Episode 10 My Personal Wellness Journey
Welcome to episode 10 of Wellness Wednesday’s Audio Series.
I’m Nissrine, registered holistic nutritionist, mindful nutrition & wellness coach for female entrepreneurs who are looking to prioritize their health and wellbeing without fad diets and wellness trends.
I created this series to bring a fresh perspective to nutrition and wellness, one that is centered on and lead by you.
There’s a plethora of information out there and it can be really hard to know what to do and eat to feel good in your body.
It’s easy to get caught up in fad diets and wellness trends, often questioning, doubting and second guessing your decisions when it comes to the way you nourish and care for yourself.
I wholeheartedly believe that; reconnecting with your own innate wisdom to know what your body needs to thrive is the first step to a life-changing transformation and true lasting wellness; and that progress is made by taking small steps, mindfully, intentionally and consistently.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing a personal story with you about how I went from bouncing back and forth between dieting and neglecting my nutrition and self-care needs to developing a ull blown neurotic obsession with healthy eating to finally to finding food freedom through a mindful nutrition practice and how that has led me to the work I do today.
Like most women, I spent the better part of my teens, 20s and early 30s experimenting with diets and exercise programs in an effort to change my body. The goal was always to shrink and look a certain way, based on society’s ideal standards. But nothing would ever stick, and I’d always wind up on the opposite extreme, neglecting my nutrition and self-care all together.
So bouncing back and forth between these two extremes: diet and neglect.
And frankly, none of it felt good.
On one hand I would be restrictive with my food choices and over do it with my exercise, on the other I would throw in the towel because it was exhausting to keep up with it and I was too busy and tired to keep trying.
Fast forward to my mid 30’s when after a particularly stressful period in my career and life, I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory condition where my fingers swelled up like sausages every morning and I couldn’t even open a tube of toothpaste or pick up a cup of coffee.
It was scary and disheartening.
Now, not wanting to spend the rest of my days taking anti-inflammatory medication as my allopathic doctors wanted me to do indefinitely, I decided to give nutritional therapy a try.
And it was amazing and life changing. It changed everything for me.
Within a month, my fingers were back to normal, and my psoriatic arthritis was in remission. I also lost a TON of weight and was the thinnest I had ever been in my adult life.
Now, the weight loss came with all kinds of oos, ahhs and lots of compliments - “you look amazing, I’ve never seen you look so skinny”
What was supposed to be a restrictive elimination diet during an acute phase of my pathological condition turned into a permanent way of eating for months and months on end.
I became obsessed with what I ate to keep my condition at bay, but if we’re being honest, it was also to keep the weight off.
As someone who had struggled with body image issues most of my life, the compliments felt good and I was scared to put the weight back on.
Because suddenly people were telling me I looked great, so if I look great now, I must have look awful before, right?
I even went back to school to study holistic nutrition so that I could help other women improve their life through nutrition, as I had done.
I thought I had struck gold…put my condition in remission AND lost weight. Two birds with one stone. It felt like a jackpot. Like I had hit the jackpot.
As time went on though, eating became more and more stressful and my cravings began to control my thoughts.
I felt hungry all the time, because I wouldn’t eat until I knew I could eat “perfectly” in accordance with the rules and restrictions.
Every so often I would loosen my grip on the food rules, but not without anxiety and fear of the consequences - that I would have another psoriatic arthritis flare up or gain weight.
Then I got pregnant and my innate wisdom kicked in. I loosened the grip on my diet and began eating a wider variety of foods.
There was still a lot of fear around my psoriatic arthritis but I felt more confident in my pregnant body than I had ever felt in my non pregnant one. My body image issues seemed to vanish overnight.
In hindisight, I believe that was a self-preservation mechanism.
Once my daughter was born though, things began to unravel again.
Early motherhood was a blur.
I didn’t have time to obsess about my food choices and was terrified of having another psoriatic arthritis flare up while caring for a small baby.
Couple that with sleepless nights and new mama stress and it was a recipe for disaster.
My digestive system took a beating and all I could do was blame my diet. It was my fault for not eating well I kept telling myself. For not eating “perfectly”.
Looking back now it’s easy to see the real culprit.
But when I was in the thick of it, it was all a blur.
I was finishing up my holistic nutrition studies at the time - so long days being a mama and trying to finish up my studies - and I experimented with protocol after protocol to make it better. All the while, not paying any attention to my holistic wellbeing beyond nutrition.
I was relying on food to fix all my woes and it just wasn’t working.
When we started weaning our daughter, not only was I obsessing about what I ate due to my own health anxiety, but I also began stressing and obsessing about feeding her only the healthiest, cleanest, most nutritious homemade food because I wanted her to be the healthiest she could possibly be.
Understandable right? I think every mother wants that.
