It's Not (Just) About Diet!
My dream job is to encourage and help women feel empowered and love living a healthier lifestyle by coaching them through their weight loss journeys. Rather than coaching with a ‘dieting lifestyle,’ I've learned to guide women on developing a fulfilling and nutritious lifestyle that is both habitual and unique to each individual. No matter the day or situation, I want women to feel great about themselves and combat the factors off the plate that truly do make a difference.
Off the plate is a description of 'primary foods', a concept I learned through my education at Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN). Primary Food is nourishment that is off of the plate, life factors that feeds our mind, body, and soul in ways that actual food, or 'secondary food' (the next food concept from IIN), doesn’t. In other words, reaching health goals is not (just) about diet! Let me give you a personal example.
Six months before joining IIN I hit this point of low self-esteem. My body and body weight started changing and I was trying to fight against it. Like a message from the universe, IIN started popping up on my newsfeed, on social media, and even my sister mentioned a friend who had completed the course. I hadn’t thought about IIN since I heard about it in 2014 (from a former student who is now MY health coach!), but it was a program I promised myself I would join one day. Thinking maybe it would help me with my current low self-esteem problems, I wanted to join and learn how to do 'deal with' the changing of my body. I decided it was time further my health & wellness education personally and for my career.
At this point, I already knew that I wanted my own business. Soul Well was a work in progress for over a year at this point, and I knew that there would be something else I’d like to provide for my current and future clients. I took the leap and joined IIN, instantly falling in love with the program.
IIN encouraged coaching to be primarily based around nourishment “off the plate”. Typically, people know what they “should and shouldn’t eat,” but there are factors in life that may prevent you from sticking to those knowings. These factors are known as primary foods. Being that I was feeling unsatisfied with my education and career (two examples of primary food!), I was falling on my healthy habits and not feeling myself. My body was changing and I was unable to be happy with my new womanly shape. Implementing new goals for my career my furthering my education helped me tremendously.
Finally, only a few weeks in, I started feeling satisfied in new educational endeavor and what would become of my career. The weight I gained was suddenly coming off of me (even during the quarantine, with no access to the gym and having to be mindful of money spent on food). I was Feeling Soul Well and loving my new womanly shape. By furthering my education and career, my mindset around my body shifted toward confidence and any discomfort subsided. I no longer felt that I needed washboard abs to feel healthy, fit, and happy, and that having curves WAS still healthy, fit, and made me happy! I’m no longer obsessed with my body weight or weighing myself and instead am enjoying life the way that feels [soul] well to me. Talk about a mind-body connection!
Now that I’ve graduated from IIN and have been working with my own health coach for the last 3 months, I’ve truly enveloped myself into the importance of off the plate nourishment. Of course, I continue to learn with each session, but I am really seeing how primary food has such an effect on us reaching health related goals.
Some of the primary food breakthroughs I’ve had with my own health coach was:
how leaving my part time job would take away a lot of stress and frustration and allow me to fully focus on my career with Soul Well
Trying different foods would have an incredible impact on my personal health (such as inviting seafood back into my life, an ongoing battle with myself since going plant based some years ago. Though I love and respect animals and the environment, there are just somethings you must listen to your body about)
Cooking at home more often by recreating my favorite meals that I like to buy out such as falafels, tahini dressing, soups, and more
Expressing myself in all different relationships in my life, and how giving myself my voice back is healing and empowering. Setting boundaries with myself and others and truly sticking to them and honoring myself.
How being unconventional is a part of who I am and what makes me who I am. Especially when it comes to my career, I was never satisfied with working for companies and have longed to be my own boss since I was a teenager! Though I’ve never had that ‘job with benefits,’ that’s okay! I do and feel my best when I work for me and Soul Well.
& Finally, my biggest breakthrough: CONFIDENCE! Being fully confident in
myself, my dreams, aspirations, goals, beliefs, and everything in between and beyond was something I’ve lacked all along. My insecurities had been eating me alive for way too long, and when my coach had asked me if I was insecure, it was like a tap on the forehead from the universe. Building my confidence has been the missing link all along, and something I now strive to help women develop in themselves and their health & fitness journey.
If you feel that confidence might be the missing link in your weight loss journey and other health related goals, such as building healthier meals, balancing the gym, or maintaining healthy healthy habits, a health coach might be exactly what you need. Email me at julie@feelsoulwell.com, start a chat with me or book a free consultation in the Coaching page on my navigation! I'm excited to help you feel SOUL well.