Intuitive Eating and Hormones: How Does Intuitive Eating Affect Women’s Hormones?

by Stephanie Dodier | Dec 30, 2019 | Intuitive Eating Podcast Episode | 0 comments

What’s the connection between intuitive eating and hormones?

Women love intuitive eating as a concept but often will refute it based on other pieces of advice they’ve received, found, or read on the internet. One of the most frequent situations I encounter is with hormonal health. Women who want to balance their hormones are being told that, to achieve such goal, they must restrict certain foods, go on a reset hormonal diet, or do an elimination diet. Therefore, they can’t be intuitive eaters.

“I love intuitive eating, but I’m working on balancing my hormones. I read Dr. XXXX book and she says that I must restrict all grains and dairy. Maybe later I can become an intuitive eater.”

Is this true? Is food restriction the solution to hormonal health?

I’m not a hormone specialist. But I’m a Clinical Nutritionist and knowledgeable enough to know that this statement isn’t totally true.

Is food a contributing factor to health: YES.

Is food restriction the only way to “balance hormones”? NO.

Can hormonal balance even be possible? Well yes and no. More on that later.

So, why then are we sold “hormone reset diet” as the way to balance the female hormone?

The answer is simple…

DIET CULTURE, sisters!

I’m going to talk about hormonal balance, what really affects it aside from food, what wellness diets try to hide from you, and why food restriction may do more harm than good to your hormonal health. In this article about intuitive eating and hormones, you will learn:

What is Intuitive Eating?

The wellness diet and hormones

What exactly is a hormone?

Hormonal balance in women

Stress and hormones

Inflammation and hormonal health

Intuitive eating and hormones: Why intuitive eating may be the key to hormonal health

Weight neutral approach to hormonal health

What is Intuitive Eating?

Perhaps the most concise intuitive eating definition I can give you is it’s a proven self-care eating framework that helps you heal your relationship with food. It teaches you to distinguish between emotional hunger from physical hunger, and to tap into your eating cues — your hunger, your fullness, and your satisfaction cues–to know what, when, and how to eat. It’s supported by over 100 studies.

Intuitive eating also helps you reconnect to your innate body wisdom. By reconnecting to your innate eating cues, you foster an overall reconnection to your body wisdom. Your body wisdom does not only allow you to know what to eat, but also lets you manage your health.

The longer you are an intuitive eater and the deeper you get into this philosophy, the better able you are to manage your health and recognize your body’s messages.

“Body message” is the term I like to use to describe how our bodies communicate with us. For example, bodily symptoms like fever let us that our immune system is working hard fighting an “enemy” or our hunger tells us that we need to eat.

The Wellness Diet and Hormones

You might be asking, “What is wellness diet?”

I often call the wellness diet “the baby of diet culture.” Diet culture is the system of beliefs that says thinner is better, smarter, and healthier.

Christy Harrison MPH , RD, CDN and host of the Food Psych podcast described wellness diet as diet culture’s sneaky way of re-inventing itself to make it seem less about dieting and more about health and wellness. It doesn’t promote itself as a diet per se, but it might as well do it. It basically says you’ll achieve optimal health by eating what they recommend… and very likely you’ll release the “unhealthy weight” “naturally”.

Just like diet culture, the wellness diet tries to tell us “Eat this, not that” so “You’ll balance your hormones” “You’ll hack your symptoms”. The best example of how the diet culture masquerades as wellness diet is Weight Watchers. They recently rebranded themselves as “Wellness that Works.”

Another example of Wellness Diet is a #1 New York Times bestseller on hormonal health MD’s book “The Hormone Reset Diet- Heal Your Metabolism to Lose Up to 15 Pounds in 21 Days.” The secret is sneakily hidden in the subtitle. At first glance, you’d think that the book about healing hormonal imbalance. But the truth is, it’s about weight loss!

Proponents of wellness diets will try to convince you that you’re not chasing weight loss. But they will tout healthy weight loss as a byproduct of their programs and the solution to all of your health problems including hormonal imbalances. Wellness diets keep you in the dieting pattern and the dieting mindset, still seeking weight loss, but in a politically correct way with the goal of “optimal health” which will lead to “hormonal balance.”

What exactly is a hormone?

Hormones are biochemical substances in your blood. Your glands produce these biochemical substances and send them to your blood vessels to be carried around in your body to a specific destination. These biochemical substances circulate in your bloodstream, and then they transmit information to different parts of your body.

You can think of hormones as a messenger, just like an old fashion letter that contains a message your hormones go from point A to B with a set of instruction for actions to be taken by your body.

The brain is the command center that instructs glands to produce the specific hormones needed by your body to function. Hormones are produced as a reaction to your environment and the need to adapt to our environment to survive.

For example, when an event occurs in our environment, say a threat, your brain interprets it. Your brain then produces a thought, in this case, “OMG, we are in danger!” which in turn creates an emotion or feeling, e.g. fear that travel through your body via your nervous system to a specific destination and dictate an action to be taken. In this example, the feeling/emotion of fear will travel to your adrenal glands. The gland will then respond by producing a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol will then travel through your body, via your bloodstream, to command a fear-based action to protect you from any threat. Action like accelerated breathing, contraction of muscles, increased blood pressure, a decrease of serotonin, heightened memory and attention, etc.

The bottom line is hormones are carriers of information and messages for our body.

Hormonal balance in women

One very important factor to understand is that hormone levels fluctuate consistently, and it should. Female hormones are expected to fluctuate daily, monthly, and throughout a woman’s life.

Women have different hormone levels at different ages, from puberty to pregnancy, to perimenopause, and menopause. We have a natural state of hormonal imbalance so our bodies can achieve different tasks. Therefore, it’s ridiculous to expect women to have a “balanced” hormonal profile all the time.

What you want is the ability to adapt. You want to be able to adapt to different times of the month, to different situations in your life, and be able to thrive. You want to be able to cope as you go through periods of hormonal imbalance. That’s being healthy. People who are healthy are able to handle their environment well.

Being hormonally imbalanced isn’t a bad thing. It means that your body is trying to cope with something in your environment. For example, if your body has “low” estrogen, you are not broken. Your body is simply producing less estrogen as a means of coping with something. It’s your job, with the help of your health practitioner, to find out what that “something” is.

The first step to balancing your hormones is finding the root cause of what’s creating this hormonal pattern in your life. Is it stress or other health issues? Is it trauma? Maybe, it’s emotional overwhelm? Is it a mental health issue? Is it constant negative thought patterns?

