April 8, 2025 • 50 mins
Discipline, perfectionism, and "healthy habits" can sometimes mask a dangerous relationship with food and exercise. Allison Yamamoto opens up about her journey from NCAA cheerleader to marathon runner, revealing how her pursuit of athletic excellence led her down a path of restrictive eating, overtraining, and eventually losing her period for several years.
What makes this conversation particularly powerful is how Allison's story uncovers the societal reinforcement that keeps many women trapped in unhealthy patterns. Despite serious health warning signs, doctors dismissed her concerns as "normal for an active woman." Friends and family praised her discipline and commitment to "health," unintentionally encouraging behaviors that were actually compromising her wellbeing.
The revelation that missing periods signal more than just fertility concerns becomes a crucial turning point. Hypothalamic amenorrhea indicates a body in survival mode, with serious implications for bone density, immune function, and long-term health. Yet this vital information remains largely unknown to many women pushing themselves toward arbitrary fitness goals while chronically underfueling.
Most striking is Allison's description of the mental burden – the constant calculations, food rules, and guilt that ran "like a tape" in the background of her mind despite appearing successful externally. This invisible struggle consumes enormous energy that could be directed elsewhere.
Through her coaching practice, Allison now offers women individualized support addressing both nutritional/exercise components and the psychological factors keeping them stuck. The hopeful message? Hypothalamic amenorrhea is reversible through lifestyle changes, with the return of menstruation serving as tangible evidence of healing.
Ready to transform your relationship with food and exercise? Discover what your body really needs without the rigid rules and restrictions that steal your mental freedom. Your period isn't just about fertility – it's a vital sign worth protecting.
To Learn More About Allison and her programs click HERE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everybody.
Today I am with AllisonYamamoto and, as a former NCAA
cheerleader turned marathonrunner and professed
overachiever, allison struggledwith managing food and nutrition
under eating and, in turn, tomaintain a regular menstrual
cycle.
For years, in an effort to staydisciplined, she avoided rest
(00:24):
days, ate strictly foods shelabeled healthy and found
herself chronically overtrainingwhile struggling to manage her
stress.
After realizing how prevalentthis was, she made it her
mission to help others overcomethese challenges, to transform
their relationship with food,exercise and their bodies.
Allison got certified incoaching, specializing in
(00:47):
overtraining and disorderedeating.
She gathered a team ofclinicians and created an
evidence-based mentorshipprogram that helps you
understand what your body reallyneeds and offers the support to
overcome the challenges keepingyou stuck.
So, hi, allison, it's great tohave you on today because in the
world of nutrition, most of thestories I hear and the women I
(01:11):
see claim they need to loseweight and that they cannot
figure out food.
Now there's an assumption thatthey are overeating, but I also
think there are a lot of womenmy age in peri and menopause who
had disordered eating andcarried that into midlife.
So those are two things I see alot.
The other thing is that many ofthese women have daughters who
(01:34):
have adopted intense cleaneating regimens and are indeed
under eating and areexperiencing, I think, what you
have gone through.
So I want to just jump intoyour story.
Can you share with me how yougot into sports and then the
need and the pressure to undereat and, I imagine, adopt some
(01:55):
kind of clean eating regimen andthat you said turned into
disordered eating?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, definitely so for me.
I've always been quite activeand I think it's something
that's fairly normalized insociety at this point, which is
a propensity to eat fairlyhealthy and to participate in
activity and exercise, andthat's something that was
definitely praised by otherpeople in my life and something
(02:22):
I genuinely enjoyed growing upand then, when I went in, became
a cheerleader throughoutcollege.
I'm sure you can imagine someof the either implicit or
explicit body standards that arepresented either with the
uniforms that you're having, aswell as the body changes that
you're going through when you'retransitioning out of high
school and into college, andthere's additional pressure just
(02:46):
in making that transition,about expectations around weight
gain, weight changes, newsocial situations, and so, over
time, it was definitely notsomething that happened
overnight as much as thebehaviors that I originally
intended to really invest inwhen it came to nutrition and
exercise were intended to behealthy and most people were
(03:10):
praising them, and I felt like Iwas meeting the body standards
that I was striving for throughthe changes I was making, and it
became a bit of a slipperyslope where, over time, I was
starting to notice I have areally big interest in nutrition
, which turned into a slightlymore restrictive diet, which
(03:30):
turned into fairly strict rulesaround nutrition and I think you
said it brilliantly which isthat so often nutrition advice
is synonymous with weight lossadvice, and so then, the more I
would learn about nutrition, themore the advice that I was
consuming was probably mostlyintended for somebody who was in
(03:54):
a much different demographicthan the situation that I was in
, and I ended up falling into somany traps that were probably
meant for folks that were verybought into diet culture and
becoming, in doing so, veryunder fueled, not even
intentionally at first.
And on the exercise side,because I'm somebody who's
(04:16):
really disciplined, I'm somebodywho, when I started training
and doing running after Igraduated from college, it
became this slippery slope whereit was okay, maybe I'll do a 5K
, now I'm doing a half marathon,might as well do a marathon,
and in that type of training andthe intensity that I can get at
and I think this is true of alot of other folks that are
(04:38):
considered pretty disciplined orthey're trying to be very
regimented in their training,which is something that we also
see in a lot of information orfitness culture even saying
discipline means no days off.
It means that even if you'refeeling like you're questioning
or you're lacking motivation,you're going, you're going hard,
you're staying to that routine,and that spoke to me and I
(05:00):
would do that to a T.
But as a result of that, I wouldfall down these paths where
eventually I was realizing I wassuper anxious if I felt like I
was even considering taking arest day or feeling guilty about
some of the food choices that Iwas making, and it got to the
(05:20):
point where I ended up losing myperiod for several years.
Going through the healthcaresystem, there was a lot of
confusion about whether or notthat was just a natural, normal
thing that would occur for folksthat were especially women,
that are more active, that areespecially doing any sort of
endurance training orcardiovascular work, and so I
(05:40):
didn't even think that there wasan issue for a long time.
And then, through the work thatI did to actually recover, I
learned so much about nutritionand what actually matters.
I learned a lot more aboutwhere some of the patterns I was
falling into with exercise wereactually not even conducive to
some of the fitness goals that Ihad, and I think the most
(06:03):
important thing that I really,really underestimated is how
much more freedom andflexibility, and even lack of
stress and anxiety.
I gained from making thosechanges, and when I did so,
that's truly what inspired me toreally invest in creating a
framework and a program thatwould help other women who are
(06:27):
struggling with this and providethe resources that I wish that
I had had on day one of startingdown this slope and this kind
of like slippery, moredisordered eating compulsive
exercise territory that I'dfallen into.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Okay, thank you for sharing that.
We have.
That's a lot to unpack.
So, because there's, you know,there's a lot of things going on
.
I think the first one is justsociety's ideals, for let's just
talk about women, you know,being very active and healthy,
(07:06):
eating, and, and, but is it,does it fall under the guise of
like being really thin?
And you know, it's like thiswhole like ideal of what a woman
should look like and be like,and and you were getting a lot
of praise for that, right, Imean, you were getting a lot of
(07:28):
just accolades for like thehealthier I'm using air quotes
here like the healthier, youwere eating right, and and
really, and even to the pointthat you were not then getting
your period for years, and andeven having medical
professionals.
It sounds like dismissing thatall in the name of like well,
(07:51):
you're an athlete, you are, youknow you're eating healthy,
you're you're doing, you knowyou're thin, that that's okay.
Is that correct?
I mean, is that that you, thatyou were getting dismissed by
medical professionals?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yes, surprisingly so.
So I, especially in the earlydays of losing my period, would
go to my doctor.
I went to a series of doctorsand they would, and I and I I
can empathize with theirsituation because they're seeing
, I'm sure, just the whole gamutof conditions.
(08:28):
Coming in their door and seeingan otherwise healthy,
presenting young adult womanwho's still walking and doesn't
need any sort of major, notbleeding anywhere I'm not
chronically sick, necessarily,so I can empathize.
But yeah, the reality is thatit was misguided information in
(08:51):
the sense that they were sayingoh well, you know to the extent
that you are a runner and you'reeating healthy and you're
exercising a lot.
This is expected is a lot ofthe information I got.
This is normal.
Expected is a lot of theinformation I got.
This is normal.
And I think that the other thingthat was really challenging was
because there's a lot of stigmaaround your relationship with
(09:13):
food and even body image, whereit's almost as if, to your point
, there's so much pressurethat's implicit or explicit to
meet certain body standards butat the same time, to do it in a
way that's implicit or explicitto meet certain body standards
but at the same time to do it ina way that's seemingly fairly
effortless, that I was in hugedenial that I even had body
(09:34):
image issues or that I was eventrying to meet some sort of
standard with my body.
That wasn't something that Ihad willingly and very
admittedly come to light andwould have said to you at, you
know, at the heat of all of thishappening, like, look, I'm
having major body image problems.
That's definitely not somethingI would have said.
