Cynthia Garcia  00:00

Perusing health is neither a moral imperative, nor an individual obligation. And health status should never be used to judge, oppress, or determine the value of an individual. 

Cynthia Garcia  00:15

Hello, hello, and welcome back to The Transformational Nutrition Podcast, the podcast that is redefining nutrition as anything that feeds you physically, mentally and spiritually. I’m your host, Cynthia Garcia, the Founder and CEO of the Institute of Transformational Nutrition. I’m excited for today’s episode, because I think it’s one that we need to talk about a little bit more.

Cynthia Garcia  00:40

We’re talking about the Health at Every Size movement. And I want to talk about that, what that means, and then how we feel that our Transformational Nutrition model, the model that we use here at ITN for our coaches and for their clients, how that aligns with this huge shift that we’re starting to see in society.

Cynthia Garcia  01:01

And maybe you’ve noticed this. Have you noticed that you’re starting to see people of all sizes on TV in the media? You know, you have different fashion brands who are now starting to use people of all different sizes, which I think is great, because we can start to identify and find people who look like us. It really is a movement to be more inclusive of the people in the world. And so for me the idea of Health at Every Size, it was a pretty eye opening discovery.

Cynthia Garcia  01:35

You know, my history when I first came to Los Angeles way back in the day, I was in the modeling industry, and it was really a whole different world for me. And it really opened my eyes to how disordered and unhealthy the career, the industry, really was, especially for young girls, young women like I was at the time. I have this interesting story. I remember I would go on auditions. And there was this one day, I had two different auditions scheduled and they were, you know, not that far from each other just, I don’t know, right down the street.

Cynthia Garcia  02:12

And I go to the first audition and I do the audition. And they said, you know, it’s great, we think you have a great look, we think he could be really good for this. Just if you want maybe five pounds lighter, you’d be just perfect. I thought, Okay. And I’d be lying if I said that didn’t bother me at all. I mean, it stung. You know, I have an ego too, just like everyone else. And I was like, Man, this is a rough industry. And they were very brutally honest.

Cynthia Garcia  02:38

So I go to the next audition, again, right down the street. And did the audition at the end. This is not a joke. This is not a drill. They said to me, this woman said to me, she said, You know, you’re great. We think you could be fantastic. But you’re just a little on the thin side. If you were maybe five pounds heavier, I think you’d be perfect. And I just remember thinking, What just happened here? Literally, it messed with my head in such a big way. I thought, What is going on? And so I wasn’t sure exactly what they were looking for.

Cynthia Garcia  03:10

And it certainly, again, distorted my own image of my body because, again, I would go to some auditions. And I’d be like, Oh my gosh, this is a great, perfect, perfect size, you’re hired. And then I had this experience, just you know, right down the road from each other on the same day. It was pretty unbelievable. So back when I, again, was kind of in the industry, it was as if everyone was supposed to look the same, right?

Cynthia Garcia  03:37

I remember even being a young girl and getting my hands on issues of like, teen magazines. Do you remember those magazines? Are those still around? I don’t even know. But there was like Teen Bop or something, I don’t know, but teen magazines. And I remember seeing even then articles about how to lose weight and how to do it in a healthy way. And for me, I thought that’s really odd. I didn’t have that issue.

Cynthia Garcia  03:59

And the girls that I would see in the magazine where they were talking about these diets, they were always thin. So, I didn’t get it. And I didn’t have an issue with my weight when I was young. You’ve heard my story, maybe. I grew up very poor, we often didn’t have food, so it wasn’t a problem, right? So for me, I didn’t really get it, but I just thought, Okay.

Cynthia Garcia  04:20

But again, this really hit home for me in the modeling industry. And for many years I struggled with disordered eating because I thought if I just tried hard enough, I could bend and shape my body into what society thought was pretty or attractive or healthy. And I dealt with a lot of eating orders and still to this day have triggers around food sometimes.

Cynthia Garcia  04:46

So still working on this mindset that you know was established years ago. But I did some really unhealthy things. Like, I remember I used to have a latte and lettuce diet. This is not a joke. It’s so unhealthy. And I’m only sharing this as an example of what not to do. It was very unhealthy. But I remember I would get a coffee, right around 11 in the morning. I wouldn’t get it first thing in the morning because I knew I could wait until I got hungrier.