Or is it food? It could be but not likely…

Nutrients and your hormones

Eating certain kinds of food won’t cause a complete hormonal collapse in your body. For example, a myth that is currently floating around is that sugar will completely deplete your body of estrogen by eating too much of it.

Well, first of all, there’s no research whatsoever to support that claim. This claim is part of a trend we are seeing now call nutritionism,which is the over-obsession over a nutrient. It is research that detaches the nutrients–example vitamin B, vitamin A–from the context of the whole food. Now, for fans of nutritional science, I’d like you to read a great article from one of my mentors Chris Kresser that talks about why nutritional science today is actually dangerous to our health. (Here’s part 1 and part 2.)

We don’t eat nutrients. We eat food. Every nutrient is just one among a whole bunch of nutrients in a food item. Nutritionism looks at a nutrient in isolation, which does not represent what’s actually happening in the human body.

The best example of that is eggs. If you wind back the clock 30 years ago, many of us shunned eggs because it contains cholesterol. One of the nutrients in eggs is cholesterol, and cholesterol was believed at the time to cause heart conditions. Even doctors would advise their patients to lay off eggs.

Today, with all the scientific research and advancements, we recognize that we were wrong about eggs.

It makes me wonder, what other beliefs centred around a certain nutrient are actually wrong because the nutrient has been studied in isolation? Sugar might be next…

Intuitive Eating and food

Now, intuitive eating keeps you away from this hyper-obsession about one food or one category of food. Instead, it encourages you to notice how you feel after you’ve eaten a certain kind of food. It makes you ask: “What is the reaction of your body when you consume that food in large amounts or in greater frequency? How does your body react?”

Intuitive eating brings you back to this innate wisdom which communicates with you through symptoms.

When we begin to eat intuitively, we quickly realize that it’s not the food. It’s our emotions, particularly stress, in most cases.

Stress and hormones

If food and nutrient in isolation aren’t the solution to “getting our female hormones in balance” then what is? One thing to consider might be stress and emotional wellness.

Aside from producing cortisol, as we covered earlier, the body has other ways to adapt and cope with the high demands of stress. One of these mechanisms is lowering the production of sex hormones aka female hormones. The body takes away some of the raw materials from the production of estrogen and progesterone and uses these ingredients to produce more cortisol.

Image source: Paleo Mom

For many women, the production demand for stress hormone is so great that the body doesn’t have enough raw materials to create cortisol. And so it takes it from other places.

Why? Your body’s innate wisdom knows that, when you’re stressed and threatened with everything in your environment, you’re not in a great state for having babies. You’re not the best potential mother. Therefore, it’s going to restrict the creation of life by lowering estrogen and progesterone production and instead create the stress hormone cortisol in order for you to survive the threat in your environment.

It’s your body basically saying, “Forget about making babies right now. We’ve got to deal with stress.”

Can food and nutrients override this process? NO. That is human survival 101.

Inflammation and hormonal health

Stress also creates a process called inflammation. If you don’t know what inflammation is, think of inflammation as fire in your body.

The mechanism of inflammation allows your body to repair itself when it needs to heal. For example, when you cut your finger, you will see some swelling around the cut and then your skin will become red. That’s the inflammatory mechanism at work right there.

You have the same mechanism inside your body. When you experience muscle tension as a reaction to stress, your body creates a short-term inflammation in your muscles to create that tension. Repeated chronic stress creates inflammation in your tissues, including your glands and hormones.

Stress has a huge impact on your hormonal health. A stressful lifestyle activates the inflammatory process in your body, which then leads to this hormonal imbalance.

Another example is sleep deprivation. Inadequate sleep, even just an hour or two less than what you need, activates the stress response, releasing a cascade of inflammatory compounds. Sleep loss has also been shown to affect glucose metabolism. The occasional late night isn’t the end of the world, but if you’re chronically sleep deprived, this can make a big difference in managing your hormonal health.

Intuitive eating and hormones

But here’s another thing that causes stress: dieting and food restriction.

Studies have shown that food restriction and dieting cause your body to release cortisol, the stress hormone. When we restrict and become obsessed with food, we create a stress reaction that then cascades down to our hormones production. When you understand how stress affects your hormonal level, you’ll see the connection between intuitive eating and hormones more clearly.

The elimination diet, Whole30, and hormonal reset diet are all creating stress in your body. That’s why so many of you reach out to me and say, “I’ve done many rounds of Whole30. I’ve done the elimination diet. It gets better for a while. Now, I’m back to where I was.”

Well, that’s because you haven’t addressed the root cause. Therefore, the real problem surfaces again.

Why intuitive eating may be the key to hormonal health

When we take the time to learn intuitive eating, to rebuild a relationship of trust and respect with our bodies, we can stop restricting food and dieting. We can create space in our life to address the root cause of our health troubles.

Research has shown that a non-diet approach to health and lifestyle is more sustainable long term then diet and restrictive approach to both health and food and lead to a greater health outcome.

What happens when we clear our heads and create mental space from having to “fix ourselves” with diet and a restrictive lifestyle? We can engage with ourselves from a place of love instead of fear.

We can learn self-coaching techniques, like the one we teach in the Undiet Your Life & The Non-Diet Coaching Certification to manage our negative thoughts that lead to stress or cpach other women in this process. Also, we can prioritize better sleep habits.

Finally, we become self-compassionate. Instead of going around life thinking that we’re broken, that we have huge hormonal issues, we actually have compassion for ourselves and find loving ways to help ourselves instead of punishing ourselves with severe food restriction. Self-compassion has been proven to counteract stress.

Weight neutral approach to hormonal health

A weight-neutral approach to health is based on the idea that your health status or risk level can’t be determined solely by your weight.

It acknowledges that your weight is determined by a complex set of genetic, metabolic, physiological, cultural, social, and behavioural determinants. Many of these factors are either difficult or impossible to change.

Instead of focusing on a weight-oriented outcome, weight-neutral programs teach you to take charge of the factors within your control. These factors include your thoughts and behaviours. Taking charge of these factors will help you improve your well-being, regardless of your weight

Weight-neutral approaches to health have significantly decreased body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depression. They’ve also increased sustainable, enjoyable self-care behaviours such as eating and moving well in the long term.

The Going Beyond The Food Method, our proprietary methodology, is a weight-neutral approach to health. It incorporates the concept of body neutrality. Research has shown that body dissatisfaction—or body hatred—contributes to the increase of cortisol levels in the body as well as inflammation.