(09:55):
And so I did find that it wasalso hard for me to find avenues
where I could find the supportthat I was ready to have in an
interesting way at that time,and so I think that having the
medical professionals say stufflike you know, this is fine, was
actually, in some ways, musicto my ears, because I was like,
all right, then I don't reallyneed to make changes, I can
(10:16):
stick to this thing.
That feels really safe.
And meanwhile everyone else istelling me that they might even
envy the fact that I'm sodisciplined, and so it was a
huge reinforcement on everyangle of staying stuck, and I
think that that's what made metake so long to even admit that
(10:38):
I needed to make changes, andthat's one of the biggest
regrets that I have is notmaking some of these changes
sooner and earlier, and I thinkthat in part that is because I
was also seeing the positivefeedback loops and the signals
where folks were telling me it'sokay or it's actually good and
what you're doing is positive,and that external validation is
(10:59):
hugely reinforcing to some ofthe habits that I was kind of
continuing to invest in.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Absolutely.
I mean you were getting nothing.
But no, keep going, right.
I mean this is good, eventhough in your head, intuitively
, it sounds like you felt likesomething's not right.
I mean something was nagging atyou.
But you were a young woman, Imean, who didn't really have the
(11:26):
words right to say, like I'mhaving body image problems.
I mean that right, that's likenothing that you would really
think of as a young adult.
You know to like, say to peopleor like, or to even speak up
and say you know what this isn'tright, like something doesn't
feel right, I'm not getting myperiod, or I mean right, and you
(11:54):
have doctors who are you know.
If doctor says it's okay, thenI guess it's okay.
Yeah, I mean it's, and and itsounds like even just support
from I am I correct friends andfamily, and I mean no one was
really saying to you something'snot right except for you, right
?
Am I correct with that?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
It's so interesting because I think it's one of
those topics that's really hard,especially intergenerationally,
for us to talk about.
And I think that the thing youbring up about the
mother-daughter dynamic isreally interesting because so
many of the women that I workwith can point to or easily
(12:31):
recall instances where someonebecause we've talked about the
societal pressures but so manyof those are reinforced really
close to home.
So the amount of instances orexamples that somebody can point
to, an instance where an auntor a grandmother or a mother or
someone a female figure that'sreally close to them has most
(12:52):
likely unintentionally saidsomething that reinforced some
of those standards for them canbe really tricky and really
really common and, again, veryunintentional.
But I think that in part it'salso because folks that tend to
be high achievers or set highstandards for themselves care a
(13:14):
lot about how they're beingperceived by others or really
get fed by the externalvalidation.
I think oftentimes what I'mseeing is that those are the
same people that are less likelyto admit where there are
struggles that by societystandards are considered
shameful.
And to your point that I thoughtyou mentioned really elegantly,
(13:36):
which is that it's a complexissue, it's something that, yeah
, there could be a componentwith body image.
There could be a huge componentabout stress and stress
management.
That was a huge factor for me,and a lot of the positions that
I was carrying and the pressureI put on myself for my career
definitely fed into how I showedup in those other aspects of my
(13:57):
life as well, and so that'sonly two of many, many factors.
There's like perfectionism wassomething that was huge for me
as well.
That was something I neverreally understood or identified
with until I really understoodexactly how that can show up in
different ways for differentpeople.
And all of those thingscombined, as I got more and more
(14:19):
educated about what reallymotivates and drives some of
these rigid routines with foodand exercise did I start to feel
like I could identify with someof the issues that I had
suspected I was experiencing fora while.
But it's something where ifother people around you are also
struggling and don't realizethat they're struggling, then
(14:41):
it's way easier for the cycle tobe reinforced within a friend
group or within a generationalline, because when it's so
normalized at that point, thenof course you're you're not
really sure that you'reexperiencing those issues,
because other people are sayingwell, this is just what I do to
be healthier.
(15:01):
This is just what I do to behealthier.
This is just what I do to stayfit.
And then you're now thinking,okay, well, again, this is
normal or necessary.
And I'm going to continue to dowhat I'm doing already?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I know when I grew upthat all the major players, you
know, my mother, my grandmothers, I mean everyone was on a diet.
I mean everyone.
You just were not good enoughunless you were dieting to get
thin.
I mean you just.
And we were subtly taught likewomen aren't really supposed to
(15:38):
like food.
So it's a little different thanyours, because you were like an
athlete and I was not reallythat.
I mean, I was athletic but notlike, not like where you know,
into like sports, like you were.
But so we were just supposed tonot like food and really watch
we're eating, go on diets, cons,on off diets and and feel bad
(16:02):
about our bodies.
You know the generations, youknow.
And then I think it'sinteresting because I do see a
lot of women that I see have, Ithink they're passing things on
to their daughters, you know,and I see them.
(16:23):
You know, because then I seetheir daughters, you know like I
see them.
You know, because then I I I'vesee their daughters, you know
like I, I see them and then theyask me if I can see their
daughters, because theirdaughters are just not doing
something right, you know, andthings definitely get passed on,
is what I'm trying to say, andwe want to break that, you know,
break that chain and learn.
You know.
(16:43):
So you're, you are learning.
You learned, then, how toreally it sounds like make peace
with food and eating.
How did tell me just a littlebit more about that?
How did that come to be?
Did you find someone?
So, after all, these doctorswere saying you're fine, you're
good, what was the light bulbthat went off for you or that
(17:07):
turned the corner for you?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I think for me, because I'm somebody that likes
to seek out a lot of informationI had eventually gotten to the
point where I just got educatedon the topic myself, and it was
kind of nice because this wasright around the time that
(17:32):
terminology like female athletetriad and then what eventually
became relative energydeficiency in sport became more
widely known.
I don't think it's commonplaceyet, but there was enough
research and enough kind ofclinical developments that were
(17:54):
coming out that I could actuallyacquire information and start
to understand.
And so one of the biggestthings that was a motivator for
me was learning about how underfeeling and overtraining can
have negative health impacts,independent of just your
(18:15):
menstrual health, which wassomething that what I had been
told was not necessarily apriority if you weren't actively
trying to conceive, and so forme, that was an easy excuse to
put it off and put it offbecause that wasn't one of my
primary goals.
But when I started learning, oh, actually these types of issues
(18:38):
are not just about my menstrualhealth.
This is impacting everythingfrom how I am experiencing my
day to day.
So I'm realizing that I'mprobably more irritable, I could
be experiencing more fatigue,but not to mention that some of
the things that were muchscarier for me especially
someone that cared about beingable to exercise and being able
(18:59):
to be active was bone healthinjury, my immune system being
compromised.
So some of these more criticalareas that can have impacts a
lot quicker and increasing myrisk of, for example, stress
fractures, which can occur whenyour bone density is compromised
(19:19):
, which can occur when you're atvery high risk of this if you
are experiencing hypothalamicamenorrhea, like I was, which is
when you're missing your period.
That that was one of my biggestnightmares is.
It's an injury that's reallychronic, it takes a long
recovery time, it essentiallytakes you out, and not to
(19:41):
mention that already, as women,bone health is such a key factor
that we should be prioritizing,especially when considering
longevity.
And, as somebody who was active,thinking about compromising my
bone health so early was reallywhat was that light bulb moment?
For me?
It was realizing oh no, thisisn't just a do I want to have a
(20:03):
baby right now or not?
Problem.
This is.
I'm actually really impactingmy baseline health and even my
own performance.
Like the things that I thoughtwere making me stand out as
somebody who's more fit or who'shealthier have now gotten me to
(20:24):
the place where I'm actuallythe opposite, like I'm
compromising my fitness becauseof some of these habits that I'm
falling into.
Because of some of these habitsthat I'm falling into, and I
think that one of the thingsthat's interesting is the other
areas that ended up being someof the biggest wins for me when
I started to gain more peacearound food things like not
(20:44):
feeling so much guilt about whatI was consuming or not feeling
like I had to think about foodall the time and that it was
something that was always on mymind.
Those things I didn't fullyrealize until I started going
through recovery how much thosewere impacting my life, and
that's probably one of thebiggest changes that actually
(21:06):
ended up occurring, and so Ithink it was like sort of the
aspects that were the mostterrifying that really
encouraged me to change.
But then, in doing so,unpacking all the other side
effects that were amazinglylife-changing for me was some of
the stuff that I wish had beenthe major inspiration points for
(21:29):
me earlier on in the journey.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So that's just so interesting that you say that
about not having your period.
and then the risk factors, thatit's not just that wanting to
get pregnant or not get pregnant, but that irritability, fatigue
, bone health, I imagine, hearthealth, I mean so the same thing
happens with women in menopauseIf they are chronically under
(21:53):
eating, and there's I mean,there's been studies done about
this that there's a risk of youknow, underweight, under eating,
that the likelihood of yougoing into early menopause,
which then in turn is you know,so this is like before you, like
you know, in your like early40s, you were in menopause that
(22:14):
ups your risk for heart disease,osteoporosis, cognitive decline
, premature death, I mean.
So it's, it's one you know,it's kind of the same.
So I mean, if you carry this,these habits, into your later
adulthood, you're, then you knowyou're continuing those risks
(22:34):
of of all of these other things,and it has not really anything
to do with getting pregnant ornot getting pregnant.
I mean.
