Where Health and Practicality Walk Hand in Hand
by Melissa LaScaleia
Tucked away in the Market Common, down the end of Howard Avenue, is a quaint, white building with inviting wicker furniture out front. Come close to the door and subtle cursive writing indicates that you’ve arrived at Emma’s School of Healthy Eating. Inside, you’ll be introduced to all things culinary and educational for whatever ails you in the world of food and health.
Emma Ware is a certified nutritionist and holistic nutritionist; certified clinical homeopath; and a fitness consultant. She is also the owner of Emma’s School of Healthy Eating.
Emma helps all kinds of people with all kinds of challenges in the realm of food— those who need guidance shopping for food, cooking, feeding their children, losing weight, feeling better— even putting their kitchens together.
Emma started in this field of work twenty-five years ago when she was living in Los Angeles. At that time, she contracted spinal meningitis, a disease which creates inflammation in the spine and brain, and can lead to death or severe handicaps.
“Little did I know where my journey was going to take me,” she says.
The numerous health issues that having meningitis created for Emma led her to seek the help of many different doctors. One of those was an internist, a doctor who specializes in internal medicine. But he also practiced alternative medicine.
He became Emma’s mentor, and began teaching her how to manage her health through alternative medicine and nutrition so she could start helping herself feel better while she was still under the care of traditional doctors.
“My first job, once I was starting to feel well enough to work, was at a health food store,” Emma says. “I learned everything about alternative products and I helped a lot of people. It was there that I met a pharmaceutical rep who introduced me to a gastroenterologist, and he gave me my first job working for him as a nutritionist.”
“I mainly assisted people with weight loss,” she continues. “I learned how to cook and put formulas together to address people’s digestion problems, and I taught them how to get organized around food and the ways they nourished themselves. Integrating change is something you have to learn how to manage. It’s like anything else.”
In Los Angeles, Emma found herself working for oncologists, chiropractors, M.D.s, and plastic surgeons, as well as having her own practice.
“Because I had the opportunity and great experiences with many types of doctors, I learned a lot of anatomy and kinesiology,” she says. “From there, I started to implement nutrition. I’ve learned that you can try all kinds of things, but if you want to feel better all the time, and get results that last, you have to change what you eat. If the body is completely nourished, you’re less emotional and you have fewer issues. But if the body is malnourished, you’re going to have lots of issues.”
After some time in LA, Emma was craving a change in surroundings. She had fallen in love with Myrtle Beach when she had lived here in the ’80s.