Rainbow Lopez was born and raised on the Tohono O’odham Nation (Desert People) in the Sonoran desert of SW Arizona. She grew up in several different cultures. She spent summers with her Native American grandparents who taught her the old traditional ways of living off the land. Her mother is of Anglo origin from Delaware and taught her about vegetarianism and raw food living. Since the age of 12, Rainbow spent summers in Dijon, France with her mother’s sister. At the age of 18, she moved and lived there for 3 years. She is fluent in French and learned their culture very well, especially their gastronomy In her travels, she continued learning about food nutrition and health, from the different cultures she encountered.

Rainbow graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and French from the University of Arizona. She later received her Master’s degree in American Indian Studies for Law and Policy (AIS) from the same school and planned to go to Law School to become a policy maker for her Nation.

While in school, she worked with different holistic health practitioners. Rainbow was a Research Assistant for her teacher, learning how to create effective policies. She assisted in creating programs to better manage the Civilian Review Board (CRB) for the police department in Portland, Oregon. She also assisted the city of Duluth, Minnesota in developing their CRB.

It was during her studies that she learned that the health of the Nation was of great concern, since diabetes appeared to be the number one health issue of the Nation. Her interest in Law School propelled her to take numerous human rights classes which gave her insightful information on how corporations and laws affected food, nutrition and health.

Early in 2013, her father was diagnosed with cancer, at which point she realized that her talents and education would be most effective, if she helped others learn about food and healthy living. This was a turning point for her. In November 2016 she received her certification as a Nutritional Therapist Practitioner (NTP) and has been involved in the practice of functional nutrition ever since.

NTP and conventional Nutritionists and Dietitians differ in their approach. Conventional Nutritionists and Dietitians follow the medical guidelines and FDA recommendations. They look at the body as compartments and not as a whole. NTPs approach is to look at the body holistically and uses specialized techniques to assess it as a fully interactive organism. By using the body’s innate intelligence, NTPs are able to test for supplements that offer a particular benefit or detriment to the body. NTPs also teach people how to correct digestive issues and how to properly prepare food.

In 2017 she was certified in the interpretation of Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) and lab records. She currently helps people improve their nutrition and digestion, by properly using foods and supplements. She has also recently been certified to teach a class called Restart through NTA. This class is a 5-week class that teaches how to remove sugar from the diet in baby-step ways.

From 2019-2021, Rainbow worked at Natural Grocers Vitamin Cottage as a Nutritional Health Coach (NHC), where she performed hundreds of sit-down coaching sessions with customers. The extensive training provided the encouragement to create her own business, Rainbows Wellness, LLC.

Rainbow’s 15 years of experience in nutrition and the systematic use of supplements, has led her to begin her private practice under the name Rainbows Wellness. She aspires to continue to educate indigenous people and those of all walks of life, on the importance of healthy delicious foods and lifestyles.