I mean you know it does, but Imean it's, but there's all these
other risks that surround it.
So it's that's, that's.
That's very interesting that notgetting your period when you're
younger also has this verysimilar risks to it.
(22:58):
And kindness for yourself,because the need to be thin and
the pressure to be thin and bean athlete, I think, is so
applauded, you know.
(23:19):
And so for you to realize onyour own that something's not
right, that you are, it's goingbeyond just not getting your
period and the space it takesand the time it takes in your
brain to constantly thinkingabout food right, constantly
(23:39):
wondering, like I have.
I have to imagine that, likeyou might've thought at
breakfast, you, maybe youoverate a little bit and so
you're not going to, and thenwhat was going to happen for,
like, the rest of the day, orright, I mean, was it, was it
habits like that that were justwere just on your mind all the
time?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, it was everything from okay.
If I'm gonna do this thing forlunch, then how is this gonna
impact the rest of my day?
To okay, if I was eatingsomething and I wasn't feeling
full afterwards then literallyjust a physiological thing that
they've done.
You know so many studies on how, when you're under eating, you
(24:18):
develop, as a survival mechanism, sort of an obsession with food
.
So you're thinking about whatis my next meal.
You're thinking about what am Igoing to be able to have and
you're scrolling throughwhatever platform of choice,
looking at really appetizing,looking foods it's something
(24:39):
that is inherently wired into uswhen we're under eating.
Is that obsession that again,you don't even necessarily
realize that it might behappening, but you're starting
(25:09):
to think about food, a feelinglike I was trying to calculate
how things are going to fit inand what impact that's going to
have, or trying to follow andadhere to all of these
guidelines that I was reallyholding myself to on such high
standards.
And so it just is, hitting fromall angles and thinking about
(25:34):
during those years, all theother things that I could have
been thinking about during allof those moments.
It is crazy and and to thinkabout how much of energy that
took up and at the time I wasstill.
You know, it's not like I paintthis as if you know all day.
This is all I was thinkingabout and that's absolutely not
(25:54):
the case.
You know, anyone who wasinteracting with me or who knew
me at that time they saw medoing all these other things.
This is something that washappening just internally within
me and yet I was still strivingreally hard in my career and
training for all these otherthings.
So it's not something that iseveryone is wearing very clearly
(26:16):
on the surface.
These are things that the peoplethat you see walking around you
never know, because I thinkalso there's a lot of
misinformation in terms of someof these issues.
They occur at every single bodysize, they incur in any age.
They incur male, female.
There's just so much myths, Iwould say, or misinformation
(26:37):
about what the prototypicalperson who's struggling with
these types of issues looks likethat we think or would expect,
and in reality, the prevalenceis much more diverse and I think
that one of the things that'salso interesting that you're
mentioning is that one of thebiggest triggers that they say
(26:58):
is inducing some of these moredisordered patterns or can
create eating disorder relatedor even disordered eating type
of patterns are the combinationof a propensity for dieting
which, to your point, issomething that was really
normalized for a lot ofgenerations, a lot of people
combined with transition events,and so, as women, our body
(27:23):
composition, like our bodies,are changing as we age, as we go
through different phases inlife, and those types of events
can trigger the onset of thisslippery slope at any stage, and
so it could happen later,during menopause.
It could have happened earlier,like for me, when it was more of
like that, high school tocollege or college to graduating
(27:45):
.
But those are all key pointsand factors when we're more at
risk of starting to feel like weneed to put the pressure on
ourselves to take on morecontrol with food or with
exercise or our bodies, or,however it is, when we're
(28:05):
navigating some of those morestressful or unexpected or
uncertain transition points.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I think a lot of women get to the point with
eating that it's just runninglike a tape in the back of your
head, right?
I mean it's not like you said.
You were productive, right, youwere an athlete, you were going
to college, you were likesucceeding in all other areas,
but in the back of your headyou're probably subtly just
(28:32):
constantly thinking about thefood that you were going to eat
or not going to eat, your hunger, right, it was just sort of
like playing on autopilot.
And I think that's not justwomen your age who are
chronically trying to under eat,and you know, it's all it
happens for many, many women.
(28:53):
It's all it happens for many,many women.
And then I think and I think youmentioned the word control, you
know that that's a big word inthe world of like menopause and
perimenopause, because all of asudden, where you feel like
you're very in control right ofyour food, like for most of your
life, when you go intomenopause, there is a lack of
(29:14):
control because your body isdoing something that is just
feels very out of your control.
I mean, you are losing yourestrogen, you know a lot of
things are going on.
And when a lot of women thenstart maybe gaining weight or
gaining like, and they they justlook at food and they gain
weight and you know like, andit's very.
It's really, really distressingto women who have been.
(29:39):
You know where you were like Ihave like this grip over what
I'm going to eat and how much,and or not eat, or and, and it's
so it's very distressing.
So I mean, I think I'm so happyto hear that you have really
made peace with your food at ayounger age.
(30:00):
So when you go to the rest ofyour life, you know, and when
you get older and your body isshifting and changing, you can
be prepared for that that thereis.
You know that you're nottotally in charge sometimes of
your body.
You know that you're nottotally in charge sometimes of
your body.
You know and, but you can be,but not in a in a crazy way, if
(30:20):
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, and I love that .
What you were saying about howthe cyclical nature of it so
that for the women that aregoing through that right now the
menopausal transition and thenthe pressure that they were
experiencing throughout theirlives with dieting and then are
recognizing this earlier on fortheir daughters or any of their
children, and being moreproactive about getting them
(30:45):
support and being able to offerthem those resources earlier on
is amazing, because it's nevertoo late to make some of those
changes for yourself, and beingable to offer that gift to
somebody way younger, I think issuch a huge way to pay it
(31:06):
forward, because the reality isis, even if you're attempting to
be really perfect, it's so hardto you know, when we're talking
about control, to exactlycontrol how either we're going
to pass those things down or howsomeone else is going to be
conditioned, based on the otherfactors to relate to their food
and their exercise, and so I dothink it's a resource that can
(31:29):
be invaluable and life-changingfor someone earlier on in their
journey who could be eitherstarting to fall down this
pathway or may not be able toseek support from their mom or
their grandmother, whoever it is, because of either that
(31:50):
relationship or because of someof the behaviors that they've
seen, or simply because it's areally shameful topic and it's
hard to go to someone that youalso seek approval from to get
that type of support, and so Ithink that being able to be
supportive or proactive aboutgetting that type of a resource
for the younger generations issomething that is of a resource
(32:15):
for, you know, the youngergenerations is something that is
an incredible thing that you'rementioning happens.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah, I hope that that happens more and there's
more conversation around that,because, honestly, the pressure
to stay thin even in your 50sand 60s and look good in a
bikini when you're 65.
I mean, you know, you've seenon social media, I mean, this is
highly praised at the cost ofyour health.
(32:40):
That we're not.
We don't want to be thin or inshape because of for health
reasons, but for vanity reasons,and it's still.
It just continues on and on.
I hope that the conversationcan start to shift, but it's a
big ask, I think, in our society.
So I'm just curious.
(33:00):
You know, as someone who is muchyounger than me, when I grew up
, my influences were magazines,that magazines had diets in them
, and that's where I got a lotof information from, you know,
and then my, my relatives andeverything.
But for you, growing up, socialmedia was, you know, like front
(33:21):
and center.
What's, what's your thoughtabout the prevalence of
disordered eating and socialmedia?
I mean, do you think it's?
I mean I think it's out ofcontrol.
Personally, I mean, I think theI just makes me crazy going on
like Instagram and seeing someof the wacky things going on.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, I think there's sort of two angles to this that
come top of mind for me.
So one is that there is so muchout there in terms of what other
people are doing, so thatcomparison trap becomes
(33:59):
absolutely pervasive andsomething that you can feed
yourself all the time.
And I think that that can bereally challenging, especially
when one we have no idea whatthose people are, when one we
have no idea what those peopleare, what their lives are like,
what they're doing, and yetthere's this expectation that,
oh, if I do every single thingthat that person does, then I'll
(34:27):
be able to achieve theirwhatever it is that we want,
that they have, and that they'resharing about their lives so
much online that you feel likeyou could emulate some of those
things and that that's somethingthat's achievable.
And so I think that you feellike you could emulate some of
those things and that that'ssomething that's achievable, and
so I think that that'ssomething that can contribute a
lot to the pressure that folksare experiencing online.
And then I think that thesecond angle to a lot of the the
comparison aspects is that it'sthe sense of removal, when
(34:53):
maybe we were seeing a celebrityin a magazine or on a billboard
.
The psychology aroundcomparison is such that, yes, we
do see that person and feellike we should emulate them and
that's the gold standard.
At the same time, weacknowledge, oh, that person is
fairly removed from me in thesense that they have either a
(35:15):
different status or they have adifferent career path, and it's
sometimes slightly easier to seethe difference between yourself
and that person If you viewthem as like a celebrity figure
or something else, versus someof the people that we're seeing
online are people that we feellike we should be, we're on,
they should be, they're similarto me.