That’s why, as a weight-neutral framework, intuitive eating is so beneficial when it comes to hormonal health.

Getting started with a non-diet approach to health

You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:

Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!

Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.

Undiet Your Life group coaching program is for women to learn how to eat intuitively, become body neutral, and learn self-coaching at their own pace while being supported in a group setting by Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches.

Non-Diet Coaching Certification for professionals ready to integrate the Going Beyond The Food Method™️ in their practice and for women wanting to become Certified Coach and build a business coaching other women beyond the food.

What is Intuitive Eating?

It’s a proven self-care eating framework that helps you heal your relationship with food. It teaches you to distinguish between emotional hunger from physical hunger, and to tap into your eating cues — your hunger, your fullness, and your satisfaction cues–to know what, when, and how to eat. It’s supported by over 100 studies.

The Wellness Diet and Hormones

Christy Harrison MPH , RD, CDN described wellness diet as diet culture’s sneaky way of re-inventing itself to make it seem less about dieting and more about health and wellness. It basically says you’ll achieve optimal health by eating what they recommend… and very likely you’ll release the “unhealthy weight” “naturally”.

Hormonal balance in women

Women have different hormone levels at different ages, from puberty, to pregnancy, to perimenopause, and menopause. We have a natural state of hormonal imbalance so our bodies can achieve different tasks. Therefore, it’s ridiculous to expect women to have a “balanced” hormonal profile all the time.

Stress and hormones

Aside from producing cortisol, the body has other ways to adapt and cope with the high demands of stress. One of these mechanisms is lowering the production of sex hormones aka female hormones. The body takes away some of the raw materials from the production of estrogen and progesterone and uses these ingredients to produce more cortisol.

Inflammation and hormonal health

A stressful lifestyle activates the inflammatory process in your body, which then leads to this hormonal imbalance.

Intuitive Eating and Hormonal Health

When we take the time to learn intuitive eating, to rebuild a relationship of trust and respect with our bodies, we can stop restricting food and dieting. We can create the space in our life to address the root cause of our health troubles.

Research has shown that a non-diet approach to health and lifestyle is more sustainable long term then diet and restrictive approach to both health and food and lead to greater health outcome.

Weight neutral approach to hormonal health

A weight-neutral approach to health is based on the idea that your health status or risk level can’t be determined solely by your weight.

That’s why, as a weight-neutral framework, intuitive eating is so beneficial when it comes to hormonal health.

Hello!

I’m Stephanie Dodier Non-Diet Nutritionist and Coach. I teach and coach women how to break free from the socialized thinking of diet culture and liberate yourself from unrelenting pressure to be thinner so that you can eat in a way that truly supports your well-being and start living the life you’ll look back on with no regrets. Join me in leading the feminist health revolution where we trust women and their body!

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3 Steps to Making Money in a Coaching Business

Are you a woman entrepreneur looking to make good money in your coaching business without compromising your values? You’re in the right place. In this post, we’ll explore three essential steps to create a thriving coaching practice that feels aligned with who you are and what you stand for.

The Truth About Making Money in Coaching

Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room: it’s okay to want to make money. In fact, it’s more than okay—it’s necessary. We live in a capitalist society where financial stability equates to safety and a better quality of life. So, let’s normalize the desire to increase our income.

The real challenge lies not in wanting to make money, but in figuring out how to do it in a way that feels good and aligns with our values. That’s where the concept of building a *GOOD* business comes into play.

What is a GOOD Business?

A GOOD business is one that:
– Serves people with high-quality coaching
– Generates a healthy income
– Aligns with your personal and professional values

By focusing on creating a GOOD business, you can make money in a way that feels authentic and fulfilling. Let’s dive into the three crucial shifts you need to make to achieve this balance.

Shift #1: From “Earning Money” to “Making Money” Mindset

The Employee vs. Entrepreneur Mindset

Many coaches transition from traditional employment to entrepreneurship carrying an “employee mindset.” This perspective can significantly hinder your ability to create wealth in your coaching business.

Key Differences:
– Employees earn a set salary
– Entrepreneurs create their own income

To succeed as a coach, you need to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. This involves intentionally nurturing thoughts that generate feelings of:
– Confidence
– Courage
– Resilience
– Bravery
– Determination

These emotions are crucial when it comes to selling your services and growing your income.

Action Step:

Identify one limiting belief you have about making money as a coach. Replace it with an empowering thought that aligns with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Shift #2: From “As Long As” to “Even When” Mindset

The Danger of Conditional Thinking

Many coaches approach mindset work with an “As Long As” mentality. They’re willing to change their thoughts about money… as long as it works immediately. This conditional approach is similar to clients who are willing to try intuitive eating… as long as they don’t gain weight.

The Power of Unconditional Commitment

To truly succeed in your coaching business, you need to adopt an “Even When” mindset. This means committing to your goals and mindset work:
– Even when nobody books a consult
– Even when you’re not meeting your financial targets
– Even when you have zero clients

Action Step:

Write down three “Even When” statements that reinforce your commitment to your coaching business, regardless of immediate results.

Shift #3: Releasing the 6 or 7-Figure Business Ideal

The Parallel Between Business Revenue and Body Image

Just as many women struggle with the “thin ideal” in body image, coaches often grapple with revenue ideals in their businesses. Whether it’s the allure of a 6-figure or 7-figure business, these arbitrary benchmarks can create unnecessary pressure and shame.

The Reality Check

Consider this statistic: In 2019, 88% of women-owned businesses made less than $100,000 per year. This doesn’t mean these businesses weren’t successful or impactful. It simply highlights the need to redefine success on your own terms.

Deconditioning from Toxic Business Culture

To truly make GOOD money in your coaching business, you need to:
1. Recognize and release shame around your current revenue
2. Decondition yourself from toxic business culture that equates success with a specific income level
3. Define success based on your values and impact, not just your bank account

Action Step:

Reflect on this question: Are you subconsciously co-opting toxic business culture and taking action based on those beliefs? How can you redefine success in a way that feels authentic to you?

Embracing a New Approach to Making Money in Your Coaching Business

By implementing these three shifts, you’re setting the foundation for a coaching business that not only generates good income but also aligns with your values and brings you joy. Remember, making money doesn’t have to come with shame, guilt, or overwhelm. It’s about creating a business that serves others while honoring your worth and well-being.

Key Takeaways:

1. Develop an entrepreneurial “Making Money” mindset
2. Commit to your business “Even When” times are tough
3. Define success on your own terms, free from toxic business ideals

Are you ready to make GOOD money in your coaching business? It’s time to embrace these shifts and create a practice that feels authentic, impactful, and financially rewarding.

