Building Healthy Habits That Actually Stick with Previous Client, Alison

What does it actually look like to stop obsessing over food?

In this special episode, I'm joined by one of my past clients as she shares her journey from constantly thinking about food to living with freedom, confidence, and sustainable healthy habits.

When we first started working together, she struggled with food noise, an all-or-nothing mindset, inconsistency, and feeling like she always had to "start over" after vacations, holidays, or weekends. Today, her relationship with food looks completely different.

In our conversation, she shares what changed, the habits that made the biggest difference, and why this transformation had nothing to do with more willpower or another restrictive diet.

If you've ever wondered whether it's actually possible to stop thinking about food all day, this episode will show you what's possible.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• What food noise felt like before coaching
• How her all-or-nothing mindset kept her stuck
• The biggest mindset shifts that changed everything
• Why understanding nutrition made healthy choices feel easier
• How she built consistency with drinking water and exercising
• What changed about her relationship with vacations and holidays
• How she now maintains healthy habits without feeling restricted
• The freedom that comes from no longer constantly thinking about food
• Advice she would give someone who's struggling with food noise today

Key Takeaway

The goal isn't to have perfect habits. The goal is to build habits that become your normal. When you address the root causes behind food noise and create sustainable routines, healthy choices stop feeling like a constant battle. Lasting change comes from understanding your body, shifting your mindset, and building habits you can maintain for life.

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I would love to work with you to give you these same results! The next coaching group I have open is for the new Food Noise Bootcamp. Join the waitlist below so you don’t miss it!

JOIN THE WAITLIST FOR THE FOOD NOISE BOOTCAMP! 

Coming Fall 2026: https://laurabhealthy.myflodesk.com/foodnoisebootcamp 

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💌 Connect With Laura:

1. Website: Health Coach for Teachers & Busy, Working Women
2. Instagram: LAURA B. | Teacher turned Health Coach | Podcaster🎙️ (@laura.b.healthy) • Instagram photos and videos
3. TikTok: Laura B. | Health Coach (@laura.b.healthy) | TikTok

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If this episode encouraged you, I'd love for you to leave a rating and review! It helps more women discover the podcast and learn that they don't have to spend every day battling food noise or starting over with another diet.

Topics covered in this episode: food noise, food noise success story, client transformation, healthy habits, sustainable weight loss, all-or-nothing mindset, relationship with food, binge eating, nutrition education, behavior change, habit building, consistency, vacations and healthy habits, holiday eating, weight loss mindset, women's health, intuitive eating, health coaching

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Isn't Too Powerful podcast. I have a special episode today where I am interviewing the lovely Allison. She is a past client who worked with me in my group coaching program. And she finished working with me early in 2026. It was February. Then she messaged me in mid-July while she was on vacation. And she was like, Laura, I have to tell you, I'm doing so much of the stuff that we talked about. I feel so present while on vacation. I feel like I can actually maintain this, not just while I'm at home, not just when I'm in my regular routine, but while also on vacation and enjoying life with my family. And she invited herself onto my podcast because she was like, I want to share with everybody what you gave me, the life of freedom that I now have. So in this episode, Alison is going to be sharing not just the mindset shifts that she made, but also like practical, tangible things. She's going to be giving away a lot of really good info in this episode. So I'm so excited for you to get to hear it. If as you're listening, you find yourself wondering, hmm, I wonder if maybe I could get those same results if I worked with Laura. I would so much love to get to give you this same life of freedom that Allison now has, where she's no longer yo-yo dieting, she's no longer constantly wondering what's wrong with me, why can't I stick with this? That's something that she talks about later in this episode. As you listen, you're gonna hear her say, like she thought it was a character flaw, that something was wrong with her. That's the reason why she wasn't able to be consistent. And through me, through working with me in that in my group coaching program, she found that that's not at all true. It was these really simple things that she needed to do to fix her diet, to fix her mindset, and through those things, she now feels so much more in control with food and she's able to maintain it, which is ultimately the only goal that we all have is to be able to build a healthy lifestyle that we can stick to. So I would love to give you that same life of freedom. My next group coaching program is going to be called the Food Noise Boot Camp. It is currently on a wait list. I currently have the wait list for this program open. You can go down into the show notes and put your name on that list so that you are first to find out when the doors are open. It will be in just a few weeks from when this episode is released. And for now, I'm gonna hand it over to Allison. Let's get into the episode. Welcome to the Isn't You Powerful Podcast. I'm your host, Laura B, health coach, educator, and founder of the Be Healthy Lifestyle. I'm here to bring you all of the health education and motivation so that you can sign off each week feeling equipped and empowered to tackle all of your health goals. Come along with me as I teach you the basics of healthy living so that you can have everyone in your lifestyle. Isn't she powerful? Hello, Alison, and welcome to the Isn't She Powerful podcast. Hi, Laura. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to have you on. I know we were just talking a second ago before I press record about your journey, and it's been a little while since you've been in Seismic Shift. It was beginning of this year that you were in the program, right? Yes. So it's been a few months since you've been out, and you recently messaged me and you were like having wins and feeling really good. And you were like, I'm just really happy that it's been sustainable. And so you mentioned coming on the podcast. I was like, yeah, I want to share your story. Let's do it. So first let's start with this. Talk to me a little bit about what your life was like before seismic shift. What were your habits? What was your health journey at that time?

