Meet the HHN Team

“I remember a time when I was terrified to leave the house because of my symptoms. While this was one of the scariest times of my life, I feel as if I went from pain to purpose. Today, I am so blessed to help other women overcome what I did.”

Danielle didn’t always know that this is the turn her career path would take as she was a former Mathematics Teacher in New York City. However, her health had other plans, which ultimately led her to her true calling. After years of dealing with chronic constipation, chronic dizziness, anxiety, headaches, weight gain and other digestive issues that took hold of her life, Danielle desperately was searching for an answer as to why she felt her body was betraying her since she was in her teens. Test after test, doctor after doctor, she was finally diagnosed with Ménière's disease, a disorder of the inner ear, which is still greatly misunderstood and led her to believe she had the chance of going deaf. To this day Danielle believes she never had Ménière's disease.

As symptoms continued to pile on, Danielle had no choice, but to take a leave of absence from her teaching career, leaving her even more desperate for answers. Conventional medication, vegan/vegetarian diets, and even supplements would “mask” her issues temporarily, but symptoms always reappeared no matter how many times it was promised that “this would fix” the problem. Blood work was always fairly normal, except a cholesterol level of 396 , leaving doctors confused. She truly felt her symptoms were taking over her entire life, but numerous medical doctors left her feeling “crazy.” Ultimately, she was then diagnosed with IBS-C, with little to no guidance besides “drink more water, get more fiber, and take Miralax daily.”

Danielle finally decided to take matters into her own hands through constant research, and completed a certification for Holistic Nutrition remotely. Slowly, with better eating habits, great improvement was noticed, although something was still missing as her constipation and other symptoms were not resolved. At this pivotal point, Danielle knew this was her passion and what she was meant to do—search for the answer to taking her life back, which could result in her helping others to do the same in the future. She was sick and tired of Googling day and night and wasting money on “quick” fixes that never delivered on their promises.

After this recognition, she decided to pursue her Master's Degree in Human Nutrition with a focus on Digestive Healing through the University of Bridgeport, where she deeply studied inflammation, gastrointestinal conditions, chronic disease, autoimmunity, and how it impacts all functioning systems. She at this point realized her “irritable bowel syndrome” (IBS) was actually a small intestinal bacterial growth (SIBO) that was holding her back from truly healing. While she managed to get these conditions under control, she relapsed. She couldn’t understand why, but again understood— something had to still be missing. 

From here, Danielle started really focusing on true holistic healing. She started to dial back to the beginning of her life and realized that her childhood also had a large role in her health. At the age of 16, Danielle tragically lost her father to his battle with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). She had realized that she was in a chronic state of “Fight or Flight” long before she ever experienced her first symptom and there was much that needed unpacking. Danielle also took note that she was never truly passionate about teaching and realized that the severity of her symptoms significantly diminished when she was not “putting on a show.”

She identified this was the root behind her relapse with SIBO, being stuck in a chronic state of “Fight or Flight.” With this understanding she heavily research ways to support and balance her nervous system. Ultimately, a sustainable, non-restrictive diet, appropriate supplementation, and nervous system rebalancing were necessary puzzle pieces to alleviate her symptoms. All of these realizations as a collective were her answer. You must look at yourself as a whole, not fragments, to fully be well. 

This is how Healing Haven Nutrition came to be. Danielle knew if she healed, she now had a responsibility and deep wanting to help other females do the same.

To date, Danielle has trained other professionals on the power of diet in relation to chronic inflammation, chronic disease, and autoimmunity, held over 100 seminars, and individually works with women, including nurses and doctors struggling with puzzling digestive symptoms to help others live the life they deserve to live.