Balanced Program Success Story: Trudi’s Healing Journey

January 18, 2023

Welcome to The Balanced Dietitian Podcast! Today is an awesome episode because I am talking with Trudi, a graduate of the Balanced Program. Today she is sharing her story with us.

In this episode, we discuss:

[03:53] Trudi’s relationship to food and body before the program

Trudi dieted pretty much her whole life from the time she was an early teenager. The diets were usually successful for a period of time and then she would gain the weight back and usually gain even more back. Trudi definitely struggled with restriction and then binging. She thinks binging was the worst part for her. Every day had a value attached to it. Was it a good day or was it a bad day? It got to the point before she joined the program that she was never having a good day. Every day was a bad day and she would literally lie down and feel her stomach in the bed and just be totally disgusted with herself for having eaten too much again. It was so upsetting, stressful and a negative place to be.

[08:07] What made her decide to try the program

Somebody had turned her onto an intuitive eating podcast and then she read a book on intuitive eating. Trudi also listened to a podcast episode where Marie-Pier was the guest, and thought to herself, you have to try something different. You can’t keep beating your head against the wall and trying another diet. Trudi was running out of diet options. It was really about digging in and saying maybe a different approach will help. She knew she needed to take a different path to get different results.

[17:41] Trudi’s healing journey during the program

Trudi found that healing her relationship with food was easier than healing her body image and relationship with her body. She remembers when they got to that module, and she hesitated. It took her about three weeks to dig into that module because she just didn’t want to face it and didn’t want to think about how she thought about herself and was scared about it. The reframing really helps. It’s a really interesting process and it takes some bravery.

[22:43] Trudi’s relationship to food and body now

Compared to how she was, now Trudi is freer, healthier, and more relaxed. Food is just part of something that we have to do every day. She really enjoys food, but some meals aren’t as great as others. She shops at the grocery now and buys some fun foods to have in the house but she only eats them when she feels like eating them. It feels very normal. This is what she imagines a normal person feels around food.

[25:44] Her favorite part of the program

Trudi loves the workbooks and the letter-writing exercise, Most of all, without doubt, for Trudi, it was the coaching conversations and the access to Marie-Pier that she enjoyed the most. This program would not be the same thing without those coaching conversations and Marie-Pier’s insights. Trudi has had a lot of professional coaching throughout her life but feels like Marie-Pier does such an excellent job about never making her students feel ashamed or embarrassed of what they have to share. There are some pretty vulnerable moments. Trudi always committed to going, being vulnerable, and not holding anything back on the calls. She was so appreciative of Marie-Pier’s gentle coaching and reframing about how we think about things. It really helped make the switch for her.