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah, I felt like things were healthy, but I for the most part. But then I knew that there were like some binge type problems and some things where I felt like I was, I guess, just dieting a lot and feeling like that was healthy, but like do a diet and then fall off of it for a little and get mad at myself and then try to do something again. And I would do the whole 30 for a month and then feel really good, and then try to start living like somewhat of a normal, like not on the whole 30 lifestyle, and realized that like food noise and all these things were back, and I didn't understand why, so I felt like there was something missing, and then I saw you and felt like I had connected in a lot of ways with some of the things that you had experienced, and thought that seismic shift would be a good thing to kind of restart and learn things all over again. And so, yeah, I mean, I think prior it was just kind of a combination of like felt like I was being overly healthy at certain times and then like really the opposite at other times, and I didn't know how to control it, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah, very much living in the all or nothing lifestyle, not even just like a mindset with food, but it was like all in in every area of your life or all out.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah, no, exactly. I was reflecting on it a little bit earlier today, and I thought that that about like working out too, like it was and water and all of it, like it was like all really good at certain points, and then all just kind of like off the track at other times, and I was like, this can't be the way that it always is gonna be, like something like you know, some of these all in, all out things have to go away, and I know it's not gonna be perfect, but like how can I fix this? Because I also was thinking that it was like I'm not consistent, I'm not, you know, it was like personal and like character flaws and things like that, but then I'm like, well, I'm very consistent at work and I'm very consistent at my friendships and these other parts of my life, so it was really like hard for me to kind of figure out why is this part so yo-yo, like all in all or nothing type, but the other parts of my life aren't.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yeah, I really like that you looked at it from that perspective because a lot of times it is kind of like if you have an all or nothing mindset in one area of your life, you have it in other areas of your life too. But for you, you're like, I I'm not this person in other areas, and so what's the disconnect here? So I'm curious as you went through seismic shift, what were some of those big aha moments for you that helped you not be in that all or nothing mindset anymore and have a healthier relationship with food?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

One of the biggest things, well, I I there are a couple different things that I think I've that have stuck with me since and have been like the really game-changing pieces for me. One, fiber, like I had I like learning from you about like the quality of what you should be eating and how to make a plate. I I mean, like again, I would do the whole 30 and I thought like this plate was so good, but like I wasn't eating carbs, like I wasn't eating, and then I would not have energy, and I don't know if this is TMI, but like I didn't have normal bowel movements, and everybody would be like, Well, you know, take magnesium and do all these things, and it was just like when I worked with you and I started eating fiber, I was like all going to the bathroom normally all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I'm like, why did this be like why is this so simple? Like it could be so much easier than we make it, yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

So, like that was a big like I just felt silly, but also like, okay, thank you, Laura, for teaching me this. And I think it was truly like the numbers, like, you know, and and really trying to get fiber like at each meal and not just, you know, well, I ate something that had fiber in it today. Like I was really trying to get fiber, and then the water piece, like I think that probably helped with it too. But like really trying to get, you know, my whole 32 to like 40 ounces in before lunchtime was like the one thing that I kept making a goal, and I think that that really helped keep me full longer, helped with bowel movements, like helped with just a lot of a lot of things. I felt like I had more energy, and that was probably a combination of hydration and and food selection too. And then I I was really busy. I have a very busy job, and I was never never really made a priority to eat breakfast. I like breakfast and I like if I'm home and I have time, like I always make breakfast, but it was like the well, I'm at my desk, I'm doing things, I'm up on my feet, like I just can't eat breakfast. Oh well, you know, I'll eat lunch at 12 and then I'm starving, and then it like I didn't realize how much it it affected the rest of the day until I worked with you. So that was a big aha thing. Like, if you eat breakfast and you eat, you know, a high fiber carb and you get your oatmeal and you get your like my energy and my fullness and the like less food noise later in the day of wanting to just eat when I'm home, like a lot of that subsided. So, I mean, those were just some of the like aha things, but truly I felt like there were so many uh protein. I mean, all of the things that we talked about, like I just I wasn't getting enough protein at each meal and trying to prioritize all of that now, I think has just been so much healthier than before.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yeah, and you've been able to maintain it because you I mean, it's been like at least five months since you left Seismic Shift, and you've been able to maintain doing all of these things, which I can imagine from what you were saying before, that was never the case for you previously.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yeah, no. I mean, yeah, prior I was like, I would want to do a diet of some sort, and then and that's why I messaged you because I was like, okay, I'm on vacation was when I actually messaged you, and it just felt like over the last however many months, it's been more normal, and like I said, it's not perfect. I think I it's not perfect when I notice the things that you taught me that, like, okay, well, I didn't eat enough today, and that's probably why I want to eat everything right now. And you know, I don't always make perfect choices, but like I know in my mind, like, okay, well, this isn't you, like, you didn't eat well enough today, you didn't eat enough, and now your body is like craving things, so now I know the why behind it too, which I think is really important and has been really helpful for me not to like have some sort of spiral, you know, or I'm I don't feel well for a week and then I like fall off from the gym, and then rather than it just being like this complete downward spiral of like, well, I might as well eat cruddy now, and I might as well not drink my water now, like I try to make the good choices that I can. Yes. So yeah, I mean, it's definitely been way more consistent in the things that you've taught me. I mean, I still I like bought something that sits on my fridge where I plan out what meals I'm gonna have. I like write with the uh expo marker, dry erase marker, like what meals I'm gonna have each day. And I wasn't even doing that before. I was just kind of like planning in the notes of my phone, but it like holds me accountable. I come home and I check it off, like, okay, well, like I did this and you know, I've been doing the meal prep and doing the planning and and so that I can make sure I'm getting the protein, I'm getting the fiber, I'm getting those things. And it's also like on Friday I write, I'm gonna eat out for dinner, like I plan it, you know, and I've tried some of the suggestions that you've told me about eating out, and you know, look at the menu ahead so you kind of can make a good decision. And it's also like I I told you it during seismic shift I had a sweet tooth and like I wanted something sweet in like either after lunch or after dinner, and I still do, and I still but I just have like a little dark chocolate or a little simple mills like honey cinnamon crackers or something, and I like I don't I what I was doing before was I was just like taking the bag and going and sitting down instead of portioning them out like you taught me to do. Like, don't ever take the whole bag and go sit down, right? Like just make the decision of like I'm gonna have this and it's okay to have this, it's normal to have this, but take what the serving size is and then go sit. And I'm happy doing that.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah, still enjoying your life. Like you're it's not like you've completely changed up your routines, and that's why you've been able to stick to it. It's the combination of the two things you just said. One, you're actually enjoying your life, and still you're still going on vacation, you're still going out to eat, you're still having your sweet treats, so you're still enjoying your life, and you're you have this knowledge. Like sometimes joining programs like mine, it's yeah, it's about the accountability, but it's also just about like understanding nutrition, understanding yourself, understanding your mindset, habit building in a different way, right? Because all of these things that you're saying, you're like, it's really actually simple, but you needed somebody to put it in the simple terms. And that's the I think the way that just to tweet my own horn for a minute, that's the like the beauty of the way that I teach is I guess because I was a third grade teacher, I can break it down in really simple ways and make it just like to where it's so easy to understand. And it sounds like that is the main things that are making it to where you actually have been consistent with this.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Quick pause from the episode. I'm not gonna take long, but I know that you struggle with food noise and sugar cravings and silencing those voices in your head that are constantly asking for food. I know you struggle with it because you listen to this podcast. In a few weeks, I'm going to be opening the doors to a brand new 45-day boot camp all about understanding your food noise, what triggers it for you specifically, and then adjusting your daily habits to get rid of it altogether. You can head straight on down to the show notes right now to get your name put on the wait list. I would absolutely love to serve you in this program and honestly just silence the voices in your dang head.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

