Diets don’t heal your relationship with food. It’s never about the food, and it’s never about the weight! Simply, it is always about the emotions, feelings, and programmed beliefs that live within us. It is about healing our own sense of self-worth and self-love.
Sarah Anne Stewart was thrown into the world of wellness as a teenager when her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her family made a choice – to fight back with alternative medicine. Seven months later, her father was declared cancer-free, and a spark was lit in Sarah that propelled her to dedicate her life to spreading the healings her family had discovered. Today, as a Certified Holistic Health Practitioner (AADP), Sarah runs a leading private coaching practice with a focus on permanent weight loss. Her heart-centered approach has supported hundreds to lose weight naturally, without ‘crash’ dieting. Sarah is the founder of the Holistically Slim Movement, author of the e-course, “Meditate Slim,” an in-demand public speaker, and an advisor to international wellness brands. When not at home in Los Angeles, she can be found leading transformative wellness experiences around the globe.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
When I was young, I helped my father heal from a terminal cancer diagnosis with alternative medicine and learned firsthand the power of nutrition and healing foods. However, at the same time as my father’s diagnosis, I was recruited into the modeling industry and for years there was a massive disconnect between my knowledge of holistic practices and the lifestyle I was living in the fashion world. For a decade thereafter, I suffered from disordered eating that nearly took my life.
I finally found my saving grace: meditation and mindfulness techniques. Today, with years of training, hundreds of hours of health coaching and working under some of the brightest minds wellness, I have been able to connect the dots to create a unique and personalized approach for helping women lose weight, keep the weight off, and discover true self-love.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I start my day with a morning ritual of meditation, using a mantra to anchor my intention for the day. I then have a glass of Dr. Gundry Vital Reds and debrief with my team regarding projects for the day. My team and I will sort through a list of daily tasks to ensure that we’re making progress on all running projects. The majority of my focus is on the delivery of content and creating the tools to help people heal their relationship with food.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I have a writer on my team that interviews me with questions and prompts. I have found that I am better at free flow speaking than free flow writing. By the time my hands hit the keyboard, my ideas are gone. To avoid letting good ideas fall through the cracks, my team member will take notes.
My team and I also source new content, new research, data, etc. daily to perform market research and stay current with the wellness conversation. We also utilize a standard dry erase board to put our ideas up. Sometimes things get lost in emails, so it’s easy to remember key visions when it’s right in front of us!
What’s one trend that excites you?
The mindfulness trend for weight loss excites me- and not just because I could talk about it all day long! We are currently seeing a rise in obesity and chronic health conditions, and I stand behind the concept that meditation and mindfulness for the next generation is the missing link to improve these statistics! Diets are shown to increase guilt, shame, and low self-esteem. Meditation, however, increases compassion and induces a relaxation response that is vital to natural healing.
Culturally, we are starting to realize our innate ability to heal our physical bodies through simple practices like meditation. The old story of being a prisoner to our genetics, or the environment we grew up in, is on its way out! As so many functional medicine doctors say, “our lifestyle loads the gun to set off our genetics”!
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Creating space (with absolutely no cell phone) to recharge and connect within, especially meditation, is the best tool to keep me productive, which might seem counterintuitive. Sometimes the length of this space ranges from one to two days, other times it’s simply 20 minutes on my calendar. Mindfully creating space for quiet connection clears my mind and allows additional creativity to flow. Top entrepreneurs have concluded that clarity when making decisions can make or break your business! And I agree.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I learned to meditate when I was five (my parents made me meditate instead of putting me in a time-out) and grew out of it as a teen. I would have told my younger self that I wasn’t too cool for meditation and that it would literally save my life some day!
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Diets don’t heal your relationship with food. It’s never about the food, and it’s never about the weight! Simply, it is always about the emotions, feelings, and programmed beliefs that live within us. It is about healing our own sense of self-worth and self-love.
Although we’re in the midst of a growing body positive movement, I find that many people are not finding a way to heal their relationship with food and love their bodies, while creating sustainable lifestyle changes. I fear that many of the same women in this movement are secretly struggling with insecurity and an unhealthy relationship with their body because they are scared to dive-deep into their subconscious programming. That’s why my programs are focused on supporting individuals to achieve optimal health through meditation, a practice that expands self-compassion while creating change at the level of the subconscious.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Practice consistency. It has been one of the most challenging aspects of being in business, but I have learned that consistent effort is the only way to be successful as an entrepreneur. Consistently engage in activities that will generate visibility for you, spread your message and share endless value for others. For me, this means showing up everyday to do interviews, speaking engagements, podcasts, blog writing, social media posts, etc.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
One strategy that has helped grow my business is investing time to learn how to write great copy. Storytelling is so important to your brand, from communicating your message effectively to building trust with your audience.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
In my first attempts at creating a business, my services were primarily preventative; I helped women with the nutritional aspect of preventing chronic illness. I learned the hard way, however, that prevention is not what the market wants. People didn’t need (and still don’t need) more nutritional advice. What people actually need help with is how to make these lifestyle changes stick and improve the way they feel! Everyone is chasing the feelings of happiness, connection and love.
So I made a pivot by doing some research. I created social media posts asking women who had recovered from eating disorders to share their stories with me. I wanted to know how it was that they healed their relationship with food, what was the missing link for them, and what they wished someone would help them with. The overwhelming amount of responses that I received helped me create a much-needed service around the emotional and spiritual aspect of weight loss, which is missing from most diet programs.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Not sure if this is a ‘good’ business idea, but I am dying for someone to create a new news station that only promotes inspiring topics, people, and positive news stories. Yes, podcasts exist. However, younger generations are still watching mainstream media and news outlets. I believe speaking to them directly about positive, inspirational topics is so important.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
A giant whiteboard. I mapped the entire outline of my new book! Who knew going back to the old school method would turn out to be so valuable?
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Slack. It’s a workplace messaging app that also allows you to communicate with your team, store files and set task reminders. How I ever lived before slack, I’m not sure.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
I highly recommend ‘Break The Norms’ by Chandresh Bhardwaj. It debunks everything you have ever thought was true and will make you reevaluate the way you’re doing life!
What is your favorite quote?
“Do the thing we fear most, and the death of fear is certain.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
I believe that unless you’re going face to face with your fears, you’re not growing!
Key learnings:
- Everyone wants to find out how to break a habit; start by meditating and breaking the critical voice inside the mind.
- The authority on you and your health is you- not external forces.
- Self-love doesn’t come at a number on the scale. It’s a daily practice that must consist of discovering your own innate joy and love. Without it, the changes that you make won’t be sustainable. Or worse, you’ll ‘get there’ and still be unhappy.
- Yes, it’s important to follow your passion, but make sure that the market is in need of what you’re offering. The best business idea is where your passion and the market’s need aligns.
- Invest time in learning how to become a storyteller. It’s the number one thing that will help grow your business.
Connect:
Holistically Slim on Facebook:
Sarah Anne Stewart on Instagram:
Sarah Anne Stewart on Twitter:
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.