You’re almost ready to give up all hope of ever feeling better, never mind looking better.
Maybe you’ve lost weight before, but it always seems to come creeping back, plus an extra fiver. Maybe you’ve even figured out what kinds of food and lifestyle habits make you feel your best, but something always seems to knock you off track.
Your body, like your energy, droops just a bit more each year. (As your boobs creep down toward your thickening waistline, you wonder – am I turning into my husband…?)
Achy joints, bad sleep, tired all the time, hassled by cravings, sick of diets, thinking about food too much, worried about life too much, a little anxious, a little depressed…
No, I haven’t been peeking through your window.
I get it because I am you.
I’ve struggled with everything from that embarrassing belly flap to mysterious autoimmune issues with weird, unpleasant symptoms, to perimenopausal cravings that felt like they were on steroids!
For nearly 20 years I searched for solutions in multiple healing industries – trying to figure out why some clients have great success, and others, like me, struggle to have even the smallest wins.
Over time I found a pattern…
There are 3 common “stages of healing” that nearly every one of my clients has gone through on their quest for less fat, more energy and better health.
The first stage is realizing that something is “wrong with you”. Something more than a seasonal virus or a pulled muscle or any number of “regular” issues that are just a part of daily life.
You begin by seeing your doctor who sends you out for some tests, which come back negative or inconclusive. They give you anti-inflammatories or something similar and suggest you “watch” the situation.
While they assure you nothing is “seriously wrong” you still aren’t feeling better. So you broaden your search to figure out what’s going on so you can fix the problem.
This leads you to various other medical and psychological specialists. When they can’t give you answers you might widen your scope to include alternative medicine practitioners, naturopaths, energy workers or even a pastor.
But no one can seem to pinpoint the issue. Just when one symptom improves, something new flares up somewhere else.
Ever had your anxiety start to ease, only to wake up with your back out…?
Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about,
Eventually this leads to the second big revelation:
Traditional medicine and the “specialists” are not going to solve your problem.
In my practice as a food and health coach I found that some people could get to the root of their imbalances pretty quickly. Once they understood their own best lifestyle practices for losing weight and improving their energy, they’d put them into place and have great success, even if they weren’t totally consistent.
But other clients could try the same “best practices” and wouldn’t get the same results. Ironically, this is the category I fall into.
My own daily diet, sleep and fitness routines, for example, would be on a par with many of my friends who were professional trainers. They were trim and fit, but I could not lose weight.
Not only that, but they could go out on the weekend, have beer and pizza, or eat cake once in awhile and stay right on track. When I did that, it would set me back 2 weeks and skyrocket my blood sugar.
It ended up being the place between my searches into body, mind, and spiritual healing that brought the third revelation.
We are not machines with separate parts. There are no hard divisions between body, mind and spirit.
Ancient Eastern healing systems like Ayurveda from India and Traditional Chinese Medicine, have always viewed us this way – as one interconnected network. They’ve actually mapped it pretty effectively – to the point of connecting certain organs with certain emotions.
Evidence shows that imbalances in one arena can and will affect problems – or progress – in another.
It turns out that experiencing childhood trauma puts you at roughly the same risk for coronary heart disease as eating fast food several times a week – even if your diet is exquisitely clean!
What is a doctor or a dietician supposed to do with that?
Or a psychologist?
They’re going to run right out of rope at the “edge” of their specialty.
A growing body of medical research is proving this notion that health issues do in fact cross the mind/body barrier.
Suddenly it became very clear why I and many others like me with trauma in our pasts had to work so much harder to achieve the same goals as people without.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
So I created a new model of “Power and Drag” using the metaphor of a sailboat to start to frame some of the more complex “crossing over” I was seeing.
I marked things like trauma, negative core beliefs, chronic negative emotions, a sweet tooth and a high waist-to-hip ratio as “anchor drag”, while eating lots of veggies or having a strong social circle or positive core beliefs were marked as “wind power” in the sails.
It was very crude and not particularly scientific, but proved to be a surprisingly accurate predictor of success – or lack thereof – in making healthy lifestyle changes over time.
Some people who are dragging a lot of anchors, have to blow a LOT of wind into their sails with terrific lifestyle habits to get that puppy to go.
And it works in reverse too.
Have you ever met a grandma who smokes daily or drinks regularly and lives into her 90’s? How?? If you look more deeply – she’s also got a huge loving family and an endlessly grateful attitude toward life that provides so much power that her little “boat” pulls that “anchor” right into ripe old age.
Now of course human beings are anything but cookie cutter, and I’m not saying all health outcomes can be predicted. But by expanding the way you look at your whole life, by changing your personal “model of healing”, you will discover new, more effective ways to take on the weight, energy and wellness challenge.
That which stands in your way can become the way.
With thanks to Marcus Aurelius
Let’s find out what’s holding YOU back.
Start Your Journey Today
Jeannette’s Experience
Jeannette has written or co-written 8 books on different aspects of healthy eating with over 100,000 copies in circulation around the world. She’s designed menu plans and recipes for superstar doctors, naturopaths, nutritionists and strength trainers.
Her clean food recipes and mind-body-spirit perspectives have been showcased in over 100 media outlets, including Consumer Reports, the Washington Post, Clean Eating, Dr. Oz Online, Self, Shape, Better Nutrition, Parenting, Better Homes and Gardens, Redbook, Martha Stewart Living, NPR and NBC News.
As a lifestyle writer, speaker and award-winning educator, she’s been privileged to work with thousands of people from many different backgrounds in everything from low income Head Start programs to yoga centers, businesses, hospitals and health departments. She has witnessed our struggles to change our lifestyle habits from every angle you can imagine.
Cross-Modal Training – Body, Mind & Spirit
Jeannette spent the first half of her life studying holistic and eastern healing arts, including American herbalism, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. She’s had a personal meditation practice spanning over 20 years that has both anchored and guided her insights into the ways we all tend to repeat the same “conditioned” behaviors from a very young age – making true change or true freedom very difficult.
She is a seminary graduate and ordained as an interfaith minister. She holds certifications in multiple emotional healing techniques, including E.F.T. and the Wave Work.
She has a B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University (writing/teaching) and multiple food certifications from among the world’s most cutting-edge trainers and institutions for nutrition and gourmet cuisine, including:
- The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (Health Coach Board Certification)
- Poliquin Strength Institute (Biosignature Certification – elite performance nutrition and supplementation)
- Marc David of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating (Certification in the Psychology of Eating and Soul-Based Nutrition)
- Matthew Kenney Culinary Academy (Raw Food Chef Certification)
Jeannette loves to synthesize the best lifestyle tips, techniques and recipe concepts from both the ancient natural and modern scientific worlds for practical, everyday use – power tools for the people!
Let’s connect!
Meeting in the thick of our daily lives to share inspiration, recipes, wins & revelations!
