Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sara Vander Zwaag. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?
The kindest thing anyone has ever done for me: told me to go to therapy.
I had been to therapy throughout my childhood and hated it. I appreciate that my parents knew I was going through really hard things and needed support, but none of my therapists were the right fit for me, and it made me wary of therapy.
In my early 20s, a breakup from a toxic relationship triggered PTSD. I was at the lowest I’d ever been, and I leaned heavily on one of my dearest friends.
One day, as I cried to her, she spoke to me plainly: “I can’t give you the help that you need. You need to speak to a therapist.” She asserted a boundary with boundless love. She even went the extra mile and helped me find a therapist by getting referrals from her own.
I’ve been seeing my therapist for 9 years, and it completely changed my life. It saved my life. And it set me on the path to creating my business and becoming a health coach.
So much of what I offer my clients is laid on the foundation of what my therapist taught me.
That act of kindness allowed me to create a life where I can help others heal. It completely changed my life.
Sara, 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?
I’m an Intuitive Eating Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. I also call myself a Body Peace Mentor & Recovery Coach. I help people who have been dieting and fighting with their bodies for years learn how to heal their relationship with food, movement, and their bodies.
I teach my clients to un-learn diet culture, confront fatphobia, and learn to eat & move intuitively. I also specialize in helping my clients heal their body image and self-relationship as they do this work.
Many of my clients grew up in households with parents who were constantly dieting, critical of their kid’s bodies, and encouraging disordered eating habits. They grew up into adults who struggle with the diet/restrict/binge cycle, constant body image issues, and resulting negative health outcomes.
I became a holistic health coach because I spent my whole life fighting with my body. I grew up in a house or fatphobia, body shaming, and food rules. I was bullied for my body by peers.
When my mental health was at its lowest, I lost a lot of weight at an alarming pace. I wasn’t trying to lose weight, but once I received the praise and privilege of a smaller body—what I had desired my whole life—I quickly developed an eating disorder.
I didn’t realize as it was happening, but it began controlling my life. Even as the other aspects of my mental health improved, my relationship with my body remained toxic and sick.
I even enrolled in nutrition school with the hopes of becoming a health coach to help other people lose weight. It wasn’t until a few months into school that I realized I had orthorexia. I started to realize how sick I was. And I made the decision to begin recovery. 5 months later, the pandemic hit.
It was wild. I was gaining weight, educating myself on intuitive eating, holistic health, anti-fat bias, and the sources of fatphobia in our society. I began to actually heal my relationship with my body: not conditionally and based on weight/size but unconditionally: based on acceptance and self-love that doesn’t change as my body changes.
I began to see how many people around me hated and fought with their bodies. How unhealthy dieting and diet culture is. How brainwashed we all have become to believe hurting our bodies in pursuit of a smaller pair of pants is somehow healthy.
I wanted to help others heal like I had: to unlearn the diet mindset and learn to listen to their bodies with intuitive eating, to nourish their bodies as an act of love, to develop a sustainable and gentle relationship with movement, and to heal their body image at the source by changing how they speak to themselves & how they relate to and experience their bodies.
I am a deeply empathetic, relational, intuitive, and caring person. This is what sets me apart. I can attune to my clients and understand them on a deep, emotional level. I have unlimited love to offer, and I offer it without conditions or judgment. My clients know they are safe in my space. They know they will be able to heal and recover, at their own pace.
I’m proud that I’ve I created a career and life for myself where I’m able to use all my personal strengths and all the varied life experiences I’ve had to help others. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. To help others feel less pain, fear, sadness, and anxiety. One of my clients was eating dinner with her sister when her sister remarked that she had “never seen her so happy before.” That is my biggest accomplishment.
Anytime one of my recovery clients is able to experience a meal free from stress and anxiety? Endless pride.
Anytime one of my clients looks in the mirror and sees a whole, beautiful human staring back at them instead of zeroing in on the parts of their body they dislike? Endless pride.
I love what I do.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was an English Professor! That was what I went to school to become. I decided in undergrad that I wanted to be a professor & received my MFA in order to do so.
I was lucky enough to be hired by the college I earned my MFA from and started my first semester after graduating. It only took two years for me to realize…I hated it.
I LOVED teaching, but being an adjunct in higher education is an awful grind. Extremely low pay, no job security, no healthcare, no control over what you teach, and essentially zero opportunity for advancement.
It wasn’t worth it, no matter how much I enjoyed teaching. So I got a job at a bookstore as I thought about what else I’d like to do.
But suddenly that bookstore job consumed me. I was promoted to restock buyer and got saturated with stress. I thought I’d stay in the field. I considered being a store manager or getting into publishing, but as I interviewed I realized once again: “This isn’t really what I want. I’m just good at this. It doesn’t really make me happy. It doesn’t give me a sense of purpose.”
I was stressed, but unfulfilled.
So I thought about what DID fulfill me. Giving my co-workers advice. Teaching my students by connecting with them as humans. Counseling my friends. Passing on the wisdom and lessons I had learned in life. Helping people.
I decided to take a huge leap and pivot from the world of books & writing and become not just a health coach but a business owner. And I’m so glad I did!
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
In order to succeed as a coach, you need sincerity, vulnerability, and compassion.
You need to connect with clients as a human. You need to pull on strengths that aren’t prioritized in traditional business places (though they should be)! Traits that are labeled as “softer.”
Data, strategy, rationality, organization, planning—these are integral to running a business.
But if your business is coaching and helping others, you can’t leave your humanity at the door. The foundation of my success as a coach is my capacity to love. It’s me being myself, being kind and caring and interested in why people are the way that they are.
I haven’t been able to utilize these strengths in other fields, but In coaching I believe it is vital.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sunflowerhealthcoaching.com/
- Instagram: @sara_sunflowerhealth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savanderzwaag
- Other: TikTok: @sara_sunflowerhealth
Image Credits
Lindsey Shea