Cynthia Garcia  05:15

So I would get a latte. And I would just sip on it until that afternoon. And then I would eat a salad, right, just really basic, sometimes seriously, just lettuce, I would just munch on it as I was, you know, driving around or doing some work or whatever. And then in the evening, usually around five or six, I’d have another latte. And that little bit of fat and the caffeine gave me energy and kept me going.

Cynthia Garcia  05:41

Because I thought back then, that I had to look a certain way on the outside. And I lived this way. And I bought into this idea for a long time. I tried diets and workouts and you know, I eventually realized like, I was never going to look like other girls who had these bodies.

Cynthia Garcia  06:03

First of all, I wasn’t tall enough. I just didn’t have the genetic makeup. And I was trying but it wasn’t working. And then if you’ve heard my story, you know, I hit rock bottom. My weight became even more of an issue, I was about 25 pounds overweight. And I learned so much throughout the process of recovering and healing my own body.

Cynthia Garcia  06:25

And one of those things was the truth about health and size, and the fact that we’re all very different. You know, I didn’t have the knowledge back then that I do now. And I thought that, you know, if we just all did the same exercises and ate the same diet, we’d all look the same. And that is obviously not true. And I certainly realize that now.

Cynthia Garcia  06:53

We’re gonna dive into this topic more. But first, I want to share the powerful lessons of growth and transformation ITN student Stine has gained from her studies and connections at the Institute of Transformational Nutrition. Listen in as she gives us a peek into her world, and shares her thoughts about two of the three transformational nutrition model pillars: mental and spiritual nutrition.

Stine Fjelstad  07:22

Life is unpredictable and we don’t know what’s going to hit us. By the time I was 23, I didn’t have any parents or grandparents left. But I think that made me realize even more that life’s too short. And finding the confidence to go out there and do what you want and do what you’re passionate about, it’s worth every penny. I have a quote on my webpage. And that is ‘You don’t have to be a victim. You can use the power of your mind to change your life. You just have to find the key how to do it.’

Cynthia Garcia  08:05

We’ll chat with Stine later on in the show. But now let’s get back to our topic. I think as a society, you know, we’ve come a long way. We are certainly seeing the standards shift, as I talked about when we first started this episode. And in recent years, again, this idea of loving the body that you’re in and appreciating everybody no matter what their size has really become a bigger movement.

Cynthia Garcia  08:34

And one of these movements is known as the Health at Every Size movement. And the more I’ve learned about them over time, the more I think the work that they are doing is incredibly important and very long overdue for this modern day world that we live in. So I want to talk about the Health at Every Size movement and what that actually means.

Cynthia Garcia  08:57

So on their website, the Association for Size, Diversity, and Health says they quote “affirm a holistic definition of health, which cannot be characterized as simply as the absence of physical or mental illness, limitation or disease. They say, rather, health exists on a continuum that varies with time and circumstance for each individual. Health should be conceived as a resource or capacity available to all regardless of health condition or ability level, and not as an outcome or objective of living.

Cynthia Garcia  09:35

I mean, hello. It’s just so clear. I love the way they just kind of spell it out. Because as I said, health is so individualized. What’s best for you physically, mentally and spiritually, that’s not going to be what’s best for me. Now on their website, they also say pursuing health is neither a moral imperative nor an individual obligation. And health status should never be used to judge, oppress or determine the value of an individual.

Cynthia Garcia  10:08

That’s the thing. That’s the thing that, for me, really stands out. Because if we’re all being honest, it’s very easy to judge others. And I feel like this happens all the time, especially based on their outward appearance, because it’s easy. It’s the first thing we see. And we have these preconceived notions and these stereotypes and these ideas that we have all bought into for a very long time.

Cynthia Garcia  10:35

And so usually, it’s very automatic, you know, you’re probably judged. I’m judged all the time based on my outward appearance. And oftentimes, we think that, you know, at first glance, if we see someone, and they’re thin, that they must be healthy. And if someone is overweight, they must not be healthy.

Cynthia Garcia  10:53

And unfortunately, that’s how we’ve been trained to react. And worse than that, we have this value based judgment. A lot of people will see it then person and think more highly, whereas they might see someone that is heavier, and have a very different opinion in terms of how they value that person. And a lot of times, you know, many people value them less.

Cynthia Garcia  11:21

And, gosh, that’s so hard to even just say out loud, but I think if we’re going to address this issue, again, we all have to be honest about it, and we have to realize where we are, right now. And again, this is very learned behavior. I know I learned this from my mom. My mom has been overweight for you know, ever since she had her babies. And she’s had a really hard time keeping the weight off.

Cynthia Garcia  11:53

And you know, she would yo-yo diet, much like a lot of people do. But I remember even as a young girl, she would call herself fat, she would talk about how, you know, people were looking at her and judging her. It was hard for her to go out to eat in a restaurant. Luckily, we didn’t have money for that anyway, so she kind of didn’t have to worry about that too much, you know, for better or worse.

Cynthia Garcia  12:14

But it was definitely something that I realized from a very young age, like, oh, if you’re heavier people will judge you and think that you are less than, because that’s the message I was sent. Of course, I know better now, but this is the way most of us were brought up.

Cynthia Garcia  12:32

Now, as you may know, I very much see health and nutrition as what feeds you physically, mentally and spiritually. And I understand, we understand here at ITN, that the idea of health needs to be completely personalized if you really want to make a difference in someone’s life. It’s also important that when we turn to pursuing a healthier lifestyle, that you do it for yourself, that it’s for your own well being and for the sake of, you know, truly being healthy physically, mentally and spiritually, and not to just fit into some societal norm, right? Or because if you think you lose weight, you’ll be accepted and more people will like you.

Cynthia Garcia  13:13

Because the fact is, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. People are gonna think what they think, right? And that’s just a fact of life. You can’t change that, but what you can change is you and how you feel about it, right? And the energy that you allow those other people’s beliefs to occupy in your life. So I think that’s really important.

Cynthia Garcia  13:37

The other thing that I want to address is, again, this societal norm. You may or may not know that I was the nutritionist on the show Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian for all of the seasons. And I want to just kind of throw this out there because you might be like, well, if it doesn’t matter, why were you on a show called Revenge Body?

Cynthia Garcia  13:59

And the thing is, the show was never about revenge, even though that was kind of the through line, the story, the overarching concept of the show, and it was catchy and people watched. It certainly never taught principles that were unhealthy. It really was about, you know, losing weight in a healthy way, shifting your mindset so that you value yourself and letting go of the pain that other people have caused you in your past, and really finding your own value and validating yourself as opposed to needing someone else to do that for you.

Cynthia Garcia  14:39

And these people have done that. A lot of them, I mean, the majority of them have kept the weight off. They did it the right way. In fact, one of them actually worked for my company and does again. Several of them, this person included, went on to attend the Institute of Transformational Nutrition to become nutrition coaches, and now they’re paying it forward. They’re doing such amazing work in the world.

Cynthia Garcia  15:01

And so I just kind of want to throw that out there because I think it’s important to address, you know, the elephant on the televisions. But the point is this new model that we’re looking at, the Health at Every Size model, is really an approach to both policy and individual decision making, which is what I like about it.

Cynthia Garcia  15:19

Because it addresses broad forces that support health, such as safe and affordable access to the things that we actually need to be healthy. And it helps people find sustainable practices that support individual, as well as community well being. They also honor the healing power of social connections, which is amazing, right? And they also dive into the experiences and needs of a very diverse community, and then they ground themselves in a social justice framework. So it really is pretty powerful.

Cynthia Garcia  15:57

When we asked our amazing student Stine what called her to the ITN community and what prompted her to make the decision to become a certified transformational nutrition coach, here’s what she shared.

