Today we’d like to introduce you to Tonya Beauchaine.
Hi Tonya, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I claim the Southwest as home, where I grew up on plentiful amounts of green chili and sunshine. In 2009, I relocated to Raleigh to pursue a Master of Science in Nutrition from Meredith College. I’ve always had a passion for cooking and food science and enjoy teaching others how to enjoy time in their kitchen. I grew up around a lot of diet talk, body shaming and had close family members struggle with disordered eating. It was all considered normal and completely ok–though it wasn’t.
In 2016, was inspired by watching my daughter’s intuitive eating and at the same time learning to accept my genetic destiny that I will never be the size that “society” indicates I should be. I wasn’t sure how to navigate a world where dieting wasn’t a part of my life any longer. How could I walk away from something that was supposed to be improving my health? I started working on restoring my own intuitive eating instincts and have found amazing freedom with my relationship with food and peace with my body.
I’ve partnered with a dear friend Tracy Vazquez to talk through some of our experiences with freedom from dieting and the scale called We’re Not Weighting. Together we are working to help women stop waiting and start living. I also became a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor because I want to help other women find peace with food. I do not want to just hand out a menu plan and prescribe a diet to clients based on their BMI. I have never encountered a diet I believed in enough to promote it to others and believe our diet culture has had detrimental effects on people. However, I feel confident the non-dieting approach with the Intuitive Eating and Health At Any Size® (HAES) movement is the answer to our society’s disordered eating issues and obsession with body size.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I had a lot of fun starting a business, and the creative process has been a great outlet for me. I absolutely love meeting with clients and talking about how they can make their kitchen a place of inspiration, not frustration. I even designed an ebook called the Intuitive Kitchen Guide, where clients can learn to approach meal planning, meal prep, and setting up their kitchen with a non-diet approach.
The pandemic of 2020 brought us a lot of challenges and obstacles, one that stood out to me is learning how to eat at home a lot more than we used to do. With young children, we already eat at home the majority of the week. But our trips to the grocery store had to be more intentional and some food items just weren’t available. I had to get creative in the kitchen and shared in my Instagram stories the things I was making. It was fun being able to connect with other people in that way.
We’ve been impressed with Tonya by the Spoonful, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am a Certified Intuitive Eating Coach, Health at Every Size® (HAES) Advocate, and hold a Master’s Degree in Nutrition. I am passionate about helping people find peace with food and their bodies.
As a Certified Intuitive Eating Coach, I provide private coaching to help clients on their journey to restore their inner Intuitive Eater and improve their relationship with food. Sometimes just reading the book and going through the workbook isn’t enough, and extra support will help them in their process.
Intuitive Eating provides a natural way of nourishing yourself that is ultimately struggle-free and healthy for your mind and body. It is a process that breaks the shackles of dieting (which can only lead to deprivation, rebellion, and rebound weight gain). It means getting back to your roots–trusting your body and its signals. Intuitive Eating will not only change your relationship with food; it may change your life.
Intuitive Eating is a personal process of honoring health by listening and responding to the direct messages of the body in order to meet your physical and psychological needs. We will work through the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating during our sessions. The principles work by either cultivating or removing obstacles to body awareness, a process known as interoceptive awareness.
I meet with clients by phone, Healthie Telehealth, or face-to-face (local to the Raleigh Triangle area) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. We set wellness goals focusing on the process more than the outcome. We create strategies to overcome obstacles, triggers, and challenges. We work together in a trusting relationship, in a safe and supportive environment in order to gain awareness and clarity.
I tell my clients after working with me:
“You will learn tools (not rules) to manage mindless and emotional eating.
You will be able to decipher which nutrition guidance is worth listening to and which is unhealthy dieting propaganda.
You will find enjoyable, non-punitive ways to get the exercise and movement your body needs.
You will develop ways to appreciate and treat your body with respect, gratitude, and kindness.”
In addition to private coaching, I also offer grocery store tours and help clients with setting up an Intuitive Kitchen. Grocery shopping can be intimidating after recovery from dieting or disordered eating, but it doesn’t have to be! We work together to tackle the challenges that are present when clients walk into a grocery store.
I will also come to your kitchen to help organize your pantry and refrigerator for optimal Intuitive Eating.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I am fairly comfortable taking risks, but I felt like starting Tonya by the Spoonful and We’re Not Weighting was one of the bigger risks in my life. Going against the cultural norm of hopping from diet to diet and feeling guilt or shame because of our bodies can be quite a risk. I was taught at a young age that dieting is just something we do. But if diets worked long term, we wouldn’t have to keep going on them. Our society has made us question our genetic destiny and feel overwhelmed by the notion that we all need to pursue an “ideal body” our whole lives. Women especially have been taught to live in constant dissatisfaction with our body.
Tonya by the Spoonful and the We’re Not Weighting podcast has required a lot of my time, energy, and headspace that was previously focused on making my body fit into society standards. This effort has become more than just a business and a podcast, it is about giving women of all shapes, sizes, and colors permission to show up exactly as they are.
Contact Info:
- Email: tonyabeauchaine@gmail.com
- Website: tonyabythespoonful.com
- Instagram: @tonyabythespoonful
- Facebook: @tonyabythespoonful
- Other: @werenotweighting (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts)
Image Credits
Brittani Halbert Photography
