We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alona Orofino a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alona , thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I was 16 years old when my relationship with food went south. By age 18, I had diagnosable Anorexia Nervosa.

In the years that followed, I gained weight slowly while experimenting with diets, bingeing, restriction and over-exercising.

I thought that restriction was the only way to be healthy and that my worth was connected to my size.

Then came the shift.

I met a cute Italian guy. And while I’m sure that being adored by a handsome man didn’t hurt, it was his culture around food that slowly began to change my mindset. In his eyes, there were no “bad” foods. Pasta, pizza, bread, and gelato were staples. And as I began to eat these foods unconditionally, I found that I was bingeing less.

Fast forward a few years and more than a few diets. The overt disordered eating had ended, but the dieting mentality continued. I still lived with an all or nothing mentality. Nearly every Sunday night consisted of a last supper meal, or three, because the following day was reserved for a new diet and/or new exercise regimen.

And then I got pregnant.

It wasn’t until then that I had ever considered that trusting my body was a good thing. Any chronic dieter will tell you that there are rules and those rules are the key to successful weight loss and maintenance. But suddenly, I was thrown into a situation where I had to trust my body. In addition, I had to give up control over my weight because it was quickly going up. And for someone with a history of anorexia, that’s not an easy thing to accept.

So for the first time in my life (well, since I was a child), I began to eat intuitively. I didn’t even really know what it was, I just knew that I had to listen to my body. There were things I didn’t like, there were things I craved; sometimes I ate a ton, sometimes I ate very little. And because I couldn’t go for a long run to burn off the calories I had consumed or start some new intense exercise program, I wasn’t able to compensate with exercise. I had to eat and sit still for the first time in over a decade. And it was uncomfortable, but such a relief.

I finally discovered that there is a simpler and better way to live. I reflected on my history with food and exercise and got wise to Intuitive Eating and the Anti-Diet movement.

And here comes the good part!

I no longer exercise to be thin or toned. I no longer restrict any food. My thoughts are no longer consumed with what my next meal will be or when I will get to binge next. I’m no longer searching for the diet that will bring me my dream body. In fact, I will never go on a diet again. I eat for enjoyment AND nourishment and I move in a way that feels good. While every moment isn’t perfect and there are some negative thoughts that come up occasionally, I know where they come from and I know where they belong.

My passion doesn’t lie in helping my clients count calories or by telling them that the fill-in-the-blank diet is their ticket to the body they’ve always dreamed of. If that’s what someone is looking for, then I’m not supposed to be their Nutritionist. Instead, I want to help my clients get free. Free from the voices that tell them that they need to shrink themselves to be happy. Free from misinformed dietary advice. Free from the stress that comes from obsessing over food and exercise.

We, as women, are limiting ourselves by focusing on how much bread we ate at dinner. It’s time to change the narrative and I’m on a mission to do so through my practice, Orofino Wellness.

Alona , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My personal relationship with food, movement and my body led me to this work. At first, it was in an attempts to learn all the “secrets” to staying thin and as healthy as humanly possible. I first enrolled in a very popular Health Coaching program and embarked on a journey to find the perfect diet. For myself and my clients. I continued my education and received my Masters in Nutrition and Integrative Health. This deepened my knowledge about the human body and what a functional approach to nutrition looks like. However it wasn’t until recent years that I began to incorporate Intuitive Eating into my work. Now I use functional nutrition to find the root cause of my clients’ symptoms while helping them learn to listen to and trust their bodies. Namely, I help women who feel defeated about what, when and how to eat. We work to find the balance between eating for nourishment and eating for pleasure all while improving symptoms. It is an individualized approach to health and one that is sustainable for the rest of their lives. I offer group and individual nutrition counseling that centers around Medical Nutrition Therapy and Intuitive Eating. I am different from others in the field because I bridge the gap between the anti-diet world and integrative health.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I opened this iteration of my nutrition practice, I had to pivot for another business venture. When I was in my clinical work and working toward my board certification, my husband and I opened a restaurant. At the time I naively thought that I would take a short break from my studies and come back to it once the restaurant was set up and thriving. Little did I know, our restaurant skyrocketed and become impossible to leave for 3 years. It was more than a full-time job and needed my full attention.

There was a huge learning curve for me being in that industry. I had only waited tables in the past and had no previous management experience. So I put on many hats and learned many things. It was a transformative experience.

Three years into building a thriving restaurant, I was able to step away from the day-to-day operations and begin to focus back on my nutrition practice. I wouldn’t change that experience for anything. It made me the entrepreneur that I am today and will continue to serve me as I grow my practice and embark upon other business ventures.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am a podcast junky. I love listening to informative things that help me grow and think outside of my experiences in business. One of my favorite podcasts is ‘How I built this’ with Guy Raz. Each story gives me insight into how other entrepreneurs run and grow their businesses.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.orofinowellness.com
• Instagram: @orofino_wellness
• Facebook: Facebook.com/OrofinoWell
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/alonaorofino

Image Credits
RJ Pavel