But all the other little things, like writing the stuff down on my, you know, what I'm gonna eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and making the goals for myself and kind of planning ahead, even with exercise. Like that was one thing that I wasn't doing prior. Yeah. So it was all just kind of simple stuff that I would have probably liked to have thought before that I was doing or I knew, or you know, because I'm also like I work in healthcare, so it's kind of like, you know, I tell people to hydrate and take care of themselves, and you know, I'm an athletic trainer and and work in medicine, but at the same time, like learning this stuff all over again and you putting it in simple terms did really help, and it's helped me be consistent.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Yeah, well, the there's no shame in getting a teacher, right? Like I do I do this stuff all the time too, and I also had a nutritionist. Like it it it's okay to need some help sometimes and to accept, like, yeah, I'm I'm struggling in some ways, and and to get the help that you need is okay. I'm so happy to hear that through this your food noise has stopped, or at least here's what I always like to say it's not like it's gonna go away forever. You're still gonna have some days where you're like, oh, I still want a sweet treat. Oh, I I would really like to have this. The cravings are still gonna exist, but it's about how to navigate them when they pop up, and now you have a system. I'm gonna get a little small piece and take it to sit down. I'm not gonna eat out of the bag, and some of those other things, like I'm gonna make take a look back at my day. Did I eat enough protein and fiber today? Like, it's understanding all of those things and having those habits that makes the food noise and sugar cravings manageable even when they still pop up.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Yeah, I think so. Like I went on vacation and it was uh like all-inclusive resort, so which was great and easy, and I didn't have to think about much, but sometimes I felt like options for me to like get the veggies that I wanted or get the you know protein that I wanted just wasn't there. So when I came back, I definitely felt like my body was craving those things, but then I also was feeling like maybe there was more food noise because of and that was okay, but I I knew why. Like I knew, well, like I haven't gotten my veggies, and I probably haven't gotten enough high fiber carbs, and like let me just get back, let me, you know, prep my breakfasts and plan for my lunches and drink my water again, and I'll start to get out of that. Because, like you told me, you you skip a breakfast and you eat something sweet for lunch because you didn't prep, and then you're craving more and more and more carbs and cruddy stuff for the rest of the day. So I I know why now, which is super helpful.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, and what I love about everything that you just said is it goes back to full circle back to what you were saying at the beginning. It's not a character flaw. You're not trying to have more willpower or be more disciplined or just white knuckle it anymore. You are relying on the biology, on the science. Like, how does my body operate? It the reason that the food noise exists is because it's missing something, it's needing something, and it's asking me for something. And now you have like little roadmaps you can follow to figure out where's this coming from, and and then you can adjust accordingly. But none of it is just be stronger, have more willpower, Allison. And it I'm sure that that feels really freeing to no longer live in that mindset.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

No, absolutely, because I thought, you know, to myself for a while, like, why can you do this in other areas of your life, but not in this area? But now it's just like, am I on my menstrual cycle? Am I right? Like all the like what's what is my body telling me and what can I do to satisfy it in the moment, but like make a good decision at the same time, right? So, like I came home, I knew I was hungry, I the quick, easy option was like to do, you know, I don't know, something that probably wouldn't sustain me for very long. Yep. And instead, I decided to have something with protein and fiber, and I was like, wow, like I'm actually full and not even thinking about food anymore because I just satisfied what I needed.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Were there, I'm so you joined in one of the most recent rounds. So there had been like maybe like four or five rounds of size make shift before you joined. Had you looked at it and considered joining before you actually did join?

