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12 VOL. 6 ISSUE 1
MEET MACKENSIE STRUBLE:
PERSONAL CHEF, CANINE CHEF AND FAITH AND WELLNESS COACH
A personal journey to health and wellness that became her life’s passion and career Introduction by Mia Bertelsen
The following story is written by MacKensie and shows us a very personal look into her journey. Her reasons for being so open and honest with the world are to let us know that we are not alone and there are so many people out there who are experiencing the same ups and downs in life. At different points in her life she found herself at a very low place struggling to make a living, 100 pounds overweight, suicidal and addicted to pain medication. Through her faith in God, being super organized and goal driven and meeting the love of her life, she turned her life around. Today she is so proud to have created her own business cooking healthy meals for her clients. Her financé Shawn has been at her side making this dream become a reality together. MacKensie shared with me that writing is one of her talents. “We really paint a picture with our words,” she said. “It is so powerful when we get together to share our own accounts and testimonies. The statement ‘me too’ is that moment when we realize that the struggle we are going through is something that someone else is experiencing and we know that we are not alone. That can trigger healing in and of itself.” MacKensie’s personal weight loss is a huge achievement and especially because she has maintained it. “I just hit four years of maintenance,” she shared. “I lost 108 pounds in 9 months.” Her journey to be a personal chef started with a nice couple who were both approaching 500 pounds each and were in serious danger with their health. “After almost three years of cooking for them and coaching them, they have lost almost 400 pounds combined,” she boasted. Her business based in Joplin, Missouri almost didn’t happen. The plan was to drive around the US in their RV and promote their faith and healthy meals. Wisconsin was their next stop. “When we were ready to take off, our RV just shut down,” she laughed. With some help they pushed the RV into the closest parking spot and worked to fix her for over a week. They decided to stay in Joplin. “I had my old job as a recruiter all lined up, and then a friend of mine told me about a couple who was looking for a Keto chef to assist them with major weight loss,” she explained. “We only had one car at the time so I had to truck over there with the whole family. Wherever I went, the RV went. I had the organ-
ic Keto pound cake in hand. They hired me on the spot. They offered me a position that paid me more than my old job. I was scheduled to start my recruiter job on Monday and I saw them on Sunday. So, God was really quick to come in between of what could have been.” People really struggle to have a healthy diet. “A lot of it has do with our mind set and our knowledge,” she shared. “Do we know what substitutions we need to make in order to enjoy some of our favorite foods that we used to have? Once we have a game plan established, it makes the execution a lot easier. If we are failing to plan, we are planning to fail.” She prepares the meals for her clients according to their individual dietary needs and goals, vacuum seals it and delivers the meals to them. She cooks for about ten people and she covers all meals for the week. MacKensie is a self- taught cook. “I grew up in a household of four kids and my mom and my granny were very passionate about cooking,” she said. “I only prepare food with organic, non-GMO ingredients and I’ve expanded services as a canine chef as well,” she added. “Many people are serious about improving food quality
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for their pets.” Not all of us can afford to have a personal chef and wellness coach to help us improve our health and diet. But we can learn from MacKensie’s positive, can-do attitude, based on her strong faith. Our hope is that you will be inspired to take the next step to improve your health too! By MacKensie Struble Let’s flashback to January 7th, 2011, when my entire world changed. It was a typical Friday night. I got off work at my second job and was headed into my third at McGraths. I was waitressing in the bar that night, and people were already parked outside when I arrived. I rushed in, waved to everyone on the line, secured my apron, took a glance in the mirror to ensure my hair and makeup were up to par, and headed out to the floor. One by one my tables began filling up. I headed back to the waitress station to submit my orders and prepare salads. Naturally, Shawn was working with me that night, too. Fridays always called for all hands on deck. I delivered to my first two tables and then I heard the phone ring, which was normal on a Friday night, but this time, it was for me. My boss hurriedly motioned for me to take
the call so I could get back to work, and I rushed over. It was my Mom. I grabbed the phone and very quickly said, “hello?” There was silence for a moment, and then suddenly, without hesitation, my mother belted out, “Adam is gone!” I dropped the phone. My boss quickly picked it up with a puzzled look on her face, unaware of the news I’d just been provided. My body began to cave. My mouth was agape, though I lacked the ability to produce any words. A coworker grabbed me in the midst of my lament, and proceeded to drag me behind closed doors. Once there, another coworker pulled me into a hug for what seemed like forever. The world around me ceased to exist. I had fallen deep into a pool of debilitating emotion and I couldn’t breathe. The sound of my mother’s grief-stricken voice just kept playing over and over in my head, “Adam is gone!” I briefly snapped back to reality and released myself from his hug. I wouldn’t discover the irony of this person’s placement in my life that night until later when I learned the cause of my brother’s death and how, he, too, had attempted the same thing, but survived. It is funny how God is always in the details. The next two and a half years of my life felt like a prison sentence, waking up every day in my own personal hell only to be reminded of the same heartbreaking news I had cried myself to sleep over the night before. When the desire to join my brother exceeded my will to live, I found myself abusing OxyContin and Percocet. My life slowly started crumbling before me a little at a time. On the outside, I still held down three jobs and “acted” like an adult, but behind closed doors, I had lost all vitality. My once jovial life ceased to exist. There was no zeal or purpose left, just a mere existence of going through the motions. It wasn’t until 1/5/14, just a few days before the anniversary of my brother’s death, that I finally surrendered and gave my life back to God. I dropped to my knees after contemplating my own suicide attempt and told the Lord that if He still had purpose for me, I would live the rest of my life serving Him. With each passing day, I felt myself growing stronger and stronger. I stayed with my sister and her family for support the next few weeks, and then relocated to Joplin to begin rebuilding my life. I took my first job at a local flower
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