Remember, making good money in your coaching business is not just possible—it’s your right. By aligning your money-making strategies with your values, you’re not only setting yourself up for financial success but also creating a business that truly makes a difference in the world.

Want to transform your approach to making good money in your coaching business?

You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:

Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!

Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.

Fatphobia Coaching and Gaslighting: How I Overcome Fatphobia as a Fat Woman

Fatphobia Coaching and Gaslighting: How I Overcame Fatphobia as a Fat Woman

As a fat woman, I’ve heard it all. “Just change your thoughts about the layer of fat on your body.” “Don’t worry about what other people think of you.” These well-intentioned but misguided pieces of advice aren’t coaching – they’re gaslighting. And they’re a prime example of how fatphobia permeates our society, even in spaces meant to be supportive and empowering.

Today, I want to share my personal journey of overcoming fatphobia and how I learned to navigate a world that often seems designed to make people in larger bodies feel less than. This isn’t just my story – it’s a call to action for coaches, mentors, and anyone working with fat individuals to understand the complexities of fatphobia and how to truly support their clients.

Fatphobia Coaching and Gaslighting: Understanding Fatphobia and Gaslighting

Before we dive deeper, let’s clarify what we mean by fatphobia and gaslighting. Fatphobia is the fear, stigma, and discrimination against people with larger bodies. It’s a systemic issue that affects nearly every aspect of life for fat individuals.

Gaslighting, on the other hand, is a form of psychological manipulation where someone denies another person’s reality, making them question their own perceptions and experiences. In the context of fatphobia, gaslighting often looks like dismissing the very real challenges and discrimination fat people face daily.

When someone tells a fat person to “just love yourself more” or “ignore what others think,” they’re essentially denying the reality of living in a fatphobic society. This isn’t helpful – it’s harmful.

Coaching Fat Women Can Be Challenging

As I mentioned earlier, coaching people who are marginalized by systemic oppression can be incredibly challenging. Without the right skills and tools, even well-meaning coaches can inadvertently cause harm to their clients.

Let me illustrate this with my own experience. As a woman living in a large body, I’m acutely aware that people form opinions about me based solely on my appearance when I enter a room. For years, I internalized this and believed that I was the problem. I tried diet after diet, attempting to conform to society’s unrealistic and oppressive standards.

Eventually, I decided to say “f*ck off” to the system and accept my body. But this wasn’t an easy journey, and it certainly wasn’t as simple as just changing my mindset.

Fatphobia Coaching and Gaslighting: The Pitfalls of Simplistic Body Positivity

My first attempt at body acceptance came through an online body positivity course. The coach’s main message was, “If you love yourself enough, it will get better.” Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.

This approach, while well-intentioned, falls into the trap of gaslighting. It puts the entire burden on the individual to change their thoughts and feelings, without acknowledging the very real societal pressures and discrimination they face.

A New Approach to Overcoming Fatphobia

Realizing that simplistic body positivity wasn’t the answer, I decided to tackle the problem of fatphobia differently. Here’s how I approached it:

1. Stop Gaslighting Myself

The first step was to acknowledge the reality of fatphobia. Yes, it exists. Yes, it’s unfair. And yes, it impacts nearly every aspect of my life – from healthcare access to job opportunities to social interactions. Denying this reality wasn’t helping; accepting it was the first step towards real change.

2. Accept the Long-term Nature of the Challenge

I had to come to terms with the fact that fatphobia isn’t likely to disappear entirely in my lifetime. While things may improve, it will continue to impact me. This realization was crucial in shifting my focus from trying to change society to learning how to navigate it effectively.

3. Choose How to Respond

With this acceptance came a choice: how did I want to live the rest of my life? Did I want to pretend fatphobia doesn’t exist, hide away, and live a small life? Or did I want to learn how to experience fatphobia differently and live fully despite it?

4. Practice Self-Consent

I made a conscious choice to change my approach. This involved practicing self-consent – acknowledging that I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do, including conforming to societal expectations about my body.

5. Build Safety for My Choice

Change is scary, especially when it involves going against societal norms. I acknowledged my fear and the challenges ahead, building a sense of safety and support for myself as I embarked on this journey.

6. Change My Thoughts About Fatphobia

Finally, I began the process of changing my thoughts about fatphobia. This wasn’t about denial or forced positivity. Instead, it was about acceptance and empowerment. I did the thought work from a place of acknowledging reality while also recognizing my power to shape my response to it.

Fatphobia Coaching and Gaslighting: The Power of Intersectional Coaching

This approach to overcoming fatphobia is rooted in what’s known as intersectional coaching. It’s a holistic framework that acknowledges how an individual’s various identities – including body size, race, gender, and more – impact their reality.

Intersectional coaching is the truest form of empowerment coaching because it doesn’t deny or minimize the challenges faced by marginalized individuals. Instead, it provides tools and strategies to navigate these challenges effectively.

This approach is at the heart of the Non-Diet Coaching Certification, which I now offer to other coaches. It’s why Certified Non-Diet Coaches never gaslight their clients, no matter the circumstances. We acknowledge the reality of fatphobia and other systemic issues while empowering our clients to live fully and authentically.

In Conclusion

Remember, overcoming fatphobia isn’t about denying its existence or forcing yourself to “just think positively.” It’s about acknowledging the reality of living in a fatphobic society, choosing how you want to respond, and empowering yourself to live fully despite societal prejudices.

My journey from internalized fatphobia to empowerment wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. And if I can do it, so can you. Whether you’re struggling with fatphobia yourself or you’re a coach looking to better support your clients, remember: real change starts with acknowledging reality, not denying it. From there, anything is possible.

Ready to Take the Next Steps and Dismantle Fatphobia?

If you’re inspired by my journey and want to learn more about overcoming fatphobia or providing empowering, intersectional coaching, there are several ways to get involved.You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:

Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!

Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.

Anti-Diet Training for Health Coaches

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One of the frequent questions from health coaches who encounter my work in the non-diet approach for the first time is this:

How do I make money as a non-diet coach?

I get it. I had the same question 6 years ago when I first came to the world of anti-diet health coaching. If we don’t tell people what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat, what will they pay us for? Right?

