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.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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I wasn’t ok with that!
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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.
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My doctor literally asked me how I was even still standing!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Small Hinges swing the BIG door of positive change - you don't have to change everything, to change everything.​
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My purpose is to share love & yum with the world, through culinary medicine.
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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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