The Five-Recipe Fix: Anti-Inflammatory Recipes to Change Your Life
Meet Ali:
Certified Functional Nutrition Provider
Certified Health Coach
Certified Health-Supportive Chef
Busy, Active, Working Mom
I’M: Alison Kucich, mom of four spirited boys and transplant to the idyllic “beach-burbs” of the Jersey shore. I’m a soccer mom, a baseball mom, a basketball mom. I’m also a wife and the chief house manager, chauffeur, cheerleader, homework helper and short-order cook.
WHEN I’M NOT WITH CLIENTS, YOU WILL FIND ME: in the kitchen, conjuring up new Eighty recipes, or on the sidelines, cheering my face off for my boys and their teammates.
I DIG: alt rock, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and wearing jeans as often as possible. As a Taurus, I am drawn to things with bold color, texture, and fragrance, and am at my happiest in my kitchen, surrounded by family, friends and my dog, or anywhere near the beach.
MY FAVORITE FOODS: come from plants and animals. But mostly plants.
I HAVE DEGREES FROM: Franklin & Marshall College (BA) and The London School of Economics (MSc).
I HAVE CERTIFICATES IN:
- Nutrition from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
- Functional Nutrition from the Functional Nutrition Alliance
- Culinary Arts, Food Therapy, and Health Supportive Cooking from the Natural Gourmet Institute of Health and Culinary Arts, and the Institute of Culinary Education
- Autoimmune Protocol, anti-inflammatory food therapies, hormone imbalances, and nutritional supplementation
- Creative writing from The New School in New York City, and in Kundalini Yoga from the Kundalini Research Institute.
I USED TO BE: a vegan (for fifteen years), a raw foodist (for three years), a New Yorker, a Wall-Streeter, an author, a Kundalini yoga teacher, a personal chef, and the founder of a small, organic baby food delivery business.
PRIOR TO THAT: I was a student who followed the 1992 food pyramid to the letter and struggled with asthma, allergies, weight gain, and a neuromuscular pain disorder.
NOW I: spend my days preparing what is life-sustaining and nutritionally appropriate for myself, my family, and my clients, and I feel empowered by the choices I make and help others make. I appreciate the downtime and the quiet moments, and embrace the organized chaos that is my life with an active family. I try to live authentically, hold myself accountable, and show up every day with my game jersey on. And I try not to judge myself too harshly when I make mistakes, like sending my kids to school without their lunches.
I STARTED EIGHTY BECAUSE: I discovered through years of trial and error that the key to my own good health and well-being was in the type and quality of food I consumed. I feel it is my responsibility to use the knowledge I’ve attained to help others achieve the same positive results, and I love doing it. For me, it’s like solving a riddle. By combining the science of nutrition with my clients’ unique lifestyle and health needs, I’m able to determine the specific dietary and lifestyle formula to help them make lasting changes.