Clients seeking services from a non-diet health coach have a lot they are willing to pay for: primarily ending their struggle with food and body. Helping them relearning to eat following their own eating cues instead of a “health coach” looking over their shoulder lol! Undoing all the body-shaming that “weight loss coaches” have created within them, being able to trust their own choices when it comes to health, undoing the critical mean girl voices in their head, etc…

The list could go on, but simply: undoing the work of diet culture. That’s how you make money as a non-diet health coach. If you have been through the process of unlearning diet culture yourself, you’ll know exactly what I mean. If you haven’t yet, it’s normal you don’t get it and this is the first place you need to start: doing the work of unlearning diet culture yourself.

Anti-diet training for health coaches

Starting an anti-diet coaching business

My anti-diet business journey

What I wish I knew before starting my non-diet health coaching business

The anti-diet approach mentorship program

Anti-diet training for health coaches

The process of becoming an anti-diet health coach starts with your own healing from years of restrictions, cleanses, detoxing, overthinking, shame and guilt. We have plenty of resources on anti-diet training for health coaches to help you take this first step along with professional training.

We have created a number of free non-diet approach training resources to help you begin learning more about this revolutionary health approach. Join my non-diet professional community by requesting our non-diet professional starter pack.

I would suggest you also subscribe to anti-diet podcast .

Starting an anti-diet coaching business

Starting an anti-diet coaching business (also referred to by some as an intuitive eating business is simple. It is the same as starting any other business: You create a product, in the anti-diet health coaching business this would be a coaching package, and you go out into the world and sell this product.

As soon as you start working with clients, you will know just how powerful your product truly is. Research is clear about the benefits of health coaching: Significant improvements in one or more of the health-promoting behaviors when interacting with a health coach. You will see the changes in your clients quickly and your confidence in your business will grow rapidly.

My anti-diet business journey

My first business in the world of health coaching was actually a nutrition clinic in Toronto Canada. Five years ago, I transitioned my health coaching business to the non-diet model and I shared the details of my business transition to the anti-diet model in season 1 of the Pro’s podcast series.

I’d like to give you an inside view into my anti-diet health coaching business more precisely what I wish I knew before starting my anti-diet health coaching business.

As I say in every episode of the Going Beyond The Food podcast: Ready? Let’s do this!

By the way, if you would like to access more details, hear my personal story that created each one of these learning head over to our podcast and listen to Season 2 Episode 2 – My Non-diet business journey episode or listen directly below:

What I wish I knew before starting my non-diet health coaching business

It’s about helping others, not turning a profit. Profit will come naturally as you help others and live your life in your zone of genius.
You can make a great living as an anti-diet health coach in a career helping others deeply despite what anyone says.
6 P’s: Proper Planning Prevent Piss Poor Performance. You need to be strategic about your business and organize yourself. What you should do is not always what you wish you could do.
Learn how to coach people. Coaching is not – this is how I did it so that’s the way. What worked for me is not what will work for my client. Coaching is a skill.
Create goals and apply consistent action. Show up consistently day in and day out in your business. Take one action at bare minimum daily.
Asking for help is ok. Your client asked for you, so should you.
Use technology so you can maximize your time being a coach. Technology can help, but don’t forget that health coaching is about the people.
Trying to be everything to everyone is a straight road to failure. Pick a niche and become the world expert at it.
Growing a business is not linear. There will be more downs than ups. Successful businesses don’t happen overnight. It takes time.
Be unapologetically YOU. Don’t copy what other non-diet coaches are doing. Your clients want to work with you.

The anti-diet approach certification program

The Non-Diet Coaching Certification is a space where you can receive support guidance to become the best non-diet professional. It’s a program geared to refine your non-diet professional skills set and teach you the skills you need to build a successful business that can impact thousands of women. It will help you develop as a powerful leader and help other women come back to their power. You will learn how to harness your ability to support and help other women. As a result, you can impact thousands of other women and dismantle diet culture.

Anti-diet training for health coaches

I would suggest you also subscribe to anti-diet podcast and start with episode 199 and follow through up to the latest one.

Starting an anti-diet coaching business

Starting an anti-diet coaching business (also referred to by some as an intuitive eating business) is simple. It is the same as starting any other business: You create a product, in the anti-diet health coaching business this would be a coaching package, and you go out into the world and sell this product.

My anti-diet business journey

What I wish I knew before starting my non-diet health coaching business

1. It’s about helping others, not turning a profit.

2. You can make a great living as an anti-diet health coach.

3. 6 P’s: Proper Planning Prevent Piss Poor Performance.

4. Learn how to coach people.

5. Create goals and apply consistent action.

6. Asking for help is ok.

7. Use technology so you can maximize your time being a coach.

8. Trying to be everything to everyone is a straight road to failure.

9. Growing a business is not linear.

10. Be unapologetically YOU.

Ready to take the next steps

The anti-diet approach mentorship program

You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:

Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!

Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.

Good Money Business Mastermind A business mentorship and a collective of ambitious, driven and empowered anti-diet culture providers and coaches on a mission to dismantle diet culture and make GOOD money doing it!

The Non-Diet Approach: What is it exactly?

But is the non-diet approach addressing the real root cause?

In the first three years of clinical practice, I thought I was addressing the root cause of my patient health concerns. I was asking a lot of questions and doing an in-depth assessment. My goal was uncovering the “real issue” that no other health professional had identified yet. This unidentified root cause was, as per my training in functional medicine, the reason why my clients were “still struggling”.

As I shared in Intuitive eating Mentorship – First do no harm although my patient had short term reliefs…. long term, their health wasn’t better. In fact, in many cases, it was worse.

So, was I really addressing the “real root cause”?

What’s the root cause?

Why healing the root cause is so important

The non-diet approach

Weight stigma

Fatphobia

Body Image healing

Health can be weight neutral

The Non-diet Approach Professional Training

Non-diet Approach mentorship

If you would like to listen to the article in audio format the Going Beyond The Food Show – Pro Series Season 1 Episode 5

Links mentioned in the episode…

Women Food and Power

Non-Diet Coaching Certification Program

Free Training & resources

Undiet Your Coaching Podcast

What’s the root cause?

In my training in holistic health & functional medicine, we are trained on addressing the underlying or root cause of chronic disease, taking into account the whole person including their environment, genetics, and lifestyle factors. Addressing the root cause is a fundamental philosophy, and honestly, the pride of alternative health approaches: resolving the root cause vs. just dealing with side effects.

Even beyond the health sector, the root cause is the cause of a problem. If adequately addressed, it will prevent a recurrence of that problem. By asking the question “why” a few times, the root cause of a problem is often identified as a procedural, or management, shortcoming.

