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

Nicole, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I think the industry standard believes that to lose body fat and be healthy that you must track macro and also doesn’t put enough importance on the sourcing of food and what food does to your body on a hormonal level.

Food can be medicine or it can be poison and eating 5-6 small meals per day is NOT how to achieve optimal health!

I believe in eating less often, having restricted feeding times, and allowing your body’s insulin levels to come down so you can actually tap into stored body fat vs the SAD diet where everyone eats frequent, eats lots of processed “fake” foods and are constantly spiking insulin level all day long.

The food that most of America eats on a daily basis is killing us and this is why I do NOT like marcos! A Oreo can fit into your macros but everyone knows its bad for you!! We need to stop looking a macros and start looking at the ingredients in our food.

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 got involved in the health industry because at one time I was over weight (weighed 180lbs at my highest) and was on a mission to turn my health around. I grew up in a loving family and have a sweet mother and grandmother that showed us love through food. Sweet tea and biscuits at every meal, treats whenever I wanted them, and very carb heavy meals. Needless to say picked up terrible eating habits and food addictions in my youth that followed me to adulthood.

After many years of working out for hours per day I realized I had only made a small amount of progress with my weight loss journey and I knew that I had to change my diet. That’s when I dove head first into nutrition, stared getting Nutrition Certifications and tried to unravel the mystery of optimal health and weightloss.

15 year later I have now figured out WHY I couldn’t loose weight back then and I understanding WHY most people struggle with this today. Its complicated and a multifaceted problem. Ill touch on few points below…

1. Our food system has a big role to play here!! Big food companies have SOLD us fake food products, marketed as healthy of course, and that are HIGHLY addictive, high is sugar and bad fats, lack nutrients, do not keep us satiated and are frankly making us sick. They have created a world full of food addict’s that can’t quit these products.

2. The average person consumes way to many carbohydrates/sugars to frequently and create high blood sugar levels and in return we have constant high levels of insulin which is doing its job to try and bring blood sugar levels back down to a normal range. This blood sugar roller coaster is blocking us from tapping into fat stores. makes us have cravings, and makes it difficulty to control our eating. High blood sugar levels promotes cancer growth, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and many other disease. All caused by the foods we eat and are controllable.

3. The abundance of processed, high calorie, high sugar foods foods are making us gain weight. We are designed to store food for “Winter” but the problem is winter never comes so we keep packing on the lbs year after year.

4. Also our lifestyles play a HUGE role in the declining health of America!! We move less, we have higher stress lives which are detrimental to our hormones, We drink alcohol, sleep less and the list goes on and on!

What I offer to potential clients is a new path forward. A new way of thinking about food and health. I work very closely with my clients to come up with a custom nutrition and training programs that fits their lifestyle all while educating them on the why behind we are making these changes. I have my own app where I house all their nutrition plans, daily habits and task, allow them to record their food via pictures so they can see what they are eating and my allows them to have access to their coach via messaging and their plan at their finger tips at all times.

I have helped hundred of people make over their health. Some have lost hundreds of pounds while some only needed to lose a few but all benefited by improving their metabolic and hormonal health. I also teach them on how to prepare healthy meals for themselves and family’s and am their #1 support system as they radically makeover their health and weight.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Results and social media! These are the 2 largest factors in my success! When people feel good and change their lives they want to tell the world!! So much is done for me in that since via client referrals.

I also use my social media presence to help spread knowledge, create brand awareness and to get my business in font of thousands of people.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

At one point I was only doing Nutrition Coaching as a side business becasue I was employed and in management at a large gym. When Covid hit we all lost our jobs and when lock down ended my role in management was eliminated. So I went from a salaried job to little to no income coming in for my family.

I was defeated and sad at first as I’d been in my position for years, but I quickly picked myself back up and dove head first into marketing my nutrition business on social media and it took off!!

I truly believe we are all put here on this earth with a God-given gift and mine is to help other break free from the cycle of food addiction and educate others on why the food we put in our mouths is so important.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nikkifitfitness.com
• Instagram: @nikkifit_fitness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1543659834
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVCShzPJDSS0Jc9pIzjGF1A