Real Life Runners with Angie and Kevin Brown

401: Breaking Free from Food and Exercise Obsession with Sabrina Magnan

• Angie Brown

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In this episode of the podcast, we welcome Sabrina Magnan, an intuitive eating and food freedom coach, to discuss the complexities of our relationship with food and body image. Sabrina shares her personal journey from a life consumed by disordered eating and extreme dieting to one of balance and self-love. She explains the distinctions between disordered eating and eating disorders, and highlights the impact of diet culture on our perceptions of food and health. The conversation also delves into the importance of intention behind food choices and exercise. Sabrina shares insights on how reconnecting with one's body and aligning actions with personal values can lead to a more joyful and fulfilling life. We emphasize the broader impact of these changes, noting how they positively affect other areas of life, including relationships and career choices. They provide actionable advice for listeners struggling with similar issues, making it a valuable discussion for anyone looking to improve their relationship with food and exercise.


Sabrina Magnan is an intuitive eating coach who helps women overcome food obsession, binge & emotional eating and yo-yo dieting so that they can eat without guilt, anxiety or constant fear of losing control.


If you want to connect with her, you can find her at the links below! 

info@sabrinamagnan.com

www.site.sabrinamagnan.com

https://www.instagram.com/sabrina.magnan.health/


00:39 Sabrina's Background and Mission

01:59 Understanding Disordered Eating

04:25 Diet Culture and Its Impact

06:16 Finding Balance in Nutrition and Exercise

08:53 Sabrina's Personal Journey

20:20 The Turning Point: Italy Experience

22:43 Healing and New Perspectives 


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Don't forget: The information on this website is not intended to treat or diagnose any medical condition or to provide medical advice. It is intended for general education in the areas of health and wellness. All information contained in this site is intended to be educational in nature. Nothing should be considered medical advice for your specific situation.

Angie:

Welcome back to the Real Life Runners podcast. If you've ever felt like food takes up way too much space in your mind, like you're constantly thinking about what you should or shouldn't eat, whether you've earned your next meal, or if you're doing enough exercise to justify it, you're not alone. Today I'm joined by Sabrina Manya, an intuitive eating coach who helps women break free from food obsession, binge and emotional eating, and the endless cycle of yo yo dieting. She teaches women how to stop fearing food, release guilt, and finally feel in control. Well, not by restricting more, but by trusting their body again, in this episode, we have a great conversation and dive deep into how diet culture conditions us to believe that extreme discipline equals health. Why so many runners struggle with disordered eating and overtraining and how to shift your mindset so that you can fuel, train, and live in a way that feels Good without fear, guilt, or burnout. So if you're tired of feeling trapped by food and exercise rules, and you're ready to break free and find more joy in running, eating, and moving your body. This episode is for you. I'm so excited to introduce you to Sabrina. So let's get started. Welcome to the podcast, everyone. I'm so excited to welcome Sabrina Magnan to the podcast. I'm sorry if I pronounced that wrong. I tried my best. You killed it. I'm so glad that you're here.

Sabrina:

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to chat with you.

Angie:

All right. Me too. Sabrina, tell us a little bit. about who you are, what do you do, who do you help for everybody that doesn't know you?

Sabrina:

Yeah, so I'm Sabrina and I'm an intuitive eating and food freedom coach and I help women heal their relationship with food and their bodies so that they can finally leave food obsession, binge and emotional eating, yo-yo dieting behind and focus their time, energy, and mental space on actually focusing on things that matter to them and creating a life that they love.

Angie:

That is so beautiful. Isn't it wild? Like, when you say that it just made me think how wild it is about how much time and effort we put into thinking about food and how much food takes over our lives in so many ways.

Sabrina:

Yeah, I always try to explain it to people who have never struggled with the relationship with food. Do they exist? It does. Not a large number, but it does. And I remember, like, when I was really struggling with disordered eating It really does consume the majority of your day, and to explain to someone that everything used to revolve around food, you can't even conceptualize how big of an issue it really can become.

Angie:

Yeah. I would love to start off with that term that you just used, disordered eating, because I think that there's some misconceptions or maybe just lack of understanding around disordered eating versus an eating disorder. Can you tell us the difference?

Sabrina:

Yeah, so when we're talking about disordered eating, we're talking often about behaviors that have been normalized in the diet culture that we live in. If you think about not eating when you're hungry because you think that hunger is something that you should push off or that it's this weakness. We're talking about binge eating, but not to the extreme of binge eating disorder. So if you think about. it as a continuum. You've got eating disorders on one end, which is what people know. Anorexia, binge eating disorder, there's orthorexia, right? So those are, they have certain characteristics and factors that you need to hit. I'm pretty sure that binge eating disorder, you need to be binge eating like three to five times a week for a period of time for it to be qualified as an eating disorder. But then on the continuum, you've got people who maybe binge eat. two or three times a week, or who emotionally eat, who use food for comfort, people who restrict, who go into extreme dieting. Those are all going to be on the eating disorder spectrum, but not necessarily qualified as an eating disorder. And I know for me, I used to think that my disordered eating was I thought it was good that I was obsessing over the food labels and that everything was about how many calories are in the food. And eventually, after healing my relationship with food, I looked back and I realized that I did have a full blown eating disorder. I lost my period, I was losing my hair, I was underweight, but at the time I didn't realize it because it was encouraged and I got compliments for it.

Angie:

Oh my gosh, that's so true. So why do you think that happens? Like I think that there's like such a bigger conversation that we can have here, right? Of like, why is this kind of behavior encouraged and celebrated? And why are we made to think that this kind of thing is okay?

Sabrina:

Yeah, a big part of it is diet culture. Like, when I was deep in that kind of mentality, my entire social media, was filled with people who were confirming that this is the right thing you should be doing. It's all about discipline, and willpower, and work hard, and say no to temptations. Or they would be encouraging cheating. You've got your cheat meals on the weekend. And I, being a Type A, perfectionist, high achieving girl, was like if I can do well in school and I can do well in my sports, then I'm going to do as well as I can in my eating. I'm going to be as perfect as possible, and I'm not going to eat sweets, and I'm not going to cheat, and I would even look down on people who had this, at the time, I didn't realize, just a normal, healthy relationship with food. And I'd be like, oh, you're gonna eat that? You're gonna have that white bread? You're not gonna have whole wheat bread? And you develop this superiority complex because you're You have an unhealthy relationship with food, but you are conditioned to believe that's better. You shouldn't be eating processed food. You shouldn't be eating sugar that makes you weak or that makes you undisciplined.

Angie:

Ooh, you just went into so much goodness right there. It's wild. Wow. It's so true. And I love so many of the things that you just pointed out there. The, that type A perfectionist is perfectionistic personality. That is, a lot of the types of people that are drawn to running in our audience, right? Same kind of idea of okay, I'm gonna do this thing and I'm gonna do it right. And then we do Are we are exposed to so much now in social media with the right way to do things and the wrong way to do things and there are a million different things that we are being thrown, things that are being thrown at us every single day of even I, coach my runners on the best way to fuel their bodies and all these things, but how can we find some sort of balance with that, right? Because there are certain things that are important, I talk about the importance of protein with my athletes to make sure that they're getting enough to build muscle and to build bone and the importance of carbohydrates. How can we have a healthy relationship with food without going more into that obsession?

Sabrina:

Ah, I love that question. And I get that question a lot and the one word that comes up for me is intention. What is the intention driving your choices? I now live a very healthy lifestyle. I love moving my body because it makes me feel good. I love eating nourishing foods. I prioritize protein. I do all of these things that someone might deem as quote unquote healthy, but the intention behind it is a place of self love. a place of self care. I do it because I want to. I do it because I know it makes me feel good. And a lot of people, and we were talking about this before we started recording, get so disconnected from themselves that everything they do is from a place of should. And it's driven by an intention of restriction or punishment. The emotions driving the decisions are guilt, fear, shame. And so I was talking to one of my clients last week and she was saying that there was one night where her impulse was to have a cookie. And then she paused and asked herself, what am I really craving? And turns out that she wanted an apple with peanut butter. So we were chatting and she was like, I know that you don't recommend that when we have a craving for something, we replace it with something healthier. And then I stopped her and I was like. No, that's not what I said. Because you wanted to do that. You actually enjoyed the apple and peanut butter, and when you were done, you were super satisfied with that choice. You didn't come at it from a place of shoulds. You came at it from a place of desire. So that's the biggest thing, is asking yourself, What is the intention driving the choices that I make around my health?