(35:35):
I feel much more of a sense ofconnection to that person and
because it's a curated platformwhere you can change, you can
filter, you can edit, you canthere's just so much tooling out
there to be able to create aperception that is curated
around how you look or whatyou're doing, that it creates
(35:59):
almost like a really dangeroustrack where you're like, oh, I
actually think that I couldemulate that person, and also
that person is portraying what Ibelieve is super realistic.
So I think that's like the oneangle on it, which is just that
comparison trap, and then theother angle is the availability
of information, and I think thatthis can be really challenging,
(36:23):
especially for someone likemyself, who just feeds off of
information, and when I feellike I'm uncertain or when I
feel like I'm scared or kind ofunsure, my default mode is to
try to seek information.
And this can be reallychallenging because there's a
(36:44):
lot of misinformation and it'sreally really hard to weed
through.
And, on the other hand, onething that I think is
interesting is especially forfolks that are super, super
disciplined and probably viewthemselves as resilient or
somewhat self-sufficient.
If they are experiencing a lotof this over-discipline around
(37:04):
food and exercise, then they canfall into a trap, and this is
something that I did for a while, which is just seeking out a
ton of information at theexpense of realizing that some
of the barriers to actually makechanges aren't just a lack of
information about what you needto do, as much as addressing
(37:29):
some of the underlying factorsor drivers that are keeping you
really stuck.
And I think that for me, thatwas the biggest unlock, because
I would really try to go againstthe grain in terms of making
some of these changes or notreally understand why I wasn't
making the changes faster, andthat was a really distressing
place to be, in a way, because Iam so determined and I had so
(37:53):
much information that it wasfrustrating to me why I couldn't
just like force the changes andit always felt anxiety inducing
and stressful, and I think thatthat's one thing that is key to
trying to move through some ofthese things, when you have a
really challenging relationshipwith food or a really
challenging relationship withexercise, is a understanding
(38:17):
well, what are my actual drivershere?
And which is actually somethingthat, if anyone is interested,
I'm happy to offer like a free,like resource that folks can use
to start to understand whattheir drivers are, but also to
be able to seek whatever supportthat look like.
So, whether that's in a friendor in you know yourself, as a
nutritionist who's supportingpeople, or in a coach or a
(38:39):
mentor, whoever it, it is that Ithink that that can be one of
the biggest changes that canmake the actual exercise and
food-related changes stick andlast and so I think that that's
also something that can bechallenging about the
availability of information isthat that's what it is it's
(39:02):
information, but it doesn'talways get to some of those
underlying, very human aspectsof what is causing us to stay
stuck in whatever habit it isthat we are continuing to
propagate.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
I mean, I think it's allexternal.
I mean it's all look at me justso out of control.
I mean that you know what'shappening on social media.
I mean anyone can go on there.
The influencers who are haveabsolutely zero qualifications,
nothing, and have millions offollowers and are just promoting
(39:39):
the craziest things and it'sjust very confusing, I think, to
people to pick out what isright and what is not right.
And but I think you know youused the saying that your
internal drivers.
That's huge.
So I want to then you know,roll into then what your
coaching programs look like.
(40:00):
And because you mentioned thatyou have an offer to identify
your internal drivers, let'stalk about your coaching and how
you work with women.
Is it mostly women, or is it?
Speaker 2 (40:13):
men and women.
It's mostly women, to be honest, and it's not that we wouldn't
work with men, we absolutelywould.
It's just that men, I thinkthat there may be earlier in the
journey when it comes toacknowledging that there are
struggles that are happeningAbsolutely with men.
I mean, the pressure with meneven is huge, just different
sometimes or more nuanced in adifferent way, but so huge.
(40:35):
But so most of the folks thatwe're working with tend to be
women, um, but so most of thefolks that we're working with
tend to be women, essentiallythe folks that come to us, and
when I say an active woman orsomebody who's you know working
out or exercising, it's this is.
It's funny that you were saying, oh, you're an athlete.
It's funny, cause I didn'tidentify as an athlete for so
(40:55):
long.
And when, when we say we sayactive woman, this could even
just be somebody who's you knowwalking, trying to hit certain
step goals even, or has anactive job where they're on
their feet.
A lot these types of issues canhappen with any activity level
(41:21):
thing that I really like to takehome, because I think that a
lot of the people that come outvery openly with some of these
issues tend or sometimes theyare like very elite, very
professional type athletes, andI think that's amazing because
it's it makes it easier to seethat there are other people
struggling, but sometimes itreinforces this notion of like
oh well, I'm not an eliteathlete, so I don't know if I
(41:42):
would be experiencing that typeof an issue.
And so the folks that we workwith are women that really range
in activity and fitness level,and what we do is we provide
them with everything fromnutrition support, like training
, so how they're navigatingexercise, and it's really high
touch one-on-one support, andyou're working with somebody who
(42:04):
you're meeting on like a weekly, like a regular basis, and
we're addressing both things inparallel.
So we're addressing how can wemake some changes to make sure
that you are not really comingout of this trap of overtraining
and underfueling, at the sametime with addressing the
(42:25):
underlying factors, so that thegoal is really you know, you
come through and you haveeverything that you need to be
able to actually make thelasting change and to walk away
feeling that you've improvedyour relationship with food and
exercise and not just understoodwhich is something that we do
(42:47):
as well, which is educate youand understand.
Okay, where is theremisinformation and what does
good actually look like here, aswell as, and all of that is
based on.
I mean, it's incredible howmuch research has been developed
in the space of relative energydeficiency in sports.
So reds, um, hypothalamicamenorrhea, even disordered
(43:07):
eating there's.
There's just so much materialsout there.
That's amazing.
And so we uh, all of theprograms that we offer to people
are very, you know,research-based or evidence-based
frameworks, and and then welayer that on top, like what are
, what are the, what are thedrivers and how can we provide?
(43:27):
And that's what we.
That's why we really hone in onthe individualized approach is
because, for each person, thisrequires understanding them,
understanding where they are,what their goals are, how they
relate to these things, howthey're showing up to day to day
, even like what is yourlifestyle like right now and how
do you navigate your ownschedule, your own routine, your
(43:49):
own relationships?
All of those things definitelyplay into how, to your point,
like it's a complex journey thatevery single person has gone on
.
It's a complex journey thatevery single person has gone on.
When you hear my story, you'relike, oh, there's so much there.
That's specific.
And that's what we really valuein being able to support the
people, because we want, youknow, as you're mentioning, we
want the goal to be like reallylasting change, feeling actually
(44:14):
like there's more freedom andmore flexibility around food and
exercise, feeling like you cancome to peace with your body and
that you're able to navigatethe perfectionism that's showing
up in your career and howyou're managing stress and how
you're seeking validation fromothers or all those other
implications that are alsoimpacting how you're showing up
(44:37):
in food and how you're showingup in exercise.
So it's individualized support,it's nutrition, it's training
and mostly women who resonatewith some of the topics that we
were covering here today.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
So I think that the takeaway is I mean, everyone has
their own story right, so youcould lump everyone into these
general categories, but everyonehas their own background and
story and and relationship withfood.
So I love the high touch andthe and the one-on-one coaching
and it sounds like you work withwomen mostly around your age
(45:15):
and who are still getting theirperiods right and or who now are
not possibly getting theirperiods because they're
overexercising and under eating.
Is that true?
Is that?
Is that, is that the age groupthat you work with?
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah, we focus on women anywhere from around high
school age all the way up to, Iwould say, like mid 30s is our
core target.
With that said, we don'tnecessarily we won't reject
people that don't fall into thatdemographic, but that tends to
(45:48):
be the most common prototypeperson that's coming to us, and
oftentimes they're eitherexperiencing menstrual
disturbances or totalhypothalamic, like functional
hypothalamic amenorrhea, whichmeans that they have, like, lost
their cycle.
And it's great because forwomen, it's almost, in a very
(46:11):
weird indirect way, having thatvital sign.
Well, it's not an officialvital sign, but I usually like
to say it's like.
It's like a vital sign for usbecause it's such a good
feedback loop in terms ofwhether or not the changes that
you're making are impacting youin the sense of is it impacting
your production of estrogen?
Is it impacting you to theextent that your body feels like
(46:34):
it's shutting down thenon-essential bodily functions,
which indicates that it'sprobably operating in more of
like a survival mode, and sobeing able to use that as a
feedback loop is really helpful.
And that's everything from oh,actually, are we seeing that
you're ovulating?
Is late, like is it delayed?
(46:54):
Is your cycle length becomingtoo long?
Those are all even leadingfactors, even if you haven't
completely lost your periodaltogether.
But technically, if you've lostyour period for three to six
months or longer, then that'sabsolutely.
I would highly highly encouragethose folks to seek support now
(47:14):
.
Now is the right time.
And it's reversible.
It's changeable throughlifestyle factors.
It's not normal and it'sreversible.
It's changeable throughlifestyle factors.
It's not normal Even if you'reexercising a lot, or if you're
not exercising a lot, not at all, and so that is something that
we do focus on with folks.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
I love that because that is like real solid evidence
, right, if you're not gettingyour period and you're over
exercising and under eating,right, we talked about this
there's other healthconsequences, and that's we
talked about this, there's otherhealth consequences, and that's
important.
