Meet Francesca Orlando Baldwin of Healthful Living in Mission Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to Francesca Orlando Baldwin.

Francesca, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Food and health are lifelong passions of mine. I grew up in Italy, the country that gave birth to the Slow Food movement. I was raised appreciating the gifts of the land; I was taught to savor every bite, to make every single meal a sensory experience.

When I moved to the United States in 2006, I started eating the standard American diet and, within just a few weeks, my health fell apart.

Fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, disturbing rapid weight loss suddenly kicked in. The number of specialists I contacted couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. Thousands of dollars and many trips to the emergency room later, I was finally labeled as an IBS sufferer and I was told that, unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done for me. I was prescribed anti-depressants and I was sent home.

However, I refused to accept that I had to live in pain, that there was no treatment to end my sufferings. Nobody ever asked me about my diet or about the changes I had made since I moved from Italy…

I decided to study, research, and join nutrition foundations. And, little by little, I started helping the people around me make better nutritional choices. Everywhere I looked, the changes were amazing. Friends and family were encouraging me to make a major career change.

I was unsatisfied with mainstream nutrition. It seems that nobody knows what real food is anymore. What happened to the traditional diets that had nourished humanity for thousands of years?

I wanted to study nutrition and evolution, ancestral diets, and modern nutrition science. That’s when I found the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, the Weston A. Price Foundation, and the Nutritional Therapy Association. Through these organizations I found education, support, and a community of like-minded people. I have studied in depth anatomy and physiology, and the interaction between living organisms and the food that they consume.

I graduated as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner in 2009, and I’ve been helping people get better ever since. In 2011 I studied under Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, and became a Certified GAPS Practitioner.

Nutrition is both an ancient and an evolving science. I further my studies taking classes at college level, as well as attending seminars and conferences all over the country.

Has it been a smooth road?
I believe that starting a business is no small feat. In order to be successful, you have to be not only a great practitioner, but a good entrepreneur also. I have to admit that the business part did not come natural to me, and I had to work hard at it. I am still a work in process in that department for sure.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Healthful Living – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I am a holistic nutritionist. Changing dietary habits can be difficult, there is so much to food besides nourishment. We use food to celebrate, so stave off boredom, we eat when we are sad, happy, lonely, there are so many emotions that play into feeding. And when we are told that for health reasons we need to rethink nutrition, it can be a shock. One of my goals is to help clients discover a world of pleasurable eating, fun cooking and experimenting, and of course help shift their focus from the “deprived” mentality of special diets to the healing power of food.

I specialize in fertility, prenatal and postnatal diets, as well as pediatrics. A big part of my practice is special diets for autism, ADD/ADHD.

I also love working on digestive issues, because of my personal story.

What am I known for… My work with pregnant and breastfeeding women. I work with many women trying to conceive, going through fertility treatment, and see a fair amount of cases of gestational diabetes, preeclamsia. I love following women through the stages of pregnancy and child birth. I am blessed to work with their babies should they suffer from thrush, colics, slow weight gain, etc. I really love working with families.

As a business owner, I think there is nothing more rewarding than having referrals. I collaborate with amazing practitioners in San Diego, and it means a lot to me that they entrust me with their patients’ health. I also love when clients refer me to family members and friends. My clients are my best business card!

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What’s not to love! I am blessed to live in San Diego, it is such an amazing city. We are blessed with great weather that allows us to be outdoors year-round, and it allows us to enjoy the wonderful nature that surrounds us.

I have to say that the last Santa Ana we had was a bit too much for me. Probably it doesn’t help that I am in my last trimester of pregnancy. 🙂 Plus, there is nothing we can do about it.

Pricing:

• Initial visit + nutritional therapy plan $225
• Follow up visits $90/45 minutes
• 3 month package (total of 8 visits, which include 1 grocery store tour and 1 pantry clean up) $850
• 6 month package (total of 14 visits, which include 1 grocery store tour and 1 pantry clean up) $1,350

Contact Info:

• Address: 928 Fort Stockton Dr. #213
  San Diego, CA 92103
• Website: http://www.healthfullivingsd.com/
• Phone: 619.208.8159
• Email: francesca@healhfullivingsd.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealthfulLivingSanDiego/

Image Credit:
Terri Rippee Photography
https://www.123rf.com

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