The Introduction; The Cretan Nutritionist
February 10, 2021
Written By: Eva Papadogiorgaki
My name is Eva and I am a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. Although if you are reading this, you probably already know that. Here’s a little about me.
I was born and spent my childhood on Crete, a large island in the most southern part of Greece. The house I grew up in was literally on the beach; I mean the walls were 50 feet from the water. So naturally I spent my summers day in and day out wearing a bathing suit, swimming, playing in the sand, snorkelling with my dad or building forts in our vast backyard with my sister and friends.
I actually don’t remember spending much time indoors.
Medication was not part of my childhood. My mother took the natural approach to every ailment, like raw onions in place of antibiotics, used vinegar for cleaning, allowed us very little sugar and loaded so many different vegetables in her pasta sauce that no amount of tomato sauce could hide them.
At 14 my parents packed up my sisters and me and moved us to the most ‘corner of the earth’ part of Canada: Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. I really do mean that this is the corner of the earth. Look it up.
I ended up moving away three years later, right after I graduated from high school. I’ve moved quite a few times in my life and I don’t think I’m nearly done yet! I have lived —in no particular order— in Toronto Canada, San Luis Obispo California, Yarmouth Nova Scotia, Athens Greece, Halifax Nova Scotia, and Heraklion Crete.
Anywhere I lived, food interested me and baking in particular, after I realized you can make delicious mouth-watering pastries and desserts with just a few ordinary ingredients. I’m fascinated by the chemistry involved when combining ingredients and cooking, freezing, or blending them.
But more than that, food is in my blood. My grandfather had a restaurant. My father then ran that and several other restaurants. My aunt had a cookie shop. My cousin is a chef. My other cousin is a pastry chef and owns a cake shop. And my mom let me do whatever I wanted in the kitchen growing up which is why all these years later I still love experimenting! Combining ingredients in unconventional ways is exciting! If you follow my Instagram you may have noticed that I put vegetables in cakes, smoothies, and pancakes.
Despite the food connection, becoming an holistic nutritionist was not in my plans. I changed my mind a lot and tried many things, including studying fashion design in Athens, baking for a fine-dining restaurant in California and moving cities another seven times before understanding that overall wellbeing is at the core of everything.
As I traded places and changed jobs and living situations, I realized that what I put in my body affected the way I felt, my mental health, my energy and even my productivity at work. I knew what was considered healthy and unhealthy but I wanted to learn more about how food reacts with our body chemistry and I wanted to dig deeper into the details of nutrition. Most importantly I realized that I could control how I felt with how I chose to treat my body, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally.
So, with the connection of food and a natural way of living instilled in me, I decided to study Holistic Nutrition as a means of learning more about this balance and diving deeper into exactly what works, what symptoms mean what, and what is really at the core of a long and healthy life.
Right now, I pride myself on being a recipe developer, an amateur gluten-free baker, a sometimes-writer and a traveler.
Best of all, I can show you how to eat healthy in a fun and easy way.
Things I am currently working on:
Being less hard on myself
Getting 8 hours of sleep each night
Making meditation a habit
At the moment, I live with my husband in downtown Toronto, Canada where I love walking around the city and the lake, tasting new foods and helping to educate on wellness and nutrition.