Miriam Zacharias, CEO
As the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Age Well Nutrition, I am responsible for guiding nutrition and healthy lifestyle support services. Like many who reach my age, I’ve had multiple careers, the bulk of it directing sales and marketing efforts at technology giants Oracle and Microsoft Corporations. Due to the tragic and untimely deaths of my brother and parents due to lifestyle factors, I left my desk job to pursue additional studies and credentials in health coaching and holistic nutrition in order to help others avoid the same fate as them.
Most recently, I worked on the business side of the wellness industry, including a stint as the CEO of the leading holistic nutrition school in the nation and publishing my highly acclaimed book, a marketing “bible” called The PEACE Process, which is a required resource in several health schools and programs in the U.S.
In a sudden and unexpected turn, my world came crashing to a halt in early 2020 when my husband, Jay, was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, right as COVID-19 hit the radar. After dealing with the initial shock, I dove back into my nutrition textbooks to better learn how I could support his health with diet through what looked to be a long process of brutal and toxic conventional cancer treatments. It was all that digging around that brought me to a critical understanding of the role of inflammation in not only cancer but in the multitude of chronic conditions that plague us as we age. I know now that whole foods eating is the starting place to calm the out-of-control internal “fire” that contributes not only to the daily aches, weight gain, sleep, and energy management problems associated with aging but also to full-blown health conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis and more.
My non-work time is spent inventing new creations in the kitchen, riding my bike, looking at the piano with intentions to dust it off and play it again soon, and hanging out with my family at our home on the lake. Well, not exactly on the lake, but close enough to walk to it with fishing poles and inner tubes in hand.
Credentials:
- MS, Consumer Sciences and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University
- BS, Consumer Sciences, The Ohio State University
- Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Nutritional Therapy Association
- Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition, The National Association of Nutrition Professionals
- Licensed RESTART® Instructor, The RESTART Program
- Certificate in Nutrition and Cancer, University of Arizona College of Medicine
- Certified Coaching Clinic Facilitator, Coach University
Jay Zacharias, CFO
As Chief Fitness Officer and co-founder of Age Well Nutrition, I’m fanatical about working with others who are determined to live a vibrant, healthy life. I’ve worn many different hats in my work life, from Air Force vet to industrial manufacturing union worker, to travel-anywhere management consultant, and ultimately to long-course triathlete and coach. Yet what really got into my soul was helping people gain strength, fitness, and self-confidence in my role at the fitness club where I taught basic strength training and aerobics’ classes during my undergraduate years. It’s also where I got the triathlon bug, which has never left me.
Fast forward to today and my passion for health and fitness has grown tenfold. 2020 was to be the year I returned to Ironman and 70.3 (half Ironman) racing. But as the adage goes “people plan, and God laughs.” Well, it seems the big guy had a good chuckle at my expense, and it wasn’t all about Covid-19.
In February of 2020, I was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic prostate cancer. Nothing has ever focused my attention as much as being told I have an incurable disease. On top of this, during the multitude of diagnostic tests, a tumor (thankfully, benign) was found on my right kidney. So instead of training for an Ironman race, I had my right kidney removed just weeks before starting months of chemotherapy. I continue with a daily cancer drug regimen in hopes of keeping this beast at bay.
I can’t do anything about having cancer. But I can make my body a hostile environment to cancer and for any other lifestyle disease going forward by being as healthy and fit as possible. That’s my mission for me… and it’s how I can help you, too.
Credentials:
- MBA, University of Hawaii
- BA Economics, University of New Hampshire
- Ironman Certified Coach, Ironman University
- Certified Personal Trainer, American Council on Exercise
- Certified Health Coach, American Council on Exercise
- Functional Training Specialist, American Council on Exercise
- Sports Performance Specialist, American Council on Exercise
Victoria LaFont, Nutrition Science Researcher and Writer
I haven’t always been a scientist. But I have always been a writer. I grew up loving and studying poetry and short prose. In college, I snuck into creative writing classes on the dime of my vocal music scholarship. I ultimately graduated with a dual BA in writing and anthropology after the music thing didn’t pan out. The science side of me emerged when I had dire need of it—chronic illness forced me to search for answers.
I excel at making health industry jargon sensible, tangible, and practical. Science humbled me to the world of what might be and it’s my love of science that shows up in a stellar finished product.
As an up-to-date, rationalist research writer, I base my work on an exacting and bias-conscious interpretation of the research literature translated into precise content. For over ten years I’ve reported on and studied evidence-based functional medicine focusing on human nutrition. Indeed, I fell in love with the pursuit of knowledge, and I am lucky to have teachers and mentors who encourage critical thinking over dead-set infallibility.
Prior to this work, I created and operated a successful clinical practice and formulated and scaled a supplement business, Truly Healthy Protein Powder, from product idea to company sale. I’ve contributed to other highly successful wellness enterprises such as Sara Russell, Ph.D., FNTP’s Build, Nurture, Restore offerings, HealthMeans.com, Food Revolution Network, and designed and researched a majority of the curriculum offered to students at the Nutritional Therapy Association.
I am a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Western States with a master’s degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. You can find me at www.victorialafont.com and admiring the cherry blossoms near my home in Boston, Massachusetts.
Our Values:
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We believe that improving your diet comes first when you want to improve your health. That’s because most deaths in the United States are preventable and related to nutrition.
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We believe in the concept of biochemical individuality when it comes to dietary choice. There is no single diet that works for everyone, as each human’s biology, heritage, genes, environment, health status, age, likes and dislikes, and, consequently, nutritional needs differ.
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Our guiding principles in our work and in our lives are to be healthy and fit, filled with love, joy, and purpose.
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We believe that people over 50 must double down on making healthy lifestyle improvements; there are more years behind us than ahead of us and there is less time and more things to heal as we grow older.
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Our goal at Age Well Nutrition isn’t to “fix” people, it’s to get them moving in the right direction toward the goals they wish to achieve. We believe in progress, not perfection.