Welcome! I’m glad you’re here

If you’re anything like I was a few years ago, you’re interested in making informed, health-conscious decisions for your family, but you’re a bit overwhelmed on where to start. That’s where I come in.

Now before I go any further, let me be abundantly clear that I am not professionally-trained in any of the topics discussed on this site. My undergrad degree was in finance! But, while I’m much more qualified on paper to create a bada$$ Excel model than share my thoughts on health or children, I am pretty dam* good at researching other things too. So don’t think of me as your doctor or early childhood specialist; think of me as your good friend who has spent hours researching so you don’t have to.

I consider the fall of 2015 as the start to my wellness journey, which laid the foundation for all my health, pregnancy, childbirth, baby, and toddler research. I had worked in management consulting for a year at that point and could tell that my stress and schedule had taken a toll on my health. When I reached my breaking point, I learned about Whole30 and committed to following the 30-day plan. It was the first time in my life I had to be hyper-aware of how I was fueling my body, and it totally changed my perspective on health.

My first Whole30 shifted my perspective on food to quality over quantity, and soon that bled over into other areas of my life as well. I started reading my shampoo label, googling my laundry detergent, and throwing out my candles. I became more and more aware of harmful chemicals and ingredients we are all exposed to in our day-to-day lives, and I started to try to limit my husband’s and my exposure to them when possible.

It was only natural, then, that when we got pregnant in early 2019 I wanted to be hyper-vigilant about what products our little one, and by association, my pregnant self, would be exposed to. As our daughter has grown, I also have become very interested in her brain development and how my husband and I can best support her growing mind. I have spent countless hours researching pregnancy, supplements, nutrition, baby products, and toddler development, and I ended up with a pile of research that has been very helpful for our family. Since then, I have shared it with countless friends, and I finally decided that it just made sense to put it online so others could benefit from it too.

There are some things I researched that I chose not to include on this site; namely, things you really should ask your own medical team about. While I am personally very confident in the medical research I’ve done, I’m not a healthcare professional, and you should never take anything I say as medical fact. I do, however, try to offer resources written by medical professionals that I have found particularly helpful in this wellness journey.

One final note: I chose the name “Practically Natural” because I just don’t think it’s reasonable (or even possible) to completely eliminate exposure to toxins. Thus, my husband’s and my approach is to be practical about our decisions and that’s resulted in our lifestyle being nearly natural. There have been times where I’ve experienced pretty severe anxiety because I’ve found a new way we’ve been exposed to toxins or we can’t afford our first choice of non-toxic products. To be honest, this anxiety is probably worse for my health than the actual toxin exposure. So I have chosen to keep the mindset that every decision we make to reduce toxins in our life makes a difference–it’s not an all-or-nothing game. We are in a better place health-wise than we were 10 years ago, and that is something to be celebrated.

Happy reading!