Stine Fjelstad  16:14

I grew up in a small place outside of the main city, that is Oslo in Norway. It was pretty much just like the forest right outside. And I grew up close to nature. I grew up with a mindset that how you talk to yourself, how you feel in your body, it’s all connected. I would always hear from my mom, like, if I said, Oh, but I’m feeling so sick, ugh and if I was sick, and she was like, Yeah, but if you keep on telling yourself that, that’s exactly what you’re going to be. So I was just like, Okay. So I kind of grew up with that whole holistic kind of thinking when it comes to your health, how everything is. When I started ITN, it was like, okay, you have the holistic approach. You have the science, you have like the fresh cooked science coming straight out. And that was really important to me to be into something that was up to date. And maybe also something that was for Norwegians and maybe Scandinavians a bit far out. People are interested and open in seeing how things are connected together. So it just felt right.

 Cynthia Garcia  17:35

It just felt right. Man, I love that, Stine. Look, if you’re interested in learning more about ITN’s Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach certification program, why not visit us and download a course catalog today. Head on over to transformationalnutrition.com/coursecatalog. Okay, let’s get back to the episode.

Cynthia Garcia  17:59

So I want to talk more about the principles of the Health at Every Size movement, each of which we work to incorporate into the Transformational Nutrition model here at ITN. So the first principle is the Health at Every Size movement believes in weight inclusivity, meaning that they accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes, and they reject the idealizing of specific weights. And I think that’s super important.

Cynthia Garcia  18:31

Because, again, you can’t, you know, judge a book by its cover, right? You can’t judge a body, whether it’s healthy or not, based on its size. So the Transformational Nutrition model, we prioritize nutrition is whatever feeds you physically, mentally and spiritually. And we define health as being fulfilled or fed in each of those areas. So the way you look on the outside is just a sliver of the indicator of how healthy you actually are.

Cynthia Garcia  18:56

So the second principle of the Health at Every Size movement believes in health enhancement, which means supporting health policies that improve and equalize access to information and services, and personal practices that improve human well being including attention to individual physical, economic, social, spiritual, emotional, and other needs. And again, taking this right from their website because I don’t want to put words in their mouth, and they certainly say it better than I can anyway, and this is their work, so I’m letting them speak for themselves.

Cynthia Garcia  19:31

So again, health enhancement, which means supporting health policies to give everyone access to what they need in order to be well physically, economically, socially, spiritually, and so on. And as you may already know, the Transformational Nutrition model focuses on every part of a person physical, mental, and spiritual. And our curriculum here works to bring attention to more than just food or exercise, and instead it incorporates the deeper aspects that influence overall health, happiness, and fulfillment.

Cynthia Garcia  20:05

The third principle of the Health at Every Size movement is, and again, I’m taking this right from their website, they believe in eating for well being, meaning they promote flexible, individualized eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs and pleasure, rather than any externally regulated eating plan that’s focused specifically on weight control.

Cynthia Garcia  20:26

Now, here at ITN, we support that because we teach about physical nutrition and the science behind nutrition. We offer individualized plans and protocols that are not just cookie cutter diet solutions, but rather a more specific plan based on people’s needs, their wants, their goals, their health history, their stage and phase of life, where they’ve been, what they’ve been through, like there’s so many other factors that go into this. And of course, underneath our mission is really we’re redefining the way people feed themselves. And part of that includes certainly pleasure.

Cynthia Garcia  21:03

All right, the fourth and final principle of the Health at Every Size movement, they say they believe in life enhancing movement, meaning they support physical activities that allow people of all sizes, abilities and interest to engage in enjoyable movement to the degree that they choose.

Cynthia Garcia  21:20

And again, at ITN we believe in doing the things that feed you. So if you don’t want to go on a three mile run every morning, but you feel like you should because that’s what you see your favorite influencer doing or that’s what the new workout plan says you should be doing, then you got to question the real reason that you’re doing it.

Cynthia Garcia  21:38

Is it for you? Is it for your overall well being? Or is it for the way society will perceive and value you, at least the way you think society will perceive and value you? We believe that you should find, I believe that you should find, enjoyable ways to move your body because movement improves your physical, your mental, and your spiritual well-being. But that can look different for every person, right?

