Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Nikki Siso.
Hi Dr. Nikki, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Conscious Kitchen ATX started with a diagnosis that changed everything.
In December 1997, my mother, Dr. Sara Siso, watched her beloved sister Dina receive a stage four liver cancer diagnosis and two months to live. She stayed by her side through chemotherapy, radiation, surgery without anesthesia. Desperate, she found Hippocrates Health Institute and began studying raw, plant-based healing. Dina promised to wait for her to graduate. She did. She passed the day Mama walked across the stage.
That loss broke her open. And it gave her a purpose.
Shortly after, Mama was diagnosed with stage two cervical cancer. This time, she knew exactly what to do. She declined conventional treatment, began her detox protocol, and three weeks later, her scans were clear. Her doctor called it a miracle. She calls it God’s medicine. She left her career in finance, earned her PhD in Holistic Health and Nutrition, and devoted her life to helping others heal. Dina’s life was short, but her legacy lives in every person Mama has guided back to health.
My story started differently, but it led to the same place.
I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at 29. A free-spirited global explorer, suddenly at war with my own body. For ten years, I fought. Then something shifted: I stopped seeing Diabetes as a battle and started seeing it as a teacher.
My cravings weren’t random. They were clues. Pointing to stored emotional wounds, unprocessed stories, patterns I’d been repeating for years. That awareness pulled me into a deep study of emotional intelligence, plant medicine, biohacking, and eventually a Master’s in Sustainability at Harvard. There, I learned that 86,000 untested chemicals saturate our food, air, water, and everyday products, and that they are a root cause of most chronic dis-ease. I went on to study Holistic Health and Nutrition with my Mama and together, we became Certified Holistic Health Practitioners.
What I learned changed how I see symptoms entirely. They are not the problem. They are the message of toxicity overload.
So we built the place we always wished existed.
One year ago, Mama and I decided to opened Conscious Kitchen ATX, 100% dedicated organic, gluten-free, plant-based cafe and holistic health practice in Austin. No seed oils or cheep ingredients. At Conscious Kitchen, we use food as medicine.
We also offer meal prep classes, Holistic Raw Vegan Chef Certification, and our signature Conscious Kitchen Method, a 21 day detox program. All designed to support people getting back their health by reconnecting to nature.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I started a business with my Mother. Probably enough said. But I’ll continue.
We had to learn how to actually communicate with each other. Two very different ways of operating, under one roof, with real stakes. There was a phase of “who’s boss?” and I’ll just say, standing up to an Italian Mama is not for the faint of heart.
But 25 years of personal development and emotional intelligence work finally paid off. I insisted on heart to heart talks. We regulated our nervous systems first, breath, eye contact, presence. Then I would let her express everything, and I would repeat back what I heard. No defending. No fixing. Just listening.
Slowly, we began to understand each other. And what we discovered was that the stories we were each carrying about the other were not only false. They were hurting both of us.
I can honestly say this has been the most healing journey Mama and I have ever taken together. I get to love her the way I always wanted to. And I get to receive her love like never before. For me, this is the best part of Conscious Kitchen.
As you know, we’re big fans of Conscious Kitchen ATX. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
At Conscious Kitchen ATX, we are a 100% dedicated organic, gluten-free cafe in Austin. Every dish is whole food, plant-based, and raw where it counts. No seed oils. No gluten. We make food for people who read labels. People who already know that what they eat affects how they feel, and who are tired of having to scan the menu for a green leaf.
We also run a holistic health practice out of the same space. Dr. Sara Siso and I are both Certified Holistic Health Practitioners, and our specialty is in detoxing the body to ignite it innate ability to heal. Most chronic symptoms are not random: the fatigue, the brain fog, the weight gain, the poor sleep… These are the body’s response to an accumulation of toxicity accumulated from three domains: the environment, the food, and the emotional patterns that have been running in the background for years. We investigate all three.
Our signature offering is the Total Toxic Load Assessment (TOX). It is a 45-60 minute deep dive that maps what your body has been carrying and why labs keep coming back “normal” even when you know something is wrong.
What sets us apart is that we teach the actual skills needed to live a holistic life. During our detox program, we take you shopping at wholefoods and bring you into the kitchen so you can learn how we make all this delicious food. We demonstrate that healthy food can be bursting with flavor and that the body can heal when you stop overwhelming it. This is what we do.
What matters most to you?
My deepest desire is simple: I want us to remember that we are part of nature, not separate from it.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped asking what our choices cost. The food on our plates, the products in our homes, the chemicals sprayed on the soil that grows everything we eat. We normalized it so gradually that most people have never stopped to connect those dots. Not because they don’t care. Because no one showed them the full picture.
I think about the animals. The ones raised in conditions that have nothing to do with how they were designed to live. Cows eat grass, not genetically modified corn and soy. That is not a philosophy. That is biology. And when we override that, we do not just harm them. We harm the land, the water, the food chain, and eventually ourselves. Everything is connected. The planet’s health and our health are the same conversation.
I believe that most people, when they truly understand what is happening, want to do something different. They just need a place to start. That is part of why Conscious Kitchen exists. To be a demonstration that another way is possible, and that it is delicious.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://consciouskitchenatx.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consciouskitchenatx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consciouskitchenatx
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@consciouskitchenatx
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/conscious-kitchen-atx-austin-2
- Other: https://share.google/UC2blepkIpptkpqR5
