We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jasmine Ruest. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jasmine below.

Jasmine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The nutrition and fitness industry is filled with mostly extreme diets that promise weight loss in a very (sometimes dangerously) quick amount of time which actually has been proven not to be effective long term. As someone who has tried many of the fad diets out there, I can tell you that they do more harm than good, I felt deprived and miserable for the most part and also never saw results that lasted, so I thought that there must be another which is when I took my nutrition coaching certification through precision nutrition and learned how to fuel my body and exercise properly which didn’t involve any calorie counting and involved eating more food than I ever have in my life and it completely transformed my body and also how I felt! So my coaching focuses on helping women lose weight while also getting strong in a sustainable way without giving up their favourite glass of wine or pizza so that they don’t ever have to diet again, and it works but it just takes more time which not everyone is willing to commit to.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I actually started out in the corporate world and worked in Talent Acquisition/recruitment for almost 5 years however it didn’t quit scratch the itch! I have always been fairly athletic I played soccer, danced and swam competitively throughout my childhood, however as I got into high school and then university I found myself not having the best relationship with food and exercise. Like most women, I was under eating and restricting, but then over exercising which lead to me getting sick frequently, increased stress, and digestive issues. While I’ve never been overweight I felt like I was on this hamster wheel of endless diets trying to get super toned with six pack abs as that was something I had always wanted but it felt like nothing was working as my body stayed the same no matter how little I ate or how much working out I did. In my spare time I often found myself gravitating towards anything nutrition, fitness and health related so I decided to take my nutrition coaching certification through precision nutrition to learn more about nutrition and perhaps even fix my own issues. I applied all my learnings to myself and within a month I was already feeling SO much better my bloating had gone away and I had way more energy, by 3 months I saw noticeable changes in my body especially in my muscle definition, I actually had ab lines for the first time in my life! so I figured if I could do this for myself I could also do this for other women which is when glo Nutrition was born. At the time there was nothing like what I was doing in the industry, it was all paleo, vegan, carnivore, gluten free/dairy free, and keto diets but nothing that just promoted good old fashioned science backed sustainable nutrition. The core pillars of my nutrition coaching are protein and strength training coupled with motivational interviewing techniques to promote behaviour change because that’s what has been proven to work. I don’t do the gimmicky stuff cause it’s just not sustainable and you’ll shortly end up back at square one with zero weight loss progress and you’ll also be super unhappy! To help my clients be successful I offer weekly coaching calls and check ins, custom meal plans, recipes and grocery lists, nutrition education, custom strength training workouts, and even an in person grocery shopping lesson (if they live in the Calgary area) for either 12 weeks or 6 months. I am very hands on with my clients which is why I only offer 1:1 private coaching.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I actually hired a business coach to help me get started with growing my nutrition coaching business. while I have a business degree and all the nutrition coaching and personal training certifications and knowledge, it was such a new industry to me that I didn’t really know what was the best way to start making a name for myself so I hired a business coach that was specific to the nutrition and fitness industry and it really helped get me started and get my first handful of clients. My business coach taught me everything from what I offer in my programs to social media marketing, to sales. I also have always pride myself on being authentic, and having integrity in my business which I feel like is very underrated in the health and fitness industry, especially now with so many influencers in the space that haven’t studied the science behind anything that they are promoting! I think establishing trust with your audience and clients is of utmost importance, especially in the health space that’s why you will never see me promoting or educating my audience on anything that isn’t backed by science or that I haven’t tried myself, I truly live by the “practice what you preach” which I feel like is more rare to find these days! I also think being relatable has helped, there are lots of nutrition and fitness coaches out there that are super intense and extreme and I don;’t operate that way, I want my audience to know that I also indulge in pizza, wine, and don’t always feel like doing my workout too (but of course I do it anyways!) which is what sets me a part.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I was in a toxic relationship for a few years in my early 20s and at the time I thought I was going to marry him, he eventually broke up with me and it shook me to my core. I had also just lost my job at the same time and was living on my own for the first time in my life, I felt like my life was flipped upside down over night and like nothing was working out for me. I was forced to sit with my emotions and be uncomfortable which was something I had never really done before. I was partying a lot and drinking a lot to cope with everything, but then decided that I didn’t want that to be my life and that I wanted more for myself and knew I was capable of so much more, so I went to therapy and worked through processing my emotions in a healthy way which is where I found a love for cooking, nutrition, and fitness, and is a big part of why I went into nutrition and fitness coaching. My mom was also diagnosed with Alzheimers two years ago, so I decided to move back home to help out my dad and also take a leap to go full time with my nutrition coaching business. starting business certainly isn’t easy and tests you mentally and physically, Ive wanted to throw in the towel more times than I can count, but I think what has kept me going is having an optimistic attitude and outlook on life and of course hearing from my clients how much I have helped them change their own lives! While there are certainly going to be difficult and hard seasons in life I don’t believe they are ever permanent and are an opportunity for us to learn from them and then appreciate the good and better seasons that come shortly after. I personally believe 80% of entrepreneurship is just not giving up and being consistent, which is actually very much the same for nutrition and fitness!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.glonutritioncoaching.com
• Instagram: glo.nutrition_
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-ruest-17908083/