Before becoming a Master Health Coach, Mental Health Coach, and Emotional Eating and Binge Eating Specialist, I cooked all over New Zealand, Australia, and the United States for the rich and famous, retreats, and events as a personal and private chef. I was known for creating delicious real food, especially for those with food allergies, intolerances, or specific dietary requirements. I also taught cooking, created recipes for brands and restaurants, and did food styling for web/social media and screen.
It sounds rosy, but it was hard work, and there were times I wanted to give up. I navigated trauma, grief, anxiety, and addiction, which exacerbated my ADHD and led to physical health issues. I cared for my clients but often neglected myself, using “healing” as an excuse to eat emotionally, binge eat, and drink. Or I’d punish myself with food and negative self-talk when I couldn’t express my anger at others.
Dealing with challenges of disordered eating and addiction wasn’t new, but they had laid dormant for a while. Always a self-healer interested in the mind/body connection and the healing powers of nature, I decided to stop making excuses and do the work, AND get help.
I started with mindfulness techniques, movement, and writing. Then, following my psychologist’s advice (who I was seeing to cope with the trauma and grief of losing my dad in a swimming accident), I began using vitamin D, magnesium, Omega 3, and essential oils to support my mental health.
My mood improve and my anxiety lessened. I was amazed by the effectiveness which sparked a shift towards using food for mental fitness and medicine too. I even created an artisan food range to help boost mood and brain function – essential(E) real food from me to you.
Using food to support myself and others felt amazing. It reconnected me to my passion for teaching, leading, spirituality, and guiding people through their healing to live their best lives – nourishing body, mind, and puku (belly).
Although the connection to food and mental health was a revelation, health and wellbeing isn’t new to me. Long before becoming a chef, I started my career in peer support/counseling, leadership, fitness and recreation, coaching, corporate team-building and facilitation, and events management.
Through my own health and well-being journey, I decided it was time to combine all my passions and come full circle. I wanted to go back to coaching but wanted to use a holistic approach – movement, mental fitness, and food.
Then I found the perfect opportunity to gain expertise in current health science through PREKURE’s Health Coaching program, focusing on nutrition and its connection to physical and mental health along with coaching and behavior change.
After completing my PREKURE Health Coaching certification, I became accredited through Health Coaching Australia New Zealand. My interest in, and personal experience with eating disorders, disordered eating, and binge eating, led me to Redefined Coaching’s one-to-one Eating Disorder Recovery Coach training. I then delved deeper into advanced mental health and nutrition through PREKURE’s Master Holistic Health Coach pathway, which included Health Coach, Mental Health Coach, and Metabolic Nutrition Coach training, with over 100 hours of coaching.
Before I completed my Master Health Coaching Certificate, I committed to another certification through Eating Freely™ to become an Emotional and Binge Eating Specialist.
Now, I’m not only the Founder, Master Health Coach, and Emotional Eating & Binge Eating Specialist at Elizabeth Marshall | Body Mind Food Coach, but I was also invited to join the award winning PREKURE Health Coach Program teaching faculty earlier in 2024.
In my free time, I’m co-founding a collective of Wellington based PREKURE Certified Mental Health Coaches, and a co-founding a New Zealand wide neurodivergence coaching network. Both initiatives are in the initial stages so please make sure to follow me on LinkedIn for updates.
Knowing what it’s like to go through trauma and challenging life events, I don’t want you or your loved ones to struggle alone. I want to empower you to you fall in love with taking care of yourself and your body. I hope to hear from you soon because you’re totally worth it.
