after working together.
My coaching program is designed to help you embrace real food and healthier habits in a practical and attainable way; one step at a time, with lots of quick n easy tips. I believe in bio-individuality which means there’s no one size fits all solution. (One person’s medicine can be someone else’s poison.) I customize my sessions for every client based on what they need and what’s working for them. In addition to coaching young professionals and busy parents, I absolutely love working with children and teens to help them develop a healthier body image, more confidence and the ability to make better choices so they have healthier relationship with food.
I approach health in a holistic way and believe that true healing and happiness comes from not only the food we eat (that’s a big part!) but also the lifestyle we live. Often, making one or two tweaks in your daily routine can literally change your life.
Click here to contact me today for a health consultation, food shopping tour, pantry makeover, cooking lesson or have me come to your office, retreat or party to share my tips about health and wellness. Not convinced? Click here to read reviews from my clients, past lectures and kids health retreats.
My Background
I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. My love for nature, mountains, the beach, travel and the desire for a more outdoorsy and healthy lifestyle brought me to Los Angeles in 2008.
I’m the 5th of 12 children (we’re 8 girls and 4 boys) so you can imagine, the kitchen in a house full of women was the central place in our home; and it still is! When my siblings and I get together in my parents home in Brooklyn, we somehow always congregate in the kitchen. We’re definitely a foodie family. My mom published one of the first popular Jewish cookbooks in 1990, a staple in many Jewish homes, and all of us were not only welcome but encouraged to join her in the kitchen which enabled us to find our creativity around food and cooking. My sisters and I would create menus together for Shabbat dinner, holidays or family parties and we would divide and conquer. Typically on our fridge was the “to do” list of who was cooking what and the ingredients needed that my mom would get for us. She was happy to get out of the kitchen and do the shopping (and cleaning!) while we did all the cooking; pretty good deal!
I’ve always been fascinated by health, particularly after my brother (#10) was diagnosed with bone cancer, 20 years ago, at the tender age of 9. As we helped him laugh and fight through the brutal chemo journey, the library of health books in our home and our interest in them expanded with every passing day. We started shifting our food from white rice to brown, grains to whole grains, baking instead of frying…and this was not very popular back then. In addition, with my parents desperation to try anything to heal their son, especially after his body had undergone poison-therapy (what I call chemo) they welcomed every type of holistic healing method for him from vitamin drips to Chinese herbs and more. I truly believe that this is the reason he’s alive and well today. I was only in high school then, and got quite the cancer and preventative care education at a young age. The health craze stuck with me and I often find myself on health and food blogs, drawn to anything related to improving my well being and living a healthy lifestyle.
A lot of my health influence comes from my wonderful parents, who were married 44 years (until my dad died in June 2016 just shy of their 45th anniversary). My dad was extremely passionate about physical health. He must’ve read every health book out there and tried every remedy; watched thousands of you tube videos and had an arsenal of health products in the kitchen and in his office. He’s always been intrigued by how to make his body healthier, stronger and how to have more energy, probably because the first two years of his life he was malnourished, raised on a boat in transit from Shanghai to US after WW2 and I think he felt the effects of that throughout his life; although he never complained. I hardly remember a morning that he didn’t wake up at 5 am for his morning walk and when we were kids, we never left to school in the winter without our daily dose of liquid vitamin C. We used to call my dad “Dr Blau” because we can always go to him for any remedy we needed for a cold, sore throat, or any other funky illness kids pick up; he knew just the cure.
My mom is very passionate about emotional health. She has introduced us to so many self help books on various personality types (she really wanted to understand all her kids in their own unique way, love her for that!). She’s read tons of books on self improvement, how to be more successful, all the John Gray, Miriam Adahan and Dale Carnegie books, and so many more. My mom is a total people person and is always working on herself. She’s the most kind hearted, generous, wise, selfless and empathetic person I know. I credit our broadness of mind (which each of my siblings have) to my parents for always thinking “out of the box” and for their very wise and practical approach to everything in life.
My Education
I knew I was meant to do more in the health and wellness industry as it is so close to my heart and something I live and breathe everyday. In 2016, I graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the world’s largest nutrition school. My teachers included some of the greatest minds in health, such as Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Deepak Chopra, David Wolfe, Sally Fallon, Dr. Walter Willett, Dr. David Katz, Dr. John Douilliard, Dr. Neal Barnard, Paul Pitchford, Dr. Bernie Siegel, Howard Lyman, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Barry Sears, and Dr. Mehmet Oz. This journey has brought me so much joy and I feel blessed everyday to do what I believe I’m meant to do here on this planet. There’s nothing that brings me more contentment than helping people improve their lives and reach their wellness goals. I love encouraging healthy living in a way that is attainable and practical and seeing my clients’ progress, enthusiasm and motivation in the process. Although I’ve graduated and run a business that I love, I’m not done learning. Healing has endless possibilities for me and I’m continuing my journey for more! Stay tuned:)
I believe that the key to a happy and peaceful lifestyle starts with your health, both physically and emotionally. You create your destiny by the beliefs that you have, the thoughts that run through your mind and the actions that you take.
Social Media
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to read my daily tips that I hope will entice you to live a healthier, happier and more vibrant lifestyle. My posts range from: healing foods, recipes, sleep and exercise, the importance of surrounding yourself with good people and positive energy, nature, meditation and much more! I hope to inspire as many people as I can to embrace physical, spiritual and emotional health.
Want to learn more about being a Health Coach?
You can do this too! As an Ambassador for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I invite you to click here to learn more.
Thanks for browsing and I look forward to hearing from you!
With love,
Rivkie:)
In order to get the maximum benefits from food, and there’s so much you can get from food alone, you should make an effort to incorporate a variety of foods, especially colorful fruits and veggies into your diet. The universe supplies all that our body needs to keep it strong, healthy and living well. Dieting is not always abstaining from food rather, it is eating a balanced diet. It is the preference of one food group over the other that creates imbalance.
Rivkie's Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle 