We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Hua recently and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
I have so many heartwarming stories over the last almost 13 years of being in business. This is why I love my job. The story I will share isn’t something that stands out but one we can all relate with.

I had a client who wanted to lose 30-40 lbs. She knew she needed to change. She found me online and said I’m just signing up before I change my mind about the timing being wrong, I can’t afford it, or I’m not ready. She needed to lose weight, eat healthier, exercise more, and sleep better. She did end up losing 40 pounds but she’s not someone I even recognize. Not only does she look and feel fantastic physically, her mental state has completely shifted.

She came in with tons of stress and anxiety, low confidence, a people-pleaser, and feeling out of control in her day to day life. We definitely talked about food and made small habit changes each time, but we heavily focused on the real story NOT the story she’s been writing in her head.

Before the weight loss, she was already beautiful, smart, capable, and compassionate. I supported her as she rewrote her own narrative, voiced her needs both professionally and personally, and set better boundaries. Her new story along with a revived confidence was really the main contributor of her new healthy lifestyle.

Now, instead of beers and microwave dinners after a stressful day, she doesn’t feel that stressed out and can sustain her cooking, exercise, and meditation routine. She takes time for self-care because she’s worth it. Her days off are full of joyful activities and don’t resemble her old life at all. Weight is only a symptom and a way for our body to communicate a need for change. That change is often our relationship with life and with our inner dialogue.

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?
Hello! I’m Samantha Hua, owner of Happy Food since 2009. I used to be a field biologist traveling all over the world studying wildlife. Nutrition always fascinated me so I studied it for my own benefit. Each time I returned home though, I noticed that people were gaining more weight and constantly on diets. They seemed miserable, and I wanted to share a side of health that is fun, delicious, and not about deprivation.

That’s when I started Happy Food. At Happy Food, it’s about education, automating habits, and getting to the root cause of road blocks. Being healthy isn’t just about food and exercise. Our mental health and perspective on life and ourselves not only determine our food choices but also our metabolism. Our mind and body works in conjunction.

Having worked through my own struggles and years of experience in the field, I help people connect the mind-body dots, achieve their health and weight loss goals, and shift mindset for a sustained healthy lifestyle.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
I do think it is important to continue learning through books, workshops, classes, etc. Personal growth affects professional development. Beyond that, I think showing up with a successful, positive attitude where you trust your instincts is also important. I believe that when we provide the space for our clients to speak safely and thoroughly listen to what they have to share, then the puzzle pieces often come together.

Learning how to ask questions that solicit information and then using that information to turn it into actions. That is key! Not planning for what I will say next but rather just listening for cues has really helped me navigate my clients in the right direction. People want to be heard. And what they don’t say or brush off are equally important too.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think that life is amazing but it does often throw curve balls. I tell my clients that the real test is sustaining their new healthy habits when life gets challenging. That is why resiliency is one of the most important topics we discuss.

As a refugee immigrant, resiliency was the backbone of my family’s survival so growing up, I’ve learned many lessons of hard work, perseverance, and getting pass disappointments.

In business, I started during the height of the recession in 2009 with 2 red chairs at the park. Despite this being viewed as a luxury expense even though health is essential, I had a nice stream of clients from networking, Chamber of Commerce meetings, presentations, newsletters, social media, and hours of unpaid work. As the weather got cold, I moved into an office in Pacific Beach in a holistic center. When the owner converted the center, we all had to move out and I rented an even nicer office in Bay Park. When COVID started, I moved to Zoom meetings which attracted more clients from different States and also allowed me to spend more time with my family.

What I learned over and over again is that when something seems like it isn’t going your way, it might be a hidden blessing for something better. Go with the flow instead of fighting upstream. The process just feels lighter and easy when you’re open to change.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://happyfoodhealth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyfoodsd
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happyfoodsd
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthahua
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/happyfoodhealth
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SamHappyFood
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/happy-food-san-diego

Image Credits
Shawn Lanham