About Us
It’s nice to meet you! We are David & Raina, the husband and wife team behind hol FAMILY.
We are passionate about holistic health, fitness, whole foods, balanced living, sustainability, gentle/attached parenting, a toxin free home, and most importantly our faith in Christ.
About David
David has a long history in retail management. He is also a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach.
David’s health journey began in his mid-twenties when he became fed up with his battle with acne. He ditched his fast food diet, quit drinking and smoking, and became a raw food vegan.
Although his diet has since evolved to a more whole foods based and mainly Paleo diet, he is grateful for the health knowledge and experience that this journey has given him.
About Raina
Raina worked as a neonatal and pediatric RN before going on to become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach. You can also find her teaching classes about essential oils and inspiring other Moms to live a more healthy and balanced lifestyle.
Since she was a little girl, health and diets have always been a passion for Raina. She became a vegetarian at the age of 11, packing her own tasteless tofu dogs for BBQs before tasty veggie alternatives were widely available. Like David, she also dabbled in raw food veganism.
Since she was a little girl, health and diets have always been a passion for Raina. She became a vegetarian at the age of 11, packing her own tasteless tofu dogs for BBQs before tasty veggie alternatives were widely available. Like David, she also dabbled in raw food veganism.
Her struggle with infertility eventually led her to challenge her dietary beliefs and incorporate meat. A year after making these changes, she was able to conceive naturally. Her diet now is most closely aligned with a Paleo approach, but she believes in balance and does enjoy the occasional quinoa bowl or gluten free cinnamon bun.
The hol FAMILY Dream
We met online based on our mutual love for raw vegan food. While we dated, we talked about wanting to help other people find health and healing through food and nutrition. The dream continued on, but somehow life got in the way.
Fast forward ten years and three children later…and our fourth baby (hol FAMILY) was born. The “hol” is short for “holistic.” This word means “dealing with or treating the whole of something or someone and not just a part.”
A holistic lifestyle focuses on a whole person approach…being healthy from the inside out. Health is not just physical; it is spiritual and emotional as well.
Holistic families function as a unit. They eat together, laugh together, play together, explore together, learn together, and live life together!
hol FAMILY was created out of a desire to empower other families to be healthy, happy, and in harmony.
Fast forward ten years and three children later…and our fourth baby (hol FAMILY) was born. The “hol” is short for “holistic.” This word means “dealing with or treating the whole of something or someone and not just a part.”
A holistic lifestyle focuses on a whole person approach…being healthy from the inside out. Health is not just physical; it is spiritual and emotional as well.
Holistic families function as a unit. They eat together, laugh together, play together, explore together, learn together, and live life together!
hol FAMILY was created out of a desire to empower other families to be healthy, happy, and in harmony.
At hol FAMILY We Believe:
1) Health is not a destination…it is a journey. True health is about balance in the areas of the body, mind, and spirit.
2) What is healthy for me may not be what is healthy for you. Different diets work for different people in different stages of their lives. We don’t believe in fad diets, intense restrictions, or biased nutritional dogma. Extreme diets should be kept for extreme circumstances (cancer, obesity, diabetes, autism, etc).
3) Why stress about food? Keep it simple. We choose to focus on a healthy, whole food based diet. We believe doing this allows your body to discover its balance, often leading to miraculous, unexpected healing. As the famous Hippocrates once said, “Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
4) We prefer to stress the importance of what we are including (real food in its natural state, with as little processing as possible) over what we are excluding. What you focus on, you get more of. This is why most restriction based diets fail. Focus on all of the bright and delicious real foods available to you, and you’ll be nourishing your body without ever feeling deprived.
5) A balanced, harmonious approach to food brings health to the body and mind. Your personal relationship with food and your body has a greater impact on health than the actual food that you are eating. Stressing about your diet has serious negative effects on your body. Aim to eat whole foods, unprocessed and in their natural state 80% of the time and you will not need to stress about the other 20%.
6) The body is wise, wiser than any book or other authority when it comes to your health. Cravings, symptoms, and behaviors are all ways the body is trying to communicate with us about what is going on inside.