Angie:

I love that so much. So you weren't always this way though, right? Like you're at this wonderful place now where you can be more intentional with your choices and I couldn't agree more that intention is behind so much of what We need to be doing to help take care of ourselves and I talk about that a lot with my students as well But tell us a little bit about your story because you have a running background as well here and I think that a lot of our listeners could connect with your story and You can help them have some hope if they are struggling with these kinds of things as well.

Sabrina:

For sure. My story begins when I was a synchronized swimmer. Ooh,

Angie:

that's fun.

Sabrina:

Yeah, so a lot of people find that so interesting. It's, for me, it's common.

Angie:

It's it's different in the world, right? My daughter does Irish step dancing, and I get that reaction a lot too, right? Because there's a lot of kids that do ballet and jazz and, different kinds of dance, but Irish step dancing is more unique, right? And I feel like synchronized swimming is one of those things as well. It's unique, for sure.

Sabrina:

And you'll find a lot of Taipei perfectionists in synchro because it's a sport. And you have to be. Exactly. It's literally based in perfection. I did it from the age of 8 to 16 at a high level. And already in that environment, you get conditioned to compare yourself to others. Everyone is in a bathing suit. You're judged on how you look, how long and skinny your legs are. And It got conditioned in me at a very young age that my worth and my success was attached to how I looked. And so when I retired from the sport at 16, I remember comments being made to me a year earlier. People saying, when you stop training this much, if you keep eating the way that you do, you're going to gain all this weight. And for me, that was the biggest fear that I could ever have, was gaining weight. When I stopped training 20 24 hours a week, I thought now I have to be quote unquote careful with what I eat, so I started counting my calories and eating low cal and low carb and doing all these different diets, and I also didn't know What kind of exercise to do because I was so used to people telling me what to do and spending so much time at the pool that now to move my body, I didn't know what that even meant. So I would spend like. Two hours at the gym lifting weights hating every minute of it I would that's when I started running and I would run on the treadmill for so long and I started training for half marathons and running through shin splints and runner's knee and bursitis in my hip like I would just push and push and everything was about burning calories and eating as few calories as possible I remember there was once I was training for my half marathon and I did a 13K and I hadn't eaten anything before it. And then once I came back from my run, I was starving. And in my current lifestyle, I would be like, okay, big meal. To replenish because I just burned a lot of my fuel, but at the time it was, okay, you got to eat your small little omelet and you got to eat as little as possible because you just burned a lot of calories. So make sure you don't overeat on calories now. So everything was like this math equation instead of seeing my body as this vehicle, as this machine that needs.

Angie:

Yeah, and I feel like so many runners fall into that trap and it's one of those stories that I wish was not as common as it actually is but I fear is far too common than I even realize and One of the things that you said in there I think was really important to point out was this Ability of yours, which a lot of other people have to disconnect to your body to disconnect to the signals and the signs that your body was throwing at you, your body was like, Hello, your knee hurts. Hello. I've got bursitis. Hello. Like all these things are happening. And you just essentially tried to ignore it and keep pushing through. Where do you think that came from?

