Emotional Eating Coach Training

Tricia Nelson

You bet. Thanks for having me, Reed, this as an amazing event. I’m so, so honored to be a part of it and just love everything that you do and love you. So, this is great. Yeah, my journey started way back when as an emotional eater. So, definitely has been a problem and a struggle for me. I struggled with food and weight for many, many years until I got to the bottom of it by dealing with the underlying causes. So, you know, I did the usual track of diets, and exercise programs, and pills, and potions, and lotions, and you name it. I tried it. And I was always trying to lose the weight, but, you know, and I did from time to time, you know, I’d lose weight, but I’d always put it back on again. And I was really what you call a yo-yo dieter. So, I’d be like down 30, up 20, down 10, up 30, you know, and I had about five different sizes of pants in my closet because I never knew what size I was going to be. And I was always holding on to my skinny clothes. 

You know, there always had the hope that I was going to get back there, but then I had to go buy the fat clothes because I would gain weight. So, such, you know, such a perpetual and so frustrating. And you know, I’ve had a lot of shame about it because I was out of control with food. So, you know, I liked all the ooey, gooey chewy foods. I was definitely a sugar addict. And, you know, once I opened that bag or that carton, or that container, it was hard for me to close it. And so, I would go overboard as a binge eater and it was just, you know, very shameful for me. I even had moments where, you know, I’d eat so much, I felt totally sick and I’d throw the rest of the food out and be like, I’m never eating this again. And then later I’d go back and I’d be like, you know, I know there’s cookies still in the package in the garbage, and I’d go get them. And I’m like, like nobody in the world has done such horrible things as me, it turns out gillions have, I actually, at one time created a YouTube video, reenacting that I call it my garbage eating video. And I reenacted that whole scenario of going through the garbage to get the food I threw out. And I got over 60,000 hits of people saying I did that too. So, you know, the problem is all the emotional eaters of the world think they’re the only ones who do the dark, shameful, shameful things that they do with food. And that’s what I believed. And, you know, we’re, all in good company and there’s many out there. 

So, you know, what happened for me is, none of the stuff I tried worked. I even went to 12 step programs and did eating disorders therapy. And I really was at my wit’s end when I realized, if I don’t do something drastically different, I was basically consigned to a life of this, you know, the yo-yoing. And so, what happened for me was I met somebody who mentored me and showed me a way to really go deeper and deal with those underlying causes and that, you know, that turned everything around for me. And I was able to lose the weight, 50 pounds and keep it off. It’s been decades now. Thank God. And based on that experience and working with him to help others for decades, more recently I founded Heal Your Hunger. And I have a very specific step by step process for overcoming emotional eating that I do, that keeps me free and happy and thin, and it’s what my clients do. And as you mentioned, I also train other coaches, to use this same process so that their clients can break free from the emotional eating cycle. Because if they don’t, no matter what they know about nutrition, they can’t follow through on it. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

That’s fantastic. You know, I’ve known you for a long time and you’ve always been, you know, this is so dating me. You’ve always been one of the skinny chicks, you know, that’s probably not, probably not PC, but yeah. I mean, you know… 

Tricia Nelson

Well, it’s a huge compliment I’ll tell you, after having been fat for so long. Yeah. It’s amazing to me, but I’m very grateful. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Yeah. Yeah. And so, it’s amazing that you’ve done it and then you found a way to keep it off. I mean, that’s the whole trick, right? Cause that yo-yo thing will kill you eventually. And so, I’m glad that you found this way and that you’re teaching others. And I know you have a huge consumer based business as well that you’re very successful with your, with your program. And now that you are teaching coaches how to do it too. Because we all need, you know, we need something like that. We’re always going to come across the client who has the emotional eating thing. Right before I ask you the next question, does it, you said you were a sugar addict. I know people who are salt addicts, they’re like they open a bag of pretzels and they can’t stop until the, and they’re eating the salt out of the bottom of the bag half hour later, you know. So, it’s the same thing, right? They’re both, whether it’s sugar or saw, you know, it’s the same thing, right. They’re emotional eaters. 

