Meet Taylor DeBoer | Holistic Nutritionist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Taylor DeBoer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I decided to start my own business because I wanted to be an advocate for women going through health struggles like I did.

I struggled with bloating, candida overgrowth, constipation, chronic fatigue, joint pain, hypoglycemia, PCOS, severe eczema, adrenal fatigue, autoimmune markers, and ultimately Lyme Disease. It took me a year of suffering from symptoms before I finally received a diagnosis.
I saw 3 dermatologists, an allergy doctor, 2 primary care doctors, and a naturopath and none of them were able to figure out the root cause of any of my issues.

During the year of trying to get to the bottom of what was going on with me, I was prescribed a steroid injection for the eczema and no other solutions for the rest of my symptoms.
I felt like my body was broken and this was the way I was going to have to live.

Until one day, it dawned on my to do some research into root causes of skin conditions and I stumbled across research that showed you could develop a rash with Mono (epstein barr virus). Knowing that I had Mono in high school and the fact that I was so tired I thought maybe I had it again and that it was the cause of everything wrong. I called one of my primary care physicians and asked if she could order me a lab test for Mono. She said she would and she also decided last minute to throw in Lyme Disease. Both tests came back positive.
I was so relieved to finally have a diagnosis. However, my journey wasn’t over yet.

I knew I wanted to approach this naturally. The Naturopath I was seeing referred me to another naturopath who had more experience treating Lyme. My new naturopath did a more in-depth Lyme panel to see if I actually had Lyme or if I had a false positive. I will never forget what she said when those results came back, “so you tested positive for all the Lyme co-infections, so if there was any doubt you have Lyme you can lay those to rest, you definitely have it.”

I was eager to hear how she wanted to treat it since she wasn’t a traditional allopathic doctor. Unfortunately, she wanted to go the medication route. I think she was a bit intimidated since I had all the co-infections that maybe she feared the natural way wouldn’t be strong enough, I’m not really sure. She started me on antibiotics and an anti-fungal medication. Everything in me did not want to do antibiotics I knew how bad they were for our gut health, but I decided to trust her with how to treat it.

I took the medications for 10 months. During those 10 months we did labs about every month to monitor my markers and everything was getting worse and worse. I wasn’t feeling any better.

By this time, I was deep in my master program and had more knowledge around nutrition and holistic health. I was confident in my ability to address my health issues myself and felt it was time to quit the medications.

I stopped taking both medications and within 6 months of being very diligent with my nutrition I was in remission and within a year my skin was looking so much better!

I felt that doctors, even naturopathic doctors let me down. I know so many people in my same position who feel let down by the medical system. They feel they are prescribed a medication and there’s no effort to actually fix their problem and regain their health.

This is what inspired me to start my own nutrition practice and work with people 1:1 so that they feel like there is another way to get their health back! That they don’t have to stay in the same cycle of taking medication to simply manage their issues.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
In my practice one thing that I feel really makes me stands out is my stance on fruit. I believe fruit is the most powerful food group especially when it comes to healing.

I myself have landed on a fruit based diet, and have found incredible benefits. Not all my clients have to follow in my footsteps, but encouraging the consumption of at least more fruit is something that really helps them. It is also something that makes them really excited.

So many doctors tell you to avoid fruit, that it will make everything worse. That is so far from the truth. I was told by every doctor I saw not to eat fruit that it would only make things worse. For a long time I was terrified to eat fruit, which was sad because I had always been a long time lover of watermelon in the summer. So, to be in a place where I was scared to eat my favorite fruit was just sad.

When I started to research more about fruit and write papers on it for school I found that fruit was truly a powerful healing tool.

That is why I use my social media platform to talk about fruit as often as I can. I also love to share how fruit can be such a beneficial asset to athletes and those that love fitness.

As a fitness lover myself, fruit has been just the thing my muscles craved, and hearing from my clients about how much stronger they’re getting in their workouts since adding more fruit makes me smile!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to the gym with me every morning, and then back to my house for an amazing fruit smoothie!

I would take them with me to walk my dogs on the beach in Playa Del Rey, and over the weekend I would take them with me and my pups to DOG PPL in Santa Monica for a fun vibe.

Most nights I would cook dinner for them at my place. I love to cook! And after dinner I would take them for some fun zero-proof craft cocktails at STAY. in China town.

I would want to take them out to dinner a couple nights. One night at Wild Living Foods, and another night at Planta Cocina (however avoid any menu items with oil, because they use seed oils sadly).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The first book on nutrition that I ever read was “Unprocessed” by Megan Kimble. I read that book in undergrad and it really ignited my passion for nutrition. Until that point I never realized how processed the vast majority of our “food” really is.

Being more curious about nutrition and how to possibly have a career in that field, I shadowed a nutritionist , Rachel Lazenby, CNC, for a semester to see if it was really something I was interested in. I loved sitting in on her session with clients. I was inspired to have a practice of my own someday. I also interned for an holistic doctor after college, Dr. Lea Kelley, DC, LAc, and she further inspired my love for holistic health.

My passion for health has been further inspired by The Informed Consent Action Network, a nonprofit that I support. Their mission is to fight to informed consent through legal action, and they believe that we should be empowered to make our own decisions about our own health, which is something I feel strongly about.

Website: I’m in the works of updating/re-doing my website, not sure if I can send you the updated link later? Let me know

Instagram: @td_nutrition

Twitter: @td_nutrition

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@td_nutrition

Image Credits
Photographer: Sarah Orbanic