7) Raising a healthy family is about so much more than following a healthy diet. It is about creating your own pathway to wellness as a family and journeying together. The best way to encourage your children to embrace a holistic lifestyle is to let them watch you doing it.
8) When it comes to parenting, we believe in a gentle, peaceful, positive approach. The word discipline stems from the word “disciple,” which means to teach. Using rewards and punishment only teaches children to behave out of fear that they will be punished or not receive whatever enticing reward has been offered. Instead, we believe in patiently and lovingly coaching children in the skills they need to become happy, confident, and empathetic individuals.
9) There are dozens of items in our homes loaded with “toxins” that are detrimental to our health. We may not feel the effects right away, but over the years the burden they place on our organs, our detoxification pathways and our mind can become apparent… sometimes seemingly overnight. With a few naturally occurring ingredients and some initiative, we think most of these toxic items in our home can be replaced with superior alternatives. And a little DIY project is a great bonding experience for the whole family too!
10) Healthy, holistic living doesn’t have to be complicated. Start small with simple changes like drinking more water, trying a new recipe, or incorporating some type of movement into your day. These small daily tasks will create a foundation that eventually becomes a new habit. Now you can build upon that foundation and move forward to something more. Remember, health is a journey, not a destination. That means that your focus should be on enjoying the process, not stressing about the end goal.
Welcome to hol FAMILY. We hope that you’ll join us as we all navigate this journey towards a healthier, happier family and home.
See you soon,
David and Raina
2) What is healthy for me may not be what is healthy for you. Different diets work for different people in different stages of their lives. We don’t believe in fad diets, intense restrictions, or biased nutritional dogma. Extreme diets should be kept for extreme circumstances (cancer, obesity, diabetes, autism, etc).
3) Why stress about food? Keep it simple. We choose to focus on a healthy, whole food based diet. We believe doing this allows your body to discover its balance, often leading to miraculous, unexpected healing. As the famous Hippocrates once said, “Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
4) We prefer to stress the importance of what we are including (real food in its natural state, with as little processing as possible) over what we are excluding. What you focus on, you get more of. This is why most restriction based diets fail. Focus on all of the bright and delicious real foods available to you, and you’ll be nourishing your body without ever feeling deprived.
5) A balanced, harmonious approach to food brings health to the body and mind. Your personal relationship with food and your body has a greater impact on health than the actual food that you are eating. Stressing about your diet has serious negative effects on your body. Aim to eat whole foods, unprocessed and in their natural state 80% of the time and you will not need to stress about the other 20%.
6) The body is wise, wiser than any book or other authority when it comes to your health. Cravings, symptoms, and behaviors are all ways the body is trying to communicate with us about what is going on inside.
7) Raising a healthy family is about so much more than following a healthy diet. It is about creating your own pathway to wellness as a family and journeying together. The best way to encourage your children to embrace a holistic lifestyle is to let them watch you doing it.
8) When it comes to parenting, we believe in a gentle, peaceful, positive approach. The word discipline stems from the word “disciple,” which means to teach. Using rewards and punishment only teaches children to behave out of fear that they will be punished or not receive whatever enticing reward has been offered. Instead, we believe in patiently and lovingly coaching children in the skills they need to become happy, confident, and empathetic individuals.
9) There are dozens of items in our homes loaded with “toxins” that are detrimental to our health. We may not feel the effects right away, but over the years the burden they place on our organs, our detoxification pathways and our mind can become apparent… sometimes seemingly overnight. With a few naturally occurring ingredients and some initiative, we think most of these toxic items in our home can be replaced with superior alternatives. And a little DIY project is a great bonding experience for the whole family too!
10) Healthy, holistic living doesn’t have to be complicated. Start small with simple changes like drinking more water, trying a new recipe, or incorporating some type of movement into your day. These small daily tasks will create a foundation that eventually becomes a new habit. Now you can build upon that foundation and move forward to something more. Remember, health is a journey, not a destination. That means that your focus should be on enjoying the process, not stressing about the end goal.
Welcome to hol FAMILY. We hope that you’ll join us as we all navigate this journey towards a healthier, happier family and home.
See you soon,
David and Raina
