how i went from battling my body to loving it dearly.

When I was a freshman in high school, my mom started juicing vegetables and buying organic everything. I would stare at her as she took out the huge “juicer-thingy” and laid down stacks of just washed carrots, greens, lemons, and more. She would spend a good 20 minutes piling them in and smushing them down until green juice streamed out of the spout, making enough to drink for a week.

I was never tempted to try out her concoctions, but I did eat organic produce from that point forward. I brought my habit with me to college in 2001, where I frequented the organic section of Shop Rite, naturally. My friends thought I was a weirdo, playfully mocking me, “Blair, organic is just more expensive.” Yet, I knew there was more to it. I didn’t have all of the facts, but I looked up to my mother’s desire to only put the best quality food in her body.

You might be thinking, Wow, you must have been a waify string bean in college. Oh contraire. I gained the freshman fifteen with ease and had body image issues from the moment I set foot in on campus. Everyone did. I was surrounded by girls with eating disorders who either binge ate or didn’t eat and worked out for 2 hours at the gym each day. I dabbled in binging depending on the semester. But when I was “being good,” I skipped breakfast, had a salad for lunch, and worked out for an hour in the evening. The gym was always full of girls madly trying to burn the calories they drank the day before because being skinny was the ultimate.

By the time I left college, my weight had fluctuated from 110 pounds to 135 and back again. I wondered why it was so hard to just “be normal.” My girlfriends shared the same frustration always bashing themselves for eating too much, “feeling fat,” and resorting to punishment tactics like high intensity exercise and limiting food intake to 1000 calories a day. It was exhausting to obsess over how much I ate and it was incredibly upsetting to listen to the voice in my head that told me over and over again how my waist wasn’t thin enough. I often wondered why my friends and I were always so critical and mean to ourselves. It was almost trendy to complain about being “fat.”

It wasn’t until around age 25 that I woke up to the truth: we are not meant to battle our waistlines. It’s not supposed to be such a struggle. It’s actually our birthright to live in these bodies with peace and ease and gratitude. Our bodies are our friends and our vessels for a lifetime. They fight for us every single day, keeping us alive and well. And it’s our duty to help them thrive. I discovered the importance of supporting my body while reading the book Anticancer, which enlightened me to the fact that all humans are born with cancer cells. Those cancer cells either remain harmless or they grow depending on the kinds of foods we eat and our everyday lifestyle choices. It was scary to learn that cancer cells feed on sugar and processed junk foods. Immediately, my outlook on eating transformed. I wanted to live a full life and I wanted to be good to myself from the inside out and I vowed to honor my body everyday from that moment forward.

Within a few weeks, I found my clothes getting looser and the crazy voice in my head being tamed by a much more caring one. I was outgrowing the obsession for being thin little by little and soon arrived in a new mindset–one that was more powerful and at peace–while almost effortlessly reaching a weight I was happy with. It was amazing. As I continued on this journey, I stumbled upon the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and knew I was meant to enroll in their Health Coach Training Program. Within a year I was a certified Health Coach–who loved green juice (finally)–and set out to help others break free from their own health challenges. Let me just say there’s nothing more satisfying than awakening people to the truth so they too can end their own mind/body battles.

After a bit of a “health coaching hiatus,” I recently felt called to reopen a new and improved version of my practice and and services. My website will soon reflect my offerings, but for now I will share them here!

My mission: to help women get unstuck so that they can stop struggling with their bodies, their careers, and/or their relationships and start experiencing the joy and freedom they’ve always wanted. There are times in life where we find ourselves full of fear, boredom, or frustration; we want a great life that makes us feel excited and satisfied, but we don’t know how to get there. As your coach, we’ll work together to clarify what is holding you back right now so that we can bust through your blocks and get you moving towards what you really want. Whether your desire is to stop the “body battle” and lose weight, get clarity on your life’s purpose, or really get serious about living a healthier lifestyle, I am here to support you on your journey.

My Coaching Menu

Clarity Session
If you need guidance on making a pivotal decision and feel like you want the support of an experienced coach, this is for you. In this 1.5-hour session, we’ll get to the root of the issue at hand, and together determine the best way for you to move forward.

21 Day Coaching Partnership
It’s been scientifically proven that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. If you’re someone who needs support and motivation 5 days a week in order to make healthier practices stick—whether that’s exercise, eating cleaner, or meditating—this is for you. I’ll provide you with morning motivation each weekday and be available via text for any especially challenging moments.

3-6 Month Coaching Partnership
This is my signature program. If you’re someone who needs long-term support and guidance in making healthy changes in your life, I highly recommend this for you. We’ll meet over the phone weekly for 12 or 24 weeks (depending on which you option choose); each session will be 60 minutes.

I’m really pumped to open up shop again and help clients work through their health and lifestyle challenges. Most of all, I’m so grateful for my own journey and especially for my mother who introduced me to this amazing world and is truly the reason I’m practicing today. Here’s to ending the battle and loving our bodies–and ourselves–dearly.

If my services speak to you, I invite you to a free 30 minute consultation to see if working together would be beneficial. Feel free to email me at [email protected] and we’ll get something scheduled.