Once upon a time . . .

There was a fair-haired girl, aged seven, who was yearning to be a princess. But the path she traveled was uneasy and she lost her way. When she looked in the mirror, she feared she didn’t measure up. And so the struggle began.

Instead of becoming a princess, the little girl (that would be me) grew up to be the queen of yo-yo dieting.

Ten pounds up, fifteen down, twenty up, thirty-five down, fifty up — at my heaviest I weighed 284 pounds. In the land of not good enough, I believed I was too this and not enough that. Fear and shame were my constant companions.

I ate with reckless abandon, and wore fat pants.
I wore skinny jeans, and didn’t eat much of anything.
I knew the humiliation of broken zippers and the heartache of broken dreams.
I diminished my talents and gifts. I denied myself true pleasure.

It was a life of endless diets, suffering, and self-loathing.

In a land far, far away…

Meanwhile, I took up residence in that most peculiar land of make-believe — the fashion and advertising industry. Over 20 years, I reached dizzying heights as Producer and Creative Director, styling glamorous photo shoots with beautiful models in exotic locations.

Often out of breath and out of body — that was me.

And then one morning, in the pre-dawn light in the Sonoran Desert, a cowboy showed me just how far removed I’d become from my own body. That was the first step in my journey back to my true self.

Of course, my long and winding journey back home was not without its bumps.

There was even a magic pumpkin…

The magic of pumpkin as the perfect meal extender was revealed to me in a Weight Watchers meeting. Pumpkin in oatmeal. Pumpkin in mashed potatoes. Pumpkin in smoothies.

Everyone in the room enthusiastically agreed — pumpkin was the miracle weight-loss ingredient.

Then our leader dropped the bombshell. She explained that due to low pumpkin crop yields in the previous year, canned pumpkin would be in short supply. I raced to the store and found a display stack of 13 cans of pumpkin. It was pumpkin pay dirt. I grabbed them all and headed home, elated.

The next morning, three bites into my pumpkin oatmeal, I realized . . . I hated the taste, the texture, and the smell. I persevered with two more recipes, and then I remembered; I hate pumpkin!

Caught up in the fear of not having enough, of missing out, of going hungry, I had lost my self.

And as my magical weight-loss carriage was reduced to a simple pumpkin at the stroke of midnight, I remembered my truth; I am a woman who believes in an abundant universe for you and me — no matter the pumpkin crop forecasts.

This ain’t no fairytale…

My 54-year journey has led me through advanced university degrees in education and the creative arts from Lesley University, and in child development from Tufts University; high-flying jobs in big advertising agencies and exclusive boutique firms; certified course work in energy healing science, integrative mind-body medicine, and expressive therapies; creativity coaching, the Martha Beck life coach training program and intuitive eating counseling certification.

I have lived and learned, and now it gives me the greatest pleasure to share this hard-won knowledge and experience with women as they make their way back to their true selves.

But I’m not going to pretend this fairytale ends happily ever after. I don’t float from my bed each morning, suffused in a golden glow of self-love and contentment, and gaze adoringly in the mirror at my thighs. My relationship with food, and with my body, is something I work on a little bit each day.

But that’s okay because I know this work is the doorway to my own light-hearted, fulfilling, right-for-me sized life.

And when I feel myself slip away, I have the tools I need to stay present, to transform the moment, and to take inspired action.

I’ve learned how to end the struggle with food and with my body. I’ve learned how to satisfy my hunger with a truly luscious life.

That’s my story — now I’d love to hear yours! You can email me at or connect with me on Facebook. I’d like that!