For example, imagine you have a lot of weed growing in your lawn. If you remove the weed using a lawnmower, will that solve the problem? Temporarily, yes. Visually, your lawn looks good. However, you probably know that this is only at the surface level. After a short period of time, the weed will grow back. So, how do you fix this long term? If you replied “By removing the weed from the root,” then you are totally right!

As a nutritionist, people came to me to change their eating habits or to address health issues that they thought were caused by food. However, my training had taught me that the root cause was in the: what, when and how they ate.

What I couldn’t understand was why it wasn’t working? Why were my clients not able to adhere to the in-depth protocols? Why were they disappearing after a few sessions? And why, when I would see them a year or two down the road, they had reverted back to their old habits?

Why healing the root cause is so important

If I was healing the root cause, then this shouldn’t be happening. I knew this from my training. So, I started to research and quickly realize I wasn’t addressing the “real root cause” but still just the “ side effects”.

It’s understandable why we are inclined to deal with effects instead of the root cause. Effects are what’s most immediately observable, so it’s easy to act on them. Think here “size of body”. Upon doing so, you see an instantaneous change — an impression that you have progressed in your goals. When you go on a diet, you lose a small amount of weight immediately. That’s until the diet stopped working and you regain all the weight (most often more than the original amount of weight loss).

On the other hand, trying to uncover the root causes can be tedious, complicated, and at times, scary. Sometimes, to the extent where people run away when they realize the root cause problems that are underneath. Subsequently, addressing these root causes often requires a change of thinking and some pain and effort, but the results will be much permanent and higher-value than correcting side effects (symptoms as known in health).

As we touched in our S1 EP3 podcast episode Diet mindset professional training, we unpack how our certain traits of character are the results of dieting.

Here are just some of the real root causes:

Perfectionism (Effect): Need to have “perfect” diet (Effect): Diet Cycle (Effect): Desire to lose weight (Effect): Body Dissatisfaction (Effect): beliefs about what body should look like (Cause): fatphobia/weight stigma (Cause)
Low self-confidence (Effect): Need to lose weight (Effect): Perfectionist Body Fantasy(Effect): beliefs about what body should look like (Effect): fatphobia/weight stigma (Cause)
Binge eating (Effect): food restriction (Effect): Dieting to lose weight (Effect) : fatphobia/weight stigma (Cause)

The root cause wasn’t in the what, when, and how they ate. It was in the why. In my first few years of practice, I stopped asking why too early in my investigation process. Even when I asked “Why do you eat like this?” “Why do you want to lose weight?”…I was blinded by my own fatphobia.

Fatphobia

Fatphobia is the fear and dislike of obese “fat” people and/or “obesity”. I was fatphobic and was profoundly afraid of gaining weight. In fact, I was professionally trained to believe that “fat” was the root cause of most chronic conditions. I was taught that everyone should be or want to be at a “normal BMI”.

Hence, I had to confront my own and discover the truth about body weight, BMI & health to be able to ask the right question with my patient and for my own recovery from diet culture.

Not only was my own fatphobia preventing from being the best health professional I knew I could be, but it also was keeping from accessing my best health. Fatphobia in research is also described as weight stigma. Research recognizes two forms of weight stigma:

Experienced weight stigma

This occurs when people observe or believe that others have made unfair negative assumptions about them or discriminate based on nothing more than their weight or body image.

Internalized weight stigma

This is the process by which people accept weight-based stereotypes and make them true about themselves. People who have internalized weight stigma are the harshest critic of themselves. They have come to believe that they are “less-than” because of their weight/ body image.

Research is pointing out that internalized weight stigma has the greatest impact on physical and mental health over experienced weight stigma.

“Some people fear that if people feel too good about their bodies and themselves, they will not be motivated to engage in healthful eating behaviors and physical activity. Studies show the exact opposite to be true: When people internalize weight stigma and feel bad about themselves because of their weight, they feel less confident in their ability to engage in healthful behaviors and are more prone to binge eating, avoiding physical activity, and other behaviors that contribute to weight gain.”

– Rebecca Pearl, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Weight stigma is the REAL root cause

Weight stigma is the negative attitudes and beliefs about people because of their weight. It leads to the labeling of people with stereotypes based on their weight. Unfortunately, it’s a common belief that weight stigma will motivate people who don’t meet body size ideals to change their behaviors, in order to avoid further stigma.

Weight stigma originated from the “old school” model of behavior changes through punishment or shaming. A great example of this today is the “before and after” picture we see so frequently on social media. They are unfortunately used by many health professionals.

Weight stigma is a centric element of diet culture. In fact, research has demonstrated that diet culture helps frame a larger body as a “health hazard”. I like to explain it to my students as the “goon” of diet culture. Without it, diet culture may stop existing.

Weight stigma has been researched extensively over the last 20 years. What research overwhelmingly shows is that weight stigma doesn’t encourage people to lose weight or improve their health. Instead, stigma leads to a greater risk of depression, poor body image, and self-esteem. It also leads to increased stress, disordered eating behaviors, and avoidance of physical activity.

Weight stigma has also been linked to many common health problems that were first associated with “obesity”. Is “obesity” or the stigma associated with “obesity” the true culprit? As you can imagine, experts and researchers are divided on this question. Since we acknowledge that weight stigma is causing the health issue, then diet culture will need to be condoned publicly… can you see the issue?

You can read more Cyclic Obesity Weight Based Stigma Model.

The Solution: Body Image healing

The only way to address the real root cause is to include body image healing in your practice/ program.

Making peace with my own body and healing my own body image was the path to releasing my own fatphobia. Doing so unlock my ability to end weight stigmatization in my own practice.

What most health professional doesn’t realize is that our individual body image is not only how we see ourselves when we look in the mirror. It’s also multidimensional. It encompasses:

Perceptual body image: how you see your body
Affective body image: how you feel about your body
Cognitive body image: how you think about your body
Behavioral body image: the way we behave as a result of our perceptual, affective, and cognitive body image.

Research is showing that a distorted body image leads to lower self-esteem, distorted relationship to food, depression, anxiety, hormonal disruption, and many other side effects. Many of our clients and patients come to see us for this in the first place.

Thomas F. Cash, PhD, is a true pioneer in the psychology of physical appearance research. He also developed today’s most effective treatment approach to body image issues, as well as many of the measures used in body-image research. Likewise, the body image healing cognitive-behavioral model is at the center of our proprietary non-diet approach, The Going Beyond The Food Method™️ .