But I was putting a lot of pressure on myself.
One day, it hit me like a brick wall.
How could I teach her to love herself and her body and to have a healthy and positive relationship with food if I was modeling this obsessive compulsive behaviour.
From that moment on, everything changed. It was like a turning point. Like a switch had flipped and I could suddenly see things more clearly.
It wasn’t an overnight success story.
It took time, a lot of unlearning, relearning and a significant mindset shift.
But thankfully, my nutrition education coupled with a mindful eating practice and my wish to model a healthy relationship with food and my body, guided me.
It didn’t come without its challenges. I worried about weight gain and psoriatic arthritis flare ups, and other conditions, as I found food freedom, but I stuck with it nonetheless, knowing the benefits would outweigh the risks.
And they did.
I finally learned to make healthy choices without rigid rules and restrictions. To make my nutrition and self-care a priority without being obsessive. To use my nutrition knowledge as a tool to support me and not a weapon against my body. And I finally internalized the true meaning of holistic wellness.
With this change, my coaching business evolved from one off holistic nutrition consultations and protocols to helping women find the true meaning of wellness and to find their wellness sweet spot without fad diets.
The more women I worked with the more I realized how common and universal this problem really is among us, but especially among ambitious, type A, overachievers with perfectionist tendencies, much like myself.
As a female entrepreneur, I began socializing and doing business with other female entrepreneurs and found that many of you were struggling to prioritize your nutrition and self-care.
And that at the heart of it, the root cause of the problem was always the same, an all or nothing mentality (all in one minute / all out the next, dieting one minute / neglecting the next, doing all the things to not doing anything at all).
And that’s how I got here to supporting female entrepreneurs on their wellness journey as they build the business and life of their dreams.
As a busy female entrepreneur myself, I know first hand how difficult it can feel to prioritize your health and wellbeing when you’ve got so much on your plate as a mama, a caretaker, a wife, a woman, a business owner, I understand all too well the pressure to succumb to all or nothing quick fixes that define the toxic diet culture narrative.
It’s all so so appealing. Right? If only I could try this one thing, it just might work.
But I also know that it doesn’t work and that there are better ways.
I’m here to tell you that it’s possible to find balance and consistency by reconnecting to your own innate wisdom to know what your body needs to thrive and learning to use the fundamentals of nutrition to support and guide you.
It’s possible to feel good in your body again, by nourishing yourself well, but it doesn’t stop there.
Wellness isn’t just about what you eat. It’s holistic and multidimensional - intentional movement, stress management , sleep hygiene, mental, emotional, financial, spiritual and occupational wellbeing are all essential parts of a wellness journey and are not to be underestimated.
While I wouldn’t wish my journey to get here on anyone, I am grateful for it in many ways, because I’ve learned and I’ve grown and I’ve come into my own.
I’m by no means done doing the work though.
It’s a daily practice and a journey that I continue to walk each day with my clients.
The more vulnerable I am about where I’ve been and where I am, the easier it gets to pave a clear path forward.
I once read that we all preach what we most need to learn, and frankly this couldn’t be any more true than it is for me.
The more I support and guide women on their wellness journey and the more I witness the life changing transformations they experience as a result, the more I learn and grow.
I’m infinitely grateful to each and every woman that has welcomed me on her journey. It is an honour and privilege that I do not take lightly and I look forward to continuing to grow with you.
If this story resonates with you on some level, I invite you to leave a comment below and share it with someone in your circle.
Book a Complimentary no Obligation Wellness Consultation
To chat about your goals and learn more about my coaching programs and packages and how I can support you in reaching your wellness goals with ease and simplicity as you build the business and life of your dreams.
On that note, if you’d like to be a part of my pilot program, entitled (re) Awaken Your Innate Food Wisdom, a self-paced mindful nutrition program with 4 weeks of group support to help you prioritize your nutrition & wellness without fad diets and trends, get on my mailing list to get an exclusive invitation once I’m ready to launch it.
To get on my mailing list, subscribe to this audio series or download my simple 5 step framework to nourishing meals in minutes and you’ll be the first to know when the pilot program is ready for testing.
A Simple 5 Step Framework To Nourishing Meals in Minutes
You’ve got your hands full and more than enough on your plate. Take the guess work out of what and how to eat and make meal preparation a breeze, even when you’re short on time.
It will be a journey to learning more about your body and what it needs to thrive; A mindful approach to nutrition that will improve your relationship with food; and a wellness education program that will guide you for life so your nutrition and self-care will always be a priority.
Thank you for tuning in.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and share with a friend and be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Wellness Wednesday Audio Series, where I a share a short audio clip each week to inspire you to reconnect with yourself on a deeper level so you can start nourishing and caring for yourself, more mindfully and intentionally.
Until next week,
Stay healthy, happy and safe,