Your Life Just Got Healthier With High Peak Nutrition (Win!)

Now that we are getting over that post-holiday slump, we sat down with Marjie Richardson, co-founder of High Peak Nutrition, to chat about creating healthy mindsets about weight management and why working with a nutrition coach could be the answer to starting your new year off right. We’re also giving you a chance to win their Back to Basics program starter kit, which comes with a supply of five HUMANFuel supplements and one-on-one nutrition coaching (a $500 value!). Best of all, it’s all proudly Canadian! —Vita Daily

Hi Marjie! As a busy mom of two with a full-time job, what inspired you to become a nutrition coach and launch High Peak Nutrition as a side hustle?

I have always struggled with my mental health, but it really wasn’t until I had children that I understood the brunt of postpartum depression. We often look for a quick solution to these periods of imbalance, but a lot of people don’t realize that there is a strong link between food and mood that’s often overlooked. After completing a nutrition coaching program geared towards regaining hormonal balance, I experienced higher energy levels, a clearer head, and an increased love and appreciation for my body. I also found that I was able to better manage my anxiety. That’s what motivated my partner and I to start our business. We want to bridge that gap in understanding the correlation between food and mood and share these insights with everyone we know. As seasons change, a lot of people can experience a dip in their moods. One way to counter that and work on healthy mindsets and habits is by educating ourselves on the role food and nutrition has on our mood, staying connected and elevating each other up. That’s exactly what I get from working with my clients as a coach—it’s the greatest reward! 

“If you’re just trying to trim down your waist, you are going to fail. You need basic education about nutrition and food psychology for sustainable long-standing results”

—Marjie Richardson, co-founder of High Peak Nutrition

There is a lot of trending information connecting food and psychology. Why is psychology the missing piece for so many people trying to achieve their own personal health and fitness goals?

The thing that people need to know about achieving a healthier lifestyle is that changing habits and creating sustainable long-lasting results starts with adjusting your mindset. It’s an inside job! If we aren’t aware of the changes that need to be made on a personal and individual level, our brains won’t catch up to the changes we made as a real result. I personally like to use a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approach to food psychology to help people understand their relationship with food and most importantly, themselves. Everything from stress, sleep, emotional eating and our reward systems, play a significant role in our eating habits. Everyone has a different relationship to food and to their body. Understanding how you approach food in certain situations and how outside factors affect your choices is crucial if you want to make effective nutrition and lifestyle changes. Once you are aware of these things you can start to change your thinking and incorporate tools to help you stay on track with your goals. Our program provides one-on-one coaching so that people have the support and expertise to successfully change their habits and improve their health. We work closely with doctors to provide evidence-based research and solutions to help support us in this journey. 

Why do you think most people stop pursuing their weight management goals within the first few months of a new year? 

Most people are really hard on themselves and are setting unrealistic expectations. After indulging more over the holidays, I used to do this every New Year. The main reason people don’t follow through is because they are not tracking behaviour with food habits. It’s important to keep journal entries. That made a big difference in my own journey and it can with yours too! You have to build a healthy mindset, get in tune with your body, and set attainable and measurable goals. Also, a lot of people are afraid of asking for help. It’s important to have an ongoing maintenance plan and support, but a truly good coaching program shouldn’t be stringing you along, but rather, setting you up for success and sending you off on your way.

What is your best advice for anyone struggling to find a program that works for them? 

You are not alone! Healthy foods are not one-size fits all. Not every body type is the same and what works for you may not work for others—that’s why a lot of diet plans fail for people. It’s important to work with a professional to identify what’s working for you. At High Peak Nutrition, we examine an individual’s symptoms and respiratory, cognitive and gastrological responses to specific foods. You have to pay attention to your body and what foods it responds well to. My best advice is find an accountability partner or work directly with a coach. People rarely can do this on their own. There’s a lot of research out there that shows that working with someone keeps you motivated and brings you closer to your end goal faster. Also, let’s all make a pact to move away from negative self-talk and emotions such as guilt and shame. Approaching fitness or healthy weight management shouldn’t be detrimental to your mental health. Getting a nutrition coach made such a major difference in my own life that I decided to become one myself. I cannot recommend signing on to a program with one-on-one coaching enough! If I can do this, so can you! 

High Peak Nutrition is a Canadian nutrition coaching company rooted in schools of nutrition and psychology. Empowering people with a customized one-on-one approach to supporting weight management goals, High Peak Nutrition’s program is built to reduce inflammation and create hormonal balance by identifying an individual’s unique digestive response to foods. To learn more, visit www.highpeaknutrition.com and follow them @highpeaknutrition.

Win! A $500 High Peak Nutrition Back to Basics Program Starter Kit!

Congrats Sarah W. of Edmonton, AB, who will receive a $500 High Peak Nutrition Back to Basics Program Starter Kit, including a 30-day supply of supplements and a customized one-on-one coaching program! Please note: if you are the winner, you will receive a DM (direct message) in Instagram directly from @vitadaily.ca. Please be wary of fake accounts, which often use similar handles with an extra or missing letter, number or symbol. We will never ask for a payment or for your credit card number, and we will never ask you to click through a link. If you are unsure whether you have been contacted, via Instagram, by us or a fake account, email us before responding.