Community Highlights: Meet Deborah Gertner of Plant Forward Endurance Nutrition and Wellness

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Gertner

Deborah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always loved food. For me, food fosters connection with others, with culture, and with my own body. I grew up in rural Iowa, but my parents were both born and raised in San Francisco. Our family never truly belonged there on the prairie. I think exposing us kids to the food of their youth, including myriad cuisines from different cultures, was my parent’s way of cultivating our connection to the broader world beyond the cornfields.

In high school, I longed to see and experience more, so I spent my junior year of high school in Bremen, Germany, as an exchange student. Returning home after a year of so much freedom and exploration was difficult, but I found refuge studying Anthropology and Global Development at Grinnell College – also in rural Iowa, but with a very diverse student body and faculty. Beyond the academic rigor and vibrant extracurricular and social scene I found at college, I often felt at odds with my body, experiencing GI distress that no doctor seemed to be able to figure out. Instead, I was left finding my own solutions that involved a lot of guesswork and workarounds and not a whole lot of support from my medical team.

I moved to Minneapolis, MN, after college and took work where I could find it – temping and working in finance. Then I fell in love with running. It started with raising money for a charity and training for a half marathon. Then it turned into a job change, another diet overhaul, and pursuing even bigger running goals, including my first marathon. I soon realized I could turn my passion for food and wellness into an actual career. I went on to complete a B.S. in Nutrition from the University of Minnesota while also working at a local running store. I then completed my dietetic internship through Iowa State University, focusing on technology and health promotion, which included over 1200 hours of supervised dietetic practice in rural hospitals and ended with a four week community health rotation conducting pediatric nutrition research in Ghana.

I became a dietitian because I recognize the power that food has on an individual’s physical and emotional health. I wanted to be the problem solver for others that I so desperately needed for much of my college career.

As an athlete, I know intimately how optimizing food choices can improve performance, and doing so has helped me complete seven marathons, three half Iron Man distance triathlons, and dozens more races including 5k’s, 10k’s, half marathons, and sprint and Olympic triathlons.

In most of the ten years I’ve been a registered dietitian nutritionist, I often felt unmoored and directionless with my career. A little over a year ago, I realized I needed to lean into my strengths and jump into entrepreneurship with two feet. So, I created Plant Forward Endurance Nutrition and Wellness to help endurance athletes and active folks connect with their bodies, improve their relationship with food, and optimize their nutrition in a way that aligns with their values. I help my clients pursue their most audacious athletic dreams, even with chronic health conditions, busy lives, and in recovery from eating disorders.

In addition to my work as a dietitian, I’m raising my two children, who are 6 and 9, which means juggling my own career and training along with their school and extracurricular activities. My oldest child has also taken up running, and in the fall of 2023, I volunteered to help with his cross country program. At that time, my job was mostly to serve as an extra adult to wrangle a few dozen youth around local running trails. In the spring of 2024, the non-competitive cross country program was in need of a coach, and when no one else appeared to fill the role, I stepped up and took over the program. I had never coached kids on my own before, though I had coached and mentored plenty of adult runners – beginners completing their first 5k all the way up to marathon distances. Unexpectedly, I fell in love with coaching kids. I get to be the adult role model I never had as a child, instilling values around sportsmanship, teamwork, and believing in becoming your best self. I teach the kids to support one another, including their competitors, because winning isn’t about beating everyone else; it’s about showing up and giving everything you can on any given day. Some days you’ll cross the finish line first, some days you won’t. As long as you do your best, don’t give up, have fun, and finish strong, that’s a win.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road to where I am now has been a bit bumpy. After having gone vegan and taking up running, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2012. In many ways it felt unfair that I was doing everything “right” but I still got cancer. In reality, doing the “right” things helped slow the disease progression and recover faster after surgery. I felt galvanized in my lifestyle choices rather than defeated. Now I work closely with my care team – a PCP and an endocrinologist – managing my medications and monitoring for any signs of recurrence or new diagnoses. I’m still able to keep working and training, but I have to be careful about managing my stress levels and rest or else I have to navigate debilitating fatigue and brain fog.

After I moved to Colorado in 2014, my world became very small and very dark for a long time. I was underemployed and isolated as a first time parent and had precious little support from my then spouse or family of origin. After the birth of my second child, I found my way to therapy to help process my birth trauma and post-partum depression. Then the COVID pandemic hit, and my marriage ended.

By that point, I was a shadow of my former self and needed to reclaim my own identity and relaunch my career. Running helped. Gradually, as the world opened back up, I opened myself to building my community – surrounding myself with people who supported me and wanted to see me succeed. I learned to let go of my self-doubt and imposter syndrome. I embraced triathlon and reveled in the found family that greeted me.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Plant Forward Endurance Nutrition and Wellness?
Plant Forward Endurance Nutrition and Wellness provides nutrition counseling, custom race week meal plans, and other nutrition consulting services to endurance athletes and active folks. While I’m plant-based, most of my clients are not. I help folks learn to embrace plant-based foods that fully nourish them – both physically and emotionally. Because I’m trained as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, I’m able to provide medical nutrition therapy to my clients, meaning I help them manage or treat their health conditions through their diet and lifestyle.

As a coach and endurance athlete, I understand the physiological and nutritional demands of training and racing. I especially love when I can take an athlete with big dreams and chronic health conditions and help them manage their condition with diet while also achieving their potential. I do all of this with little to no calorie or macro counting. Instead, I help folks break free of diet culture and embrace a more intuitive approach to eating. Some days, that means I put the “counseling” in “nutrition counseling” as we work through body image, food fears, disordered eating, and more.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach. No pre-determined program or rigid framework. Everything is highly individualized, tailored to meet each person’s needs and goals.

Currently, I primarily offer virtual one-on-one nutrition counseling services. I’m in the process of launching more group programming, seminars, and possibly even in-person cooking classes. I’m even becoming certified as a triathlon coach so I can help more people, especially kids, explore structured training and competition in a safe, fun environment. Stay tuned!

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
When I was just starting out as a dietitian, I had such a scarcity mindset and received unhelpful messages effectively discouraging me from seeking help. Being a solo entrepreneur can feel very lonely and isolating. There’s so much I didn’t know (and still don’t)! The reality is, it’s ok to seek out mentors and business coaches who align with your values. The most successful folks out there don’t do it alone; they surround themselves with the people and resources they need to succeed, and they never stop learning and growing.

I’ve now surrounding myself with people who have built their own businesses, and I’m in regular contact with other dietitians, even those working with the same ideal client. You have to embrace an abundance mindset and understand that not every person is going to be a good fit to work together. It’s best to build a network of referral partners so when you do encounter someone seeking your services who won’t be a good fit, you can still help them by referring them to someone better able to serve them. There are more than enough clients to go around; it’s just a question of putting yourself out there, positioning yourself as the authority within your niche, and attracting your ideal clientele.

When I network with other people, I always start with connection. I want to learn about the person behind the business or service, not just hear about their sales pitch. From that baseline, I’m able to either bring that person on as a client, or I understand more about their values and what their business is all about and can refer more folks to them… or both!

Pricing:

• 1 month of intensive nutrition counseling (4 sessions) – $547
• 3 month nutrition counseling bundle – starting at $997
• 6 month nutrition counseling bundle – starting at $1797
• Race week meal planning, including detailed restaurant and menu selections – $167
• Nutrition counseling is FSA and HSA eligible

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.plantforwardendurancenutrition.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantforwardendurancenutrition
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plantforwardendurancenutrition
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-gertner

Image Credits
Family photo credit – Lynn Kohl Photography