Body Neutrality

In our non-diet clinical approach, we teach our clients the body neutrality framework and not body positivity. It includes body image professional training, the body neutrality framework.

Body Neutrality empowers women to embrace themselves as they are, including the parts they don’t like about themselves. Its focus is to avoid self-hate while simultaneously relieving from the pressure of having to love their body. Most importantly, the goal is to respect and accept your body for what it is – and that’s it.

Body Neutrality is the middle ground between positivity and negativity (shaming). Embracing body neutrality over body positivity allows our clients to experience negative feelings about their bodies, but without the pressure that comes with having to be positive all the time.

Body Neutrality helps women detach their self-worth from their bodies (good or bad). It’s about crafting a relationship of functionality with our bodies and engaging with it from a place of self-care instead of control.

Health can be weight-neutral

The World Health Organization defines health as “a complete state of physical, emotional, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” A weight-neutral approach to health is based on the idea that your health status or risk level can’t be determined solely by your weight.

It acknowledges that your weight is determined by a complex set of genetic, metabolic, physiological, cultural, social, and behavioral determinants. Many of these factors are either difficult or impossible to change.

Instead of focusing on a weight-oriented outcome, weight-neutral programs teach you to take charge of the factors within your control. These factors include your thoughts and behaviors. In short, taking charge of these factors will help you improve your well-being, regardless of your weight.

Weight-neutral approaches to health like the non-diet approach have significantly decreased body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depression. They’ve also increased sustainable, enjoyable self-care behaviors such as eating and moving well in the long term.

A 2013 study by the Journal of Obesity found no link between body weight and the way we feel about ourselves. Yet, the findings show a link between how we feel about ourselves and the healthy activities we engage in. Meaning, the better we feel about our bodies the more likely we are to take care of them by eating well and being active, allowing us to create a positive cycle. Likewise, dissatisfaction with our bodies can discourage us from taking part in certain activities, eating properly to fuel our bodies and can eventually lead to weight gain.

The non-diet approach

The non-diet approach to health and nutrition recognizes that weight stigma is a contributor to one’s health. As professionals, we must address how our clients and patients relate to their body as the root cause before we can effectively address the effects ( eating and health habits).

The non-diet approach to health is the exact opposite of dieting. It’s a weight-neutral approach to health that instead focuses on a weight-oriented outcome. This approach focused on all the other factors that can impact one’s health beyond body weight. In other words, the ultimate goal is to support the patients to become their own experts at their bodies.

The Going Beyond The Food Method™️ is our proprietary methodology that helps women to recover from diet culture and learn the non-diet way of life. Firstly, our 4 pillars are Body Wisdom, Body Trust, Body Respect, and Body Neutrality. Secondly, our framework is composed of 5 steps process: Intuitive eating, Body Neutrality, Self-Coaching, Emotional Intelligence, and Mindfulness.

The non-diet approach professional training center

You can also listen to our non-diet podcast.

You can access non-diet approach training here

The non-diet coaching certification program

The Going Beyond The Food non-diet coaching certification program is a space where you can receive support guidance to become the best non-diet professional. It’s a program geared to refine your non-diet professional skills set and teach you the skills you need to build a successful business that can impact thousands of women.

It will help you develop as a powerful leader and help other women come back to their power. You will learn how to harness your ability to support and help other women. As a result, you can impact thousands of other women and dismantle diet culture.

Ready to get started with the Non-Diet Approach?

You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve most women:

Free Resources and Masterclasses: Get started and get to know us better!

Private coaching with Stephanie and her team Stephanie and her team of Certified Non-Diet Coaches are waiting to support you in a one-to-one setting with an individualized plan.

Intuitive Eating Business

The thought of starting an intuitive eating business can be scary and overwhelming.

Even for those that currently have a health business and want to transition to a non-diet business is frightening. Will I be able to sustain my income?

How can I make money off if I’m not selling meal plans, diet programs, detoxes, and cleanse?

If I’m not creating complex protocols for my clients: why would they pay me?

These are the type of questions this article aims to answer and many others.

What is the business of intuitive eating?

Being an Intuitive Eating Coach

Intuitive Eating Coaching Outcome

Serving versus Selling

Who do we serve in an intuitive eating business

First Step to start an intuitive eating business

Non-Diet Business coaching

What is a Non-Diet Mentorship program?

If you would like to listen to the article in audio format the Going Beyond The Food Show – Pro Series Season 1 Episode 2

Links mentioned on the episode

Mentorship Program

Intuitive Eating Guide

Free Training & resources

Undiet Your Coaching Podcast

What’s an intuitive eating business?

An intuitive eating business is when you exchange money in order to support someone with intuitive eating. This support can come in many different ways:

Teaching them an intuitive eating framework
Coaching their learning or progress as an intuitive eater
Supporting them in their intuitive eating journey
Encouraging to move forward when they struggle
Answering their questions
Inspiring them to move forward in the face of adversity
Creating products that will support people who want to become an intuitive eater

This business is not a formulated typical health business and does not hold the same value system considering that most health businesses are created to support diet culture ideology.

The most prevalent difference in a diet culture-free business resides in its approach to healing. An intuitive eating business is anchored in what I describe as a “bottom-up” approach versus a “top-down” approach. The goal is to empower you to become your own expert at your body. A typical health business that is rooted in diet culture is built around the provider being the expert and telling you how to engage with your body. Very disempowering.

An intuitive eating business is based on self-compassion, trust, respect of the individual innate body wisdom, and ability to heal themselves.

As of today, the most frequent intuitive eating business model is the coaching business model. You exchange money with your service as a coach.

Intuitive Eating Coach Business

As an intuitive eating coach, you are healing your client/ or patient… they heal themselves. Your clients/patients have all they need to heal their own relationship with food and body. For many, that’s a departure from their professional training… it’s ok to feel unsafe at first.

An intuitive eating coach is a health professional who guides clients/patients in their recovery from Diet Culture. Moreover, your job is to guide clients on the path of becoming an intuitive eater by listening to their concerns and helping them with problem-solving. Recognizing what we spoke about in the first episode of season 1 of Undiet Your Coaching Podcast, that the human relationship to food is by far more complex than just simple food choices.

Problem-solving with your client as an intuitive eating coach will not require you to provide a complex meal plan or macro ratio. Instead, helping them master their mindset particularly shifting away from diet mindset towards a compassionate mindset.

You will help your client move from an external cue to know what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat towards internal cues. As well as helping them feel their hunger, fullness and find satisfaction in what they eat. Instead of teaching your clients to suppress their cravings and how to “fill up on aid food”, you actually help them be in their body at the moment.