I mean that's really important.
So to then work on this andthen have the evidence of
getting your period again islike positive feedback, right
(47:54):
for your body and for your brain.
So that's, that's a that's agreat marker and so I love that.
Allison, it was really, reallynice talking with you and
talking to someone much younger.
I talked to so many women inlike perimenopause and menopause
, so it was really nice beingable to just get this
(48:17):
information and pass thisinformation along to my audience
, because my audience hasdaughters who are, you know,
around your age too and couldcertainly use this help, and I
will put any links that you wantinto the show notes so people
can reach out to you, and I justappreciate you being here.
(48:39):
So thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
Yeah, thank you so much.
So, thank you so much.
Yeah, thank you so much.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
Great, amazing, thoughtfulquestions.
So thank you so much for havingme.
Hi everybody.
Today I am with AllisonYamamoto and, as a former NCAA
cheerleader turned marathonrunner and professed
overachiever, allison struggledwith managing food and nutrition
under eating and, in turn, tomaintain a regular menstrual
cycle.
For years, in an effort to staydisciplined, she avoided rest
(00:24):
days, ate strictly foods shelabeled healthy and found
herself chronically overtrainingwhile struggling to manage her
stress.
After realizing how prevalentthis was, she made it her
mission to help others overcomethese challenges, to transform
their relationship with food,exercise and their bodies.
Allison got certified incoaching, specializing in
(00:47):
overtraining and disorderedeating.
She gathered a team ofclinicians and created an
evidence-based mentorshipprogram that helps you
understand what your body reallyneeds and offers the support to
overcome the challenges keepingyou stuck.
So, hi, allison, it's great tohave you on today because in the
world of nutrition, most of thestories I hear and the women I
(01:11):
see claim they need to loseweight and that they cannot
figure out food.
Now there's an assumption thatthey are overeating, but I also
think there are a lot of womenmy age in peri and menopause who
had disordered eating andcarried that into midlife.
So those are two things I see alot.
The other thing is that many ofthese women have daughters who
(01:34):
have adopted intense cleaneating regimens and are indeed
under eating and areexperiencing, I think, what you
have gone through.
So I want to just jump intoyour story.
Can you share with me how yougot into sports and then the
need and the pressure to undereat and, I imagine, adopt some
(01:55):
kind of clean eating regimen andthat you said turned into
disordered eating?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, definitely so for me.
I've always been quite activeand I think it's something
that's fairly normalized insociety at this point, which is
a propensity to eat fairlyhealthy and to participate in
activity and exercise, andthat's something that was
definitely praised by otherpeople in my life and something
(02:22):
I genuinely enjoyed growing upand then, when I went in, became
a cheerleader throughoutcollege.
I'm sure you can imagine someof the either implicit or
explicit body standards that arepresented either with the
uniforms that you're having, aswell as the body changes that
you're going through when you'retransitioning out of high
school and into college, andthere's additional pressure just
(02:46):
in making that transition,about expectations around weight
gain, weight changes, newsocial situations, and so, over
time, it was definitely notsomething that happened
overnight as much as thebehaviors that I originally
intended to really invest inwhen it came to nutrition and
exercise were intended to behealthy and most people were
(03:10):
praising them, and I felt like Iwas meeting the body standards
that I was striving for throughthe changes I was making, and it
became a bit of a slipperyslope where, over time, I was
starting to notice I have areally big interest in nutrition
, which turned into a slightlymore restrictive diet, which
(03:30):
turned into fairly strict rulesaround nutrition and I think you
said it brilliantly which isthat so often nutrition advice
is synonymous with weight lossadvice, and so then, the more I
would learn about nutrition, themore the advice that I was
consuming was probably mostlyintended for somebody who was in
(03:54):
a much different demographicthan the situation that I was in
, and I ended up falling into somany traps that were probably
meant for folks that were verybought into diet culture and
becoming, in doing so, veryunder fueled, not even
intentionally at first.
And on the exercise side,because I'm somebody who's
(04:16):
really disciplined, I'm somebodywho, when I started training
and doing running after Igraduated from college, it
became this slippery slope whereit was okay, maybe I'll do a 5K
, now I'm doing a half marathon,might as well do a marathon,
and in that type of training andthe intensity that I can get at
and I think this is true of alot of other folks that are
(04:38):
considered pretty disciplined orthey're trying to be very
regimented in their training,which is something that we also
see in a lot of information orfitness culture even saying
discipline means no days off.
It means that even if you'refeeling like you're questioning
or you're lacking motivation,you're going, you're going hard,
you're staying to that routine,and that spoke to me and I
(05:00):
would do that to a T.
But as a result of that, I wouldfall down these paths where
eventually I was realizing I wassuper anxious if I felt like I
was even considering taking arest day or feeling guilty about
some of the food choices that Iwas making, and it got to the
(05:20):
point where I ended up losing myperiod for several years.
Going through the healthcaresystem, there was a lot of
confusion about whether or notthat was just a natural, normal
thing that would occur for folksthat were especially women,
that are more active, that areespecially doing any sort of
endurance training orcardiovascular work, and so I
(05:40):
didn't even think that there wasan issue for a long time.
And then, through the work thatI did to actually recover, I
learned so much about nutritionand what actually matters.
I learned a lot more aboutwhere some of the patterns I was
falling into with exercise wereactually not even conducive to
some of the fitness goals that Ihad, and I think the most
(06:03):
important thing that I really,really underestimated is how
much more freedom andflexibility, and even lack of
stress and anxiety.
I gained from making thosechanges, and when I did so,
that's truly what inspired me toreally invest in creating a
framework and a program thatwould help other women who are
(06:27):
struggling with this and providethe resources that I wish that
I had had on day one of startingdown this slope and this kind
of like slippery, moredisordered eating compulsive
exercise territory that I'dfallen into.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Okay, thank you for sharing that.
We have.
That's a lot to unpack.
So, because there's, you know,there's a lot of things going on
.
I think the first one is justsociety's ideals, for let's just
talk about women, you know,being very active and healthy,
(07:06):
eating, and, and, but is it,does it fall under the guise of
like being really thin?
And you know, it's like thiswhole like ideal of what a woman
should look like and be like,and and you were getting a lot
of praise for that, right, Imean, you were getting a lot of
(07:28):
just accolades for like thehealthier I'm using air quotes
here like the healthier, youwere eating right, and and
really, and even to the pointthat you were not then getting
your period for years, and andeven having medical
professionals.
It sounds like dismissing thatall in the name of like well,
(07:51):
you're an athlete, you are, youknow you're eating healthy,
you're you're doing, you knowyou're thin, that that's okay.
Is that correct?
I mean, is that that you, thatyou were getting dismissed by
medical professionals?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yes, surprisingly so.
So I, especially in the earlydays of losing my period, would
go to my doctor.
I went to a series of doctorsand they would, and I and I I
can empathize with theirsituation because they're seeing
, I'm sure, just the whole gamutof conditions.
(08:28):
Coming in their door and seeingan otherwise healthy,
presenting young adult womanwho's still walking and doesn't
need any sort of major, notbleeding anywhere I'm not
chronically sick, necessarily,so I can empathize.
But yeah, the reality is thatit was misguided information in
(08:51):
the sense that they were sayingoh well, you know to the extent
that you are a runner and you'reeating healthy and you're
exercising a lot.
This is expected is a lot ofthe information I got.
This is normal.
Expected is a lot of theinformation I got.
This is normal.
And I think that the other thingthat was really challenging was
because there's a lot of stigmaaround your relationship with
(09:13):
food and even body image, whereit's almost as if, to your point
, there's so much pressurethat's implicit or explicit to
meet certain body standards butat the same time, to do it in a
way that's implicit or explicitto meet certain body standards
but at the same time to do it ina way that's seemingly fairly
effortless, that I was in hugedenial that I even had body
(09:34):
image issues or that I was eventrying to meet some sort of
standard with my body.
That wasn't something that Ihad willingly and very
admittedly come to light andwould have said to you at, you
know, at the heat of all of thishappening, like, look, I'm
having major body image problems.
That's definitely not somethingI would have said.
(09:55):
And so I did find that it wasalso hard for me to find avenues
where I could find the supportthat I was ready to have in an
interesting way at that time,and so I think that having the
medical professionals say stufflike you know, this is fine, was
actually, in some ways, musicto my ears, because I was like,
all right, then I don't reallyneed to make changes, I can
(10:16):
stick to this thing.
That feels really safe.
And meanwhile everyone else istelling me that they might even
envy the fact that I'm sodisciplined, and so it was a
huge reinforcement on everyangle of staying stuck, and I
think that that's what made metake so long to even admit that
(10:38):
I needed to make changes, andthat's one of the biggest
regrets that I have is notmaking some of these changes
sooner and earlier, and I thinkthat in part that is because I
was also seeing the positivefeedback loops and the signals
where folks were telling me it'sokay or it's actually good and
what you're doing is positive,and that external validation is
(10:59):
hugely reinforcing to some ofthe habits that I was kind of
continuing to invest in.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Absolutely.
I mean you were getting nothing.