Sabrina:

That's a great question. I think it came from a few different places. My dad. He's a very impressive man in terms of he is so Disciplined and he would wake up at 5am and do his exercise and then go to work and support our family of five and he really was like, you just put your head down and you do the work and you allow yourself to sacrifice some things about yourself for this greater good. So that was one piece of it. And then synchronized swimming is such a difficult sport. You really learn to just push through. And I was actually, it's funny that you asked me that question because I was thinking about this week, because as I was telling you, work has been Extremely busy lately, and I'm able in terms of work to just push through you have your eye on the prize and you just short term pain for long term gain. So that's just what I was conditioned to think. And I don't do that with my body anymore because I know that is not worth it. I will just burn myself out and truthfully, I probably shouldn't do it with work either. But I really do think that I just learned that. You just push through and I remember there was one run I was on and my shin splints Have you ever had shin splints?

Angie:

A little bit when I was a new runner. Yeah,

Sabrina:

they are so painful And I remember just running through the pain until at a certain point I couldn't even walk anymore that I had to call my mom to come pick me up because I just had put so much pressure on them. Yeah. So I just learned shut it down, push through it.

Angie:

Yeah, and it's so interesting, too, because you bring out the example of your dad, which is such a beautiful example, and I think that's part of it, right? We look up to people that have these qualities, like discipline and commitment, and they show up when they say that they should, and they do what they say that they're gonna do, and I follow my training plan exactly as it is, even though my body's telling me not to, and that is almost revered and celebrated in our culture, and so it makes sense, and it's not that, your dad wasn't trying to tell you to completely ignore your body, but like you saw him as this example, and how Our brains just see these things and interpret them and make stories up right and tell us okay this is obviously what I need to be doing when in reality That's Probably not necessarily the best thing for us, at least not all the time.

Sabrina:

Absolutely, and I come from a family of overachievers. I'm the youngest of five kids, and like everyone, very smart, did well in school, athletic, and so It got ingrained in me that the way to experience love and to be seen, especially as the youngest of five, is to accomplish and to succeed, whether that was in school or my sport or just exercise, like really craving that love and that support from my dad made me develop those qualities.

Angie:

Yeah, I can. Definitely relate. I have a very similar story as well and it's funny how, we equate accomplishment with love when in reality it has nothing to do with that and Yeah, I think that's one of those things that a lot of us can definitely relate to. What changed for you? What was the turning point that allowed you to realize, okay, maybe this is not the best way for me to approach food and my body and exercise and this all or nothing mentality and these extremes that we go to, which so many runners can relate to. How did you break free from that or what made you realize that there was even anything wrong with it?

Sabrina:

Yeah, so I would say it was my second year of university. At that point, it had gotten really bad. I had a Fitbit, so now I was counting how many calories I was burning every day and tracking every calorie into MyFitnessPal. And I didn't realize it at the time, but I had developed orthorexia, so I had this unhealthy obsession with being Healthy quote unquote healthy, and it was really extreme. I could not miss the gym in the morning Even if I worked out when I had the flu when I had back injuries It was you have to be at the gym and I stopped going out socially because going out for food made me anxious I didn't know how many calories were gonna be in my food. I was scared. I was gonna lose control, quote unquote, and binge and then ruin my progress. And I really had this belief that just lose a little bit more weight and then you're going to feel whatever I thought I was going to feel loved or accepted or part of the group. And so it really was conditional. Once I lose this amount of weight, then I will feel differently. And I. I was so concentrated on that I lost sight of the fact that all those things that I thought I was gonna feel once I lost the weight, I was moving further away from, like I was less connected to people, I was less loved, like I wasn't a fun person to be around for my friends, like I was tired all the time. I was 30 pounds underweight. Everything was about discipline and control. And eventually it was my sister's baby shower. And this was the first time I was becoming an aunt. It should have been this beautiful day with my family. And I just binged the entire afternoon. I spent the entire day by the buffet table. I made myself sick. That entire day, I just remember the food. And that night, I was like, What am I doing with my life? I'm so unhappy. I'm so miserable. And when you're, when you have an eating disorder you really feel like you're in this prison where you know it's not helping you, but you cannot let go of the control. So I knew I needed to get this shock to my system because I knew I wasn't going to do it myself. So I ended up going to Italy that summer, which had been a dream of mine to become an au pair. So I was terrified to go because I knew it would mean I would have to eat carbs and pizza and ice cream. Really good carbs. Really? Yeah. Seriously. And gelato. And anyone would look at that and be excited about it. And I was so scared. And even people in my life who didn't realize the extent of my eating disorder would tease me and be like, you're going to gain so much weight in Italy. Like you're going to have to eat carbs and cheese, things that I didn't eat at the time. And I, the first day I got there, the Nana, whose home I lived in, looked at me and goes, Oh my goodness, you're so skinny. Let's get you some food. And my mind was like, I've made a mistake, this was such a bad idea, like this is going to be the worst summer ever. And progressively, in Italy, they have such a healthy relationship with food. It's about celebration and enjoyment and slowing down and being present. No one talks about burning calories or going to the gym tomorrow to make up for having gelato. And I just it like planted this seed little by little I ate a little bit more I had more variety I stopped binge eating. I wasn't consumed with food. I had more energy. My workouts were better And it just planted this seed of Oh, I think the way I've been doing it was really wrong. And I think the way that we do it in North America in general is very wrong. So that summer didn't fully heal me, but it planted the seed. Cause when I came back here, I made the decision. I'm going to try to maintain what I was doing there. I'm really going to be intentional, keep buying pasta and keep eating those things. And it was like a multi year journey of learning about intuitive eating and your relationship with food and the psychology of eating. But that was really like the turning point for me.

