User:Juliana Leamen

Juliana Guimaraes Leamen (born Juliana de Almeida Guimaraes; October 28, 1983) is a Brazilian-Canadian Pet Nutritionist, specializing in Cat and Dog Nutrition. Juliana dedicates her life to studying nutrition and the impact of food on overall health. Happily married, Juliana is an animal-lover, yoga student, life-enthusiast and health food advocate.

Juliana Leamen holds a Masters of Science in Animal Nutrition and an Honours Bachelor of Science degree, both from the University of Guelph, Canada. She currently works designing pet foods for many different brands in the Canadian and International markets, giving nutritional training and writing scientific communications to the pet owner community.

She also writes for a few food and nutrition blogs where she shares her knowledge and passion for good food and proper nutrition. FeedRight 4 Pets] [1] was created to help pet owners get educated about their pet's health. Proper nutrition is crucial for disease prevention, but unfortunately a large amount of confusing and incorrect information is available online. Juliana Leamen provides unbiased scientific evidence to help educate passionate pet owners.

Juliana Leamen also writes for FeedRight for People [2], a food blog dedicated to those seeking better health through healthy home-cooking recipes and nutritional tips. In this blog, Juliana Leamen transforms unhealthy classic recipes, such as coconut shrimp and pizza, into delicious healthy meals made with low glycemic ingredients and super foods. Her recipes are gluten-free and suitable for those suffering from gluten-intolerance, one the most misdiagnosed diseases in North-America.

Juliana's most important tool for the success of her blogs has been attributes to her enormous passion for what she does. "Seeing someone cook a recipe that I created is an amazing feeling, especially knowing it will help them get healthier and feel better. It brings me great joy".

Personal Life

Juliana Leamen was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 28, 1983. Juliana grew up in a family of animal lovers, veterinarians, holistic therapists and teachers. One of her great influences are her grandparents, passionate nature lovers and vegetarians for over 3 decades. Juliana Leamen spent most of her free time in their farm in Brazil, which after much work is now considered an Enviromentally Protected zone. Their property sits on about 75% virgin forest and has been with the family since the 1930s. Her grandparents are life longer learners and teachers and are still a source of huge inspiration for Juliana. She immigrated to Canada in 2004 and found roots in Ontario, Canada. She spent her summers working at pet stores where her love for educating pet owners continued to be fullfilled. On August 29, 2009, 5 years to the day after leaving Brazil, she married her best friend, Paul Leamen.

Professional Accomplishments

Before immigrating to Canada, Juliana studied Animal Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine of Sao Paulo (FMVZ-USP) for 2 years, where her passion for Animal Sciences solidified. She then transferred to the University of Guelph where she completed an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in 2008. Her passion for animals led her to a Masters of Science degree in Animal Nutrition, also at the University of Guelph. In her master thesis [3] Juliana studied the impact of mineral nutrition on kidney health. Her work was presented at the American Society of Animal Science Conference in Montreal(2009) and an abstract was published in the Canadian Journal of Animal Science [4].

In 2010 she started working as a freelancer, doing scientic writings and editorial consultations. In July 2010 she started working as a Pet Nutritionist, where she overlooks the research and development of pet foods in the Canadian and International market, designing new pet foods and searching for innovative functional ingredients with benefits for pet health. Juliana manages and creates new products for many sectors of the pet food market, ranging from grocery store products to pet specialty brands. She provides scientific training to staff and consumers domestically and internationally. She also manages FeedRight, a consulting firm for nutrition advice for people and pets.

Professional Blogger

Juliana Leamen created FeedRight, an independent blog focused on providing proper nutritional information to passionate pet owners as well as to educate pet owners on their own eating habits. She is living proof that many health issues can be prevented, minimized and sometimes cured via proper nutrition. Suffering from severe chronic pain since the age of 18 and of gluten sensitivity diagnosed in 2011, Juliana developed a whole nutritional plan for herself that got her pain-killer free and helped her manage her medical conditions and restore her to a healthy weight. After her incredible personal success, she decided to start blogging to share her knowledge with others also in need of improving their diet and overall health. That's when Feedright for People [4] was born. After the success of FeedRight for People, Juliana decided to create FeedRight 4 Pets [5], as she believes healthier pet owners will make healthier decisions for their pets. "I don't spend one second without looking for good materials that I can share with my audience. It is a hobby and a passion of mine".

Principles

Juliana's nutritional work focuses on attaining health via natural foods and home-cooking. "It is really hard to eat healthy at restaurants these days. Unless you find a good family-owned place, most meals are pre-packaged at large facilities and only heated up at the restaurant, which means preservatives, articifial flavours and other scary things". In her blog, FeedRight for People, Juliana bases all her recipes in the following principles:

-stick to an anti-inflammatory alkaline eating program

-eat moderate amounts of meat and select lean proteins

-chose low-glycemic carbs over high-glycemic ones

-eat healthy fats (do not fall for “low fat” products, they are loaded with sugar and other even scarier compounds to compensate for the taste)

-say no to caffeine

-say no to simple sugars (look for natural plant-based alternatives such as organic agave nectar and stevia)

-drink lots of water and freshly squeezed juices (say no to pops and pre-made juices, they are simply sugar and water with flavouring)

These are the principles she adopted when developing her own nutritional program, which now has her family and close friends cooking for better health. "The biggest change I've seen was with my husband. He was your typical pizza and hamburger guy. Now he reads nutritional labels and always comments when he sees scary products, such as pre-made gravy sauces - no need to read the label on this one!"

Scientific appearances

(2007-2010) Mike Wilson Day, Guelph (Scientific poster and abstract) (2008) Eastern Nutrition Conference, Guelph (Scientific poster and abstract) (2008) Canadian Society of Animal Science, Guelph (Scientific poster and abstract) (2009) Animal Society of Animal Science, Montreal (2 scientific presentations) (2010) Eastern Nutrition Conference, Guelph (Scientific poster and abstract) - prize winner (2011) PetFood Forum, Chicago (Attendee) (2012) PetFood Forum, Chicago (Attendee)

Scientific publications

-Canadian Journal of Animal Science 2009, volume 89(1): 160 -Master thesis (Guimaraes, Juliana 2010) )"Nutritional means to overcome negative effects of feeding high levels of potassium from co-products to growing-finishing pigs"

References

[1] FeedRight 4 Pets http://feedright4pets.wordpress.com [2] FeedRight for People http://feedrightforpeople.wordpress.com [3](Guimaraes, Juliana 2010)"Nutritional means to overcome negative effects of feeding high levels of potassium from co-products to growing-finishing pigs http://gradworks.umi.com/MR/64/MR64639.html [4] Canadian Journal of Animal Science 2009 volume 89 (1): 160