Tricia Nelson

Yeah. I mean, for me, well it just, I mean, they might have an adrenal deficiency and that’s why they need more salt, but yeah, everybody, you know, everybody has their poison. I mean, I’m, you know, sugar was it for me, but I, you know, I always, if I was eating sugar, I always had to have salt. You know, you got to have the sugar with the salt, you know. They kind of go together the Dorito, the Doritos with the Ben and Jerry’s right. They go together. But yeah, it’s, you know, whatever gets it to people, you know, turns people on and that they become addicted to, you know, if they’re over eating, if they’re eating more food than their body can metabolize, you know, that’s where the problem is, you know, and that’s how we gain weight as we just, we eat more than our body needs for fuel. And that’s usually if we’re going overboard, it’s for emotional reasons. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

That leads me to the next question, which is besides someone being overweight, you know, you can be overweight for different reasons. How do you know when it’s emotional eating or like a food addiction or something? 

Tricia Nelson

Totally. You know, it’s amazing to me and this is over 30 years later, it’s amazing to me how close emotional hunger feels to physical hunger. So, I can be working along and have this hunger pain and be like, oh, I’m so hungry. And then I’ll be like, wait a minute. You know, you had breakfast a couple of hours ago, you’re probably not starving. And so, they’re very closely related and I actually have a quiz on my website that people can take to determine if they’re an emotional eater. But, you know, the emotional hunger comes from emotions that are uncomfortable that we want to distract from. And so, that typically for me, is how I get to the bottom of things. Is I ask myself, you know, when I say, oh, I just ate breakfast a couple hours ago, you know, eating regularly like three times a day with nothing in between, I call it three meal magic. And that’s what I teach my clients. It’s like the sanist most, you know, physically grounding way to eat. 

You know, you’re giving your body time to digest in between meals. And you’re also on a regular schedule of meals. And typically emotional eaters are snackers. You know, they’re snacking all day long. They’re just munching unconsciously. Their body has no time to digest cause it’s just like a constant feeding, or they’re starving themselves thinking they’re going to hack the system and lose weight by skipping meals. And they always compensate for it later, overcompensate at the end of the day with nighttime eating. So, you know, the regularity of three meals a day, without snacking is a good way to start actually identifying emotional hunger. So, that little conversation I had with myself when I like swearing that I’m starving to death, of, you know, gee, I ate breakfast at eight, I’m probably not starving and I can probably last until noon, you know, noon or one o’clock at lunchtime. 

You know, that’s a good way, you know, that steady plan of eating is a good way to start really having that conversation with your hungry self and determining whether it’s physical or emotional. When I know I’ve eaten and I’m probably not starving, then I ask the question what’s really going on? And typically, Reed, you know, there’s some uncomfortable emotion there. I don’t want to make a phone call that I have to make. I don’t want to do my taxes. You know, there’s something rumbling that I don’t want to deal with and I want to distract by eating. So, that’s to me, that steady plan of eating actually helps me start to tune in to when it’s emotional and because it’s pretty clear when it’s emotional and when it’s physical, based on the fact that I am eating and I’m probably not starving. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

So, I mean, that explains a lot. It raises my question, I think of, well, how, you said you had that conversation with yourself. Do you teach clients to have a conversation with yourself, are they that, do you have to raise their awareness, self-awareness and things like that? Like some people just do it, they don’t know they’re doing it, you know. Let’s say they don’t, let’s say they actually think they’re hungry. How do you differentiate or get them to take that, put that little space between there, where they ask themselves that question? 

Tricia Nelson

Well, when I teach people the three meal magic plan that immediately gets them to, sort of become hip to their emotional eating. Because they’re such snackers and unconscious eaters, you tell them to eat three meals a day and not to snack, all of a sudden, they’re like, oh my God, I’d be normally reaching for food right now, or this situation, you know, driving my daughter to her skating rink, in between, you know, waiting for her to be done with her class. I’m going to the store and buying stuff. So, so people are just, just by that, like just putting some boundaries around each meal, they’re starting to wake up to the fact that there’s so much unconscious eating they are typically doing. 

