Leeann Rybakov is a board-certified functional medicine health coach. As an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and what is now Kyiv, Ukraine, she is bilingual in English and Russian. Her curiosity about food began when she realized at a young age that other families did not serve the same food that hers did, and the role that this played in her concept of self. She took this curiosity to study psychology and food via multiple channels. 

Leeann attended the University of Michigan, where she found herself in the developmental psychology program. Leeann had the opportunity to work with the world-renowned Dr. Chris Peterson, who helped birth the study of Positive Psychology. Leann states: “In Psychology, there is this draw to label people and to find out what is wrong with people but Dr. Petersen’s work was finding what was right with people.” Leeann utilizes this teaching in all of her coaching sessions. She says that we need that momentum. 

After graduating from the University of Michigan, Leeann was accepted to law school but she continued with her passion for food. With the encouragement from her husband, she enrolled in culinary school. She loved learning about food and how to prepare food for herself and her family. At this time she was active in running and that is when she had the idea to create a healthy snack out of the family staple she grew up eating, buckwheat. She called it “BuckWHAT” and she was able to develop and distribute it nationwide. 

After 5 years in business, and 2 kids later, she realized that this business was running her health into the ground, and it was time to part ways. This is when Leeann sought out the help of a health coach to improve her own wellbeing. 

Seeing how much her health improved she had this idea to combine her passion for healthy food and helping people and that is when she decided to apply to the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy. Leeann has been coaching people ever since. 

Her biggest coaching advice is to listen to your body to know which foods to eat. There is a lot of noise in the health and wellness space of which diet is superior but she says our body is always communicating with us and we need to learn to listen to it to know which foods are right for our body. What is right for one person, might be completely different with someone else. Leeann takes a personalized approach with her clients to create a plan for them to reach their health and wellness goals. 

You can book with Leeann here:

https://www.pure-living.co/coaches/leeann-rybakov

#FunctionalMedicine #HealthCoaching #WellnessJourney #PositivePsychology