— SPONSORED POST —

Last fall I had some serious health issues stemming from not being able to eat without getting sick, which caused malnutrition, weakness and brain fog. Visits to my doctor and the emergency room didn’t offer any solutions. I couldn’t eat anything, I lost weight rapidly, I had lost my sense of taste and my desire to eat. I was desperate for answers.

A Kent friend recommended Emmie Perez, a wellness coach and the founder of Blissfully Healthy, who does weight loss coaching as well as food sensitivity testing. Emmie was a great support to me during that time, and it is because of her that I am regaining my health. In addition to a lot of hand holding and support, Emmie performed a food inflammation test (FIT) which indicated that I had major food sensitivities I was not aware of. As soon as the results came back, I changed my diet completely.

Almost immediately upon changing my diet, my health started to return. I am still on the road back to health, but Emmie has been there every step of the way. I learned along my journey that I am not the only person with these issues. That’s why I am introducing Emmie to you. Whether you’re struggling with food-related health issues or want support to lose weight and stop emotional eating and yo-yo dieting, Emmie has been there and is now helping other women to regain their health.

~ Dana Neuts, Publisher

Dana: Emmie, how did you get interested in wellness coaching?

Emmie: Due to abuse as a child, I developed struggles around food, body image and weight at the age of 8. I battled emotional eating and yo-yo dieting for almost two decades. I tried working with different counselors, 12-step abstinence programs and prepacked food to try to control my eating and lose weight, but those options always seemed to make things worse for me. I ended up feeling worse about myself – shameful, disgusted and even more out of control around food. In 2004, I found myself over my “panic weight.” I had actually dieted my way UP the scale!

I just knew there was more to life than always being obsessed about food, my weight, how gross I felt my body was, or the number on the scale. There was more to life than letting those things dictate my happiness. I finally understood that, “You can hate yourself thin.” Getting into the “coaching” methodology, and a “strengths-based, no-judgment” approach is what really allowed me to break free. This is when I started to understand my emotional eating issues and how to overcome them.

In 2005, I discovered a love for nutrition and coaching while in college. I got extensive training on how to coach, took certifications in motivational interviewing, and worked as a youth counselor with at-risk youth in youth shelters for almost three years. My passion for nutrition inspired me to pursue becoming certified as a weight loss coach. I took on that role at a major weight loss corporation where I was a Program and Center Director. Over the course of five years, I coached hundreds of clients on how to lose weight.

Dana: You were still struggling with your own health issues at that time, right? What sorts of issues were you experiencing?

Emmie: At that point, I had been struggling with chronic fatigue, migraines and ongoing IBS for years. Doctors couldn’t tell me what the root causes of these syndromes. This is when I decided to do what I personally could to take my health back!

I adopted a whole foods lifestyle and identified food sensitivities that made a HUGE difference. My migraines went away, my IBS was gone, and fatigue was much improved. I had energy, not to mention I finally dropped the weight fast – a total of 50 pounds released over the course of my journey. I stayed committed to changing and overcoming emotional eating by taking a one-step-at-a-time, with a “wellness first,” approach. I discovered tools that allowed me to let go of using food to cope with the stressors of life, so that I could stick with eating healthy. I started to not need the food, the DESIRE to emotionally eat faded away, and I started to accept myself.

Dana: Was your own journey the reason for creating Blissfully Healthy?

Emmie: Yes! My own transformation inspired me! I whole-heartedly believed in the “wellness first” approach that I used to create my own transformation so much, that in 2013, I opened my own coaching practice and named it what the transformation result is – Blissfully Healthy.

I am happy to say I am on the other side of emotional eating and truly living life. True freedom! I am now free from the obsession around food and weight. I am happy with my weight, my body, my size and my relationship with food. For the first time in my life, I am comfortable in my own skin. My days are filled with truly living in the moment, enjoying life and all the little things, including special moments with my beloved husband of 13 years and three beautiful children, ages 4, 12 and 18.

I have dedicated the rest of my career to helping other women who are still struggling with weight problems and emotional eating, so they can have this same transformation.

Dana: What strategies to you use to support women who want to lose weight and become healthy?

Emmie: I have taken everything I have learned over the past 17 years in conquering my own emotional eating and weight program, and packed it into my coaching programs so that the women I work with can have the same transformation in a fraction of the time.

Blissfully Healthy Wellness Coaching is centered around eating real food, focused on adopting an empowered mindset to stay motivated, and learning tools to cope with emotions. It’s an inside out process. We must deal with the reason food is being used in the first place, otherwise emotional eating will persist.

Dana: What programs do you offer that can benefit women struggling with emotional eating?

Emmie: I offer several different programs, including private coaching, group coaching, VIP Days, and maintenance. I am now offering a new online, group-based coaching program called Set Me Free as well. I do coaching in my office and on the phone to support clients through accountability, breakthrough and goal setting, and I offer the Food Inflammation Test which can tell women so much about which foods and additives are impacting their health.

My coaching programs – online, group and individual – are all specifically designed as a comprehensive solution for women who struggle with emotional eating, yo-yo dieting, body shame and weight problems. I provide clients with a high level of support on a long-term basis to see their transformation all the way through.

Since I specialize in working with emotional eaters, it is especially important that they have a high level of support, so that they can be successful. There are a lot of things that can get in the way of success in the beginning, from clients sabotaging themselves to balancing home and work life. What I have found extremely important is that clients get support on a weekly basis. It’s so important to check in, get support and have accountability in putting the things they are learning in coaching into action.

This includes offloading the emotional burdens that tend to lead them to overeat. Weekly coaching lightens their emotional load, and clients find the food loses its lure on them. In addition, many of my clients are like me. They have been dieting and hating themselves for decades. We need to create a new way of being. That is not going to happen in just a few weeks, so my programs are all set up with the intention to help my clients get all the support they need to have a complete transformation.

After decades of dieting, perfectionist, all-or-nothing thinking it’s important to have the right level of support with a one-week-at-a-time approach to retrain the mindset to keep themselves motivated. Staying motivated to put the effort in, eating healthy, moving their bodies, using emotional coping tools when they feel like overeating is why clients are getting results. There is no need to look for another diet…ever. My program is especially designed as a complete solution for women who want to get to finally break free from emotional eating and a weight struggle.

Dana: Are your services affordable?

Emmie: Yes, I offer a wide range of coaching options with monthly payment options, so my services are accessible. Also, my Set Me Free program is offered on a subscription basis with manageable monthly payments, so women can get the support they need without feeling financially strapped.

Dana: Who is your ideal client?

Emmie: I love working with women of all ages who are sick of dieting and ready for a different approach, particularly women who feel hopeless and devastated that they just can’t seem to stop overeating or keep weight off. Many of my clients say, “I know what to do to lose weight, why am I not doing it, why can’t I stop overeating, or why can’t I keep weight off?” These are all struggles that I specialize in helping women overcome so that they get the results they have been searching for and reclaim their joy in lives.

Dana: How can people learn more about Blissfully Healthy and the services you offer?

Emmie: I know it can be a scary thing to reach out for support. The biggest thing I would love women to know is that they don’t have to so this alone.

My website BlissfullyHealthy.com, has a lot of great information about my services. I also have a Facebook page with health and nutrition information and motivational tips.

For those who know they need support, I love offering a free 60-minute Discovery Session to see if Blissfully Healthy Coaching is a good fit for them. It’s a safe space for them to share where they are, the struggles they are facing, ask questions and come up with some solutions together.

Regardless, even if they decide not to step into coaching, it is my pleasure to put this time aside, so they can leave with some golden nuggets to help you move forward in their health and weight loss journey! Contact me directly to set that up.