But beyond that, I do, I mean, so much of what I teach is really about the emotional underpinnings. You know, my experience is most people who have been struggling with food and weight for any length of time are very educated. They’ve taken courses, they’ve read books, they’ve become health coaches. You know, they, they’ve been on the case for a while of why am I doing this? Like, why can’t I lose weight? So, they’re highly educated about nutrition, you know, and different kinds of meal plans and ways of eating, and keto, and paleo, and vegan. And they know a lot. So, what they know is not, you know, getting them where they need to go because of this emotional piece, this is the gap between what they know and being able to follow through on what they know. 

So, it’s, I think, you know, teaching people why they keep going to the refrigerator time and time again, when they know they’re not actually hungry, that’s really the training people are missing, is really, it’s the emotional intelligence piece of it. Like, like what is going on? And I’d love to talk to you about the three primary emotions that do drive emotional eating so that if somebody is starting to stop, starting to ask themselves, what’s really going on? Instead of going to the refrigerator, they can identify three emotions. And so, this is what I call the PEP test. So, this is kind of a way, this is sort of a foray into starting to understand what might be going on and why it might be emotional hunger versus physical hunger. The PEP test is a way people can just kind of do a little check in with themselves. And this is the three primary emotions that I’ve identified over my 30 years of research, the three primary emotions that drive emotional eating. 

So, the P stands for painkiller because food does a lot for us. We know what food does to us, but it does a lot for us, which is why we’re drawn to it, you know, for emotional reasons, because number one is it serves to kill pain. Like when we’re emotional, when we’re feeling uncomfortable, when we’re just going through a breakup in a relationship, when we’re in a job that doesn’t fit us anymore or we have a tyrant for a boss, when we have sick parents, you know, and we’re dealing with those struggles or financial struggles, these are all causes of emotional pain. And typically people don’t binge on salad. Okay. So, typically we’re reaching for sugar, for carbs, for salty pretzels. You know, why is that? Because the carbs, and the sugar, and the fatty foods, they deaden our emotions. 

They literally kill pain. Okay. Emotional pain. It’s like, we feel nothing like we’re hanging out, eating after a binge, like I used to just, I was good for a little while, until the remorse set in and the self flagellation and all of that. Why did I do that? I’m such an idiot, or a loser, or, you know, here I go again. So, in that moment though, it does kill pain. So, pain is the first emotion that I feel like it’s kind of an umbrella emotion. There’s lots underneath it. But just to help people start to wake up to the emotional underpinnings, painkiller to kill pain. The E in PEP stands for escape. And I’d say, you know, the quarantine 15 is a good example of this. You know, our reality has become so stark and so scary that you could walk out the door and die, you know that… 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Lonely.

Tricia Nelson

Yeah. And so, yeah, and the quarantining, being alone and, you know, if there ever a time when we wanted to just escape our reality, it’s this past year of a pandemic. So, that’s why people are stuffing themselves with food, because they’re just like, they’re, they, this is a, you know, a reality we are not used to. So, fear and worry are really what drive that need to escape. It’s like, there’s so many unknowns, you know, this is an unprecedented time, you know, financially people’s lives are turned upside down. So, that fear and worry are big drivers of emotional eating. The last P in the PEP is punishment. Okay. And it seems strange because normally we think of food as our reward, right? Like we get our favorite foods, like at the end of the work week, we’re like excited to get our, you know, our favorite flavored ice cream, or chocolate, or whatever, and sit in front of our favorite bingeable TV shows and just kind of have at it. 

So, it seems like reward and we do, we reward ourselves with food, but for those who go overboard, right. Those who they eat the yummy chocolate, but then they need that salty thing. So, they’re looking for the chips, you know, and then after that, you know, you got to have ice cream. So, it’s like, it takes on a life of its own and turns into a big binge, right? Like then it’s like, we are stuffed. We feel sick. We hate ourselves. We don’t fit in our pants. We don’t want anything to do with anybody the next day, because we’re just kinda hiding under the covers, recovering, you know, from our sugar coma. That is not a reward. Right. That is punishment. We’ve done that to ourselves. So, it begs the question why we do such a thing, like why would we, why would we literally abuse ourselves with food? And that was what I was doing, Reed. I was abusing my body, you know, and I was abusing myself. I was taking myself down. I was sabotaging my success, my happiness, my relationships, everything with my binges. 

