Sharing our stories is part of the process nowadays, thank goodness. Be it a good story or bad / challenging story, both in equal measure are inspiring.

For the first time in history, we are recognising shame as the perpetrator, instead of feeling shame around our stories and hiding them away.

Now we are called to share our story so we may be a reminder to another soul that:

“It’s going to be OK.”

“We really can change.”

and that no matter how horrendous something may be, there is another side, another outcome that will be the polar opposite of where one might be at.

I wouldn’t be here writing this to you now if I had not somewhat been down that road myself and now it is:

My Job, My Honour, My Joy
to be in true service and guidance to others on the journey out of the dark space and into a life free from Food Addiction.

Why?

Because I know how important this is. I am not being remotely dramatic in going so far as to say it’s life saving.

So, in light of sharing our stories here’s a little of mine:

You see this was me… I had spent over twenty years struggling, see-sawing, self-sabotaging and playing Russian roulette with my own health but it was not until 2008 my “annus horribilis”, that I plummeted into burnout, the day the Earth went pretty dark.

Up until then I thought I could handle anything, face anything head on, beat it, overcome it, hurdle or pole vault over it (I had been pretty athletic as well you know 😉)

I was successful in my profession as a dental Surgeon, a good Mum, good Wife, good friend , good Daughter, good Human.

So nothing prepared me for the chink in my armour – you see I had an addiction to alcohol. However hard I tried, I always folded. Mentally, physically and emotionally I was exhausted and my life was falling apart all around me. Getting the help I needed to recover was a blessing but what took me by surprise and crept into my life, was my growing love of junk food.

Processed foods, sweets, chocolates. You name it.

I couldn’t believe it. Alcohol had been my best friend but this had well and truly replaced it.

Funnily enough and in hindsight, it was any foods that made me feel good, sedated, happy albeit for a short time just like alcohol used to do.

My epiphany came one morning rolling out of bed feeling ill after a binge the night before that this was an addiction.

Same signs and symptoms. Self-saboatge was nearly as ferocious as with alcohol.

I even behaved exactly the same way around certain foods as I did with alcohol: obsessive, compulsive, furtive, secretive, morning carb hangovers, being sick or making myself sick, eating when I wasn’t hungry, night sweats, and the feelings of guilt, shame, self loathing, mood swings, depression all set in again. Swearing off the goodies for a period of time, getting fit and healthy then BOOM – I did it again.

This was the true start of my own journey of discovery and recovery, what worked for me and what didn’t.

My absolute passion today is for helping others who, like myself really didn’t understand what they were suffering from and had spent years being called weak-willed, lazy, greedy, trying every diet, health and fitness program to lose weight, feel good, swearing to never binge again, dumbfounded at the never ending vicious circle of trying everything to overcome addictive eating only to end in failure.

I truly believe it to be an addiction and I stand strong and firm in that. I always say ‘if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and flies like a duck – it’s a duck’.

There is growing and strong medical research and evidence to the fact that certain foods, along with other factors, can trigger Food Addiction.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of men and women in your area that will be suffering in silence from Food Addiction and looking for a solution – they need your/our help and I can help you to help them.

Training to be an addictions coach was my first step, going on to develop the Accredited Food Addiction Coach Accelerator Program. This has now evolved to feature the R4 Method which has been the missing piece of the puzzle that will overcome self-sabotage in your client’s health and wellness goals. Quite frankly it is amazing.

Today I am 13 years sober and 12 years free of the vicious cycle of Food Addiction and this is why I am here, to create a movement, to create an army of Food Addiction coaches, armed with the facts, the strategies and the techniques to meet the clients where they are in their journey and create transformation and lasting fulfilment.

Ladies and Gentleman, we need a paradigm shift in the way we approach disordered eating and we, together, can do just that.