Connecting the Dots to Better Health
by Joe Dunne
Clinical nutritionist Dian Freeman, owner of Wellness Simplified, teaches a nutritional certification course to become a certified holistic health counselor. She holds seminars, lectures widely and has a private nutritional consultation practice. Freeman is currently completing a doctorate at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Each year, Freeman conducts two, six-month courses on nutrition. The next training course begins in October. She has added virtual classes and offers her nutrition course online. More than a course in nutrition, her program teaches a way of life, a behavior change, self responsibility and a new awareness.
Sometimes we meet people whose accomplishments are so vast and eclectic that it’s hard to comprehend their total scope without referencing something visual, such as climbing a mountain or navigating stepping stones. Freeman is one such person. From Texas to New Jersey, she never turned away from the stepping stones that appeared before her, even when she couldn’t see where the path would end. In fact, traversing those stones taught her that often it’s the unexpected side step that takes us where we need to go in our journey.
Freeman’s early efforts, while accomplished, were far from the nutrition business. She worked as a designer of corporate parks and homes, which led to specializing in stylizing walls, shelves and accessories. Freeman is also an artist on canvas, painting in five different styles under five different names as she provided art to decorators and art galleries for corporate offices and collections. She also took commissions, and some of her oversized canvases hang in The Hamptons and New York City homes.
During this time, Freeman was not physically well. She saw traditional medical doctors, but her health didn’t improve. She had studied nutrition earlier in her life and dabbled in helping friends through the years, but began to pursue more education in higher levels of nutrition to bring herself back to good health. Her success brought requests for help from others, which led her on the path that would become her life’s work.
Through research and education, Freeman pursued a deeper knowledge of the human body—blood, cellular system, skeletal makeup—and most importantly, the interactions of good nutrition and its effects on disease. She explored how properly applied nutrition works to prevent disease, improve health, strengthen the immune system and support the body and mind.
As Freeman progressed, not only did her health improve, but she also found herself increasingly helping others that were in similar positions and weren’t getting better. She became so busy helping others manage their health through private nutritional consultations that she found herself without the time to do much else. Freeman now counts more than 5,000 clients in her database.
In the 1980s, Freeman completed her long-delayed undergraduate work and started on a master’s degree. Then she decided the best way to share her knowledge widely was by creating an educational business of her own. “This was way before the internet,” recalls Freeman. “I was seeking events to speak at and places where I could lecture. I spoke at spas, gyms, local PTA meetings—if someone would listen, I was talking nutrition.”
Seventeen years ago, Freeman began teaching classes on nutrition, which organically led to the creation of her own company, Wellness Simplified, where her nutrition certification program provided more than 800 graduates with certification as a certified holistic health counselor. The courses invite those from all walks of life; mothers that want advanced knowledge to protect the health of their families, individuals seeking information for personal health conditions, professionals wishing to add nutritional guidance to their practices and those desiring a new career path. Her students include medical and naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, dentists, physical therapists, massage therapists, retirees and others interested in holistic health.
Even as she teaches others, Freeman is pursuing a doctorate in medical humanities at Drew University. “Take care of yourself, understand the system of your body and plug into the principles of good health,” advises Freeman. “The more I learn, the more I believe that nutrition is just pure connect-the-dots common sense.”
Wellness Simplified is located in Morristown, NJ. For virtual classes, register at WellnessSimplified.com. For more information, call 973 267-4816 or email Dian2@WellnessSimplified.com.
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