How I Got Started in Holistic Nutrition

 
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Yerrr, back at it again with another blog. I haven’t dropped a blog in a minuto and it’s cz I’ve been working, working. (just started a Youtube Channel so go subscribe to that. thank you!) I get a tonnn of questions on how I got started in holistic nutrition/wellness and I wanna put y’all on. I’ve been through a lot of experiences that have shaped where I am in life along with a lot of research on what’s the best holistic nutrition program to do.

For starters, I used to be a model. I was doing print, commercial and runway from 2012-2015. I was desperately trying to break into the industry and at that time you could not tell me I was not going to be the next Naomi Campbell. I was sure of it. But trying to fit into an industry whose standards were not for me or my skin became problematic. I started doing silly things to fit in like perming my hair, cutting my hair, dying my hair, doing anything to lose weight, not eating, fasting all of the time, only drinking water, working out 2-3x a day and everything else in between. I was extremely malnourished and not properly taking care of myself.

 
2015.

2015.

 

I flew myself out to London and Paris in hopes to sign a modeling contract before fashion week. And I will never forget one agency that told me if I lose 12 lbs I'll be able to walk for Jeremy Scott, Alexander Wang, etc. I thought for sure that this was going to be my big break. (Mind you, I was 5’10 and 122 lbs at the time. Losing 12 lbs would have put me at 110 and for my height that is unhealthy.) But I tried to do it anyway. I got very, very sick. Ended up passing out in a Starbucks on FaceTime with my mom. It was awful. I was hospitalized for a few days and flew back to NYC with no contract. I lost everything. But most importantly I lost myself.

While in the hospital, by myself, I started thinking about what I was doing to myself, who I wanted to be and how I wanted to show up in the world. I knew I wanted to be someone who inspired people, who showed people another way, who changed the quality of peoples’ lives. I knew I was into fitness. I worked out 2-3x a day for modeling at the time, so I started there. I started researching physiology and exercising. Then I started studying to be a personal trainer through the NASM certification program.

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I passed and became a personal trainer for 3 years. As I’m training people, I’m naturally just talking on and on and on about food. I’m beginning to realize you can workout every single day for the rest of your life but if you do not have a healthy diet that works in relation to your workout routine — you’re not going to see much progress. Abs are truly made in the kitchen. How we eat affects our bodies. In fact, how we eat affects our entire lives.

So I started doing more digging. I noticed my clients who changed their diet were seeing a lot more results vs the clients that weren’t. While I’m talking to my clients about dieting I’m realizing that 1. ALL of the diets they’ve ever been on do not work. And 2. they are not able to sustain these said diets long-term. So it got me thinking.. diets do not work because they do not teach you how to listen to your bodies. They don’t help you figure out who you are as an emotional eater. And that’s really important when it comes to changing the way we eat. Diets are not the solution. The solution is a changed lifestyle. It is creating lifestyle habits that keep you fulfilled and nourished.

Now that is when I got into holistic nutrition. We really need to feed the mind, body, soul at all times because it is all very much connected. How we feel affects the way we eat, how we think, how our bodies move, how we navigate throughout the world. This is how I knew wellness and nutrition is very, very holistic. Holistic wellness to me, is how we sleep, how much water we drink, how much energy do we have, the books we read, the podcasts we watch, the conversations we have, how intentional we are with our food choices, our time, our money, how often we move our bodies, in what ways do we move our bodies, how we nourish our mind, etc.

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Okay, okay. So I knew what I wanted to do. Next step was research. The best programs I found were:

  1. Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN). Pros: there are not that many pros with attending this program. If anything, it helped me come up with a blueprint for content. But I did not learn anything new about nutrition/science. I noticed that it is just a compilation of other popular authors, professors, and doctors opinions so if you follow these people you will already know where they stand on their topics. It did help me with a road map on things to talk about to my clients and the paperwork for my clients to fill out. That is about it. It is all online so there was no room to ask any of the professors questions. I had to google my questions, which led me to a book to read which then usually led me to another book or documentary. It is a super basic nutrition program and it is not worth a few thousand dollars.

    Very Important    : None of the professors, lecturers, doctors, scientists or counselors (they are all reputable, remarkable, respectable people in their fields..) but none of them were Black. You maybe saw one Indian, one Asian - but none were Black. I think IIN missed the mark by being all about integrative nutrition but not referencing any Black doctors, scientists, or healers. It’s hard to talk about holistic nutrition without Black people, in my opinion. They also do not talk about botanical medicine which I think is another huge component to integrative nutrition and functional medicine.

