NutraWomen Wednesday: Cattie Khoury, founder of Toodaloo,

Cattie Khoury said she created her trail mix brand Toodaloo after she felt inclined to help battle climate change. Today she is not only working on a healing path for the environment, but for people too.

“I've always had this deep calling to make an impact in the world of climate change and to prevent it. And I just couldn't quite find my niche or where I could make that happen until quarantine, when I started experiencing mood and health issues. And I realized that planetary health and human health are connected to what we eat and how we grow our food, and our systems of agriculture. And so during quarantine, I was like, okay, I have something here where I can make a difference. And with all the time I had, I said, let's do it. Why not?”

Khoury said she is into all things healing—from regenerative farming and sustainability to adaptogenic herbs. Growing up overweight and bullied, physical and mental health were challenges until she discovered some of these healing modalities.

“Mental health has been something I've struggled with since I was a little kid and I grew up on an extremely standard American diet like fast food, processed food. So I was really overweight growing up and you know kids are kind of mean when you're a little so bullying was always a struggle for me,” she said. “I got older and learned a little bit more about nutrition and portion control and all these things but I was still struggling with my mental health. And so that's what made me look into different forms of eating like plant-based nutrition, herbal remedies and natural healing. And it saved me. It really saved me.”

Another saving grace? Embracing her quirks. The 26-year-old said in the end, that is what helped her get to where she is today.

“So I'm really interested in regenerative agriculture. I'm fascinated by dirt and soil and all the microorganisms in there and I'll talk to everyone about it. And that was the one thing I think that helped me in creating my business because it was such a unique perspective that people were interested in and could get behind. And so, yeah, weirdness is the best thing that you can embrace,” said Khoury.