Tamara Wade, she/her NTP, CIMNTT, IHTMA-P
This is my life’s work, my practice and process is the cumulation of my life experiences, health experiences and wisdom I’ve gathered along the way and I feel so much purpose in what I do.
I believe plants are medicine. I have a deep appreciation for local farm-to-table food and am passionate about supporting small ethical farms. I am mama to two littles (10 + 7) who are the lights of my life. I love being in nature, yoga, photography, ceramics, sunshine.
I try to be intentional about connecting authentically with people (a cancer diagnosis has a way of cutting though the surface factor). I’m on an ever evolving journey of replacing fear with love and try to align with that on a moment to moment basis. My current spiritual practice is learning to slow down.
I stand in solidarity with the BLM movement and the LGBTQIA+ community. I am a woman of Celtic, Germanic and Indigenous Ancestry and recognize that I live and work on the ancestral homelands stolen from indigenous peoples of the Potawatomi Anishinabewaki, Peoria and Fox nations, now known as Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
my philosophy
I use a foundational holistic approach to nutrition that honors the bio-individuality of each person’s body, no one size fits all diets. I look at the whole person, food, mood, digestive and energy patterns, habits, lifestyle factors. I am trauma informed, and have additional training to understand the complexities of how a trauma history impacts the body/mind.
Each person’s body is unique, my job is to listen to you, dig deep into your symptoms and patterns, pinpoint imbalances and deficiencies. Then work with you on a personalized, sustainable plan to balance and support your body/mind system. Usually with a targeted tweak or two at the root of the issue, things begin to align and there can be a ripple effect of improved health.
True healing takes time, we can bandaid symptoms temporarily but long term goals aim to have the body functioning optimally on it’s own.
My ultimate goal is for you to move forward empowered knowing how to listen to your body’s innate wisdom so that you are able to adapt and adjust on your own. For every one of us who heals, there is more energy moving towards a more healed future for all of us and future generations .. I love being a part of this ripple effect.
my health story
Almost a decade ago now, at the age of 33, I received stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis. I had a team of doctors map out a plan for me that had nothing to do with nutrition, bio-individuality, my lifestyle, support system or mental health. While I’m grateful to western medicine for the acute life-saving treatment I received, I knew that I needed to do more. The holistic path I took alongside it was essential for me to recover and thrive.
After the initial shock settled, I dove deeply into root-cause nutrition and my life was never the same .. I learned which foods and nutrients that I needed and to listen to my body’s innate wisdom. This process was empowering and life changing. I’ve been in remission for almost 10 years now and have also lost my anxiety (for the most part.. I also live in reality), have more balanced energy, improved mental clarity and resolved skin issues + joint pain.
I’ve had a passion for helping others from a very young age so naturally after experiencing how life-changing targeted nutrition can be, I wanted to empower others in the same way.
I realize the tremendous privilege it is to have the opportunity to be here and share what I have learned. I truly love helping others to get to the root of their symptoms and seeing them improve.. hopefully changing some stories from a future of diagnosis and prescriptions to a future of empowerment, deep nourishment and radiant health.
the heart of my practice
While a heath diagnosis led me deep into nutrition, my life experiences and family history are also very much a part of who I am as a practitioner .. my journey of stopping a cycle of generational trauma and addiction greatly influence my work of supporting others on a path to holistic mental wellness.
Root-cause nutrition is powerful but our minds and bodies are intertwined .. it was only after processing my cancer experience that I realized the impact unresolved trauma can have on health.
It wasn’t until after the danger had passed that I realized that the helplessness of that experience mirrored and brought to the surface feelings from my past. As a child I was familiar with unpredictability and also became well acquainted with addiction.. and the way it ripples through generations. This wasn’t for lack of trying by my loved ones, or lack of goodness, by any means, but they simply had some hard breaks in the generational trauma category and did not have tools or resources to find a better way to soothe.
For a couple years after my diagnosis, my body was stuck in fight/flight mode still trying desperately to hold on to some control and safety. I was anxious and rarely slowed down or relaxed, always feeling like I had to be doing something. But when I really started to think about it, I realized that I had been that way most of my life, it just became more pronounced. Even in my 20’s, having a drink was usually the only time my body actually relaxed.
Renowned addiction expert, speaker + author Dr. Gabor Maté says that the root of all addiction is trauma. And we all know addiction can come in so many different sneaky forms .. from sugar to screens to alcohol, etc. Sadly, our culture seems to encourage this.
I could easily have allowed my story to be written for me but I was fortunate to have the determination to find resources to heal. After becoming an NTP, I became Certified in Integrative Medicine and Nutrition for Trauma Treatment, this education in the ways that trauma impacts physical health and the resources to support healing is now tool that I can support others with.
I know that when somebody comes to me looking for relief from anxiety or depression, we’ll be making targeted dietary changes, but there’s also probably some habits or barriers that need to be explored.
My holistic approach focuses on lifestyle shifts in addition to diet and nutrients because while the right nutrients can help to curb cravings (or the impulse to scroll), you can have the best diet and still be unbalanced foundationally because of stress, nervous system dysregulation, circadian rhythm disruption, etc.
My hope is that by sharing my story and the way that it shaped my values and practice, it will help the right people find me.
