My Life as an Eating Psychology Coach: Staley Sednaoui

What made you want to become an Eating Psychology Coach in the first place?

After spending two years working toward a dual certification in nutritional counseling and health coaching, I’ve been very effective at helping clients improve their nutrition and their health. Despite this, I found it challenging to help clients who knew that certain foods were more beneficial for them than others, but would continue to lapse into eating all the wrong foods – even if they didn’t want to. I quickly learned that helping people with the nutrition part of their health was only a fraction of the issue. The other crucial part revolved around a person’s relationship with food. The Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training was that perfect missing piece that I was seeking.

What do you love about being an Eating Psychology Coach?

For me, what I learned at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating is how to incorporate some “extra magic” in my nutrition counseling and health coaching practice. Anyone can learn what and how to eat better, but until they untangle the reasons why they get caught up in a complicated relationship with food, they often don’t make lasting changes. The Training has helped to make my practice a more holistic approach to functional nutrition. I typically focus on food for the first few sessions with a client and then we slowly dig into eating psychology. That’s when the “magic” happens. Clients say to me, “you’ve unlocked something in me that’s changed everything!” and “I am no longer at war with myself over food, thank you!” I love being an Eating Psychology Coach because it’s very rewarding!

What does your practice look like?

My practice is mainly conducted over the phone and my clients are a mix of men and women, between the ages of 35 and 60. Recently, I have begun to focus on blood sugar issues and insulin resistance. I am also working on group programs right now and am excited to launch them!

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

My education at the Institute gave me the tools to help people to look “under the hood” and better understand their relationship with food and eating. It taught me to expand my work in nutrition into the wider and more holistic realm of living, loving, thinking, and being.

What was your favorite aspect of the Training?

I found it all really worthwhile, but my favorite part of the education was the live teleclasses with Primary Instructor, Marc David.

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

The Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training has made me a much more capable health coach. It allows me to attract both kinds of clients: those looking for nutritional counseling and those looking to better understand their relationship with food. The nutrition client doesn’t usually know that they want to work on the psychology of eating, and sometimes the psychology of eating client doesn’t know they want to work on nutrition, but, of course, both groups eventually end up working within both realms.

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

I see myself continuing to expand my practice while narrowing into a more focused niche of health – in particular blood sugar and insulin resistance. This is becoming such a major health problem in our culture and people oftentimes feel frustrated and ashamed. It is quite common that people are made to feel that their problems with blood sugar are a result of being lazy or eating too many sweets. Usually this isn’t the only factor causing the problem. Through nutritional education and my training as an Eating Psychology Coach, I help clients lower their blood sugar, reverse insulin resistance, improve their health, and feel successful and happy with themselves.

Why would you recommend the Training to others?

I would recommend the Training because it’s like an advanced degree. If you consider your life coaching or health coaching certificate as a sort of “Bachelor’s Degree”, then The Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training is definitely the “Master’s Degree.” It’s the extra layer you’ll need to make you the most effective health coach you can be!

Anything else you’d like to share about being an Eating Psychology Coach?

I have completed a lot of different Trainings and programs and I think The Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training rates incredibly high at the top of the heap. Not only is the Training material first-rate, but the teaching is excellent! The integrity, honesty, connection, and follow-through of Marc David, Emily Rosen, and the entire staff is truly outstanding. This Training is well worth the investment and I highly recommend it.

NAME: Staley C Sednaoui, CHC, AAPD
BUSINESS: Staley Sednaoui
WEBSITE: www.staleywellness.com

BIO: Staley Sednaoui has worked in the nutrition field since 2009. She holds a BA from Vassar College, a certification from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, and is an MS candidate in Nutrition and Functional Medicine from University of Western States.