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Food with Attitude, Jaime Frinak
Success to me is knowing
g that I helped or influenced someone to change an unhealthy habit or learn more about the food they eat and how it affects their own bodies.
I promote a whole food, traditional way of eating. I think looking at our heritage and where our ancestors came from and incorporating that into our own dietary systems is paramount. I believe that every person is unique and has different needs - there is NO one-size-fits-all approach to health. I work with many kinds of dietary needs including plant-based, paleo, food allergies, and sensitivities; all leading back to a varied whole foods approach.
Jaime Frinak is a nutrition and wellness coach with a private practice here in Western North Carolina. Currently. Jaime uses her knowledge gained from earning a master's in holistic nutrition to help clients achieve their nutritional goals - weight loss, understanding what a healthy diet looks like, breaking bad habits, reading food labels, basic cooking instruction, reducing bodily inflammation, having more energy and generally, just feeling better. As a self-taught home chef, she did not grow up eating well and was not 'taught' cooking skills in the home. Teaching people how to incorporate healthy foods that taste good into their diet and empowering them with the benefits of vitality and disease prevention is important to her.
Working in the fashion industry for more than a decade also didn't necessarily inspire healthy habits either. It is a fast-paced industry focused on deadlines. Food is definitely secondary to success.
It was a lot of 'trial and error' to get where I am, nutritionally and cooking well. I like telling people this because I find generationally, this applies to many and folks shouldn't let their kitchen intimidate them. Cooking healthy tasty food can be learned! Doesn't matter your age, where you came from, or your background!
People always ask how I got into nutrition and if it was a health challenge of my own or a close family member that pushed me into it. The answer is no, and I suppose thankfully. Once when I was in between jobs and living in Los Angeles, to help pay the rent I joined a high-end nanny service. I would work jobs with several families during the week with small children. A lot of these families were part of the Hollywood elite (it was Los Angeles after all). I saw how these children were eating - varied whole foods with high nutrient content, all organic; these kids had amazing palates. Gone were the Kool-Aid and fruit roll-ups, the Goldfish, candy - all the stuff I grew up on. And it was a joy and a realization for me. A lot of the kids were better behaved as well. I concluded that some of this was related to their diet and I became more introspective about my own. The rest is sort of...history.
Jaime was introduced to SCORE through the Asheville SCORE New Entrepreneurs Women’s Roundtable whose mission is to develop relationships between entrepreneurial women-owned businesses in the area and to share ideas, problems, solutions, and success stories with one another. Unlike other groups more speaker-driven, this group focuses on guided conversation and advice driven by roundtable members.
The main challenge for me is certainly finding clientele. Asheville is a tough market and word of mouth is so important. Overall, I think many people here care about their health and eating right for their bodies and want to learn more. I'm excited to be a part of their journey.
The monthly new entrepreneurial Women's Business Roundtable has been great; it's been helpful to connect with women who are in similar circumstances as myself in business and work through some of our challenges together.
My advice to new entrepreneurs is to create a true business plan for the first year. Really take time with this and figure out how you will measure your own success.
Elizabeth Pou, who has been co-leading the New Entrepreneurial Women's Roundtable group, has been so helpful in urging me (and the group) to develop and convey the key points of my business. She has really helped to inspire confidence, even though I am a new entrepreneur and not entirely comfortable 'selling myself'. It helps to have someone lead the group who has much experience and who is also a woman.
As a former attorney, HR executive and business consultant, I can help clients with business and...
