Find Food and Body Freedom - Peacefully Nourished

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Atheana Brown, Founder of Peacefully Nourished, located in Kawartha Lakes, ON, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I’m a non-diet, body-inclusive, fat-positive, and trauma-informed Registered Dietitian. A Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor that works within the Health at Every Size (HAES®) framework.

I help adult women find food and body freedom which allows them to stop chronic dieting, weight cycling, and disordered eating behaviours. I also help parents with pediatric nutrition challenges so they can raise body-positive intuitive eaters. I specialize in body image work, Intuitive Eating, disordered eating, eating disorder management, and pediatric nutrition.

Tell us about yourself

I have been a Registered Dietitian for 11 years and spent a decade working within the Canadian public health system. The care could not always be personal and get to root causes as there were massive waitlists and always underfunded and staffed. I began to notice people having major challenges with their relationships with food, their bodies, and how they kept getting stuck in diet culture. This was a common thread behind their diabetes, hypertension, or elevated cholesterol. Their relationship with food and their body image needed attention before we got to surface nutrition knowledge improvement.

I am motivated a lot by my kids to help stop the transgenerational cycles of dieting and body shame. To help raise confident kids/people, who adore their bodies, can respect them, and let go of beauty standards. I am also motivated by my clients, many of who reside in large bodies. To have a more encompassing and anti-oppressive healthcare environment for people who reside in large/fat/higher weight bodies. So they can also work towards improved health goals (if they want) without being stigmatized, judged, or dismissed because of their size.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Being in business for an entire year and loving it. Being very fulfilled and happy with my job.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

My practice is radical and against the grain - like most non-diet RD's can attest. There is a big industry, a 72-billion-dollar industry called diet culture, that does not want this paradigm to be known. Diet culture seeps into all facets of life, so the messaging is not clear for clients everywhere or from one practitioner to the next.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

1. Lean into your fears but also celebrate all the very small steps/gains/wins/.
2. Take up space - there are people out there that need you and your message.
3. Make a point of surrounding yourself with people who uplift you, support you and elevate you to be better.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://peacefullynourished.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057178071429
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peacefullynourished/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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