My path into health coaching began with a deeply personal struggle with food, body image, self-esteem, and self-worth. For years, so much of my energy went toward food, my body, and trying to “fix” myself. I eventually realized that what I was looking for wasn’t another way to eat or change my body—it was a way to come home to myself. When I discovered IIN, I had an intuitive yes. I didn’t know exactly where it would lead, but I trusted that it was my next step. Through The Health Coach Training Program™, and later Coaching Intensive Practicum, I discovered a whole-person approach to wellness that transformed the way I understood health and my own healing.
Today, as the CEO of Health that Heals, a keynote speaker, author, and Health Coach, I help individuals and organizations rethink burnout, reconnect with their values, and create healthier, more sustainable lives. The lessons I learned through IIN—especially the power of Primary Food and the importance of looking at health beyond nutrition and exercise—continue to shape the way I coach, speak, and support others on their own journeys toward greater well-being.
BEFORE BECOMING A HEALTH COACH, WHAT DID YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HEALTH, FOOD, AND SELF-WORTH LOOK LIKE? WHAT EXPERIENCES LED YOU TO BEGIN YOUR OWN HEALING JOURNEY?
A: Before becoming a Health Coach, I struggled deeply with food, body image, self-esteem, and self-worth. For years, I was caught in an eating disorder and a constant diet-binge cycle. So much of my mental and emotional energy went toward food, my body, and trying to change or “fix” myself.
More than anything, I remember just wanting to get out of my own head. I wanted to be able to live my life without constantly thinking about food or my body. I wanted to feel free.
That desire became the beginning of my healing journey. At the time, I thought healing meant figuring out how to eat differently or finally getting my body “right.” What I would eventually learn was that it was never really about the food. There was so much underneath it—fear, shame, self-worth, safety, and learning how to truly be with and love myself.
WHAT ULTIMATELY INSPIRED YOU TO PURSUE HEALTH COACHING, AND WHAT WAS IT ABOUT IIN THAT MADE YOU FEEL IT WAS THE RIGHT NEXT STEP?
A: I had always dreamed of writing, having a blog, coaching, and helping people in some capacity. At the time, my friend’s sister was a health coach who had attended IIN. I spoke with her about her experience, and something immediately clicked.
It was one of those intuitive yeses. I didn’t necessarily know exactly what I was going to do with it or where it would lead, but I knew 100% that IIN was my next step. I trusted that feeling, and I’m so grateful I did.
MANY PEOPLE COME TO IIN EXPECTING TO LEARN ABOUT NUTRITION BUT LEAVE WITH A MUCH BROADER PERSPECTIVE ON WELLNESS. HOW DID THE PROGRAM CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT HEALTH?
A: IIN completely transformed the way I thought about health. Health was no longer simply about food, dieting, or what was happening on my plate.
Learning concepts like Primary Food, Secondary Food, and bio-individuality helped me understand wellness from a much broader perspective. I began looking at what was feeding me off the plate, too—my relationships, career, environment, spirituality, thoughts, beliefs, and whether I was actually creating a life that felt fulfilling and aligned with who I was.
It opened the door to so much more for me: intentional living, the mind-body connection, our energy and beliefs, trauma, relationships, purpose, and ultimately, the importance of building a life we genuinely love.
WAS THERE A PARTICULAR CONCEPT, LESSON, OR EXPERIENCE FROM IIN THAT CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE YOUR LIFE AND COACHING TODAY?
A: Primary Food and bio-individuality are two concepts I return to again and again.
The idea that what nourishes us extends so far beyond what we eat was transformational for me personally, and it continues to shape how I work with people today. We can focus endlessly on perfecting our diet, exercise routine, or wellness habits, but if we’re disconnected from ourselves or deeply unfulfilled in other areas of our lives, we’re missing an important part of the picture.
Bio-individuality is equally important to me. There is no single way to heal, eat, live, or take care of ourselves that works for everyone. Learning to listen to ourselves and discover what actually supports us is such an important part of wellness.
HOW DID YOUR OWN HEALING JOURNEY SHAPE THE COACH YOU’VE BECOME?
A: It gave me an enormous amount of compassion.
For years, I judged myself so harshly for the patterns I couldn’t seem to change—the self-sabotage, the shame, the coping mechanisms, the parts of myself I thought I needed to get rid of in order to heal.
Over time, I began understanding those patterns differently. Instead of seeing them as evidence that something was wrong with me, I could approach them with curiosity, compassion, and an understanding that many of them had once been protective.
Interestingly, when I stopped fighting myself so much, the food, body, and life pieces began falling into place much more naturally.
I think that’s become one of my sweet spots as a coach: being able to recognize those patterns in another person without judging them and helping them begin to shift from a very loving place.
