About Hadley

I’m a Certified Health & Nutrition Counselor, accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. I help women to reclaim their relationships with food and make peace with their bodies. I’m based in New York City and Paris, where I work with clients from all over the world–from the East Village to South Korea.

Several years ago, I gave up dieting.  I woke up one day and realized I had waged war with food for most of my life — I had eaten too much, eaten too little, tried this diet, tried that diet. I was tired of it. And none of it actually worked, because no matter what weight I attained, I was never satisfied. It was a neverending struggle — and it had utterly exhausted me.

Food is tricky, especially for women.  Most us us are ruled by the diet mentality but don’t even realize it.   The urge to diet–to restrict our appetites–is deeply ingrained in many of us. We’re taught at a young age that it’s not lady-like to finish the entire plate of food.  That wearing a certain size will make us more popular or more lovable or more complete. Throughout our lives, we devote so much time and energy to dieting and talking about dieting and thinking about dieting.  We’ve done it for so long that it’s difficult to comprehend how to live our lives without counting calories and measuring our self-worth against what we consume.

After nearly three decades of putting myself through this, I was ready to jump off this roller coaster of restriction and guilt. It had become toxic.

When I tell people–particularly women–that I’m not on any sort of diet, most look a bit shocked and, for some, jealous. How do you do it? they ask curiously. Aren’t you afraid you’ll just eat everything in front of you and gain a million pounds and never be loved again?

Yeah, I was totally afraid of that when I began this journey.  If I started letting myself eat, what if I ate everything?  If I was no longer afraid of food, would it devour me?  Would I just let myself go? Would I abandon my healthy foods and just eat Taco Bell for every meal? (The answer to all four is, no.  In fact, my weight hasn’t fluctuated since.)

The second question people ask is, so what do you eat? This is usually accompanied by a dreamy look, as they imagine all of the pancakes and rice krispy treats and bacon I surely must eat all day. I think my answer disappoints them:  I eat whole foods.  I eat a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I take my vitamins. Sometimes I make a smoothie for breakfast. But I also enjoy the treats I love without guilt. (Steak, anyone? Cake, anyone? Coffee, anyone?)

Around the same time that I had this revelation, I took a look at my clients, many of whom had made significant changes to their diets. They had traded in fried chicken for kale, and diet coke for kombucha. And while these new foods made them feel incredible, a lot of our sessions were still devoted to their guilt around eating. The foods may have changed, but the impulses were the same:  they were bingeing on spirulina shakes and emotionally eating brown rice cake. Their physical health may have improved, but they still felt terrible about themselves.

I realized that the focus of my counseling practice needed to change along with my own eating habits.  It was time to stop only focusing on the food and instead help people re-discover and embrace their appetites–without going off the deep end.

So today I work with people who are ready to jump off the diet roller coaster, as scary as it may seem. During this journey, I advise them on how to incorporate whole, healthy foods into their diets. But unlike most nutrition programs out there, I support women as they find a new way of eating and living their lives. Because our relationship with food impacts our relationship with the world. Food changes everything.

Are you ready to make the leap to a diet-free life?  Schedule a free 45-minute phone consultation with me today. We’ll discuss where you want to be with your eating and your health, and we’ll start from where you are now in the journey, wherever that may be.