And you know, the reason for that in my experience, is guilt. Okay. Emotional eaters are sensitive. We feel deeply and we feel guilt super easily. I think more than your average person, because we’re so sensitive, emotional eaters are emotional. So, you know, we beat ourselves up. Why did I do that? Why did I say that? You know, I shouldn’t have taken that job or, you know, I screwed up my kids. I mean, it’s like, we just are like relentlessly beating on ourselves, you know, just perseverating on all the mistakes we’ve made. And so, that underlying guilt causes us to sabotage ourselves. And so, that’s an example of three very strong emotions, and there are kind of offshoots of those emotions, but three primary emotions, pain, fear, and guilt. 

These are things that are driving our need to eat. And a lot of people are like, you know, they might not be in touch with these things, but I love that little PEP test because that helps people at least start to tune in. So, when I go back and have that conversation with myself, like, are you really hungry? You just ate two hours ago. Probably not. What’s really going on. Is there something I’m uncomfortable or feeling some pain around, you know, was there a conversation yesterday that didn’t go well, that I’m kind of like feeling heavy about? You know, is there a phone call I’m afraid to make or a task I’m afraid to do? Or am I just heavy with remorse about something that, you know, a relationship that went sour? So, so it’s like, these are questions I can start to ask and I just like using those three primary emotions as ways to start checking in and tuning into what might be going on underneath that just immediately impulsive, I have to have some chocolate. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Gosh, I have a lot, I have questions, but it makes sense. So, is that why diets fail? Because people, you know, they try one, they try another, they try another one, and they just sabotage themselves? The pain, the escape from fear or worry, and then they’re really punishing, like they’re guilty of something or they think they are. So, is that self conversation? Well, you could answer the question about, is that why diets fail? 

Tricia Nelson

So yeah, let’s talk about diets. So, 98% of all diets fail, that is an, abysmal statistic when you consider, you know, that billions of dollars are spent every year on diets and literally 98% aren’t being, that’s billions of dollars being flushed down the toilet every single year, you know. On fruitless attempts to lose weight. So, the reason in my experience that diets fail is because of this emotional eating gap. Diets address the symptom of food and weight, but overweight as a symptom of overeating, and overeating as a symptom of what’s eating me. Okay. And so, the idea that I’m just going to, you know, stop eating all these yummy foods and go on a super strict calorie diet is really insane in light of the fact that first of all, anybody who diets is probably dieted before. And if they’re dieting again, it means the first diet didn’t really work, you know, or the first 20 diets didn’t work, but we get seduced into thinking there’s a quick fix. 

Emotional eaters love quick fixes. The idea, you know, when your house is on fire, you just want to get out of the house as fast as you can, you know, and I’ve had the experience way too many times of gaining weight and just being like, ahh, like I just have to get this weight off. And so, it lends itself to the quick fix mentality of just, you know, I’m just going to do that, you know, that keto, I’m just going to do that diet, you know, that’s on the magazine as I check out at the supermarket because you know, and people will always say to me, I know diets don’t work and there is a, but. But you know, and the, but is I have to get this weight off right now. So, it sort of transfixes people into this idea that this, I’m just going to do this and it’s going to work, but they don’t, they don’t look at their history of dieting, which is, could be decades of dieting, you know. And they don’t look at the facts that the food is a symptom, like overeating as a symptom. And so, I’m glad we’re having this conversation. Because I think it can help people wake up to that. But you know, you can’t address the symptom. 

You have to go deeper. And if you do go deeper, if you do address the emotional connection to food and why we turn to food for emotional reasons, then you will automatically lose weight. If you stop emotionally eating, you’re going to stop over eating. You’re going to eat for your body’s nutritional needs and enjoyment. Like we get to still enjoy food, but you’re not going to be stuffing yourself. You’re not going to be like breaking out in a binge or consoling yourself over the last relationship with ice cream, you know, your favorite relationship, Ben and Jerry’s. You’re not going to be doing that. And then the weight loss is a side effect of that, instead of making it the primary goal when there’s all this stuff going on underneath. I mean, people lose weight, Reed, and then if they just focus on food and lose weight, by focusing on food and weight, they have not built a new set of tools to deal with the emotions underneath.