But no, keep going, right.
I mean this is good, eventhough in your head, intuitively
, it sounds like you felt likesomething's not right.
I mean something was nagging atyou.
But you were a young woman, Imean, who didn't really have the
(11:26):
words right to say, like I'mhaving body image problems.
I mean that right, that's likenothing that you would really
think of as a young adult.
You know to like, say to peopleor like, or to even speak up
and say you know what this isn'tright, like something doesn't
feel right, I'm not getting myperiod, or I mean right, and you
(11:54):
have doctors who are you know.
If doctor says it's okay, thenI guess it's okay.
Yeah, I mean it's, and and itsounds like even just support
from I am I correct friends andfamily, and I mean no one was
really saying to you something'snot right except for you, right
?
Am I correct with that?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
It's so interesting because I think it's one of
those topics that's really hard,especially intergenerationally,
for us to talk about.
And I think that the thing youbring up about the
mother-daughter dynamic isreally interesting because so
many of the women that I workwith can point to or easily
(12:31):
recall instances where someonebecause we've talked about the
societal pressures but so manyof those are reinforced really
close to home.
So the amount of instances orexamples that somebody can point
to, an instance where an auntor a grandmother or a mother or
someone a female figure that'sreally close to them has most
(12:52):
likely unintentionally saidsomething that reinforced some
of those standards for them canbe really tricky and really
really common and, again, veryunintentional.
But I think that in part it'salso because folks that tend to
be high achievers or set highstandards for themselves care a
(13:14):
lot about how they're beingperceived by others or really
get fed by the externalvalidation.
I think oftentimes what I'mseeing is that those are the
same people that are less likelyto admit where there are
struggles that by societystandards are considered
shameful.
And to your point that I thoughtyou mentioned really elegantly,
(13:36):
which is that it's a complexissue, it's something that, yeah
, there could be a componentwith body image.
There could be a huge componentabout stress and stress
management.
That was a huge factor for me,and a lot of the positions that
I was carrying and the pressureI put on myself for my career
definitely fed into how I showedup in those other aspects of my
(13:57):
life as well, and so that'sonly two of many, many factors.
There's like perfectionism wassomething that was huge for me
as well.
That was something I neverreally understood or identified
with until I really understoodexactly how that can show up in
different ways for differentpeople.
And all of those thingscombined, as I got more and more
(14:19):
educated about what reallymotivates and drives some of
these rigid routines with foodand exercise did I start to feel
like I could identify with someof the issues that I had
suspected I was experiencing fora while.
But it's something where ifother people around you are also
struggling and don't realizethat they're struggling, then
(14:41):
it's way easier for the cycle tobe reinforced within a friend
group or within a generationalline, because when it's so
normalized at that point, thenof course you're you're not
really sure that you'reexperiencing those issues,
because other people are sayingwell, this is just what I do to
be healthier.
(15:01):
This is just what I do to behealthier.
This is just what I do to stayfit.
And then you're now thinking,okay, well, again, this is
normal or necessary.
And I'm going to continue to dowhat I'm doing already?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I know when I grew upthat all the major players, you
know, my mother, my grandmothers, I mean everyone was on a diet.
I mean everyone.
You just were not good enoughunless you were dieting to get
thin.
I mean you just.
And we were subtly taught likewomen aren't really supposed to
(15:38):
like food.
So it's a little different thanyours, because you were like an
athlete and I was not reallythat.
I mean, I was athletic but notlike, not like where you know,
into like sports, like you were.
But so we were just supposed tonot like food and really watch
we're eating, go on diets, cons,on off diets and and feel bad
(16:02):
about our bodies.
You know the generations, youknow.
And then I think it'sinteresting because I do see a
lot of women that I see have, Ithink they're passing things on
to their daughters, you know,and I see them.
(16:23):
You know, because then I seetheir daughters, you know like I
see them.
You know, because then I I I'vesee their daughters, you know
like I, I see them and then theyask me if I can see their
daughters, because theirdaughters are just not doing
something right, you know, andthings definitely get passed on,
is what I'm trying to say, andwe want to break that, you know,
break that chain and learn.
You know.
(16:43):
So you're, you are learning.
You learned, then, how toreally it sounds like make peace
with food and eating.
How did tell me just a littlebit more about that?
How did that come to be?
Did you find someone?
So, after all, these doctorswere saying you're fine, you're
good, what was the light bulbthat went off for you or that
(17:07):
turned the corner for you?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I think for me, because I'm somebody that likes
to seek out a lot of informationI had eventually gotten to the
point where I just got educatedon the topic myself, and it was
kind of nice because this wasright around the time that
(17:32):
terminology like female athletetriad and then what eventually
became relative energydeficiency in sport became more
widely known.
I don't think it's commonplaceyet, but there was enough
research and enough kind ofclinical developments that were
(17:54):
coming out that I could actuallyacquire information and start
to understand.
And so one of the biggestthings that was a motivator for
me was learning about how underfeeling and overtraining can
have negative health impacts,independent of just your
(18:15):
menstrual health, which wassomething that what I had been
told was not necessarily apriority if you weren't actively
trying to conceive, and so forme, that was an easy excuse to
put it off and put it offbecause that wasn't one of my
primary goals.
But when I started learning, oh, actually these types of issues
(18:38):
are not just about my menstrualhealth.
This is impacting everythingfrom how I am experiencing my
day to day.
So I'm realizing that I'mprobably more irritable, I could
be experiencing more fatigue,but not to mention that some of
the things that were muchscarier for me especially
someone that cared about beingable to exercise and being able
(18:59):
to be active was bone healthinjury, my immune system being
compromised.
So some of these more criticalareas that can have impacts a
lot quicker and increasing myrisk of, for example, stress
fractures, which can occur whenyour bone density is compromised
(19:19):
, which can occur when you're atvery high risk of this if you
are experiencing hypothalamicamenorrhea, like I was, which is
when you're missing your period.
That that was one of my biggestnightmares is.
It's an injury that's reallychronic, it takes a long
recovery time, it essentiallytakes you out, and not to
(19:41):
mention that already, as women,bone health is such a key factor
that we should be prioritizing,especially when considering
longevity.
And, as somebody who was active,thinking about compromising my
bone health so early was reallywhat was that light bulb moment?
For me?
It was realizing oh no, thisisn't just a do I want to have a
(20:03):
baby right now or not?
Problem.
This is.
I'm actually really impactingmy baseline health and even my
own performance.
Like the things that I thoughtwere making me stand out as
somebody who's more fit or who'shealthier have now gotten me to
(20:24):
the place where I'm actuallythe opposite, like I'm
compromising my fitness becauseof some of these habits that I'm
falling into.
Because of some of these habitsthat I'm falling into, and I
think that one of the thingsthat's interesting is the other
areas that ended up being someof the biggest wins for me when
I started to gain more peacearound food things like not
(20:44):
feeling so much guilt about whatI was consuming or not feeling
like I had to think about foodall the time and that it was
something that was always on mymind.
Those things I didn't fullyrealize until I started going
through recovery how much thosewere impacting my life, and
that's probably one of thebiggest changes that actually
(21:06):
ended up occurring, and so Ithink it was like sort of the
aspects that were the mostterrifying that really
encouraged me to change.
But then, in doing so,unpacking all the other side
effects that were amazinglylife-changing for me was some of
the stuff that I wish had beenthe major inspiration points for
(21:29):
me earlier on in the journey.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
So that's just so interesting that you say that
about not having your period.
and then the risk factors, thatit's not just that wanting to
get pregnant or not get pregnant, but that irritability, fatigue
, bone health, I imagine, hearthealth, I mean so the same thing
happens with women in menopauseIf they are chronically under
(21:53):
eating, and there's I mean,there's been studies done about
this that there's a risk of youknow, underweight, under eating,
that the likelihood of yougoing into early menopause,
which then in turn is you know,so this is like before you, like
you know, in your like early40s, you were in menopause that
(22:14):
ups your risk for heart disease,osteoporosis, cognitive decline
, premature death, I mean.
So it's, it's one you know,it's kind of the same.
So I mean, if you carry this,these habits, into your later
adulthood, you're, then you knowyou're continuing those risks
(22:34):
of of all of these other things,and it has not really anything
to do with getting pregnant ornot getting pregnant.
I mean.
I mean you know it does, but Imean it's, but there's all these
other risks that surround it.
So it's that's, that's.
That's very interesting that notgetting your period when you're
younger also has this verysimilar risks to it.
(22:58):
And kindness for yourself,because the need to be thin and
the pressure to be thin and bean athlete, I think, is so
applauded, you know.
(23:19):
And so for you to realize onyour own that something's not
right, that you are, it's goingbeyond just not getting your
period and the space it takesand the time it takes in your
brain to constantly thinkingabout food right, constantly
(23:39):
wondering, like I have.
I have to imagine that, likeyou might've thought at
breakfast, you, maybe youoverate a little bit and so
you're not going to, and thenwhat was going to happen for,
like, the rest of the day, orright, I mean, was it, was it
habits like that that were justwere just on your mind all the
time?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, it was everything from okay.
If I'm gonna do this thing forlunch, then how is this gonna
impact the rest of my day?
