How did you come to holistic health coaching? 

I’ve been in the health space for over 30 years,  first as a health research psychologist and then as an NHS training directorate clinical programme manager. However, a health struggle with a progressive autoimmune condition and the prospect of facing a future on aggressive immune-suppressing medication made me resurrect my research and begin my journey into the world of food, nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

Coming from a European family, food has always been at the centre of my culture. First, I embarked on a culinary diploma and then I studied for a diploma in Nutrition and Lifestyle Coaching at the Institute of Health Sciences. I wrote my book: The Real Food Solution – A Treasury of Wisdom for Energy, Vitality and Better Health for You and Your Planet and then set up my whole-health, real food nutrition and lifestyle website and coaching practice.

Lots of us think that weight loss is simply a matter of expending more energy than we consume. Is this right?

Biologically, to lose weight we need to eat fewer calories than we burn. Think of calories as packets of energy - when we consume more than our immediate energy needs, a proportion gets stored in our muscles as glycogen and the rest some gets stored longer-term as fat.

It’s important that we engage in intelligent weight loss. Be sure that you are losing fat, not losing muscle mass. If a diet doesn’t provide enough calories to support an individual’s energy requirements, the body will break down muscle for energy. This is really detrimental to many aspects of our health.

Where does exercise come into this?

We hear that if we eat less and exercise more, then we’ll lose weight. In part, it’s true but it’s how we move that matters. Take weight training as an example: by increasing muscle mass we increase the calories our body utilizes in movement and at rest. But, heavy weight training is a huge drain on our nervous system and provokes the cortisol stress response. If your nervous system is already overstimulated, a heavy weight workout can be too much. In this case, doing less and avoiding heavy weights is the way to go.

What role does the gut play in weight maintenance?

The relationship between our gut and brain is at the very centre of our physical, psychological and emotional health. The makeup of each individual’s microbiome is influenced by what they eat, which impacts how they process food. The composition of our gut bacteria impacts our feelings of hunger and fullness, our digestion, metabolism and our mood.

How important is sleep to weight loss and healthy weight maintenance?

Quality sleep is fundamental to our ability to maintain health and manage weight. Just a few days of sleep deprivation can wreck your body's hormone production and balance. Poor quality sleep reduces our ability to properly utilise the hormone insulin which helps control fat storage, by compromising this function, fat storage will occur in all the wrong places. Sleep deprivation also disrupts the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which signal hunger and fullness – so we feel hungrier and eat more. It also promotes the stress hormone cortisol, which is strongly associated with weight gain.

You’re big on ‘resilient health’. What exactly does that mean?

Resilience is the ability to ‘bounce-back’. It has traditionally been associated with psychological and emotional health but we are now seeing it applied to our physical body too. Resilient health can be created by acknowledging the food we eat, the air we breathe, how we move, the objects we touch and the relationships and emotions we experience that impact on our health. It is about making small steps to promote positive change. 

What are your thoughts on the body positivity movement?

The media has fed us a mythical and damaging ‘ideal’ body image which has become deeply ingrained within society. Dispelling this myth is important because structurally and physiologically each and every one of us is uniquely different - what may be ‘ideal’ for one person is not for another. 

That said, I also believe that everyone deserves to live a long, healthy life. So when body size – particularly fat-to-muscle ratio - impacts health markers like raised blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, high blood glucose, and associated conditions it has to be addressed. In my experience with clients, it has always been that when their body becomes healthy it sheds its excess weight without even trying. 

So, can you be healthy and heavy?

I think it’s very individual. If your nutrition and lifestyle is health-supportive, your energy and vitality is high and your emotional state is good, then it’s likely your biomarkers will be healthy too. However, we do need to acknowledge and respect the scientific evidence that shows that many serious health issues are associated with long-term weight issues. 

How can we work towards better body positivity while we also concentrate on becoming more healthy?

I think that a vision is fundamental. We need to ask ourselves: What do I want my health for? Developing a purpose will bring meaning to our lives whilst also improving self-esteem and motivation. It’s also important to remember that health is never a ‘destination', it’s a process and a journey; sometimes the path will be clear and smooth and sometimes it won’t. This is when patience, acceptance and nurturing your vision become so important.

When clients come to you for weight advice and help, where tends to be the place you start in terms of therapy or practical measures?

We always start by building a sense of purpose, usually with a health vision board. Then we do a comprehensive nutrition and lifestyle audit which looks into the client’s nutrition, sleep, movement, stress and relationships. We then figure out which of these elements they want to tackle first. We also work on a strategy to ditch processed foods and incorporate real, whole foods as well as starting exercise.

What tend to be the most common blocks for your clients?

People struggle to lose weight for many reasons. For some it can be unconscious, perhaps from unresolved past trauma which results in self-sabotage. Often though, people feel unsupported in their struggle to lose weight and don’t have coping strategies in place, this is where health and wellness coaching comes into play.

A health coach provides a supportive ally who listens, helps to clarify a client’s thoughts and motivations, holds them accountable and helps to develop self-accountability. I’ve found that group coaching is really powerful too, this doesn’t mean calorie counting, diet plans, weigh-ins and prizes; it means building a supportive community, experiencing a sense of belonging, learning from each other, peer support and group accountability.

What are your 3 top pieces of advice for anyone wanting to lose weight but may have struggled in the past?

1. Be clear on your ‘why?’ Develop a health vision, make it concrete with pictures, words and artifacts and put it somewhere you can see it.

2. Forget about the weight! Focus on making nutrition and lifestyle changes that support building resilient health. 

3. Stop stressing and start loving! Stress hormones will sabotage your health and your ability to manage and lose weight intelligently. Instead, look into the mirror frequently and cultivate a sense of love, wonder and gratitude for this amazing body of yours which will take you through your one wild and precious life!

 Check out Izabella on Instagram here.