I use food to push feelings down. If I take the food away, those feelings come up. If I don’t have a way to deal with those feelings that come up and they go way back, you know, I mean, they go way back. I was stuffing myself at age five. I had, I had stuff going on that was not cool, like sexual abuse, and I was just stuffing it all down. And if I don’t have real tools to deal with that, my emotional self, which I didn’t have because food was my main tool. If I have not built a new, toolkit of tools, it’s a foregone conclusion, I will put the weight back on again. Hence the abysmal statistic of 98% of all diets failing. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Yeah. It’s amazing how much money is being spent. And when you said flushed down the toilet, I took it literally like, yeah, literally. Like you, anyway. 

Tricia Nelson

Right. True. Either puking it up or pooping it out. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Yeah. It all goes down the toilet eventually. So, now, is there a difference between say someone who eats all day long emotionally or someone who binges? Because I think there’s both. I don’t know, but that just seems to me like there’s those that just never stop eating and others, like they’re okay, but then they, they got to have that gallon of ice cream or something like that. Why do people…? 

Tricia Nelson

Yeah. I think it’s different for each person. And I have people tell me whenever I tell someone I’m an emotional eating expert, I have people tell me their stories. Everybody wants to tell me their, what their deal with food is. And so, I have a lot of people say to me who are overweight, oh, I’m not an emotional eater because I don’t binge. And so, there’s an assumption that you have to be a binger to be an emotional eater and that’s not true. A snacker and all day grazer is definitely an emotional eater, most likely if they can’t stop it on a dime. If they can’t, you know, just do a course correction, they’re likely an emotional eater. And somebody who binges, I mean, obviously they, I would say are definitely an emotional eater because they’re abusing themselves with food. 

They’re eating, their snacking’s getting out of control. I was a definite binger, but everybody’s different. And even somebody who just eat three meals, if the meals they eat are laden with carbs, you know, if they are always eating pasta, you know, their choice on the menu is pasta every time, it’s probably for emotional reasons. They don’t want veggies, veggies don’t kill emotions. Like veggies, let you still feel your emotion. So, if somebody is a pasta and a bread eater constantly, the heavier, starchier foods are doing the job of snuffing out emotions. So, even if somebody is not a binger or even a grazer, if they’re a potato, meat and potatoes, pasta, bread eaters, you know, my experience, they’re still looking for that emotional comfort and that blanket that food provides. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Yeah. I can see that. So, there’s grazers and there’s bingers and they’re both doing it emotionally. Pain, escape, punishing that kind of a thing. Well now, tell us a little bit more about your work, your course, and things like that. The Anatomy of Emotional Eating. I know you call it that.

Tricia Nelson

Yeah. So, I teach, yeah. I teach my clients, whether it’s my coaching clients or my regular customer, I teach them about the anatomy of the emotional eater. And this is vital information. This is from my decades of research. These are personality traits that make up the emotional eaters personality. Emotional eater is not like all people. My experience is we do have certain unique traits. They aren’t unique to us in that other people don’t have them. It’s just a composite of traits that lead to emotional eating. And that’s why the whole idea of diets will never get somebody where they need to go. Because if they don’t deal with these traits and what they’re doing in their life, they’re never going to stop the cravings. And people think that cravings just happen. Like I’m just struck by a craving for ice cream, struck by a craving for chocolate. 

It seems that way. But my experience is we play a part in those cravings coming about. Those cravings are, a call for relief. Like we want food as a relief valve basically for stress. Okay. So like we’re stressed out, we’ve got a lot on our plate, and we just want to check out. Again, that escape factor with food. But the fact is, we have to address that stress, you know, and what’s going on that makes us need relief from food. And the fact that we are creating our cravings to me is fantastic news, because if we’re creating it, we can un-create it. Okay. If it’s just hitting us, hitting us like random lightning, we’re screwed. But if we are playing a part in those cravings even happening, we can make new choices. So, I often say to clients, you don’t have an eating problem. You have a living problem. And I know you’re going to relate to this with your dress protocol. So, we have to start living differently. 

