Dietitian and Lactation Consultants at Aloha Nutrition
Whether it’s your first baby or your fifth — fatigue, brain fog, and difficulty breastfeeding can feel overwhelming when you’re postpartum.
Our root-cause, personalized support helps boost your energy, achieve your breastfeeding goals, and provide the data-backed nutrition information you need to feel like your confident self again.
Postpartum Nutrition and Lactation Support with Allegra Gast, RDN, IBCLC
Founder | Aloha Nutrition
Through my own pregnancies and postpartum experiences, I’ve learned a crucial lesson: self-care is essential to effectively care for others.
As a Registered Dietitian, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Postpartum Doula, and fellow mom, I am passionate about helping moms thrive postpartum. I want you to feel confident about breastfeeding and your overall health. I understand how exhausting and depleting motherhood can be because I’ve been there.
As a mother of a preschooler, a toddler, twin newborns — and a military spouse, I can honestly say: I get it.
At Aloha Nutrition, we offer holistic support to help mothers regain energy and thrive postpartum. Through specialty lab testing and one-on-one coaching, our team of functional Registered Dietitians, International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, (and moms!) take a compassionate, root cause approach to nutrition and breastfeeding.
We want you to thrive and feel good. And we want it to last.
Aloha Nutrition was founded by Christine “Allegra” Gast, while living in Hawaii, however she currently resides in San Angelo, TX where her husband works at the US Air Force base.
Allegra has a degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She completed an extensive 1,200 hour internship program, then sat for her boards for her RDN accreditation in 2014. She’s worked in a variety of settings including a hospital, long term care facility, a fitness center, rehab center, then Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) in Hawaii, which is where she found her passion helping mothers with their health during pregnancy and postpartum.
After working with many mothers who were struggling to breastfeed, she realized she wasn’t fully qualified to help them with more serious breastfeeding issues, so she decided to become certified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), which is the highest credential for a breastfeeding professional. She completed 90 hours of breastfeeding education, 1,000 hours of supervised practice, then sat for her boards to get her IBCLC credential.
After she had her first baby in 2019 and saw the huge lack of support for postpartum moms, she decided to become a postpartum doula, where she could better support families and support them in that vulnerable postpartum period.
Allegra went on to pursue functional nutrition through the Functional Nutrition Practitioner Institute (FNPI) where she further learned how the body works as a “whole”. She wants to figure out WHY you’re experiencing the symptoms you have and uses specialty lab testing for this.
She currently has a 5 year old, and three year old and twin babies.
Meet the Aloha Nutrition Team
Lactation Support and Postpartum Nutrition
Mari Wills was born and raised in Hawai’i. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). Mari has her Master’s Degree in Dietetics and is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). Mari is also a La Leche League Leader and has provided breastfeeding support throughout the state of Hawaii for the past two years. She is a proud mom of an 11-year-old, 3-year-old, and 9-year-old stepdaughter. In her free time, Mari enjoys family picnics on the beach, hiking, museums, testing new recipes, grilling, and baking.
Christina Paxton is a born and raised Southern California native turned Arizonian. Christina became a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) in 2011 when she completed 1200 hours of supervised practice and sat for the board exam for her RDN while completing her Master’s Degree in Dietetics from Cal State University, Northridge in the greater Los Angeles area. Shortly after graduation she became certified by the Commission on Dietetic Registration in Weight Management while working with the bariatric population.
She then went on to learn about Functional Nutrition through the Functional Nutrition Practitioner Institute (FNPI) where she uses specialty lab testing and a root cause approach to help families address their symptoms.
Christina has a 7-year-old son (breastfed for two and half years) and 4-year-old daughter (just weaned on her fourth birthday!) and is honored to educate, support and encourage mothers at Aloha Nutrition on their postpartum health journey.
Kayla Thorngate is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional (PMHC). Specializing in breastfeeding support and comprehensive functional nutrition care, Kayla is a trusted expert in maternal and infant nutrition and lactation during the transformative journey of motherhood. Her steadfast devotion to better health empowers women to reclaim their energy, vitality, and overall wellness as they navigate the challenges and joys of motherhood. Kayla grew up in Colorado and currently lives with her family in a small mountain town nestled just west of Denver. She has two children, both of whom she breastfed for an extended time, and is expecting her third child in early Fall of 2024.
Alina Rivera is a Registered Dietitian and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She became an IBCLC in 2019 so she could serve families with their infant feeding goals.
Her background as a dietitian and later earning her Master’s in Public Health in Maternal and Child Health alongside her IBCLC taught her that lactation goes beyond just baby eating at the breast. There are so many nuances in infant feeding that she enjoys helping families navigate and overcome.
When she became a mom in 2021, she learned how humbling lactation challenges can be while recovering postpartum. Becoming a mom again in 2023 only continued to enlighten her on the many real life experiences families face after welcoming their precious babies into the world. These experiences strengthen her desire to help parents with challenges like latching difficulties, weight gain concerns, milk production concerns, pumping and flange fitting, food reactivity, introducing solids, tethered oral ties and truly any obstacle thrown at families while taking care of a new baby (or babies).
In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys. You will find them outdoors during the warmer weather working off that boy energy!
Beth Ferguson is a midwest Lactation Consultant and Dietitian. She’s a mom of 3 little boys, two of which are a set of fraternal twins, all under 6. They enjoy gardening, playing with their dog, cooking together, horseback riding and going on walks.
In her work, she specializes in breastfeeding, nipple pain, low milk supply, infant feeding (starting solids), gestational diabetes, PCOS, pediatric nutrition, intuitive eating, gut health, general nutrition, prenatal nutrition, and more. She has been a Dietitian since 2018 working with Hy-Vee, in longterm care, for WIC and in her own private practice. In 2019, she first started working with breastfeeding families after having her first son and becoming a certified lactation counselor with WIC.
Then, after having her twins in 2021 and tandem feeding them, she knew she wanted to be an IBCLC Lactation Consultant so she could help others be successful in their breastfeeding journey. She nursed her twins for 3 years and became a lactation consultant in 2023. She would love to support you, your relationship with food and your breastfeeding journey
Root-Cause Nutrition and Lactation Support
Work with Aloha Nutrition
Let’s get to the root of your symptoms. You bend over backwards for your family. Now it’s your turn to get the care you deserve and finally feel good postpartum.
Whether you’re seeking nutrition guidance to feel better, address your newborn’s sensitivities, or boost your energy levels, we provide personalized support to help you overcome these challenges and make positive nutrition choices for both you and your baby.
From the comfort of your own home, we’ll meet for a one-hour virtual consultation where we will work together to find different breastfeeding positions, correct a latch, review your milk supply, assess a possible tongue tie, or even just provide the assurance, support and encouragement you might need to feed with confidence.
Our signature comprehensive program is for the mom who’s ready to tackle her symptoms head-on and work with a functional dietitian to feel like herself again. With an initial consult, custom labs and lab review, plus ongoing regular support — this robust program is packed with value.
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