Hello, my dear friends!
My name is Mariana Stabile and I'm a health coach. I practice a holistic approach to wellness, looking at all areas of my clients' lives and how they connect. Together with my clients, we explore the health concerns specific to them and their bodies, to find the right tools they need in order to achieve a lifetime of balance.
So what does a balanced lifestyle really mean and how does it apply to you?
I think it's best if I share with you a little bit about my experience with one of my clients - let's call her S.
S is a beautiful girl in her early 30's. She works hard all week, and balances that out on the weekends by going out and socializing with friends. She's overall happy, but admits there is always that concern of watching her weigh. She wants to look and feel great, which in her mind would imply losing a few pounds. (Sound familiar?).
The thing is, she has already tried just about every diet out there over the past 10 yrs, and still has those 7-10 stubborn pounds that she struggles with, and that keep her from feeling confident in her body. So that's where I come in.
S started off by telling me how she already followed what many women consider to be a "healthy diet." She didn't think there was that much more she could do with her diet to reach her health goals.
My first goal was to help her see things a little clearer.
So at our first meeting, I asked S to tell me about her career, relationships, lifestyle, stress, spirituality, etc. It was one of the most wonderful conversations I've had.
S has such abundance in her life, is so loving and warm, but our conversation quickly revealed that she struggles with her self-image and self-acceptance. I was able to identify this blind spot of hers, and brought it to her attention so that we could work on it.
Sometimes you need someone with no bias to just help you untangle bad habits and help you to iron them out.
S also expressed anxiety around men, dating, socializing, and in particular, drinking. Just from talking about it, she was able to realize that alcohol was a problem for her (as it is for most people), a social lubricant that at the end, only increased her anxiety. So on her own, she decided she would give it up for a few weeks.
After untangling, planning is possible.
After a long talk and a relieved look on S's face, we discussed her daily food log, and together we decided that there were some things she was eating that she wasn't digesting well, as she was often bloated, gassy, and didn't sleep well.
Gradually we created a plan that would test which foods were causing the irritation in her gut. We decided she would:
- try reducing the amount of nuts she ate
- pre-soaking her beans and grains
- cutting out dairy for a period of time to see how she felt
I also noted her reliance on coffee, and taught her a bit about how coffee, like alcohol and like chocolate, and are very acidic for our bodies and are also addictive, so we should be mindful and work hard to break those addictions which can end up being harmful for our bodies. So she's working to keep it to one cup of morning joe, and avoiding that afternoon coffee that could also be contributing to her anxiety and sleeping issues.
S is learning a lot about the importance of a wholesome diet based on a variety of real foods, which is much healthier and more effective than any fad diet that encourages low-fat and “light” processed diet products, and are based on restraint.
After Week 1 she already felt less bloated, less anxious, and more motivated.
So stay tuned and I will keep you posted on the progress made with S! And for more of my health tips and to learn more about my health coaching, check me out at: www.balancewithmariana.com, and keep reading my blogs!
Until the next time, stay healthy!
Love,
Mariana