And so, the emotional, The Anatomy of the Emotional Eater are 24 personality traits people can start honing in on to see what’s going on, and how they’re living, and what changes they can make. And I’ll give you an example of this. The number one trait of an emotional eater is being a people pleaser. So, yeah, and like I’ve never met an emotional eater who’s not a people pleaser. And the way that this trait kind comes into our lives is usually early on in our lives. You know, so many people who overeat or are obese, they have trauma from their past or at least some serious dysfunction. 

I know I did. And so, they either have alcoholism in their family or somebody with mental illness, or sexual abuse, physical abuse, there’s some awry and they’re not getting a really solid, and this isn’t everybody. Okay. I understand, some people might not, this might not apply to, but typically my experience is this is the case. So, there’s something going on. They’re not getting a strong foundation of self esteem. And I didn’t, I mean, I had great parents, but they were lacking in the self esteem department. And so, I didn’t get this foundation of self esteem. They were also people pleasers. And so, what happened is, is I learned to get my sense of self from outside of myself. And this is very typical for emotional eaters, you know, and also somebody who grows up with dysfunction, or alcoholism, or some kind of addiction is that, you’re on high alert to know how you can please the dysfunctional person in your family. 

Because they’re raging, or they’re erratic in their emotions, or their harsh and critical, whatever. And so, we get very good at kind of having a radar out of how, how we can, you know, mutate ourselves to fit a situation. Like we learned very early on not to be ourselves, not to stand for ourselves, but to basically be chameleons. And so, we bring this trait in, you know, what was once a survival skill in our childhood. It worked, okay. Having our radar out for what dad’s mood is when he comes home so we don’t get our butts kicked, you know, because he’s drunk, that’s a survival skill as a child. But coming into adulthood, it’s really, it’s a coping mechanism. That’s, you know, not helping us anymore and it’s turning on us. So, when we’re people pleasers in our adult life, you know, emotional eaters are so nice, and we smile so much, and we’re so accommodating, you know, because when we are, we get, you know, we get the atta-girls, you know, the atta-boys, like we, it, it feeds our ego. It makes us feel like we’re worthy. 

And so, again, it’s, we’re looking outside of ourselves for that sense of esteem. And the problem with being a people, pleaser, Reed, is that, you know, we knock ourselves out doing more than our fair share. We’re always saying, yes, we’re always volunteering to do the extra credit work. We’re always hosting the parties. You know, we are running ourselves ragged overdoing, you know, because it’s going to feed our sense of worth. And the problem is not only that we’re knocking ourselves out, and taxing our adrenals, and are fatigued, and tired all the time, and probably grumpy. But on top of it, we’re pissed off because nobody ever is pleased, you know, the way we think they’re going to be, right. Like people end up just taking us for granted, like give it to Tricia Nelson, she’ll do it. Like she’s a sucker, you know. 

So, as people pleasers, we’re tired, we’re exhausted. And we’re also resentful because it never plays out the way we think it will. And that’s the perfect prescription to go home and have the, I deserve it binge. Like nobody else is appreciating me dammit. I’m going to reward myself with my favorite foods, and my favorite TV show, and whatever else. And so, that’s an example to me, a very apt example of how I’m doing it. Like I’m causing that binge by overextending myself, by not having boundaries on my time, but not saying no once in a while. And so, the good news is, is I can turn that ship around. I can start saying, you know, all, whatever atta-girls I get are not worth it, considering the price I’m paying. 15 extra pounds, 20 extra pounds from overdoing every day and being exhausted and resentful. So, you know, I’m excited about the fact that we can change our lives the way we’re living, and it can directly impact the way that we’re eating and it’s, but it’s not the reverse. We have to live our way into a new life. 

You know, we can’t think our way, but these are… And the nice thing is, is when people start making changes in these personality traits, you know, caregiving is another one, overthinking, having a racing mind is another trait of an emotional eater. Constantly overthinking. What did she mean by that? Why are they talking? Are they talking about me? You know, it’s like, why did I do that wrong? I should have done it better. You know, it’s like incessant, and that’s where other tools like meditation, and prayer, and things, things that can settle us down and bring our minds down a couple thousand miles an hour, that’s going to help us have calm and peace. But these are all living skills that are directly going to impact our eating behaviors. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Thank you so much. It’s critical to know that there’s a lot to it. I think of, well, would this help with other addictions? You know, like you specialize, I guess, in the, the food thing, but I kept thinking about people who, and I have neighbors, you know, and they just, as soon as they get home from work, it’s six beers. They just are, they’re doing all these things. They’re killing pain, they’re escaping from whatever it is, and they might be punishing themselves or they might have guilt for something like that. But does the same thing you think apply to some of these other bad habits? 

