As part of the new web series, The Role Model In You — here is the most recent interview. The Role Model In You series discusses how individuals were influenced as a child to lead a healthy lifestyle. It covers who influenced these individuals, the changes they made in their life to be healthy, and the message they would like to convey to the youth of today. Our guests include doctors, soccer stars, Super Bowl champions, NBA players, Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and just regular people looking to share their story. We hope you enjoy it!

1. Your name, title, and age? What do you do (or did you do) for a living?

Stella Metsovas B.S., C.C.N, is a clinically licensed nutritionist and digestive health expert, and 10 years of private practice. Beyond her practice, Stella is regularly called on as a media resource; featured as a diet and nutrition expert in People, Glamour, Shape, Redbook, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, AOL, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and many others. Woman’s World named Stella one of ‘America’s Ultimate Experts,” and her blog was recognized as ‘One of the Top 50 Blogs Every Dietitian Should Read.” Stella is also excited to announce the launch of her 21 Day Digestive Health Detox with Botanic Choice–a vitamin and herbal company in operation for over 100 years.

2. Who was the person that inspired you as a child to eat healthy and stay fit? What was their relationship to you?

My earliest recollection of having this fascination towards foods, biological processes and my own innate feeling after consuming certain foodstuffs began during my summers in the villages of Greece. Coming from Orange County, California, and traveling to these remote villages in the 1980s and 90’s were nothing less than shocking. My breakfast, lunch and dinners were definitely very primal in a sense, like milking a goat; having a stew of bone broths; picking wild greens for lunch; harvesting your own chickens and goats, and making your own yogurt. I would ask the villagers why the milk came straight from the animal, rather than purchasing from the market. And for lunch, why did the village ladies believe a hearty meal was best? For dinner, why did they insist on keeping the lighter fare? I’d say my inspiration came from the villagers; the real experience of how food is made and used for life.

3. What did they do to inspire you?

Their ethics behind food and healthful living were quite simple but yet so accurate. They inspired me to explore the curiosities with human health–both the good and bad. I always felt different when I returned back to the States. Although I was fortunate enough to have somewhat of a healthy diet, when we gorged on Westernized-style foods, I felt the physiological consequence and connected the feeling with how I felt in the village. I feel that optimal health relies on 95 percent of what you consume. I learned that early on.

4. How did their lesson change your life?

I’ve dedicated my life to exploring the genetic lessons our food chain is currently trying to teaching us. From the rise of degenerative diseases to childhood obesity, the lesson learned is not to manipulate or mess with nature. That, exactly, is what I learned in the villages of Greece.

5. Do you convey their message to kids in your life presently?

Kids are very smart and we often underestimate their ability to learn. I believe in recycling correct information adapted through generations. In a sense, I believe, we are loosing a large part of how life survives best in simplicity. There is nothing greater than nourishing a child with information.

6. What would be your main message to children today to lead healthy lifestyles?

Ask them about how they feel after eating something unhealthy. How did you feel after having all that ice cream? Connect them with the instincts of actually feeling healthy early on. That, of course, depends on the parents. If the parents don’t feel healthy, it’s very hard to teach children the connection. Parents must become healthy first.

7. Do you have a web site you would like to promote….web address only?

www.stellametsovas.com and www.21daydigestivehealthdetox.com