IIN Live

This past weekend I went to NYC to attend the IIN Live conference, and it was honestly such a magical experience! Getting to meet so many other past and present students of the school, and just to be in the same room as so many like minded people was inspiring. We heard from several awesome speakers, and Joshua Rosenthal, the school director, had us do lots of exercises to interact with the people around us.

It was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center, a super beautiful theater in the Time Warner Center. I think my favorite speaker was probably Daniel Amen, who spoke about how your lifestyle impacts your brain(which no pun intended, I've never though about before). He showed scans of people's brains as they age, and how certain things such as alcohol and obesity affect the size and mass of your brain. Being fat physically makes your brain smaller! I was blown away at finding that out. He also showed that if you take care of your brain, you can reverse damage done to it previously, and in fact make it younger. Fascinating stuff! 

Sadie Nardini also did a short talk and mini yoga practice. I love her Youtube videos so it was such a treat getting to see her in person, she has such amazing energy. She spoke about following your dreams, and when people telling you that you can't do something, tell them 'watch me'. I know there's always such a long journey at the beginning of any success story, but I love hearing the backstory, of how they were challenged as well. It keeps me motivated!

One thing I felt in the auditorium that I've never felt in any learning situation before was such love, for lack of a better word to describe it. A room full of passionate people committed to helping heal others and make the world a better place. It was truly beautiful! It inspired me more in the work I think I want to do as a Health Coach, and it was so reassuring to talk to others and see that they had some of the same concerns as I did in terms of trying to identify a target market. Having a support system is so important!

After the conference was over I made it a goal to try a different vegan restaurant for every meal I was there. I didn't quite succeed, but the ones I got to were all phenomenal! My favorite I think was Candle Cafe, sister restaurant to the more upscale Candle 79. I got the Tofu BLT, and ate it sitting in Central Park as the sun was setting. Definitely one of those perfect moments I'll treasure forever! This was my first trip going to NYC pretty much 'recovered' from my eating disorder, and actually being able to allow myself to eat whatever I wanted while actually enjoying it was a milestone for me. I ate ice cream. I ate bread. I ate a lot of salad cause I truly love greens, not just because I was scared of calories. I didn't at any point want to make myself throw up or try and starve myself for the rest of the day to compensate. I ordered whatever I felt like, and savoured it, and honestly for the first time in a very long time felt free.

First Day of School!

Yesterday was my first day of school at IIN, and it still feels a bit surreal. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be going back to school, I probably would have laughed at you. Yet here I am, and so far so good. There was a couple videos to watch on my iPad, and we were told to set our intentions for the year. We were also give an assignment to write down what we saw as our goals for the next year, 2 years, 5 years, etc. I usually think about goals in my head, but this is the first time I've really put them down on paper. Just last year I made a huge life change(quitting my job to pursue photography and moving to Toronto), and here I am again leaping headfirst into something unknown. It kind of feels like it clicks though, one of those 'aha!' moments where you realize what you're supposed to be doing and it feels incredibly right.

Ever since my friend Steph brought me to a screening of Food Inc of June 2008, my life changed. Sitting in that chair in the theater, I learned things I had never known, never even considered. Even at the times I knew it was a life changing moment. I could never go back to just eating the way I did before, it became such a shift in consciousness. I became a vegan August of that year, and I never thought it would lead me down the path it has!

Yet again, I have no clue how the future is going to pan out. It kind of feels like last year all over again! Just diving headfirst into something I love, it's a feeling I don't think I'll ever get tired of. I'm excited to be able to help make a difference in peoples lives, and in the world in general.  It's a time when the world needs it. So many people are needlessly sick and tired, and the government is utterly useless at providing the proper information that gives facts, not some weird ambiguous nod at the truth while it's funded by the very industries that hurt us the most.

Health Coaches vs. Nutritionists

Something I've been curious about lately is the exact differences, and scopes of practice between a health coach and a nutritionist. The two, while in similar fields are kind of like apples and oranges. One is not necessarily better than the other, they are simply different. IIN was kind enough to provide a chart in their materials, so I'll give you a brief overview:

A health coach tackles issues such as headaches, chronic fatigue, and people in general who overall don't have major diseases, but would like to improve their health. It's generally restricted to adults, and you don't prescribe medication, or tell clients to stop taking medication. Overall you recommend simple, less drastic approaches to drugs, diet, and exercise. It focusses on relationships, hobbies and careers, and how these are affecting your health.

A nutritionist helps you examine your eating habits and helps you chose a healthier lifestyle, can diagnose certain diseases related to nutrition, can discuss preventative nutrition, food/nutrition science, and can use nutrient manipulation to enhance response to diseases. Nutritionists work in settings such nursing homes, schools, hospitals, spas, and restaurants.

Making this realization for me means I think IIN is the beginning of this journey. A strong desire and goal of mine is to be able to work with eating disorder patients in some way, and be able to use my experience to help others. Learning proper nutrition for myself through a vegan, whole foods diet was a key in my recovery, and I think learning the same principles could help others. I'd like to be able to help people see that drugs are not the only answer to wellness, a vegan/vegetarian diet can be a key to health as well. I'd like to have the knowledge and experience to teach people this, and in a holistic manner. I love IIN's way of incorporating treating a patient as a whole, looking at their entire life to see what else could be affecting them in addition to what they're eating. Too often I think people are treated by only looking at their symptoms, and not as a human being!