To okay, if I was eatingsomething and I wasn't feeling
full afterwards then literallyjust a physiological thing that
they've done.
You know so many studies on how, when you're under eating, you
(24:18):
develop, as a survival mechanism, sort of an obsession with food
.
So you're thinking about whatis my next meal.
You're thinking about what am Igoing to be able to have and
you're scrolling throughwhatever platform of choice,
looking at really appetizing,looking foods it's something
(24:39):
that is inherently wired into uswhen we're under eating.
Is that obsession that again,you don't even necessarily
realize that it might behappening, but you're starting
(25:09):
to think about food, a feelinglike I was trying to calculate
how things are going to fit inand what impact that's going to
have, or trying to follow andadhere to all of these
guidelines that I was reallyholding myself to on such high
standards.
And so it just is, hitting fromall angles and thinking about
(25:34):
during those years, all theother things that I could have
been thinking about during allof those moments.
It is crazy and and to thinkabout how much of energy that
took up and at the time I wasstill.
You know, it's not like I paintthis as if you know all day.
This is all I was thinkingabout and that's absolutely not
(25:54):
the case.
You know, anyone who wasinteracting with me or who knew
me at that time they saw medoing all these other things.
This is something that washappening just internally within
me and yet I was still strivingreally hard in my career and
training for all these otherthings.
So it's not something that iseveryone is wearing very clearly
(26:16):
on the surface.
These are things that the peoplethat you see walking around you
never know, because I thinkalso there's a lot of
misinformation in terms of someof these issues.
They occur at every single bodysize, they incur in any age.
They incur male, female.
There's just so much myths, Iwould say, or misinformation
(26:37):
about what the prototypicalperson who's struggling with
these types of issues looks likethat we think or would expect,
and in reality, the prevalenceis much more diverse and I think
that one of the things that'salso interesting that you're
mentioning is that one of thebiggest triggers that they say
(26:58):
is inducing some of these moredisordered patterns or can
create eating disorder relatedor even disordered eating type
of patterns are the combinationof a propensity for dieting
which, to your point, issomething that was really
normalized for a lot ofgenerations, a lot of people
combined with transition events,and so, as women, our body
(27:23):
composition, like our bodies,are changing as we age, as we go
through different phases inlife, and those types of events
can trigger the onset of thisslippery slope at any stage, and
so it could happen later,during menopause.
It could have happened earlier,like for me, when it was more of
like that, high school tocollege or college to graduating
(27:45):
.
But those are all key pointsand factors when we're more at
risk of starting to feel like weneed to put the pressure on
ourselves to take on morecontrol with food or with
exercise or our bodies, or,however it is, when we're
(28:05):
navigating some of those morestressful or unexpected or
uncertain transition points.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I think a lot of women get to the point with
eating that it's just runninglike a tape in the back of your
head, right?
I mean it's not like you said.
You were productive, right, youwere an athlete, you were going
to college, you were likesucceeding in all other areas,
but in the back of your headyou're probably subtly just
(28:32):
constantly thinking about thefood that you were going to eat
or not going to eat, your hunger, right, it was just sort of
like playing on autopilot.
And I think that's not justwomen your age who are
chronically trying to under eat,and you know, it's all it
happens for many, many women.
(28:53):
It's all it happens for many,many women.
And then I think and I think youmentioned the word control, you
know that that's a big word inthe world of like menopause and
perimenopause, because all of asudden, where you feel like
you're very in control right ofyour food, like for most of your
life, when you go intomenopause, there is a lack of
(29:14):
control because your body isdoing something that is just
feels very out of your control.
I mean, you are losing yourestrogen, you know a lot of
things are going on.
And when a lot of women thenstart maybe gaining weight or
gaining like, and they they justlook at food and they gain
weight and you know like, andit's very.
It's really, really distressingto women who have been.
(29:39):
You know where you were like Ihave like this grip over what
I'm going to eat and how much,and or not eat, or and, and it's
so it's very distressing.
So I mean, I think I'm so happyto hear that you have really
made peace with your food at ayounger age.
(30:00):
So when you go to the rest ofyour life, you know, and when
you get older and your body isshifting and changing, you can
be prepared for that that thereis.
You know that you're nottotally in charge sometimes of
your body.
You know that you're nottotally in charge sometimes of
your body.
You know and, but you can be,but not in a in a crazy way, if
(30:20):
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, and I love that .
What you were saying about howthe cyclical nature of it so
that for the women that aregoing through that right now the
menopausal transition and thenthe pressure that they were
experiencing throughout theirlives with dieting and then are
recognizing this earlier on fortheir daughters or any of their
children, and being moreproactive about getting them
(30:45):
support and being able to offerthem those resources earlier on
is amazing, because it's nevertoo late to make some of those
changes for yourself, and beingable to offer that gift to
somebody way younger, I think issuch a huge way to pay it
(31:06):
forward, because the reality isis, even if you're attempting to
be really perfect, it's so hardto you know, when we're talking
about control, to exactlycontrol how either we're going
to pass those things down or howsomeone else is going to be
conditioned, based on the otherfactors to relate to their food
and their exercise, and so I dothink it's a resource that can
(31:29):
be invaluable and life-changingfor someone earlier on in their
journey who could be eitherstarting to fall down this
pathway or may not be able toseek support from their mom or
their grandmother, whoever it is, because of either that
(31:50):
relationship or because of someof the behaviors that they've
seen, or simply because it's areally shameful topic and it's
hard to go to someone that youalso seek approval from to get
that type of support, and so Ithink that being able to be
supportive or proactive aboutgetting that type of a resource
for the younger generations issomething that is of a resource
(32:15):
for, you know, the youngergenerations is something that is
an incredible thing that you'rementioning happens.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Yeah, I hope that that happens more and there's
more conversation around that,because, honestly, the pressure
to stay thin even in your 50sand 60s and look good in a
bikini when you're 65.
I mean, you know, you've seenon social media, I mean, this is
highly praised at the cost ofyour health.
(32:40):
That we're not.
We don't want to be thin or inshape because of for health
reasons, but for vanity reasons,and it's still.
It just continues on and on.
I hope that the conversationcan start to shift, but it's a
big ask, I think, in our society.
So I'm just curious.
(33:00):
You know, as someone who is muchyounger than me, when I grew up
, my influences were magazines,that magazines had diets in them
, and that's where I got a lotof information from, you know,
and then my, my relatives andeverything.
But for you, growing up, socialmedia was, you know, like front
(33:21):
and center.
What's, what's your thoughtabout the prevalence of
disordered eating and socialmedia?
I mean, do you think it's?
I mean I think it's out ofcontrol.
Personally, I mean, I think theI just makes me crazy going on
like Instagram and seeing someof the wacky things going on.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, I think there's sort of two angles to this that
come top of mind for me.
So one is that there is so muchout there in terms of what other
people are doing, so thatcomparison trap becomes
(33:59):
absolutely pervasive andsomething that you can feed
yourself all the time.
And I think that that can bereally challenging, especially
when one we have no idea whatthose people are, when one we
have no idea what those peopleare, what their lives are like,
what they're doing, and yetthere's this expectation that,
oh, if I do every single thingthat that person does, then I'll
(34:27):
be able to achieve theirwhatever it is that we want,
that they have, and that they'resharing about their lives so
much online that you feel likeyou could emulate some of those
things and that that's somethingthat's achievable.
And so I think that you feellike you could emulate some of
those things and that that'ssomething that's achievable, and
so I think that that'ssomething that can contribute a
lot to the pressure that folksare experiencing online.
And then I think that thesecond angle to a lot of the the
comparison aspects is that it'sthe sense of removal, when
(34:53):
maybe we were seeing a celebrityin a magazine or on a billboard
.
The psychology aroundcomparison is such that, yes, we
do see that person and feellike we should emulate them and
that's the gold standard.
At the same time, weacknowledge, oh, that person is
fairly removed from me in thesense that they have either a
(35:15):
different status or they have adifferent career path, and it's
sometimes slightly easier to seethe difference between yourself
and that person If you viewthem as like a celebrity figure
or something else, versus someof the people that we're seeing
online are people that we feellike we should be, we're on,
they should be, they're similarto me.
(35:35):
I feel much more of a sense ofconnection to that person and
because it's a curated platformwhere you can change, you can
filter, you can edit, you canthere's just so much tooling out
there to be able to create aperception that is curated
around how you look or whatyou're doing, that it creates
(35:59):
almost like a really dangeroustrack where you're like, oh, I
actually think that I couldemulate that person, and also
that person is portraying what Ibelieve is super realistic.
So I think that's like the oneangle on it, which is just that
comparison trap, and then theother angle is the availability
of information, and I think thatthis can be really challenging,
(36:23):
especially for someone likemyself, who just feeds off of
information, and when I feellike I'm uncertain or when I
feel like I'm scared or kind ofunsure, my default mode is to
try to seek information.
And this can be reallychallenging because there's a
(36:44):
lot of misinformation and it'sreally really hard to weed
through.
And, on the other hand, onething that I think is
interesting is especially forfolks that are super, super
disciplined and probably viewthemselves as resilient or
somewhat self-sufficient.
