About
About Our Founder
Hi, I’m Lindsay O'Neill, founder of Small Hinges LLC., Certified Culinary Medicine Chef, Wellness Coach and career Ai/Machine Learning Data Specialist & Technologist.
Throughout my 20+ year career I've built platforms which automate decisions using Big Data in milliseconds!
So when I got sick with a chronic inflammatory disease, I gathered as much data as possible, to help figure out the cause of my illness so that I could address it effectively. (Full story below)
Years ago I was hailed by Forbes, CBS and CrainsNY as a top entrepreneur for building a platform that connected women to bolster their careers.
Combining diagnostic data + connections to help you take action, is the basis of Small Hinges. You DON'T have to change everything to change everything - small hinges swing the big door of positive change, and lead you to optimal health and happiness.
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My Story
I went through a major life transition in 2017 after being diagnosed with “Rhupus” - a dual autoimmune disease of both rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. I couldn’t get out of bed, I ran a fever for 10 consecutive weeks, my belly was constantly bloated, I felt massive anxiety, my joints were in excruciating chronic pain, and my hair fell out.
I saw multiple practitioners who all recommended what would become lifelong medications that palliated my pain and suppressed my symptoms, but weren't going to cure my autoimmune diseases.
I wasn’t ok with that!
So I decided to see a holistic doctor instead, who ran a battery of tests and found that I had a MTHFR genetic mutation which was causing many of my issues, and basically had me all “gunked up” to the point where my lymphatic and endocrine systems were shutting down.
My doctor literally asked me how I was even still standing!
I have 3 children that I need to care for, and so I had no choice but to keep going. I knew I had to care for myself and get to the bottom of this so I could live a happy, energetic, pain-free life, and be the best mom possible.
My holistic doctor put me on a crazy arduous cleanse that was so difficult to stick to, literally led me into a mental breakdown 2 weeks in, and wasn’t individual to me.
I realize now that there were other bio-individual data points that could have been used to make the cleanse a lot more bearable.
However, at the end of it I was actually autoimmune free!
Still, I thought that there just had to be a better way to do this.
I'm one of very few people crazy enough to be willing to put myself through this intense process, plus I love cooking and ate really healthily, yet this cleanse still felt like an extremely excruciating journey, during which I felt awful.
My desire to make this a less painful experience for others led me to a program offered by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and The Culinary Institute called Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives, and I applied to take part as a “non medical professional” since it’s typically only offered to professionals in the medical field.
In 2019 I was accepted into the program and received a certificate in Culinary Medicine, which opened my eyes to a different way of addressing health. I was hooked! The following year I decided to enroll in the ACE Fitness Wellness Coach Program, and completed it in July 2020.
This new knowledge, paired with my 20+ years experience in Ai Technology and Big Data, led me to a simpler, more effective way to address inflammation: personalized, data-driven changes to diet and lifestyle = SMALL HINGES.
Small Hinges swing the BIG door of positive change - you don't have to change everything, to change everything.
My purpose is to share love & yum with the world, through culinary medicine.
XO, Lindsay
Small Hinges was born in 2020, with the aim of helping people make small targeted changes to diet & lifestyle for big positive transformation.
We gather bio-individual data via world-class patented tests, like genetics, food inflammation, gut permeability, and a comprehensive intake survey to identify YOUR unique inflammatory triggers. Then we match you up with a wellness coach to help you create and implement a small hinges plan to make healing a smoother, much more bio-individual, sustainable process.
I focus on chronic inflammation in my practice because I believe it’s the root of all evil.
As of the 2020 census data, 3 out of 5 people worldwide die of a chronic inflammatory disease. That includes anything from diabetes, auto-immune conditions, mental illness, all the way to heart disease. We are al likely more susceptible to disease now because of the post-viral inflammatory reactions many have experienced due to COVID, as well as all the stress and anxiety we’ve experienced during the pandemic.
Stress is a major trigger of inflammation!
My journey taught me that when you don’t address root causes and instead suppress symptoms, you endure a lifelong battle with chronic inflammation, which can cause a myriad of symptoms including insomnia, anxiety, low energy, low libido, weight gain, digestive issues and so much more.
The Small Hinges methodology is simple, and with accountability groups and/or 1-on-1 coaching, it has been very effective at helping many people CRUSH INFLAMMATION!
If this sounds like an approach that speaks to you, I would love to have you join the Small Hinges community!
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