Hi There! My name is Jesse.

I was raised on generations of home cooking.

My mother’s mother is a trained cook, my father’s mother covered every minor detail of hospitality – from the cocktail napkins to the cheeky vodka tree she greeted us with on her bar every time we came over. My mother… well she has spent a lifetime honing her traditional cooking skills through cooking classes all around the world. It would be an understatement to say food is her love language, and boy does she give it well. I’d be remiss to exclude my extended family; Aunt Sue the baker, Uncle Alex the grill master, Uncle Dave the Italian food supplier with direct imports from Italy… I could go on but you get the point. Food is a culture and a tradition for us and it most importantly brings family together to celebrate life’s many precious moments. In fact, the deepest connections I’ve made with my family have happened around a dinner table. My favorite moment of a party is when people have paired off to play with toys or clean up and I’m left with 2 or 3 people still lingering at the table. It is in this space that that we bring up old memories that get us laughing until we cry, learn new things about each other, tell each other we love one another (in my case, a tight hug around my Papou until he reluctantly whispers that magic 3 word phrase). Food has been and will always be a way to bring family together, learn discipline through technique and table manners (SAY jess PLEASE). My Greek & Italian family embodies the term, “if you can’t take the heat… get out of the kitchen!”

While I live for these traditional meals, I sort of branched off on my own at an early age to learn more about the nutrition behind our food.

I fell victim to the pressures of a teenager uncomfortable in her own skin drowning in a lot of negative self talk. Weight and food became an insecurity of mine for a really long time… enough to raise concern for some of my close family members but not enough for it to ever be classified as a “real problem.” Let me side bar to say that may have been worse because I never sought help and figured the ball and chain that was food controlling me would just be something I’d learn to live with because the alternative was weight gain and I’d do anything but that. At the age of 12 or so I was so concerned with getting and staying thin that I didn’t care much about balance or nutrition, I cared only about getting as thin as possible via ‘low fat’ or ‘diet’ packaged food, crash diets, protein bars, etc. I never read an ingredient label, just went straight for the calories. I used to write down what I was going to eat the day before in a very restrictive way and get down on myself if I strayed from my plan – it was all consuming. Why I mention this is because it’s what sparked my interest in a healthy lifestyle and that silver lining is something I know I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. What the term “healthy lifestyle” means to me, however, has changed completely.

My philosophy is this: you can’t heal a body you hate.

You have to practice self love before any mental or physical change is going to genuinely shift in you for the long haul. You need to look in the mirror every day and find one thing about your physical body you love and are grateful for because it’s a spectacular and resilient machine. The mind has to be nurtured for your body to feel the love. Your body has to feel the love for you to genuinely want to supply it with the proper balance of food, exercise, and rest to reach your optimal self. I created say jess please to explore this concept more fully. My goal through this medium is to share my message of the importance of loving yourself SO much that you find it worth investing your precious time to care for your body, challenge the status quo of your lifestyle habits, and find new ways to add self care to your daily routine. I never want to stop learning how to optimize my life and I feel so passionate about this that I love taking the time to share what I’ve found with my community. I hope you feel the love in my writing because it’s woven into every word as I share it with you.

Interesting in getting in touch or have an idea for an article? Shoot me an e-mail at talktome@sayjessplease.com