YOUR WORK OFTEN FOCUSES ON CREATING SAFETY WITHIN OURSELVES. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, AND WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN?
A: One of the biggest shifts in my own healing was learning about the nervous system, the brain, and the mind-body connection. I realized how much of my life I had spent operating from fear, anxiety, survival, and ultimately, a feeling of being unsafe.
When I talk about safety now, I’m not talking about never feeling anxious, triggered, or uncomfortable. To me, internal safety is developing a sense of, “I can be here with myself. I can experience what I’m experiencing. I can trust myself to respond.”
When we’re extremely dysregulated, it can be very difficult to access our clarity, intuition, confidence, and sense of self. Learning how to come back into the present moment and feel grounded in our bodies creates more space for those things.
I think that’s particularly important for women because we’re surrounded by so many messages about who we’re supposed to be, what we’re supposed to look like, and how we’re supposed to live. Creating safety within ourselves helps us quiet some of that noise and hear our own voice again.
MANY WOMEN STRUGGLE WITH ANXIETY, OVERTHINKING, OR FEELING DISCONNECTED FROM THEMSELVES. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS OFTEN MISSING FROM THE GUIDANCE THEY’RE GIVEN TO BEGIN HEALING?
A: I think we sometimes try to think our way out of everything.
Talk therapy and understanding our thoughts absolutely have a place, but there’s also a somatic component to healing. We have bodies, and sometimes we need to come out of the constant analysis and learn how to actually be in them.
Overthinking can sometimes be a way of avoiding what we’re feeling. We’re replaying the past, anticipating the future, solving, and analyzing—anything other than being with what’s happening right now.
Something as simple as breathing, feeling your feet on the ground, noticing what’s around you, and asking, “What am I actually feeling right now? What am I trying not to feel?” can be incredibly powerful.
Sometimes healing isn’t finding another answer. It’s learning how to stay with ourselves long enough to hear what is already there.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FIRST SHIFTS YOU HELP CLIENTS MAKE AS THEY BEGIN REBUILDING TRUST WITH THEMSELVES AND THEIR BODIES?
A: I start by trying to understand the whole person rather than immediately trying to change something.
We look at what’s happening externally—food, movement, sleep, stress, relationships, routines—and also what’s happening internally. What patterns keep showing up? What happens right before them? What might those patterns be trying to protect them from?
From there, I believe in small shifts. Self-trust isn’t something we suddenly decide to have. We build evidence for it.
It can begin with very small, moment-to-moment actions: noticing what you need, honoring one boundary, pausing before reacting, feeding yourself when you’re hungry, resting when you need rest, or following through on one promise you’ve made to yourself. Those moments accumulate, and eventually, you begin experiencing yourself differently.
YOU OFTEN WRITE ABOUT BEAUTY, CONFIDENCE, AND SELF-WORTH FROM A PLACE OF LOVE RATHER THAN PRESSURE. WHAT INSPIRED THAT PHILOSOPHY?
A: Because I spent years trying the other way. For a long time, my motivation came from pressure: change your body, be better, do more, fix this part of yourself. Sometimes it even “worked” temporarily. I could lose weight or follow a diet or make progress toward whatever goal I’d set, but eventually, I’d fall back into the same patterns.
When I began approaching myself from love, gentleness, self-worth, and allowance, everything changed. Not necessarily overnight, but the changes became much more sustainable, and life became so much more enjoyable.
I’ve learned that we cannot hate ourselves into becoming someone we love.
CAN YOU SHARE A MOMENT FROM YOUR COACHING JOURNEY THAT REMINDED YOU WHY THIS WORK MATTERS?
A: Some of the most meaningful moments for me have involved shame.
I’ve had experiences with clients where someone has trusted me enough to share something they were deeply ashamed of, something they feared might change how they were seen.
To be able to sit with someone in that moment without judgment, to hold that shame with them and essentially communicate, “You’re still here. You’re still okay. You’re still worthy of love,” is incredibly powerful.
I’ve been the person on the other side of that. I’ve had coaches hold me through incredibly vulnerable moments and show me that the parts of myself I was most ashamed of didn’t make me unlovable.
Having experienced how transformational that can be, being able to offer that kind of space to someone else is one of the greatest privileges of this work.
FOR SOMEONE WHO FEELS STUCK IN SELF-CRITICISM OR CONSTANTLY STRIVING TO BE “BETTER,” WHAT WOULD YOU WANT THEM TO HEAR TODAY?
A: For this moment, don’t even try to change it. Let it be here. Give it some space. Give it a seat at the table.
We all experience self-criticism. I certainly still do. I don’t think there’s a magical point where you’re “fully healed” and these parts disappear forever. What changes is how we relate to them.
