Do you want to make peace with food?*
It’s possible!
Transform your relationship with food.
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*(Yup, even with cake.)
This is not about finding the perfect diet.
It’s about so much more.
Emotional eating…Feeling guilty after eating…Yo-yo weight…Can’t keep certain foods in the house…Doing great for a while, then faceplanting into a pan of brownies.
Sound familiar?
Surprisingly, the solution is NOT found in counting calories, points, fat grams, or carbs. And it’s not about willpower!
I use an anti-diet approach to help people learn to trust their body’s cues, and take power away from food.
Choose the wellness coaching offering best for you:
Individual Wellness Coaching
One-to-one coaching session packages are tailored to your needs. Issues addressed include frequent overeating, emotional eating, and body image. Sessions are conducted virtually (via videoconference) for added flexibility and ease of scheduling.
To find out more and to see if Wellness Coaching is appropriate for you, schedule your complimentary 15-minute consultation.
Intuitive Eating Group
This 12-week group is offered by Barbara Spanjers and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Leslie Schilling. Intuitive Eating is a well-studied process that helps those impacted by chronic dieting and diet culture (that’s all of us) regain our innate self-regulation cues. The book, Intuitive Eating, written by nutrition therapists, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, helps create a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body (without a diet!). Click here for more information.
About Barb
Barbara Spanjers is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and wellness coach. As a therapist, she has worked with a variety of issues including eating disorders, trauma, and domestic violence. Also a veteran of the spa industry, Barb became disturbed by wellness culture and how it ultimately preys on people’s fears. This spurred her to pursue a career in mental health. Her passion is helping people leave diet culture behind, feel peaceful around food, and improve body image.
A former dieter (weirdest one: The Banana – Hot Dog – Egg Diet), Barb is proud she can now be left unsupervised with boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this therapy?
Wellness Coaching is not therapy, nor is it a substitute for therapy with a licensed mental health professional. If you already work with a therapist, coaching can be a great addition to your therapeutic work. Barbara Spanjers, MS MFT is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of Nevada.
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I'm worried that an anti-diet approach will make me lose control.
It may seem counter intuitive, but following external rules of what, when, and how much to eat makes you more likely to overeat and even binge! Barb helps you start reclaiming your own wisdom about eating and appreciation for your body. When you shift your mindset about food, it will feel like you’re riding without training wheels at first. But coaching support will help you learn to trust yourself.
It sounds like you are telling me to eat a bunch of junk food and ignore nutrition. Is that true?
Nutrition is important, but the most important thing at first is to normalize your relationship with food. Knowing about nutrition is not the same thing as having a healthy relationship with food. You probably already know a lot about nutrition, but since you’re still reading this far down the page, it’s likely that book knowledge hasn’t helped you coexist peacefully with baguettes.
Will I lose weight?
The anti-diet approach, including intuitive eating, is not a weight loss program. However, as you repair your relationship with food and your body, you may see physical changes. You might lose weight. You might stay the same. You might even gain weight (at least temporarily) as your body gets used to normal eating.
What won’t stay the same, though, is your mindset! These coaching programs are designed to help you lose guilt, shame, and negative judgment. Or as past have clients put it, “In the past, eating was always a shameful thing for me. But now I can have inspiring experiences with it.”
If you still have questions, or just want to get a better feel for whether Wellness Coaching is right for you, schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation with Barbara Spanjers.