Food Stories Coaching is a conversation based approach to helping people better understand their relationship with food by identifying their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, expectations and definitions of and about food. This is not an intellectual process, and it’s not therapy; it’s a psycho-spiritual-emotional  way to address what has been getting between the client and the changes they want to make with their diet. (First session: 2 hours; follow-up sessions: 1 hour)

Awareness: Mindfulness is at the heart of helping people to better understand their history and relationship with food, and how they might be able to make positive changes.

Analysis: Through questions, conversation, and exercises, we will look for clues to help us find patterns, themes, connections and foundations of your food stories.

Acceptance: Ultimately I will need to support you as you start practicing radical acceptance about your personal realities so we can help you move forward.

Action: It is common for people to want to start with actions. But when we first work on awareness, analysis and acceptance, we will be able to come up with action plans that are more likely to be sustainable long term. My job is to work myself out of a job.

We can spend

We begin in the comfort of your home by talking about your history with food and your new food goals. I use components of ethnographic interviewing to help you bring your silenced food stories to the surface, so we can both better understand your dynamic relationship with food. Then we come up with a plan together on how to implement your new food goals with a focus on ease, comfort and pleasure. (2 hours)

Let’s get in your kitchen! Here, we can address how you organize your cupboards and draws, fridge and freezer, countertops and pantry. The goal is to help you feel as much ease as possible in your physical space, to remove any barriers between you and your new food goals. (1 hour)

Grocery store visit! Each person has their own routine for how they get their groceries. Some people go to the stores themselves, while others have caregivers who shop for them. Others may order groceries online. However, you get your groceries, I will be at your side helping you to navigate the new purchasing habits. Once we have navigated the grocery portion, we will continue in your newly organized kitchen with some food prep. (2 hours)

Take more time to unravel your thoughts before getting to actions

More time coaching can make kitchen organizing and grocery getting more effective

When you choose the combo, there is a price reduction for both services and include a month of weekly virtual check-ins after we’ve completed our sessions.

Want a weekly or monthly meeting for some hands-on help? Between food prep, kitchen organizing and meal planning, having a food companion could be a big help for some people. Maybe you’d like me to come once a season to help you reorganize your space, or once a week to help with food prep. This can be custom tailored to your needs, and can be changed over time as your sink into your new routines.

If in-person support isn’t what you need, maybe you’d prefer some digital support. The app Voxer can allow us to stay in communication during prearranged “office hours” when we can check in with each other to celebrate your successes, trouble shoot anything that isn’t working, and get creative about any goals that need to be updated.

The goal of the original 3-part sessions is to help build a solid foundation for making meaningful, lasting changes. After that, I am more than happy to work with you on meal planning that can help you find ease with your new food habits. We can come up with a list of go-to meals that you can chose from at random. Or if it’s more helpful for you, we can create an actual rotating menu that tells you what meals to make each day. Again, this will be customized for each person’s needs and desires, because every body is different.

It may seem silly, but I have helped a truly countless number of people by customizing lists of podcast episodes and books that apply to the area of concern they’ve brought to my attention. If you are in the habit of consuming these types of media, I would love to add to your listening and/or reading pleasure. We can decide together on a release schedule that works with your regular listening and/or reading rhythms. I could release recommendations on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. We’ve got lots of options.