Community Highlights: Meet Danielle DeGroot of Dietitian Gone Wild

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle DeGroot.

Hi Danielle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I became a dietitian because of my own health journey which started in high school and college. I found myself in a very restrictive place and finally decided it was a better idea to study nutrition than to read all the latest fads. So I changed my major from broadcast journalism and decided to get my Bachelor’s in Nutrition and Dietetics and Master’s in Nutrition and Wellness following.

Despite the education, I still felt like there was more to learn and found myself very drawn to holistic and alternative therapies. I worked in fitness, diabetes, and dialysis for several years, but continued to dive into my passion of health coaching on the side. To be fully transparent, I had the interesting life experience of being on a reality TV show which filmed in 2016 and it forced me to reflect on my life path and what I was contributing to the world.

I anticipated having a larger audience of people watching me following the air date and wanted to provide something more beneficial than just my personal life. So I began my business, Dietitian Gone Wild, in 2017. I started by creating a website and just having a handful of clients on the side since I worked full time in health care. Because I believe in a holistic approach, I wanted to incorporate elements of wellness into my business so I became a yoga teacher shortly thereafter and also a Reiki Master.

In 2019, I began partnering with businesses to lead yoga retreats around the world. I will say that having a “following” helped, but it’s not everything and doesn’t guarantee you get clients or opportunities. What truly helped me the most, was reaching out to companies and starting to do the work before I felt 100% ready. I figured things out through trial and error and by asking others in my field what they did. In 2020 I started to really re-evaluate (as many people did) what I was doing with my path and started looking for coaching companies to partner with and learn from.

Then I found Nutrition Dynamic. ND is a functional health coaching company and through reaching out to them with interest I was able to get the opportunity to study functional nutrition deeper. I worked my way up to becoming one of their top coaches working full time in a little less than a year! I worked my butt off to do so, working full time in dialysis and almost full time in coaching simultaneously while I made the career jump.

Now I find myself living my passion every day by helping clients with various issues (hormonal imbalance, thyroid optimization, gut issues, autoimmune, metabolic resistance, and much more) achieve more optimal health. I am constantly learning and growing as we improve on our processes to help clients.

I love working this way because I have a team to partner with and give my clients the best quality care available!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It was very challenging trying to figure out how to start and run a business on my own while working a full-time job. I honestly had no clue what I was doing and zero help. I just started researching and taking things one step at a time.

Also, being on a reality TV show doesn’t necessarily translate to “credibility” so I still had to prove my worth when recruiting new clients.

I really didn’t feel I had the time or skills to market appropriately and my processes needed a lot of work! Trying to work two jobs full-time to make the career leap was no easy feat either.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Dietitian Gone Wild LLC?
Dietitian Gone Wild was created because I wanted to set myself apart from the stuffy perception of what a dietitian is. I’m human. I enjoy fun and food and am not perfect with my nutrition all the time! I think fun is an important part of health. I also think working on the mental/emotional side of things is equally (if not sometimes more so) important than what we’re eating.

That’s where the work I do with yoga, meditation, and reiki comes into play. Part of my brand is also traveling and live music because those are things that feed my soul and I want to encourage others to find what feeds theirs. I see on a daily basis what stress does to the body and the things that light you up and make you feel alive DO have a large impact on your overall health.

I am contracted with Nutrition Dynamic now to provide virtual health coaching in functional nutrition to clients overall the world. I work with clients with various health focuses including balancing hormones, PCOS, thyroid health, gut issues, SIBO, metabolic resistance, autoimmune and more.

I also lead yoga retreats around the world and offer yoga for events, businesses, or private sessions, as well as, virtual reiki sessions. I am most proud that my brand is an authentic representation of who I am and incorporates all of the elements that have helped me along the way in my own healing journey!

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson has been to be adaptable and flow with change. If an opportunity presents itself and feels aligned with me I pursue it even when I may not necessarily feel “ready” for it.

This has served me because I’ve had some incredible experiences and learned through trial and error by just jumping in and doing the work.

Trusting that what I feel drawn towards is being presented to me for a reason (generally for my purpose or my growth) and rolling with that has served me well.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.dietitiangonewild.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiangonewild
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielle.degroot619
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielle_mafs

Image Credits
Katrina Bahr