Running, Better Foods and Epiphanies

I was telling a colleague "my story" today and it occured to me that I haven't really told it here on this blog.  Here's my journey and why I decided to become a health coach.

The Empowerd Plate stands for empowering others to reach their goals through better food and lifestyle choices.  Your plate is not going to look like my plate, we all need different things to be our best.

Some of my earliest memories are of my mother carrying around two booklets, one with calorie counts and one with exercises.  We did those exercises together and I always thought that was great fun.  To her credit I still enjoy exercising. 

The food thing was weird though, my mother is anorexic and I don't remember her being any other way.  I had a love for vegetables and fruits but really had no idea what appropriate food servings were.  We also had junk food in the house because that's what my mother craved and would treat us all to on the weekends.  When I started dating my husband we ate out a lot and I wasn't exercising much.  I gained a lot of weight without really noticing.

I started exercising again but still was eating out a lot and knew something had to change.  I started taking yoga and becoming very aware of my body.  I felt my belly was in the way of certain poses so I started Weight Watchers.  I learned portion control and better food choices; I lost over 30 pounds and felt pretty good.

Weight started creeping back over the years so I joined Weight Watchers again.  I lost a lot of weight, hit goal and started running.  I was training for a half marathon and was hungry all of the time.  I was tired of counting points, being hungry and frustrated so I met with a holistic health coach.  Suddenly things started making sense.  I began adding healthy fats into my diet and ditched the diet foods.   I had energy for my runs, for my family and didn't need a caffeine or sugar boost at 3 pm.  I don't count calories and my weight is stable.

At the same time running was helping me work out what was going on in my head and heart.  I knew there was a different career path out ther for me.  I liked being an administrative assistant but my passion was definitely helping others find what foods would empower them to take the next steps into their lives.  So I enrolled in school and started The Empowered Plate.  I love what I do and helping others reach their goals. 

I'd love to empower you to reach your goals.  The right foods play a big part in healing what's going on inside of us.  Send me an email at janinemchale@empoweredplate.com or visit my website, http://empoweredplate.com/, if you are ready to take that next step.