You help them understand that all food is good. That being healthy doesn’t mean being restrictive and feeling deprived. That they no longer need to earn their food. You empower your clients, give themselves permission to eat.

Intuitive Eating Coaching Outcome

Your goal is to coach your clients in building confidence in their own eating cues to be their own internal nutritionist. Instead of helping your client live a “normal life” in a very restrictive dietary protocol and how to make cauliflower brownie, you help your client give themselves permission to eat.

With compassion, you guide your client to cope with emotions differently. Helping them build resilience and emotional intelligence. Helping them learn to process their emotions without food.

As your clients build trust and respect with their innate body wisdom, you help them detach from being their bodies and their appearance. In addition, helping them reconnect to their innate worth as women. Guiding your client away from shame towards neutrality. Helping them embrace self-care beyond their physical bodies.

Finally, you help educate your client to a weight-neutral health approach guided by health at every size principle. Moving their body with joy and practicing gentle nutrition.

Being an effective intuitive eating coach requires you to be an intuitive eater first with a willingness to grow and learn from your clients. You must possess intuitive eating professional skills but also, mindset coaching skills, behaviour modification skills. Also, mindfulness and body image resilience skills.

Serving versus Selling

Let’s talk about what everyone thinks about but doesn’t want to talk about. It’s going to get uncomfortable for some…

It’s ok to be making money coaching intuitive eating, to exchange your coaching services for money. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be successful in your intuitive eating business. It’s ok to monetize your professional skills.

Ready for this one: The more revenue you create, the more money you make in your intuitive eating business means more people freed from diet culture. Yup, it truly is.

Now, how you monetize your services and create business revenue does matter. You can build a business in a masculine, patriarchal way or you can choose to embrace your female energy that empowers everyone even those who do not purchase from you.

You can serve instead of selling. Serving means engaging with our clients without expectation. You offer value by creating free content, teaching your audience the very basics of intuitive eating, providing free resources to everyone. You become a resource helping people break down their own barriers, fears, and supporting them with an empowering message. Guiding them to the next level resources available.

The opposite of serving is the hard sell, aggressive to close mentality that comes across as pushy and self- focused. When you are focus on selling, you create free resources guard to disempower people so they are led to believe that the only way for them or resolve their problem is by buying your product.

Serving is based on love. Selling is based on fear. Serving leads to selling without selling.

Who do we serve in an intuitive eating business

We must recognize that the intuitive eating model of nutrition is not accepted by the traditional model of healthcare. As a result, intuitive eating services are mostly never covered by traditional insurance providers. Our services are typically private care, meaning an out of the pocket expense.

This is why most intuitive eating professionals have to be entrepreneurs alongside their profession. You can provide service for someone else’s business but in most cases, you will need to be running your own business.

This means that you need to embrace entrepreneurship and learn about setting up and maintaining a business, marketing your intuitive eating business as well as getting and retaining clients.

Let’s make something clear here: a professional health certification isn’t how you will learn to run a business. The vast majority of health certifications do not include business training and if they do, it’s not focused on a non-diet business model but instead a model that supports diet culture.

That’s why I created the Non-Diet Coaching Certification program. If we want to be successful in dismantling diet culture, I need you to know how to successfully operate a business.

First Step to start an intuitive eating business

The first place to start is with a business strategy. That’s you creating a brand-new business of transitioning your current business to an intuitive eating business model, you need a business strategy.

The strategy is what will turn your passion into biz and blow you to impact thousands of women. It’s the roadmap you will look up to as you work day-to-day in your business. Your business strategy consists of the following:

Why
What
Who
Where
When and the…
How much

The first layer of your business strategy that we teach is the why… not the what. This is where most business strategies go wrong. The business you create needs to be in alignment with your personal values, your personal goals, and how YOU want to lead your personal life.

To be an effective heart-centred intuitive eating business owner, you must care for yourself first. Make sure your business supports YOU not the opposite.

Non-Diet Business Coaching

Today, I own and operate a very successful intuitive eating business. It’s not always been like this. In this first episode of the PRO Series podcast, I share the story of my own professional and business evolution.

It took time and resources for me to get where I’m today. For over 4 years, I searched and trained in various professional training programs to create the Going Beyond The Food Method. I shared more on this in this podcast episode.

Although I had 15 years of retail business operation experience, I also had to learn the health business model. I had to educate myself, get coached in my blind spot, be mentored. Over the last 10 years, I invested approximately $60,000 in my business.

I hired an experienced nutrition business coach before even graduating -8K
The year following my graduation, I committed my first health business mastermind -10K
4 years ago, I hired an online business coach to help me transition my business online – 10K
Over the next years, I have purchased 26k in online business skills courses to learn email marketing, funnel, summit, branding, etc…

Non-Diet Coaching Certification Program

The Going Beyond The Food non-diet coaching certification program is a space where you can receive support guidance to become the best intuitive eating professional. It’s a program geared to refine your professional skills set and teach you the skills you need to build a successful business that can impact thousands of women.

It helps you develop as a powerful leader and help other women come back to their power. You learn how to harness your ability to support and help other women. As a result, you can impact thousands of other women and dismantle diet culture.

I believe that the only way for us to be able to end diet culture oppression of women is by us women coming together and helping each other as women back into our power via intuitive eating and body neutrality. This is a woman issue…that must be resolved by women.

As women, we need to step up and change the future for the young generation of girls. We need to teach them that they aren’t defined by their bodies, we need to crush DC so it never gets its dirty hands on the upcoming generation.

The liberation of the upcoming generation will only come through our generation’s liberation from diet culture and patriarchy.

Currently, the traditional model of nutrition, coaching, and even health care is not set-up for this…it’s entrenched in diet culture. Most of the wellness industry is deeply entrenched in diet culture. The alternative health industry claims to be about the root cause… but never looked at the reason why women engage with food and body.

Bottom line we need a new approach

We need women who can help other women change their relationship to food and body, empowering women to become their own experts at their bodies, to help women build confidence in themselves and their power to know what’s right for them.

Women who will support other women. We need emphatic, compassionate women who have the skills to connect with other women and a passion for change.

My job is to ensure these women are doing their job so well while creating a sustainable business so they can keep impacting more women for years to come. Furthermore, my job is to ensure that these women are successful so they crush diet culture for the generations to come.

Ready to get started building an Intuitive Eating Business?

You can access all of our services on our work with us page. We have a number of programs and service levels enabling us to serve :

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