Paloma
I am Paloma, a true chilanga (from Mexico City), I have been living in the U.S. for the past three years.
I was born and raised in Mexico, following the societal structure we're taught from a young age, without giving ourselves the time and space to discover who we are and what we truly want.
In college, I studied something that "sounded good" at the time, without really knowing if it was what I truly wanted.
During that period of my life, I became very concerned with female body stereotypes, looking in the mirror and feeling insecure about my "rolls" on my stomach even though I was thin. I was preparing for the volleyball nationals—a sport I am very passionate about. I had a coach who pushed me hard physically and made me follow a strict diet, through which I lost a lot of weight and achieved the "healthy" body I desired, where those "rolls" were gone.
My family was very worried, but my obsession with qualifying for nationals prevented me from seeing what I was doing to myself.
Finally, the dream of the nationals fell apart due to external circumstances, and my four-year relationship ended. Everything that made me happy vanished in days.
My emotional state was in shambles. I stopped exercising as I did when I was training. I was in a job that didn't make me happy. I started gaining weight and hid my sadness and unhappiness behind food. I felt something was missing, but I didn't know what it was; I just knew I didn't want to feel that way.
I quit my job, where I didn't feel fulfilled, and moved to Australia to start my life over from scratch. I lived and worked in places I never imagined, and my life changed completely.
This experience helped me rediscover myself and learn to flow from my heart to guide me. And that's how I ended up living new adventures in Thailand and traveling alone through Southeast Asia.
Upon returning to Mexico, a job opportunity in the U.S. came my way, where I continued discovering new parts of myself. Despite my new expansion and adventures, I was still obsessed with how my body looked, going through countless diets without being able to sustain the results I sought.
At that moment, I met my beloved husband, who has been a great support, inspiration, and essential part of my life and my journey to reconnect with health. He guided me to enroll in the Health Coaching Program at IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition), which opened my eyes to relearn, discover, reflect, and understand what was happening to me, what happens to many women, and the importance of understanding health as something integral, encompassing our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects.
I began to change the way I spoke to myself, recognizing the impact of my thoughts and words on my body and mind. I understood that diets are not the solution, so I abandoned them and started looking at the root cause of all these imbalances in my life. I changed my relationship with food, my body changed by giving it attention and love, and I began to understand my emotions and the messages they bring with them. My interest in health grew in all its dimensions, as did the impact and importance of finding balance in all areas of my life, something we are not taught in the societal structure we live in.