  2. Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Now this school looks phenomenal!! I almost went through with this school because I really enjoyed the curriculum but this didn’t have a lot of science as well. This school was more so about behavioral issues and creating healthier mental habits like why we eat the things we eat and how to transform our relationship with food which is too is super important. Only reason why I didn’t do this was because I spent too much money on IIN. 

  3. Precision Nutrition. I started this program but did not finish it. A lot of the work was repetitive from what I already knew but they did focus on food. They spoke in depth about the nutritional value of food and different types of diets. There was no holistic aspect to it. They didn’t speak much on sleep, finding work you love, relationships, or having a creative hobby. To me this all plays a role in how we eat and the food choices we make. When we do not nurture ourselves in other ways we tend to eat to fulfill those voids. The only reason why I did not finish this program was because I started figuring out that nutrition was a lot more about nurturing other things in our lives and that was the route I wanted to take.

When it comes to finding the school for you to get certified in, it's really important to think about why you’re doing this and how you want to add value to peoples’ lives. What do you want to help them with exactly? How do you want them to feel? How do you want them to see themselves? Who are you helping? Get super specific with how you want to be of service to the world. I studied a lot. I read books on psychology, breaking habits, self-esteem, mental health, childhood trauma, behavioral issues, chakra healing, gut health, spiritual health, african-holistic nutrition, nurturing our creative mind, and the list goes on. This self-study has helped me change the quality of my life and also put myself in a better, more empathetic, and understanding position to help and coach others.

Although I am certified, I do not think that I needed it to be successful. I honestly learned the most outside of my certification program. Clients do like to see credentials and certifications so I recommend looking at the National Nutrition Certification Program for the food basics (or the last two that I mentioned above.) My job has allowed me to do this program through work so I’m not sure if it is free or not but check it out.

I am now back in school to get my Master’s in Nutrition. I want to focus on the science behind nutrition so when I explain to people the effects that food has on us I have more scientific data to back me up. None of these programs offers the science behind food. I’m realizing there is a lot of biochemistry and organic chemistry that goes into food that I do not know enough of so that’s why I’m back in school.

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One thing I will say is this journey is about always expanding. Always learning new things. Always being better so you can show up for yourself and others in better ways. It’s about practicing what you preach. If you tell someone to eat their fruits + veggies, you too gotta be eating your fruit + veggies too. I’ve been on social media talking about health and wellness for almost 7 years now and I am just now getting some sort of traction. You have to stay consistent and persistent. You have to keep going, keep growing, keep learning. You will learn a lot about yourself and in that process there will be a conversation, an opportunity or a client that will show up in alignment with everything you’ve learned. Because that’s how the law of attraction and karmic energy works. At least that’s what I believe.

To bring you up to speed, I have also healed myself from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and several other gut issues like chronic fatigue, constipation and diarrhea just from in-depth research and changing the way I eat and live. And as far as modeling, I model with intention now. It has to be in alignment with who I am today and it has to inspire people. It isn’t to fit into anything that isn’t for me anymore. I’m only moving in alignment with what’s truly meant for me and I’ve noticed that the right opportunities have been coming along. Set clear, specific, detailed intentions and all that you want will happen for you.

I want to mention one more thing that was a game changer for me and I wish someone put me on when I first got started. Know. Your. Target. Audience. Spend time with this. And I mean intentional time with answering these questions: Who do you want to serve? How do you want to show up? Why? Why do they need it? Why are they important? How will this make a difference? This will help you with how you study, what you study for, who you study for and also - how you market to them. This is how you will get them in the door. If you don’t know how to answer this question - that’s okay! Keep learning and your demographic will start to gravitate towards you. Trust that. Everything we want is always working in our favors so why wouldn’t our tribe do the same thing? People are eager and ready to learn from you. Be very intentional with how you step into who you want to be and how you want to show up for people.

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I say all this to say, if this is something you’re super passionate about KEEP FUCKING GOINGGGG. The world needs you. The world needs your services. There is sooo much room for you. Do the research, be ready to learn, adapt, and grow. And most of all, live the lifestyle you want to encourage others to live.

P.S. Here are my favorite books on health + wellness (including gut health & food racism):

Arielle Jernigan15 Comments