Losing weight and eating healthier aren’t about having a strict plan of deprivation or rigid structure.

They are about changing your mind about how much you value and love yourself and that you are done feeling awful.

Every day, I am working with clients either individually or in a group to help them better understand the foundation of being well. The things I explain and teach to them are not rocket science approaches, but to many, they do feel like a very foreign way of living better.

Most people would assume that seeing a Holistic Nutritionist would result in a very long conversation about their food intake, how much they weigh, what they would like to weigh, when they would like to lose the weight by, and then the session would most likely end with me giving them a cookie-cutter weight loss approach to rigid calorie counting, deprivation and an insane amount of supplements to take.

In fact, food should be one of the last factors talked about.

There are three elements to focus on when working with people in the beginning and they tell nutritionists so much:

1) Describe how you feel about yourself right now?

2) Do you feel like you need nutritional support or did you want nutritional support?

3) Discuss your life, relationship and struggles with food, shopping, planning, emotional connections, cravings, addictions etc.

How you describe yourself is the story you are creating about yourself that is keeping you stuck where you are right now. It is your cry for help and your plea for change.

Needing to see a nutritionist suggests that you are on the brink; on the brink of great change and are ready to take your life and body on with all you’ve got or you are on the brink of seriously losing your shit. Either way, your nutritionist will have your back and will continue to tell you that as long as you continuing to do something, anything from here onward, you are doing more and doing better than where you began.

If you want the same outcome—choose the same course.

If you want to change the outcome—change to a different course.

If you want to see a nutritionist then you are ready to roll and get your life and your body back in your hands!

The third piece is by far the hardest for people to understand and come to grips with, but it is also the most important.

Your relationship to food is merely a symptom, a voice from within your body that is trying to tell you something.

For example, your body trying to break food down and communicating through bloating, gas and constipation which leave you horrible uncomfortable is related to your third Chakra, your solar plexus.

The secret to healing your third emotional center issues is to learn to honor yourself. The following questions may set you on the path toward self-examination of these issues:

>Are you afraid of responsibility? Or, conversely, do you feel you need to be responsible for everyone and everything all of the time?

>Do you respect yourself? Do you confidently make changes, for example, to your hairstyle, and feel good—even if others are critical?

>Are you in a relationship with someone out of fear of being alone?

>Do you constantly seek approval of others? If so, why?

>Are you afraid to take care of yourself? What might happen?

>Are you critical of others?

>Do you often blame others for your own problems?

>In general, do you feel good about your home? Your body? Your relationships? Your career?

Figure out what your gut is trying to tell you. Digestion, absorption and assimilation of our food are dependent upon our state of consciousness. Your gut health and your emotions are so closely linked; it is fair to say that the gut acts as a sort of primitive brain. Butterflies or nausea are often your inner wisdom speaking to you. You may want to consider keeping a journal of your symptoms to help you clarify factors associated with your symptoms.

I have noted and learned, over the last decade of consulting with clients, that the food piece of our vitality is third in line of importance to, first, the emotional and mental well-being of our bodies, and second, to the foundation of our digestive system.

We are not what we eat, but what we digest and assimilate.

A nutritionist can prepare what they feel is the most amazing meal plan for a client, but if that person has not yet addressed the cause of the food and body issues and then begun to heal the digestion, the nutritionist will only get so far with that client

Begin, today, your journey to health and vitality by asking yourself some simple questions instead of forcing yourself into something that will continue to make you feel lost and deprived.

I hope this has given you a different perspective on nourishment for your body and where you can begin to feel better, right now.

Jenn Pike is Owner of Simplicity Yoga & Fitness Therapy studio in Keswick , Ontario Canada. Jenn is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, ERYT 500 hr certified Yoga Instructor, STOTT Pilates trained instructor and Master Personal Trainer. She is also lead Holistic Nutrition and Wellness expert for Sadie Nardini. Jenn is host to two of her own shows Core Fusion Flow, a yoga and pilates pratice, and Living Simpliciously with Jenn, a show all about food, nutrition, shopping, cooking and living your well-balanced life to the fullest.

Jenn is a proud wife and mother to two amazing children

Editor: Lorin Arnold