The Elephant in the Room

I recently had a breakthrough session with a client that came to me after her doctor told her she needed to lose weight and get her blood sugar under control or need medication. She was adamant she did not want to do that, so she came to me for help.

We talked about her daily routine and the foods she was eating. She had already made some significant changes, so I was a little puzzled she was not feeling better. Her energy was deficient, and she had joint pain and water retention. I made a note to get her off caffeine and eating a low-fat vegan diet to jump-start the weight loss and resume exercising.

The session had run overtime, so I gathered my things, and we walked out together. As my client got into her car, she started telling me how she was dreading going home to get her teenage children up, that shared a room, fought always, and refused to do chores. She also needed to call a contractor, a storm had done some damage to her home, but they were so in debt she didn’t know how they would pay for it.

I was silently smacking myself as I nodded my head and wished her good luck. My follow-up email to her mentioned nothing about food, caffeine, or weight loss. “Get the weight off your shoulders before you get it off your body” was my first line.

Food was not the primary issue in her life. It was constant stress and fighting. I suggested she find a way to give her teens their own space and relax a bit on the chores since she ended up doing them anyway. My second suggestion was to speak with a finical advisor. Money is a huge stressor for all of us, especially with growing families.

Taking control of these issues was way more important than changing her diet at this point, and she had NO idea how much it was affecting her. We spent 50 minutes talking about ice tea and bread when the breakthrough happened in the parking lot.