Healthy food practitioner shares her knowledge through ‘good-for-you’ diet

Sari Dennis’ mission is to help people bring their bodies back into balance. Dennis is a certified health and wellness counselor who studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and founded My Wellness Counts, mywellnesscounts.com, in 2010. Some clients bestow on her their own title.

“I’ve been called a health shrink,” she said.

Her approach nixes counting calories and carbohydrates, fats or proteins. It is less about restrictions and more about satisfying one’s food requirements with healthy choices.She grows her own good-for-you choices in her backyard — radishes, kale, spinach.

Dennis was inspired by the way ancient civilizations ate, before there was refrigeration, before chemical additives. Turmeric, garlic and ginger are three of the spices she underlines in her counselings. They are naturally antiviral and antibacterial.

“That’s my trio of nature’s medicine cabinet,” she said. “A lot of things I use are ancient Mayan super foods.”

Eat quinoa instead of rice and drink almond milk (sans the sweetening) instead of cow milk. Want to eliminate a bloated belly? Turn to apple cider vinegar at mealtime, she said.

Her approach may hearken back to ancient ways of eating, but today’s technology plays a part. Her first client lived in New York City, and they Skyped their sessions. Dennis even cooked while Skyping, demonstrating in real time how to make the recipes she was suggesting. That client ended up losing 30 pounds, although Dennis does not guarantee weight loss. She works with clients over a six-month period.

“This isn’t accomplished overnight,” she said. “It’s not a quick fix.”

One client is Susan Gomez of south Summerlin, who cited health issues that prompted her to go vegetarian.

“She changed my life,” Gomez said of Dennis. “I learned how bad most foods are, not good for my health, or my well-being. Now, I’m a vegan. I have more energy. I dropped weight. I feel better. My friends comment on how good my skin looks.”

Another client, Sharon Adashek, is battling lupus and was taking a form of chemotherapy for it. She went to Dennis, and within a month, she said she noticed she had less pain, felt stronger and had more mental clarity. After six months on the program, Adashek was able to go off the chemotherapy drug, and her other medications are at lower doses.

“My husband is a doctor, and he was, like, he was iffy about it,” Adashek said. “But he saw the changes in me and went, ‘Wow, it’s really working for you.’ ”

Dennis’ own journey to wellness took years. Growing up in Toronto, she was plagued with several digestive issues that compounded as she reached adulthood — irritable bowel syndrome, a spastic colon, acid reflux disease, parasites, candida and irregularity. She was taking various medications daily for these issues.

“But they were a Band-Aid to help the symptoms,” she said of her prescriptions. “They didn’t address the cause.”

It all came to a head when Dennis learned both her parents were diagnosed with cancer. The news shook her and led to a determination to take control of her health. She attended a presentation on nutrition and eliminated dairy and meat. Within a few days, she said, she could feel a difference. Dennis is now off her medications entirely.

Another client, Amanda Brown, said her view of healthy eating changed after a 21-day “fast” through her church had her eating salads, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Her near-constant headaches disappeared. She went to Dennis and learned her approach and now incorporates it into her family’s meals. She said she feels “a ton more energy, and I need less sleep. … If I slip — like, it was my daughter’s birthday, so I had a doughnut that morning and cake at dinner. I immediately feel the difference.”

Dennis is also certified as a Food For Life cooking instructor and provides recipes that combine flavors. Working with Lisa Cheplak, Dennis also presents Tasty Health Cooking Classes, a business that was set up last year and forwards the plant-based concepts she relays through My Wellness Counts.

“We show them it can be easy, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. We walk into a grocery store, and there are more than 30,000 choices for food and food items, and people don’t know what’s going to benefit them,” Dennis said.

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.