Hey fam! A couple weekends ago I ventured to Philly for my first workshop through the Nutritional Therapy Association. I’m currently studying through NTA to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. The course is mostly online, but there are a few weekend workshops, too. I absolutely loved the in person experience!
NTA takes a holistic approach on health, and this was very apparent as we started out the weekend with a discussion about fear and speaking what we want. My instructor, Dusty, told us a story about another girl in one of his previous classes who, during her introduction, told the class that she wanted to do something with public speaking after graduating. Her vision wasn’t super clear but she decided to talk about it anyways, and as it turned out there was someone else in the classroom who knew someone who was looking for a wellness speaker that lived in her area! If she had never talked about her vision out loud, she would have never made that connection. Dusty told us about another NTA grad who lives in Arkansas and runs an incredibly successful nutrition business out of her van! He explained that there is no dream too far fetched, and how important it is to talk about the vision to make it a reality. Even if the details aren’t super clear.
Well shit. That resonated with me, so I decided to be brave during my introduction. My classmates did their intros from their seats but I was sitting in weird spot and a handful of people would have had to strain their necks to be able to see me, so I decided to stand up at the front of the room. Fuck it, if being brave is going to get me what I want in life then let’s fucking go, I thought.
I told the class that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my NTP cert when I graduated, but that I hope it involves my blog and insta since I love creating content. I always feel super awk saying that, like people are scoffing at my silly dreams on the inside. But it’s 2018..anything is possible. Get those visions out in the open!
I also loved being able to hang out with people like me. I got lunch at Bare Burger with some classmates the first day, and we talked about our fav podcasts, the crazy water fasts we’ve tried (ok maybe that was just me and one other dude..) paleo diets and our fav (and not so fav) books from our required reading. The last night, I went to Mom’s Organic Market with some gals and we got healthy desserts and had ourselves a field day through the aisles–something I usually do by myself, so it was nice to share the experience with friends. Lol. I remember thinking, damn, these people just GET ME and I feel like my authentic self right now.
One of the main reasons I wanted to become an NTP was to heal my relationship with food and help others do so, too. For homework, we filled out the same forms as our clients to understand what the process is like on their end. Included in the forms is a 3 day food diary. Mine went something like this: perfectly paleo breakfast with maybe 1/4 cup of fruit, light paleo lunch, and then insane afternoon cravings for sugar and carbs. I would deny the cravings for as long as possible, and then end up in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s…no joke.
My classmates advised me to include more carbs into breakfast and lunch in the form of fruit and *gasp* whole grains. Generally, meals should consist of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. My meals barely contained any carbs, which makes no sense, especially considering I workout.
One of our group leaders, a graduate who now has her own practice, asked me if I had ever had an eating disorder and talked to me about intuitive eating. While I’ve never been diagnosed with an ED, I can honestly say that my eating is pretty disordered (although has been way worse in the past) and my relationship with food is not healthy. She said if I was her client, she would refer me to an intuitive eating coach in her circle. Sadly, that’s not in my budget right now, but I just purchased this book on Amazon and I can’t wait to dive in.
I started practicing intuitive eating at the start of summer right before my trip to Italy and loved it. When I got back from Europe, I felt so disgusting from overeating and drinking that I went back to my extreme habits :/ The first pillar of intuitive eating is you have to drop the diet mentality, lose all of the food rules and stop trying to lose weight. These are scary concepts to me because I don’t feel comfortable in my body right now and would like to lose a decent amount of weight. However, I know that if I fix my relationship with food, I will get back to my natural weight without having to do any extreme dieting that doesn’t even work.
I’m dropping the food rules, quitting diets and bringing fruit, whole grains and dairy back into my life. So thank you NTA for the amazing workshop weekend, new wellness friends and more chillness when it comes to my relationship with food.
xx