My Life as an Eating Psychology Coach: Andrea Radi

What made you want to become a Eating Psychology Coach?

There was a period in my life after I had my three children when I became very interested in health and nutrition and trying to use my knowledge to lose the baby weight. I stumbled across so many diets and programs, many of them contradicting each other that I started to wonder what this was all about. Then I came across IPE and the Certification Training seemed tailor-made to rescue me from my confusion.

What do you love about being an Eating Psychology Coach?

I enjoy talking to my clients and getting a deep insight into their world and struggles. It is exciting to have tools to offer other than the standard “eat this, not that” approach. The best thing is to see the light in my clients’ eyes when they learn that the they are not broken and that food is not the enemy but is to be enjoyed.

What does your practice look like?

I live in Saudi Arabia in an expat community. The first few years of my practice I focused on expat working women. Then I was very lucky to get inside Saudi Aramco (the biggest oil company in the world) where I work as a freelancer in Human Energy Management department. My clientele is mostly Saudi males with weight and lifestyle challenges. Currently I work in person but I will offer sessions on the phone and email support as well.

How did your education at the Institute prepare you to work successfully with clients?

The Training was essential to my work. Most of the strategies I use I learned there.

What was your favorite aspect of the Training?

I enjoyed the videos with individual lectures. All the other elements were a great support.

How has being an Eating Psychology Coach impacted your professional life/financial well-being?

Thanks to my training I was able to start working in a very interesting environment in a very closed culture. Being a female working with Saudi males who share with me personal issues and expect me to provide them with solutions and support is teaching me to honor confidentiality and is forcing me to creatively fit solutions made for the Western world into an Islamic setting.

How has being an Eating Psychology Coach impacted you personally?

I transfer my knowledge as an Eating Psychology Coach into my nutrition and way of eating, teaching my children and my husband along the way. I am free from dieting and I know the power of relaxation and self love. What’s a better gift I can give to my three daughters than to teach them to love themselves as they are and to be grateful for all they are able to do thanks to having a healthy body.

What do you see for yourself in your future as an Eating Psychology Coach – where is your work evolving towards?

I would like to extend my practice from seeing clients one-on-one to also providing lectures and facilitation programs to departments in our company. I would like to spread the IPE philosophy of no dieting and mindful eating into the country. Saudi Arabia needs it.

Why Would You Recommend the Training to Others?

The Training is life changing for so many people. Even if one does not want to work in the field, the Training can be very beneficial for one’s own health and happiness.

Anything else you’d like to share?

What I learned during my practice is the importance of going slow with the client. Start with the outside stuff that is easy to share and move slowly to the inside, more profound issues. Even if you have a powerful insight into the client’s personal life straight from the beginning, go slow and gain the trust first.

NAME: Andrea Radi, Eating Psychology Coach
BUSINESS: Human Energy Management department in Saudi Aramco

BIO: Andrea Radi is a Slovak national living in Saudi Arabia with her husband and three daughters. She graduated from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating in 2013. Since then she has worked as an Eating Psychology Coach in an expat community in Saudi Arabia. In January 2016, she joined Human Energy Management department in Saudi Aramco where she provides personal coaching for weight and eating related issues.