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Actually, yeah, I think I reached out and wanted to, or maybe got, yeah. And I think I got some information about how much and what it really entailed. And then I ended up reaching out for this one to start in, yeah. So it it I don't remember how much time had gone by since I reached out and then when I actually started, I think I just had inquired and then was like, no, I'm okay, like I'm gonna do this on my own. Like I thought I thought, and then I after the new year, I was like, Yeah, I need to, or maybe it was right before the new year when I joined, and then we started in January, February.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Because you, I'm pretty sure, joined in the Black Friday sale. So I actually think you joined like after like Halloween and Thanksgiving, and that's probably you were like, I can't keep doing this to myself.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, I think that was I was gonna say, like, there was a there was definitely a time where I was like, okay, I need some help, like I'm gonna commit to to asking for it, basically. And yeah, so but there was some time between when I originally like saw it and heard about it from when I joined.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, I think it this what you did is what a lot of people do. They're like, no, I I can do this on my own. I should be able to do this on my own, right? Like it we it because what we're saying, it's simple, but if you don't know, you don't know. So it's not simple until you know what what what's right, what's wrong, you know the actual facts, then it's that's when it becomes simple. So even even though we think I should be able to do this on my own, you what I'm hearing from you is is no girl, you need to get the help if you need the help.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Yeah, no, exactly. That's what I would tell somebody else too.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Like, if you're thinking about it and you're like yo-yoing and how you're living and the choices that you're making, like when it comes to food, I yeah, I mean, I thought to myself for a while, like, you can just do it, just just get you know, get it under control like you have it at work and you make good decisions and you're consistent at work, like just do it here, and then I'm telling you about all the things that I learned and wasn't doing before, and so you were doing that you weren't doing because that's the thing is when when you get all the health information from all these various sources, it gets so convoluted in your brain, and you don't know what's right, what's wrong, what's up, what's down. So hearing it from one solid place really makes a difference.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Yeah, because like there's so many different diets and so many different ways to do things, and yeah, I mean, I knew like that I felt thinner, I guess, like when I was doing the whole 30, but I didn't feel like satisfied and I could sustain it for a long time, right? Like I could that wasn't like the lifestyle that I could live by, right? And so that's why I would do it, and then when I would finish it, I'd be like, Oh, okay, I'm done, you know. Like now I can live my life, but like I'm gonna live it good like I was on there, but it just wasn't sustainable. Right, and so yeah, I was getting in that kind of cycle a lot.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

I'm so happy that you ended up joining Seismic Shift and that whatever the moment was for you that you were finally like, I need the help. I'm going to trust this girl. Thank you for trusting me with it. It sounds like you have made so many incredible long-term health changes, and I'm so happy that I got to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Yeah, thank you so much. Like I like I said, I wanted to get on here and tell everybody what you did and what you taught me because you're just a sweet, genuine human, but you also are just really good at what you do, and it's been really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Well, thank you, Allison. You're a sweet, genuine human too, girlfriend. Loved getting to know you. It was so good to get to see you again months later. It's good to see you, Allison, and thank you again. I hope that you have a lovely rest of your summer and a good evening.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Thanks, Laura. Good to see you too.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Bye, Allison.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Bye.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

So, as I said at the beginning of this episode, if getting rid of your food noise and building a life with habits that you can actually stick to is something that you feel is it's important for you to address. Like if you if you're getting that intuitive knowledge to take this leap of faith and join this program, I would so much love to work with you inside of my food noise bootcamp. Again, you can go down into the show notes. The link is there to put your name on the wait list. It will be open soon and you will get emails to make sure that you are getting emails from me after your name is on the wait list. You'll just receive one right away. And then once the program is officially open, you'll start receiving them to let you know that the doors are open. This is going to be a 45-day food noise boot camp where I teach you what is causing all of the food noise and sugar cravings that you have. There's going to be one-on-one aspects to this as well as group aspects. So a lot of it is very personalized to help you understand exactly what you are experiencing. We're gonna go over nutrition, we're gonna go over habit building, we're gonna go over mindset, and then by the end of the program, you will have practical strategies to help you implement this long term, just like Allison is now doing. I'm so excited to see you on the wait list. I'm so excited to see you inside of the program in just a few weeks. And until then, I cannot wait to see you again next week. Thank you so much. I can't wait to see you again next week. And always remember the more you know, the more you grow.