If they are experiencing a lotof this over-discipline around
(37:04):
food and exercise, then they canfall into a trap, and this is
something that I did for a while, which is just seeking out a
ton of information at theexpense of realizing that some
of the barriers to actually makechanges aren't just a lack of
information about what you needto do, as much as addressing
(37:29):
some of the underlying factorsor drivers that are keeping you
really stuck.
And I think that for me, thatwas the biggest unlock, because
I would really try to go againstthe grain in terms of making
some of these changes or notreally understand why I wasn't
making the changes faster, andthat was a really distressing
place to be, in a way, because Iam so determined and I had so
(37:53):
much information that it wasfrustrating to me why I couldn't
just like force the changes andit always felt anxiety inducing
and stressful, and I think thatthat's one thing that is key to
trying to move through some ofthese things, when you have a
really challenging relationshipwith food or a really
challenging relationship withexercise, is a understanding
(38:17):
well, what are my actual drivershere?
And which is actually somethingthat, if anyone is interested,
I'm happy to offer like a free,like resource that folks can use
to start to understand whattheir drivers are, but also to
be able to seek whatever supportthat look like.
So, whether that's in a friendor in you know yourself, as a
nutritionist who's supportingpeople, or in a coach or a
(38:39):
mentor, whoever it, it is that Ithink that that can be one of
the biggest changes that canmake the actual exercise and
food-related changes stick andlast and so I think that that's
also something that can bechallenging about the
availability of information isthat that's what it is it's
(39:02):
information, but it doesn'talways get to some of those
underlying, very human aspectsof what is causing us to stay
stuck in whatever habit it isthat we are continuing to
propagate.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
I mean, I think it's allexternal.
I mean it's all look at me justso out of control.
I mean that you know what'shappening on social media.
I mean anyone can go on there.
The influencers who are haveabsolutely zero qualifications,
nothing, and have millions offollowers and are just promoting
(39:39):
the craziest things and it'sjust very confusing, I think, to
people to pick out what isright and what is not right.
And but I think you know youused the saying that your
internal drivers.
That's huge.
So I want to then you know,roll into then what your
coaching programs look like.
(40:00):
And because you mentioned thatyou have an offer to identify
your internal drivers, let'stalk about your coaching and how
you work with women.
Is it mostly women, or is it?
Speaker 2 (40:13):
men and women.
It's mostly women, to be honest, and it's not that we wouldn't
work with men, we absolutelywould.
It's just that men, I thinkthat there may be earlier in the
journey when it comes toacknowledging that there are
struggles that are happeningAbsolutely with men.
I mean, the pressure with meneven is huge, just different
sometimes or more nuanced in adifferent way, but so huge.
(40:35):
But so most of the folks thatwe're working with tend to be
women, um, but so most of thefolks that we're working with
tend to be women, essentiallythe folks that come to us, and
when I say an active woman orsomebody who's you know working
out or exercising, it's this is.
It's funny that you were saying, oh, you're an athlete.
It's funny, cause I didn'tidentify as an athlete for so
(40:55):
long.
And when, when we say we sayactive woman, this could even
just be somebody who's you knowwalking, trying to hit certain
step goals even, or has anactive job where they're on
their feet.
A lot these types of issues canhappen with any activity level
(41:21):
thing that I really like to takehome, because I think that a
lot of the people that come outvery openly with some of these
issues tend or sometimes theyare like very elite, very
professional type athletes, andI think that's amazing because
it's it makes it easier to seethat there are other people
struggling, but sometimes itreinforces this notion of like
oh well, I'm not an eliteathlete, so I don't know if I
(41:42):
would be experiencing that typeof an issue.
And so the folks that we workwith are women that really range
in activity and fitness level,and what we do is we provide
them with everything fromnutrition support, like training
, so how they're navigatingexercise, and it's really high
touch one-on-one support, andyou're working with somebody who
(42:04):
you're meeting on like a weekly, like a regular basis, and
we're addressing both things inparallel.
So we're addressing how can wemake some changes to make sure
that you are not really comingout of this trap of overtraining
and underfueling, at the sametime with addressing the
(42:25):
underlying factors, so that thegoal is really you know, you
come through and you haveeverything that you need to be
able to actually make thelasting change and to walk away
feeling that you've improvedyour relationship with food and
exercise and not just understoodwhich is something that we do
(42:47):
as well, which is educate youand understand.
Okay, where is theremisinformation and what does
good actually look like here, aswell as, and all of that is
based on.
I mean, it's incredible howmuch research has been developed
in the space of relative energydeficiency in sports.
So reds, um, hypothalamicamenorrhea, even disordered
(43:07):
eating there's.
There's just so much materialsout there.
That's amazing.
And so we uh, all of theprograms that we offer to people
are very, you know,research-based or evidence-based
frameworks, and and then welayer that on top, like what are
, what are the, what are thedrivers and how can we provide?
(43:27):
And that's what we.
That's why we really hone in onthe individualized approach is
because, for each person, thisrequires understanding them,
understanding where they are,what their goals are, how they
relate to these things, howthey're showing up to day to day
, even like what is yourlifestyle like right now and how
do you navigate your ownschedule, your own routine, your
(43:49):
own relationships?
All of those things definitelyplay into how, to your point,
like it's a complex journey thatevery single person has gone on
.
It's a complex journey thatevery single person has gone on.
When you hear my story, you'relike, oh, there's so much there.
That's specific.
And that's what we really valuein being able to support the
people, because we want, youknow, as you're mentioning, we
want the goal to be like reallylasting change, feeling actually
(44:14):
like there's more freedom andmore flexibility around food and
exercise, feeling like you cancome to peace with your body and
that you're able to navigatethe perfectionism that's showing
up in your career and howyou're managing stress and how
you're seeking validation fromothers or all those other
implications that are alsoimpacting how you're showing up
(44:37):
in food and how you're showingup in exercise.
So it's individualized support,it's nutrition, it's training
and mostly women who resonatewith some of the topics that we
were covering here today.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
So I think that the takeaway is I mean, everyone has
their own story right, so youcould lump everyone into these
general categories, but everyonehas their own background and
story and and relationship withfood.
So I love the high touch andthe and the one-on-one coaching
and it sounds like you work withwomen mostly around your age
(45:15):
and who are still getting theirperiods right and or who now are
not possibly getting theirperiods because they're
overexercising and under eating.
Is that true?
Is that?
Is that, is that the age groupthat you work with?
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah, we focus on women anywhere from around high
school age all the way up to, Iwould say, like mid 30s is our
core target.
With that said, we don'tnecessarily we won't reject
people that don't fall into thatdemographic, but that tends to
(45:48):
be the most common prototypeperson that's coming to us, and
oftentimes they're eitherexperiencing menstrual
disturbances or totalhypothalamic, like functional
hypothalamic amenorrhea, whichmeans that they have, like, lost
their cycle.
And it's great because forwomen, it's almost, in a very
(46:11):
weird indirect way, having thatvital sign.
Well, it's not an officialvital sign, but I usually like
to say it's like.
It's like a vital sign for usbecause it's such a good
feedback loop in terms ofwhether or not the changes that
you're making are impacting youin the sense of is it impacting
your production of estrogen?
Is it impacting you to theextent that your body feels like
(46:34):
it's shutting down thenon-essential bodily functions,
which indicates that it'sprobably operating in more of
like a survival mode, and sobeing able to use that as a
feedback loop is really helpful.
And that's everything from oh,actually, are we seeing that
you're ovulating?
Is late, like is it delayed?
(46:54):
Is your cycle length becomingtoo long?
Those are all even leadingfactors, even if you haven't
completely lost your periodaltogether.
But technically, if you've lostyour period for three to six
months or longer, then that'sabsolutely.
I would highly highly encouragethose folks to seek support now
(47:14):
.
Now is the right time.
And it's reversible.
It's changeable throughlifestyle factors.
It's not normal and it'sreversible.
It's changeable throughlifestyle factors.
It's not normal Even if you'reexercising a lot, or if you're
not exercising a lot, not at all, and so that is something that
we do focus on with folks.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
I love that because that is like real solid evidence
, right, if you're not gettingyour period and you're over
exercising and under eating,right, we talked about this
there's other healthconsequences, and that's we
talked about this, there's otherhealth consequences, and that's
important.
I mean that's really important.
So to then work on this andthen have the evidence of
getting your period again islike positive feedback, right
(47:54):
for your body and for your brain.
So that's, that's a that's agreat marker and so I love that.
Allison, it was really, reallynice talking with you and
talking to someone much younger.
I talked to so many women inlike perimenopause and menopause
, so it was really nice beingable to just get this
(48:17):
information and pass thisinformation along to my audience
, because my audience hasdaughters who are, you know,
around your age too and couldcertainly use this help, and I
will put any links that you wantinto the show notes so people
can reach out to you, and I justappreciate you being here.
(48:39):
So thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
Yeah, thank you so much.
So, thank you so much.
Yeah, thank you so much.
I really enjoyed thisconversation.
Great, amazing, thoughtfulquestions.
So thank you so much for havingme.
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