Growing up in an Italian kitchen, I’ve always had a love for food (and cooking!) – but this love of food was tangled up in a constant struggle with weight and body image.
I was on my first diet by the 5th grade and successfully failed over 50 diets in the years that followed (and that is no exaggeration – I tried them ALL!).
I spent years of my life dieting
in what felt like a constant struggle with food
That struggle eventually led me away from my original desire to go to culinary school. Instead, I chose to study fitness, nutrition, mind body eating psychology, and the role that our emotional and mental wellness play in our relationship with food, body, and weight.
I received my certification as a Holistic Health Counselor (HHC) after graduating from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York City. I’ve studied with Marc David at The Institute for The Psychology of Eating, I’m a Weight Loss Coach under Master Coach, Brooke Castillo of The Life Coach School, and I hold a B.A. in Psychology from William Paterson University.
The combination of these studies, combined with a lifetime of self study and personal experience, slowly taught me how to shift out of a diet mentality (which focused on restriction, deprivation, and complete disconnection from my body) into a place of health, nourishment, pleasure, and connection.
By making small, consistent shifts in my approach to wellness and weight loss, I was able to drop my struggle with food and body, lose the 20 pounds I was constantly battling, and STOP dieting once and for all.
Weight loss should not feel like a constant war against yourself. You do not need more willpower, more rules, or more restrictions, and you are most definitely not broken.
You also don’t need to DO more. We are all sold this idea (by the media and weight loss industry) that if we struggle with our weight, we are somehow lazy, incapable, or just not trying hard enough – but this is simply not true.
OUR EXTRA WEIGHT IS NEVER THE real PROBLEM
Although most people treat their excess weight like their greatest enemy, our extra weight is actually a messenger, trying to communicate with us and point us towards information about our lives, our bodies, and ourselves that would be beneficial to know and understand.
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot beat yourself up and bully yourself into reaching your weight loss goals. Instead, you have to learn how to be in a kind, curious, and loving relationship with yourself (the opposite of what most diets teach us, I know!). That relationship is what we work on inside of The Don’t Diet®.
It’s time to cease fire and call off the war with yourself. Instead, let’s take a gentler, more effective approach to weight loss that actually works. Here are some of the tools and topics we’ll cover:
- Uncover false beliefs and ideas that you have picked up around food, body and weight that block you from reaching your weight loss goals
- Learn how to love your body on the journey (not just once you lose the weight)
- Know the difference between physical and emotional hunger so you can learn how to recognize true hunger and honor your body
- Embrace the practice of pleasure and relaxation as key components of your weight loss journey (no more pushing or stressing out about your weight)
- Learn why food is not the enemy and how to create an intentional game plan that is created from the inside out (become your own nutritional guru)
- Practice identifying, allowing and processing your emotions so you don’t need food to help create emotional regulation
- Better understand how to take great care of yourself so you don’t feel like you are sacrificing your needs and preferences in the name of weight loss
- Learn how to align your mind, body, and soul - so you never feel like you are working against yourself
I’m on a mission to support you in creating a kind, sane, and sustainable path to reaching your weight loss goals. This is not a quick fix or a 30-day challenge. I want to make sure you have the tools you need to understand HOW to lose weight in a way that actually works for YOU.
You are a smart, beautiful human being who is learning how to take amazing care of yourself and your body so you can feel great and lose the weight that holds you back.
You’ve got this (and I’ve got you!).