Angie:

That's so beautiful. One of the things that you said really stood out to me because I've heard this from my clients because one of the big things That we talk about in inside of my program with our students is not being afraid to eat more food Like the importance of fueling your body for your training sessions for whatever it is that you're asking your body to do You're trying to build muscle. You need to fuel yourself. You're trying to run a marathon. You need to fuel yourself and My students have come back and told me it's really scary for me to eat more food. Like this whole thing is very scary to me. How do, how does it get to that point, right? Like how, food is not scary in and of itself, right? But it's like these stories that we make up around food that literally make us afraid of eating.

Sabrina:

Yeah. First of all, I think it's so beautiful that you teach your students that because it really is so important. And I think in the fitness world, we forget, and in the fitness world, it's even encouraged to have disordered eating habits. But I, at least for me, I think the biggest thing is that most of the time, the reason we have food issues. The root causes body issues and so we associate eating more with maybe gaining weight and then it's the stories that we have around that feel really And then there's Triggering and dysregulating for our nervous system for me. My story was that if I had this like healthy identity, so I was the healthy girl, the one who was disciplined and at the gym every morning, the one who said no to pizza and sweets, the one who never quote unquote cheated. And I really like the story I created was that people admired and loved me for that. And so to let go of that identity, I fully thought people won't love me anymore. Like I won't have these people who admire me. And it was only once I really had to push myself because it was, you're driven away from pain or towards pleasure. And for me, it was the pain of staying the same was much greater than the discomfort of unraveling this identity that I had for myself. And it was only through action and through exposure that I realized. No one loved you because you said no to pizza. No one was only in your life because you were eating and exercising a certain way, or because of your body. In fact, you are now so much more fun to be around because you actually love yourself. And when you love yourself, you have love to give to other people. So it was through healing my relationship with myself that I realized how much closer and more vulnerable and connected I could be to the people around me.

Angie:

That's so beautiful. And it, I think it's so interesting though, right? Because like you said, you have, you were probably celebrated and Reinforce, right? Those behaviors were reinforced because people would point them out oh, that's so amazing that you get up every day at 5 a. m. and go to the gym. I could never be that. I could never do that. You're so disciplined. I could never do that. Yeah. And you're like, you're right. There is that sense of yes, I'm doing a really good job here. And Sometimes I think it can move into that like superiority type of complex where you're like, yep. I'm doing it, right? I'm doing it best here and I'm gonna keep this up. So it makes sense, right? But all of that is happening on a subconscious level. We're not thinking to ourselves most of the time like yeah That means I'm better than you or yeah this that you're gonna love me because of this or you're gonna admire me because of this Like we're not consciously aware of any of that. So what are we? Consciously aware of and how can we start to find some of those subconscious beliefs and patterns that might be driving us to do these things?