When we immediately resist a feeling or try to get rid of a part of ourselves, it often gets louder. Sometimes that critical voice is simply a younger or more frightened part of us trying to protect us in the only way it knows how.
So rather than immediately trying to fix it, get curious. Listen. Let it exist without making it the whole truth about who you are.
Often, when we stop fighting what’s here, we can finally see it more clearly.
WHAT MISCONCEPTION DO YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD ABOUT HEALING, CONFIDENCE, OR SELF-LOVE?
A: That healing isn’t a destination, and I don’t know that I even resonate with the word “healing” in quite the same way anymore.
We’re not here just to endlessly work on ourselves. We’re doing this work so that we can live.
We’re here for a relatively short amount of time. I want to love people, experience joy, have fun, follow my intuition, create things, and actually participate in my life, not spend my entire life trying to become a perfectly healed version of myself.
Self-love and confidence ebb and flow, too. You aren’t going to love yourself perfectly every moment. The shift is often much subtler than that. You notice yourself responding differently to an old trigger. You make a different choice. You recover more quickly. You treat yourself more gently.
And every time you see yourself respond differently, you build a little more trust in who you’re becoming.
WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT THE PERSON YOU’VE BECOME THROUGH THIS WORK?
A: Honestly, sitting here answering this, I had this moment of thinking: Wow. I actually love my life. About 15 years ago, I remember sitting upstairs in my parents’ house, in the room where I grew up, wondering whether I would ever get out of the hell that was bulimia. I wondered whether I would ever stop thinking about food and my body, whether I’d follow my dreams, and whether I’d ever simply get to live. And now I do.
Food is almost an afterthought in my life. I love food and appreciate it, but mostly as something that nourishes me and that I get to enjoy. It’s not even a huge part of my story anymore.
And maybe that’s what has surprised me most: realizing that it was never really about the food.
My journey has been about learning to love myself, other people, and life. It’s been about unpacking shame, protective patterns, fear, and self-sabotage and, layer by layer, becoming more of myself.
I’m proud of who I’ve become through that process. But mostly, I’m grateful that I get to be here and actually enjoy the life I once wondered if I’d ever have.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE CONSIDERING HEALTH COACHING—NOT JUST AS A CAREER, BUT AS A PATH FOR PERSONAL GROWTH?
A: When I enrolled at IIN, I wasn’t even certain I wanted to become a Health Coach. I just knew the program spoke to me. It was an intuitive yes, and I trusted it.
My advice would be to allow yourself to enter the program that way. You don’t have to have your entire career mapped out. Take the tools and experiment with them in your own life. Let yourself be the student.
IIN transformed me personally long before I knew exactly how I would use the certification professionally.
And even if you never coach professionally, the skills you develop—listening, asking meaningful questions, holding space, understanding bio-individuality, seeing the whole person—can change how you show up everywhere. They can make you a better friend, partner, family member, colleague, and human being.
Follow what speaks to you and allow the path to reveal itself from there.
FOR SOMEONE SIMPLY WANTING TO CREATE A HEALTHIER, MORE MEANINGFUL LIFE, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU SHARE?
A: Start with your values. Get very clear on what actually matters to you—not what should matter, not what other people think should matter, but what genuinely does. Then look honestly at how you are spending your time and energy and ask whether it reflects those values. The gap between your values and your reality is where most of the pain lives. And closing that gap, even incrementally, is where the healing begins.
WHAT’S ONE DAILY RITUAL THAT HELPS YOU FEEL GROUNDED AND CONNECTED TO YOURSELF?
A: Sitting outside for even five minutes with my eyes open and just breathing.
I focus on my breath, notice what’s around me, feel my body, and let myself arrive in the present moment. It doesn’t have to be a formal meditation. It’s really just a practice of getting out of my head and coming back into my body.
It helps me remember that I am not every thought passing through my mind. I can come back to myself as I am, right now. That little bit of grounding helps me feel much more regulated and able to respond to whatever the day brings.
A BOOK, POEM, OR WRITER THAT’S HAD A LASTING IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE?
A: Anita Moorjani and her book Dying to Be Me. She writes about her near-death experience and what it taught her about fear, love, joy, intuition, and truly living.
There are so many books and writers I love, but this is one I find myself returning to again and again. Its message continues to remind me to choose love over fear and, most importantly, to actually enjoy being alive.
IF YOU COULD BE ANY FRUIT OR VEGETABLE, WHICH WOULD YOU BE—AND WHY?
A: A pineapple!
First, I genuinely love pineapple, and it immediately makes me think of summer, which is my favorite season. But I also love what the pineapple represents—welcome and hospitality, that feeling of home.
That energy of warmth, welcoming, and creating a space where people can feel at home is something I’m really drawn to and try to cultivate in my own life.
And pineapples also just look pretty freaking cool!