We recently connected with Lia Chiccehitto and have shared our conversation below.

Lia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I had a defining moment in my career when I became clear on who my ideal client was and started creating products and services just for her. In the beginning, I was so excited to just teach everyone everything I knew about nutrition – how to use food as medicine, how to help your body detox, how to lose weight in healthy way, how to balance hormones… the list goes on. I’m still super passionate about all of these things, but once I found the one thing that made me go, “YES, these are my people,” my whole business changed.

I now work with women who want to learn to eat healthier without tracking calories or macros, strict dieting, or otherwise restricting their bodies. I work with a lot of women who have struggled with food in the past and want to relearn how to eat well without going down that slippery slope of tracking, counting, and restricting food groups. I also help women who are new to this journey and want to start eating healthier and feeling better. I use my same sustainable approach with them to help them learn which foods work best for their bodies without any strict systems or diets.

When I first started my business, I also got so caught up in what other people were doing that I lost touch with what I actually wanted to do and what excited me. I tried a consultation-based business but as a more introverted person, I quickly became overwhelmed when my client base started to expand. I knew I couldn’t sustain a business with eight clients, but mentally and emotionally I felt maxed out. So, the next best thing, said the experts, was to create an online course. After all, everyone was doing it. So, I mapped out an online course but something didn’t feel quite right. I ended up working with another company to get my course ideas out into the world but it didn’t feel aligned for my personal business.

Fast forward to just last year, when I had my “aha” moment. I had an idea a few years ago to create a nutrition journal but I had no idea how to create it so it just sat as a draft on my computer and sketches in my journal. Last year, it dawned on me that that was what my clients needed and I needed to make it a priority to bring it to them. I poured everything into bringing my journal to life. The paper industry right now is a little nuts (supply chain issues are very real and it’s hard to find paper) so I had to pivot a bit, but I now sell Weekly Meal Plan and Daily Food Journal notepads on Etsy and in local San Diego shops, as well as digital versions in my Etsy shop. It feels so good and I’m so glad I took this route. I never pictured myself expanding into the paper industry, but now that I’m here, it feels so right! I’m looking forward to my journals being printed and am hoping to expand my product line this year to include daily intention decks, and more.

I still take on a few individual clients, and I love leading workshops and classes. Adding my journals, notepads, and other products completes my circle of offerings in a way that feels sustainable, exciting, and just what my clients (and I) need.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been interested in health and wellness since I was a little girl. When I was young and in computer lab (I’m aging myself here but I know we have readers who remember computer lab!), I’d play a computer game called “5 A Day” and you had to match certain fruits and veggies to the body part they supported. I loved it! I thought I wanted to be a doctor or a nurse until high school when I shifted my goals and wanted to be a health coach. Health coaching wasn’t a real career then, but I watched a show called Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition and wanted to do what Chris Powell did. I spent a lot of my free time reading nutrition articles, revamping recipes to make them healthier, and learning more about the powerful effects of food.

I think it was my fascination with nutrition coupled with poor body image and anxiety that unfortunately led me to my first eating disorder in high school. From age 15 to probably 25, I struggled with food and disordered eating. Foods were “good” or “bad” and I thought about food constantly. I worked with a few different therapists and finally found one that I just clicked with. She told me I was never going to be able to heal my relationship with food until I stopped tracking my food. I tracked everything I ate for years, so I was terrified by the concept of not tracking and rejected the idea immediately. I had zero faith in my body to tell me what to eat and how much to eat. I relied on trackers and apps to tell me what my body needed. I’ve realized that so many women have lost touch with their bodies. It’s how apps like MyFitnessPal and every diet company stays in business – by telling people they can’t trust their bodies and they need a company or a system to tell them what, when, and how much to eat.

Lo and behold, once I stopped tracking, my healing journey took a major turn. I also changed my workout routine and mindset. I shifted what I call the “burn to earn” mentality around exercise (exercising to earn food) and started moving my body in ways that just felt good. I learned to cope without using food, found hobbies and activities that brought me joy, and strengthened my relationships.

I now help other women improve their relationship with food and break unwanted habits and thoughts around food. I think my personal journey helps me relate to my clients in ways other nutritionists and dietitians may not be able to. I cater a lot of my products to helping bridge the gap between tracking and eating intuitively. It was scary to go from tracking everything to tracking nothing, so I developed holistic tools to help women feel more comfortable with that transition. My Daily Food Journal notepads and Eat Freely Journal encourage more mindful eating by prompting women to track what they eat (no counting involved) and how they feel before and after meals. There are daily goals that include all food groups, including a daily treat, mindful movement, and self-care. The goals are general guidelines and not meant to be strict or rigid. I also offer a Weekly Meal Plan notepad for women to add their favorite healthy recipes but also pencil in happy hours and special occasions.

All of my products and coaching revolve around my motto, “food is for fuel and for fun“. We want to eat foods that are supportive of our health and well-being, but not to the point that eating becomes stressful, overwhelming, or prohibitive of us enjoying holidays, dinners out, and other fun life events!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I shared that I recently started offering my Daily Food Journal and Weekly Meal Plan notepads. I am still working with a number of printers to try to bring my Eat Freely Journal to life in print. Paper supply is very slim right now, so it’s been extremely difficult to source the paper I want for my products. I have felt frustrated and defeated on so many occasions. I feel so strongly about bringing these products to women to help them on their food journeys, though, so I keep reaching out to new companies, coming up with new solutions, and plugging along!

I’ve also learned that persistence and follow-up is key. I’ve reached out to several shops to sell my notepads and they don’t always reply right away, or at all. I’ve sometimes had to follow up three or four times, via email, phone calls, and in-person drop-ins, before reaching the correct person.

I think knowing your why and feeling very confident in the product or service you’re offering helps get you through the ebbs and flows!

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

Originally, my plan was to offer a holistic, comprehensive 28-day journal that I call my Eat Freely Journal. I planned to have it printed in color, and it has recipes, tips, weekly meal plans, and daily food journal pages. I was so excited to get it out into the world. When I got a quote to get it printed, though, I realized I was going to have to make some changes in order to sell it at a reasonable price. So, I started selling it digitally at first. I created a fillable PDF version of it that can be used on a laptop, phone, or tablet, or printed from home. I also pulled out the weekly meal plan and daily food journal pages and started selling those on their own as lower-cost digital products. Then, I realized I could print just the meal plan pages and daily food journal pages and that’s how my Weekly Meal Plan and Daily Food Journal notepads were born. I’m still working on the Eat Freely Journal, but was able to pivot to still bring helpful (and pretty!) products to women while I work out the details on my journal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lianicole.com
• Instagram: @lianicolenutrition | https://www.instagram.com/lianicolenutrition
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liachiccehitto
• Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LiaNicoleNutrition

Image Credits
Albany Katz