Sabrina:

Yeah, so I would say before I answer that question, one of the things that has been really helpful for me was to get clear on what I actually value. Because now, the things that bring me pride, quote unquote pride, are are almost the opposite of what it used to be. Like what it used to be was discipline and willpower and achievement. And now I take pride in the fact that I can take rest days. without feeling guilty. My sense of accomplishment and pride comes from treating myself with love and with self care. And that looks like taking a rest day when my body needs it, having a soft yoga day when my body needs it. It means I feel really proud about the fact that I can eat all foods and I don't feel guilty about it. And so like my definition of success has really changed. And so to answer your question, I think one of the biggest things that I do with my clients is get really clear. on what your definition of success really is. Because oftentimes we have this subconscious definition of success that was donated to us by culture. Like we didn't fully decide that's what it was. But whether it's discipline or it's looking a certain way or having a certain body, that is subconsciously our definition of success. But then when you take the time to ask yourself, What do I actually value and what will mean something to me when I'm 70 or 80 years old? What will a successful life look like? That thought for me really changed everything because I realized I will not feel proud. I will not feel happy if my entire life was focused on looking a certain way, obsessing over food, hating my body. I won't feel like that was success, a successful life at 80 years old. I will feel successful if I was kind and compassionate, if I surrounded myself with people that I loved, if I loved so fully, and I showed up as my authentic self. That was my definition of success. So when you can get clear on what your definition of success is, then you've got your roadmap on what needs to change in how I think and how I feel.

Angie:

I love that so much. That's so beautiful. And I think that the other thing that I would love to add to that too is that sometimes we are wrong in What we determine to be the path to success or the path to achieving those things. For example, when I'm older, will I have want to will I be proud of myself for running a marathon? A lot of people would say yes to that, right? That was a huge accomplishment. But they think that they need to train more, restrict their food, do those things in order to accomplish that thing. And that part is wrong, right? They have a It's a faulty view of what is required to achieve the thing that will make them proud, when they are older. And I think that can be another place where we get tripped up.

Sabrina:

Yeah, absolutely. Especially because we live in a world of a lot of misinformation, of a lot of extreme views. Yeah. I shared this reel on my Instagram last week that basically had the message of if you don't want that person's life, don't take that person's advice. So if you don't want to be saying no to spontaneous ice cream dates, if you don't want to be constantly terrified of eating carbs, if you don't want to make running your entire day a Life so much so that it takes away from your family or your social life or your ability to be spontaneous or to just decide today I'm not going to run because my body is asking for rest, like really make sure that you don't just get clear on what the end goal is, but the life that you're creating, because yeah, you might achieve the thing, you might get the half marathon, the marathon, the half marathon. And that's only going to be like 0. 00001 percent of your life, whereas everything else surrounding it, that is the stuff you really want to focus on.

Angie:

Yeah, and if you feel like junk when you do it, how much of an accomplishment is it really? That's what I like to try to remind my clients of as well is like, how do you want to feel during this process? Sure. It's great for you to have a goal of a half marathon, a marathon, an ultra marathon, whatever it is that you want to accomplish. I am on board to help you get there as long as you do it in a healthy way. Now, granted, we all have different definitions of healthy, which is what you pointed out before, which I think is super important to acknowledge as well. But in a way that works with your real life, that makes you feel more joy and more fulfillment and feel like you're taking care of your body. Not that you're just ignoring it and getting injured along the way and feeling miserable through the process. And there's a lot of people that think that's what running's supposed to feel like, because that's how it's always felt. They don't know that it can be different. I think for you, with your clients, it's probably the same with food. There's a lot of people that just have this disordered relationship with food, and they don't know that it can be different. When in reality, there's this whole world that is available to them. They're just not sure, A, that it even exists, right? It's this kind of like utopia over here. And then B, how to even get there.

