Before you work with me as your Whole30 coach, I believe it’s important that you know a little about me and my style. My experience in recovery colors my approach to Whole30 coaching. My coaching style could be summed up as informative tough love sprinkled with humor and compassion.
Informative
When it comes to Whole30, I know my stuff. I did my first Whole30 round in July 2013 because I was suffering from newly diagnosed Ulcerative Colitis. I’m a recovering perfectionist, so I had every PDF from the Whole30 website printed and hanging on the refrigerator. I scoured ingredients, ordered products online, and cooked as if I was about to open my own restaurant. It was a grueling first round and, in hindsight, I made it more difficult than it needed to be. I also jacked up reintroduction, which, of course, led to more Whole30 rounds. My point? I’ve made nearly all of the mistakes, and that means I can share the lessons. My personal experience and my Whole30 Coach Certification aren’t all that I bring to the table. I’m also a woman in recovery with 10 plus years of sobriety and a masters-level prepared nurse.
Tough Love
My favorite line in the Whole30 book was and still is this:
It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard.”
Melissa & Dallas Hartwig, The Whole30
These days there’s a softer approach headed this way, and while I appreciate that, I still find comfort and joy in that quote. Why? Because it reminds me that I have done hard things. I got sober and have stayed that way for over a decade. I carried a human and delivered her. I’ve lived in another country. I’ve moved across this country. I’ve buried loved ones. These are just a few examples, but you get the point. Knowing that I’ve done those hard things helped me to see that I could do my first Whole30 round. As your certified Whole30 coach, I want you to remember that you’ve done hard things when you approach your Whole30 round.
Humor
Humor is a key element to a successful Whole30 round. It’s important to laugh at ourselves and remember not to take all of this too seriously. Yes, it is important to make healthy decisions, but this is a food reset. And yes, there will be serious moments during our time together, but I want us to find the joy and laughter too.
Compassion
“It’s being here now that’s important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can’t relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don’t know if there is one.”
George Harrison, The Beatles
Sometimes when we make a change in our lives, we beat ourselves up about past behavior and feel defeated. It may sound something like this, “Oh, I should have done this a long time ago. It’s probably too late and I don’t know if I can do this at all. Maybe I should just eat the donut.” I’VE BEEN THERE and that’s why I’m here to help you through your Whole30. I want you to extend the grace to yourself that you would to a friend. I want you to see that doing a Whole30 is a gift to yourself, rather than a punishment. Completing a Whole30 round including Reintroduction is like self-care for your future self. As your Whole30 coach, I’m here to help you remember that.
