Hi, everyone!

My name is Rachel Druckenmiller, and I’m a Certified Health Coach, Wellness Consultant and food lover based in Baltimore, Maryland, where I live with my college sweetheart, Bill, who is an elementary school physical education teacher.

He is my primary recipe tester and biggest fan!

Despite the fact that I was a super picky eater for most of my life, I have always been intrigued by food and how it affects the body.

I didn’t eat my first salad until I was 18 years old and didn’t expand my food palate much beyond angel hair pasta and chicken fingers until I studied abroad in Spain in college. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t pronounce it or if I had already decided I didn’t like it, if I didn’t want to starve (or be rude), I had to at least try whatever was prepared for me.

Talk about scary!

Fast forward 10 years, and I’ve had a transformation in my eating preferences, food knowledge and my health. I’m now eager and excited to try new foods instead of afraid. My husband, Bill, and I love trying new recipes, and spending time at farmer’s markets and grocery stores.

We love food!

Even though I’ve been “into” health and nutrition since I was a kid – exploring the aisles of health food stores, reading books and magazines about nutrition, and spending time in the kitchen with my mom – I didn’t know how much what I was eating was affecting me and my health.

From the time I was a little girl, I was sick a lot – from chronic ear and sinus infections to allergies and acid reflux, I took countless rounds of antibiotics and other medications to feel better. I had half a dozen surgeries by the time I was in high school.

I was seeing a different doctor for every symptom, but I could not seem to get better.

Little did I know that what I was eating and the damage that medication was doing to my body were keeping me from being healthy. No one asked WHY I was sick so often…what was at the root of my sickness? I was tired of taking a pill for every ill.

In 2010, I started to make changes.

Since then, my health has been transformed. I’ve lost 20 pounds and kept it off, identified food sensitivities and digestive issues that were keeping me sick, weaned myself off of reflux medication I was on for almost a decade, and don’t even suffer from congestion anymore!

If someone had told me 10 years ago that all of this was possible I wouldn’t have believed them.

I’ve had to experience it myself to see how incredibly powerful food is.

My mission is to transform the way people think about food and to help them find energy, healing and optimal health by changing how and what they eat.

My journey has taught me that what we eat radically affects how we look, feel, and respond to illness. Food is healing, nourishing, and delicious. Healthy eating can (and should!) be easy, accessible, and enjoyable.

We’ve made eating well more difficult (and boring) than it needs to be, and I’m here to simplify it and make it fun! Imagine if eating healthy could be something we chose to do instead of something we had to do.

If I’ve learned anything in my studies of health and nutrition it’s that we can all benefit from “crowding out” processed foods and “upgrading” our diets by eating more plants, especially vegetables. I’m an advocate of Michael Pollan’s food philosophy of eating real food, not too much, mostly plants.

I love experimenting with and sharing recipes for healthier versions of favorite foods we assume we “can’t have” when we’re eating healthy. Some of my favorites are homemade donut holes, avocado fudgesicles, make-your-own bean burrito bowl, and peanut butter banana ice cream.

I’m certified as a Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and have earned a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.

I’ve delved deeper into nutrition by reading the works of Drs. Alejandro Junger, Mark Hyman, Joel Fuhrman, Neal Barnard, and David Katz along with nutritionists Tom Malterre and Kimberly Snyder and other holistic health leaders Joshua Rosenthal, Michael Pollan, and Brene Brown.

I have a Master’s degree in Health Science and Community Health Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. I’ve been intrigued by health and food for most of my life and am always eager to learn more, so I’m embarking on another exciting educational journey this fall to become certified in culinary nutrition.

I can’t wait!

I want to be around for my friends and family for a long time. That’s why I’m committed to nourishing my body with high quality, wholesome food. For me, good health begins in the kitchen. It’s a place of connection, community, and comfort.

I invite you to check out my blog, Rachel’s Nourishing Kitchen. Welcome!