Sabrina:

Yeah, and it's all about giving that new perspective when you're so used to thinking a certain way and thinking this is the way it has to be. And I'm all about, I, I tell my clients, I'm like, I'm still a foodie, and I love food. I love enjoying food. It doesn't mean that food is the central focus of my life. It's like really helping people understand that there's a way that you can get to where you want to be, while, like you said, While feeling good, while doing it from a place of connection with your body and alignment with the kind of life that you want to live.

Angie:

I love that so much. And I think that's like such a perfect place for us to wrap this up because I think that's one of those messages that we just need to keep shouting from the rooftops. And the more of us that are doing it, the better. So Sabrina, thank you so much for coming on today. Is there anything that I forgot to ask you that you would like to share with our listeners?

Sabrina:

Anything that I forgot? Honestly, no. I think that it's so beautiful because I focus more on the food and nutrition side and clearly you're doing the nutrition as well but The fact that you are promoting this healthy relationship with exercise and running is just as important because I had a really disordered relationship with exercise that was driven by fear and anxiety and guilt. And so, there's so much beauty that comes from being able to find the joy in running. I have not found the runners high ever since doing those half marathons, but I know that some people do. And so to be able to bring that love and that joy and the benefits that you get from running, but from a healthy place, I think what you're doing is just really special.

Angie:

Thank you. But I think that, so much of it is exactly aligned with what you're saying is like starting to release some of those expectations on, what your pace should be like all those shoulds that we like to throw at ourselves, right? Of Oh, I don't, I can't go below this pace, or I can't go below this distance. And we make up all of these arbitrary rules, both with running and with food, things that we should or shouldn't do of what's good and what's bad. And when in reality, when we learn how to move our bodies, in a way that feels good and eat to fuel our bodies in a way that feels good, then we can start to release some of those expectations and shoulds that we put onto ourself, which is so important.

Sabrina:

Have you noticed that your clients, once you teach them this, how to break free of the molds and structures that they created for themselves around running? And for me, it's around food. They start noticing it in so many other areas of their life and how much they've been putting themselves in a box in like relationships and looks and all of these different aspects.

Angie:

Yes, and it's so beautiful because my population is mostly women over 40. Like all people, but like we tend to work with a lot of women. But seeing women starting to make these shifts, even in their 50s and 60s and realizing, Oh my gosh, I can't believe all these ways that I was thinking before and starting to see those shifts. Like people say, you can't change when you get older. That's a big fat lie. There's a lot of realizations that you can have. And I do. And it's amazing to see. The ripple effect of all of it, how they end up with different relationships with their spouses and with their family and I've had people leave successful careers and turn, go into life coaching or health coaching because they want to help other people and they realize that What the stress of their current job or career was completely damaging their health in so many ways. And so they start to, reach out and explore and just that idea that there are other possibilities out there. is such a beautiful thing. And yes, I definitely have and it sounds like you have too. That's

Sabrina:

amazing. Yeah, it really is like the ripple effect once you, you get through the door and you come in for one thing and then you realize there's just so many more doors that open up for you.

Angie:

Yeah I always like to say that like health and fitness is like the gateway drug into personal development.

Sabrina:

If you do it the right way.

Angie:

If you do it the right way, yeah. You don't want it to be like the bad drug, right? You want to go the other way. And realize all the good things about it. So this has been such a great conversation. Sabrina, where can our listeners connect with you?

Sabrina:

Yeah, they can find me on Instagram at Sabrina Mangyal Health. They can listen to my podcast, which you've been on, which is called the Live Unrestricted Podcast, and that's where we talk all things, body image, relationship with food, healthy habits, and all that fun stuff. And on my website, which is sabrinamagnan. com as well.

Angie:

Can you spell that for our people? And we'll definitely put it in the show notes as well. But go ahead and spell that out. So it's Sabrina. Sabrina is

Sabrina:

pretty commonly spelled. And then my last name is M A G N A N. There we go. All right.

Angie:

And of course, we'll link all of that in the show notes for you guys with her website and her Instagram and her podcasts and all of that for you to connect with her and let her know, reach out to her, send her a DM on Instagram, let her know that you listened to this episode and what you, Loved about it. I loved all of it. So thank you so much for coming on and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you.