About

About The Founder, McKel (Hill) Kooienga, MS, RDN, LDN

Hi! I’m McKel and I’m so happy and grateful that you’re here sharing your time and energy with me and our amazing community of like-minded people.

As a Registered Dietitian, Wellness Coach, and Author, I’m proud to have created a trailblazing mind-body health company that supports the wellbeing of people around the world.

My purpose is to guide you on how to use nutrition as the catalyst to become more in tune, connected, and aware of your wellbeing by practicing small daily actions that nourish your bodies (mostly with plants!). By learning the science of nutrition and honoring the fundamental pillars of our health (i.e. mental, emotional, spiritual), we design a mindful way of eating and living that’s sustainable, aligned, and joyful.

Food is more than cellular nourishment for our physical bodies, it’s about the experience and mindset around our eating and lifestyle habits to achieve the health we deserve.

We have helped thousands reclaim their health through our award-winning website, and award-nominated social media that reaches millions in 189 countries, and by teaching how to eat well with the Nutrition Stripped Cookbook.

Why I Created NS

“Why did you start Nutrition Stripped?” is one of the most common questions I receive daily — more than nutrition questions!

I started Nutrition Stripped® in 2013 as a creative outlet to share my expertise, gifts, and passions — expertise from my advanced education in nutrition and coaching on behavior change, gifts such as my ability to connect with compassion and see the bigger picture of health, and passions in developing my own methods to design a simple way of making a long-term change to reclaim the balance of health people deserve.

At age 25 I put everything I had into starting the company on my own, Nutrition Stripped became my full-time career including private practice, ebooks, online courses, partnerships, and a book deal. To this day, my company has been completely grassroots and lead with lots of love and integrity, something I’m extremely proud of!

From a young age, I had a deep knowing I was meant to support other people’s health journeys by guiding them and unblocking what’s already within them. As an artist at heart, I love merging this art of healthy living with the science of nutrition and health to make a full picture of human health come alive.

My philosophy blossomed while navigating some of my own health issues from migraines, digestive issues, to anxiety — these real-life experiences taught me a lot about self-care, intuition, resilience, habit change, and confidence. All of which was a great recipe for figuring out how to design a way of eating and living that felt right for me.

Where You Come In

If you’ve ever had times in your life where you’ve bounced from diet to diet, trend to trend, or plan to plan to leave yourself feeling like you’ve failed, that you weren’t motivated enough, or that you were never supposed to meet your goals. Or if you’ve felt imbalanced, inconsistent, or like you can’t trust yourself to take care of your health in the best way possible…

You’re not alone!

I’ve had so many experiences just like this in my life not only with my physical health but also with my mental health. I learned throughout this process that life is in layers, every choice we make each day is a layer to be built upon. Health doesn’t happen overnight, health isn’t found in a powder or potion, health isn’t a 20-day plan, health is a daily practice.

Health Is A Daily Practice™, health shouldn’t be an all-consuming full-time job or something that’s micromanaged, it’s a practice. It’s a process. And it’s far from being perfect.

Our physical health, mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health is a combination of thousands of thoughts, choices, and actions we take to create a way we live.

You are the exact reason why Nutrition Stripped is rooted in serving others, compassion, and peace! Through our content, 90% of which is free, and online programs, The Method membership, and private  we’re here to guide you to design a way of mindful eating and living for your unique body and life.

We believe people should have access to the education they need to support their health in order to make small changes at a time — an ambitious goal, but one that’s a priority for us. While we’re a health and nutrition company and yes, a business, one that sells products, we’re also a company that shares our educational work and content largely for free. I’m really proud, honored, and grateful to earn a living this way and for our team. You can read more about our transparency, our small and mighty team, and what we do

If you’re looking for a system that feels sustainable, a method that moves with the ebb and flow of your life, and feel amazing, then I’m happy you’re here. I believe you’ve just met your community, your practice, and hopefully your guide (yours truly!).

Let’s Connect

I’m so grateful for you to join the Nutrition Stripped community and I hope this is just the beginning of us getting to know each other. I’d love to learn more about you — the best way to stay connected with me is to  by just entering your name and email. Most of the time you’ll see me pop in your inbox weekly on Wednesdays, sometimes more if we have exciting news to share or updates that might support you further than our free content.

 

As much as we’re a digital company and our offerings are virtual, I actually don’t spend as much time on social media as you might think! Social media is a great way to see what you’re up to in the community, but we all know it can be a big time-suck and we have a life to live and habits to practice!

Most of my time is spent in nature at our home in TN, in self-reflection, gardening, cooking, connecting with loved ones (especially my incredible husband Jesse and our pup Luna), and creating more amazing resources for you.

I’m so grateful for you to be part of our community and to meet you — I’m excited about your health journey and ours ahead!

In peace,
xx McKel

p.s. if you like listening to podcasts, here are a few fun interviews you might like!