Tricia Nelson

No question about it. Yeah. That’s why this process, I mean, I’ve really built a step by step process for overcoming emotional eating, but this process will transform somebody’s life. And that’s the point. People are unhappy because they’re eating, but they’re really eating because they’re unhappy, you know. And so, it’s, this is a way for just up leveling your life. And the things that I teach, especially in the self care, I teach something called the six self care success secrets. Yeah. Anybody who does this is going to have a better life automatically. And it definitely, you know, the same root causes will, some people are overeaters, some people are over-drinkers, some people are over sex addicts or whatever, you know, shoppers, spenders. I mean, there’s so many different things you can overdo, and if you have an addictive personality, why stop at one? So, most people who have an addictive personality overdo more than one thing. But yeah, fundamentally this process absolutely will transform somebody’s life and make it so that they don’t have to be seeking escape, seeking relief in unhealthy habits. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

You know, I appreciate that. I think you’ve been a fantastic guest because, you know, our audience is health coaches or people who would like to be health coaches or learn more about the profession. It’s an amazing profession. Because you get to do a lot of good in the world and get paid for it. It’s a profession, it’s not a hobby for us. It’s fine if it’s your hobby. But for me, my hobbies cost me money, you know, motorcycles and gardening. So, my profession, what I do for a living, I do, it’s my business, you know, so you get to do something you love, you get to model the behavior, it’s relatively stress free if you have a good business model, and again, you get to help people. But one thing I noticed about a lot of coaches is they think they have to be perfect in order to help others. So, that’s something I’ve been asking, some of the guests like tell us how that’s not true. 

Tricia Nelson

Totally. You know, I think the best people that I’ve trained as heal your hunger emotional eating coaches, are the ones who are actually emotional eaters. Because we know what it’s like, we know the experience and every person that goes through my certification training goes through my training that I do for clients. Okay. So, that they can apply, you know, whatever coaches, you know, coach want to be’s relationship with food is, it can always be up leveled. Let’s face it we could all up level our relationship with food. Whether we’re food addicts or emotional eaters or somewhere in between. So, that’s what I do is I teach them my program by having them go through it with their client hat on first. So, they can personally benefit from it, you know. And all of them do, even people who, you know, didn’t relate to being an emotional eater, after they go through a few modules in my program, they’re like, whoa, like I had no idea I was so disconnected to the fact that there’s so much emotional connection between me and my food choices. 

So, everybody personally benefits from it and they make the best teachers because they can bring their personal experience into their work. And yeah, so much of the time health coaches who are emotional eaters, they have shame around it. You know, it’s sort of like they’re telling other people how to eat, but they’re not following their own advice. And so, there’s this imposter syndrome. Like, they feel like I’m not worthy as a coach. And I totally get that. And it’s just really important. First of all, you know, you can up level your own relationship with food, to where you feel more worthy. And I think that’s important to not feel like an imposter, but you don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to have figured it all out in order to be of service to somebody who’s struggling with this problem and your personal experience. I talk, you know, I have a podcast and I talk all about stuff going on with me personally. 

I literally just did it the other day in my Facebook group. Is I talked about some personal thing I was going through, I always bring my personal experiences into my work because it’s relatable. It’s interesting to people who are listening, it’s not from my head, it’s from my heart. And so, I’m all about, you know, my coaches bringing their personal struggles with emotional eating, into their work, and the solution that they’re learning through my training, but it’s like, you don’t have to be there and be perfect before you start helping people. People want real more than ever now. They want real, they want somebody who knows what it’s like to struggle so that they can meet them at that place. And the more heart, the better as far as I’m concerned. Because emotional eaters honestly, Reed, they’re starving. Okay. Emotionally eaters are starving for connection. That’s what that real hunger is. It’s not for food. You know, it is for connection, it’s for just feeling like somebody understands. And it’s for really an opportunity to walk side by side someone on a healing journey. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