Cynthia Garcia  22:04

In the end, health doesn’t have to look like a size. It doesn’t have to look like a practice. It doesn’t have to look like a specific diet. It is so important for us to respect every individual and their right to choose to be healthy or not right. It is not our job to go police the world and make everyone cookie cutter versions of each other, especially if that’s not what they’re interested in, right? We have to let people be who they want to be and not who we need them to be.

Cynthia Garcia  22:41

Doubting yourself, imposter syndrome, and putting your needs on the back burner happens to the best of us. Listen in as we chat with Stine one last time to hear how she leaned into ITN’s Live Coaching Labs to get clarity on how to drown out all of the noise and truly understand how she feeds herself mentally.

Stine Fjelstad  23:09

We have something here called ‘Janteloven,’ which is you’re not supposed to think that you’re something or you know something. And fortunately, that is like, step-by-step falling away. But it’s just like, getting to the place where I can be as certain in myself and in what I believe in, to think if anyone else says something else, then it wouldn’t bother me. I’m like, starting to get there that I will be free from the so-called ‘Janteloven.’ And I got great, great advice from Cynthia in our business building. And that moment is so on point. Throughout all of ITN, Cynthia always says, first you, then your clients. And sometimes I’ve been mad about that just because I was doing something that made me uncomfortable. But I wouldn’t be without it because I took her word and what she said. And going through everything, like the story coaching and all of the methods that we learn in ITN are amazing.

Cynthia Garcia  24:25

We love learning about and celebrating our students and alumni here at ITN, so thank you so much, Stine, for sharing your thoughts and a piece of your journey with us. For more information on how you can become a Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach here at ITN, or to connect with Stine, be sure to check out our show notes. Now, let’s get back to it.

Cynthia Garcia  24:48

All right, so I think the most important thing to take away from this episode is that your health does not equate to a number on a scale, the size of pants you wear, or how you look compared to your friends or other people that you might see on social media, or in media in general. The sooner we can see health as an overarching foundation that focuses on what really feeds us, physically, mentally, and spiritually, the better off our entire world will be.

Cynthia Garcia  25:13

I mean, think of the amount of time, money, energy and effort focused on trying to become something that you think someone else wants you to be. And what if you took all that time, money, energy focus, and put it towards something else, something that actually lit you up, something that you actually enjoyed? You could change the world, you could shift the way things are in your community, in your church, in your home, right? So think about that. And think about what is truly important and what truly feeds you.

Cynthia Garcia  25:47

Instead of just focusing on, you know, what you look like, focus on the things that make you happy. And not to negate and say, like, I don’t want people to be healthy. I do, I certainly do. I know the power of health, I know what it’s like to not have it. And I’ve worked with thousands of clients over the years, and seeing them go through this journey of having health and not having the health. And so certainly, I want that for everyone. But it’s not, again, my job, and it’s certainly not yours, to police the world to make them be something that I need them to be when they don’t want to be.

Cynthia Garcia  26:21

So I just want to be really clear here. Yes, I care. Yes, I’ll give you the tools to get healthy if you want it. But no, you don’t have to do things in a cookie cutter way. And you certainly don’t have to be a certain size to be healthy. So instead of focusing on, again, just what you look like, focus on what makes you happy. Is it hiking? Is it reading? Is it spending time with friends or cooking? Because you’re worthy just as you are, you really truly are.

Cynthia Garcia  26:49

And if you want more resources, and you want to interact with people who are on the same journey of discovering what feeds them, I invite you to join our Facebook community. You can find the link in our show notes. Or you can just find it by searching Transformation Generation over on Facebook. All right, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on important topics just like this one.

Cynthia Garcia  27:10

And if you take 60 seconds of your precious time to rate and review so we can reach more people who need our help to get healthy the right way physically, mentally, and spiritually, and to let go of this outdated paradigm that we all find ourselves in, and instead move into a modern day way of thinking, of living, of being, and of choosing what health really looks like to us. So we really, again, want to reach those people. I’m so passionate about making this happen.

Cynthia Garcia  27:44

So if you could rate and review the show, I’d be so, so, so grateful. And share it. You know, share it with people that you feel it can help. All right, you can see all of the show notes and other resources for this episode over at transformationalnutrition.com/episode007. Thank you so much for tuning in today and I’ll see you again next week for another episode.