Growing up, I had absolutely no connection to how to best nourish my mind, body and soul with food. I’ve always had a large appetite – for food, adventure, and life – but when I was younger I didn’t draw the connection between what I consumed and how I felt in my mind and body. In fact, as an introspective person, I spent so much time living inside my mind, consumed with my own thoughts, feelings, and analysis of all that was going on around me, that I gave my body no thought whatsoever, apart from how it looked on the surface. I certainly never considered that the body and soul each possess their own innate intelligence, with the capacity to communicate their needs and desires.

Even though I was drawn to complete a degree in Psychology and Psychophysiology straight after high school, where I learned about the mind-body connection from a clinical perspective, I still didn’t understand on a personal level the connections between food, nourishing movement and activities, and how these impacted my relationship with my mind, body and soul. My teenage years to early thirties was a time dominated by attempts to control my appetite and body through dieting, coupled with a hedonistic lifestyle that all came crashing down around me when I first started experiencing symptoms and unwanted health issues that called me to action to start learning how to truly care for myself and my body.

At that time, through some volunteering work I was doing, I was fortunate to attend a ‘Healthy Eating’ training session that changed my perspective forever. Never before had I heard about the benefits of real food, natural food, whole foods, slow food, or organic food. The common nutrition discourse at that time centred around the myth that we are merely input/output machines for kilojoules (calories) and that fat is something to be avoided. This training was a pivotal moment in my journey to improved health and relationship with food and my body. I experimented with purchasing organic groceries for the first time, with no restriction around kilojoules and fat grams, and within a week I noticed that my eyes looked clearer in the mirror, and I felt a sense of groundedness that I’d never experienced before. I felt so good that I vowed then and there that no matter what my body looked like on the surface, I would never restrict my food intake ever again.

This was around eight or nine years ago now, and while I’ve certainly been slimmer in my life, I’ve also been larger. However, I no longer point the finger at my food intake as the culprit in my ongoing personal challenge with body image. Thousands of hours of personal research and experimentation with food and lifestyle, followed by the completion of my Certificate in Eating Psychology Coaching, has led me to finally understand that there is so much more to the story when it comes to our relationship with food, movement, mind, body, and soul.

Katie Flavelle

Compassionate.Insightful.Uplifting.

Katie is a socially conscious and ethical vegan who understands from personal experience that plant-based eaters aren’t immune to the challenges that so many people face in their relationship with food, body and health.
Katie is passionate about supporting, teaching and inspiring others who are committed to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, as well as anyone who wishes to reduce their consumption of animal products and include more plant-based foods in their diets, to enjoy an empowered, abundant, nourishing and pleasure-filled relationship with food, body and life.
As a Certified Eating Psychology Coach and holding Bachelor of Arts, with majors in Psychology and Psychophysiology, Katie has long been fascinated with the relationship between mind, body and soul, and implements insights and strategies from the fields of Mind-Body Nutrition and Eating Psychology in her coaching practice. Katie lives in Sydney with her adopted shelter cat, Chloe.