It really is. Yeah. And I think the key to any successful coaching program should be walk the talk, you know, and trying to set an example, but it doesn’t mean you have to reach the top because there’s no one at the top. I’ve said that on almost every one of these interviews, there’s no perfect health person. I’ve been searching for 20 years and everyone’s got some steps left to take. Now, some people have a lot more steps and that’s what we’re in business for us to help them up and take their steps. So, we’re going to put, thank you so much for that. I still have another question for you, but I want everyone to know, we’re going to put in the show notes, all the information you need to get in touch with Tricia Nelson and to check her course out. And I know it’s a six month course and that it’s for health coaches who want to focus obviously on emotional eating and any other goals of the certification one should keep in mind or no? Like… 

Tricia Nelson

Yeah, I mean the bottom line is there is a step by step formula for overcoming emotional eating. And that’s what I’m so excited about is this is personally what I did to lose 50 pounds and stay on this path of not emotional eating and living in a thin body and free from food obsession, probably the most important part of all. But there’s a step by step way to get there. And I lay that out and I give that to the coaches. So, they have that same plan to share with their clients. And it really makes a difference because they may have amazing nutritional information to share with them or amazing protocols, but if their clients can’t follow through on it, they can’t reach them. 

They can’t help them get over the finish line, you know, of reaching their health goals. And so, this piece is so, so important and I just really want to emphasize that it’s not, you know, it’s not hit or miss. And so much of the time when we talk about eating, you know, there’s the idea of intuitive eating and mindful eating and you know, those are nice, but they’re kind of mushy, okay. Like they don’t tell you what to do. And so, what I wanted, and what I have, and what I give to other people, as you know, the tools for helping their clients is a step by step plan. And, you know, it takes the mushiness out of it. It’s 

like do this and you will have freedom from emotional eating, you know, not cured, you know, it’s a day at a time, I’m still an emotional eater. But I need, I don’t emotionally eat one day at a time. So, it’s a really amazing process, but it takes the mystery out of it. It takes the guesswork out of it. And I think that’s, what’s so exciting about it. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

You’re a true leader in the field Tricia Nelson, and I’m so glad that you agreed to be on this event, and in this event, and participate and everything like that. And as leaders, you know, we have to think about where’s it going from here? So, what else do you think we could be doing in the health coaching industry to support each other and to raise up and get more people in, because the world is, it’s short, a few health coaches. Like my estimate was probably about a half a million health coaches are needed to just meet the needs of people. You know, it’s an under, we have underserved population and health coaches can really fill a huge gap. 

You know, people don’t want drugs. I mean, if you need them, that’s great. And we have plenty of wonderful doctors out there. We’ve got, you know, I think there’s now about 1500 different drugs on the market you could take. So, there’s no shortage of drugs. There’s a real shortage of the correct training and knowledge, that step by step process and things like that. What else can we do besides have summits as health coaches to get the word out and be real leaders? 

Tricia Nelson

Well, I think that’s so important, supporting each other, you know, podcasts. I do a lot of podcasts interviews and I have a podcast. Just really talking about health, you know, talking about health, talking about alternatives to drugs, and ways that we can, you know, it really, we have to empower ourselves to heal. There is no magic wand. There is no magic bullet. Like it really comes down to us taking action to care for ourselves and self care. And I think any message that has to do with self care and really putting our health first, before we go out and save the world, I think that’s an important message for health coaches is, you know, definitely focus on doing it yourself and getting help for yourself so that you can then shine your light brighter in being a guide for other people. I think that’s so, so important. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

Beautiful. I think we could just end there with that great advice on supporting each other and building the whole thing up. Thanks, Tricia Nelson. It’s been a real pleasure. And I want everyone to know that you can go out and get that VIP pass to all the recordings right now. And it won’t be for much longer that they’re even available. So, don’t miss your opportunity to go out there and look at the show notes and look up Tricia Nelson, but get your VIP pass so you can come back and own the recordings. And with that, we’ll just say, thanks again and look forward to seeing you in the fall. Great job. 

Tricia Nelson 

You bet. Thanks so much, Reed, take good care. 

Reed Davis, HHP, FDN-P, CMTA, CNT

You’re welcome.