diet culture destroyed my life and gave me the greatest gift ever. 

Written By Nicole Hagen

I always knew adoption would be a part of my parenting journey, but I never imagined it would be the only way I grew my family. That didn’t become a reality until after… 

after I subscribed to the diet culture story that becoming smaller/lighter would make me better and more worthy. 

after I spent years obsessively counting every calorie and never nourishing my body with enough of them. 

after punishing my body with hours of cardio 365 days/year and feeling like a failure when I didn’t make it happen. 

after losing weight, hair, muscle, and bone density. 

after fracturing a hip at 25 and a spine at 27. 

after losing my period for years due to malnutrition and low body weight. 

after I abused and punished my body in the name of diet culture - so much so that my body felt incapable of carrying life. 

Back then, all I could think about was how much diet culture took from me (and how debilitating chronic back pain is), but now, all I see are the gifts I’ve gained, and loving this little boy has been among the best of them. 

Today, as my family and I celebrate four years of loving this wild little soul who made me a mama, I’m thankful. 

Thankful that life’s hardest lessons sometimes reveal the biggest blessings.

Thankful my timeline crossed with this little persons who teaches me more than I will ever be able to teach him.

And thankful for the opportunity to help women stop shrinking themselves in the name of diet culture, before it costs them more than they ever imagined.

Your body is not something to punish, control, or earn your way out of. It’s the place you get to live your life.

And I’m so thankful that mine, despite everything I put it through, led me here.

To him.

To motherhood.

To a life that is fuller, louder, messier, and more meaningful than anything diet culture ever promised me.

If any part of this story feels familiar - if you grew up believing that smaller meant better, more disciplined, or more worthy - you don’t have to keep carrying those stories throughout the rest of your life.

You are allowed to want change without punishing your body to get there.

If you’re ready to rewrite the diet-culture rules you were raised with and pursue fat loss in a way that feels nourishing, flexible, and sustainable, apply for 1:1 nutrition coaching. I’d be honored to help you build something different.

Nicole Hagen

A Nutrition Coach, adoptive mom, dog mom, and mint chocolate chip ice cream lover.

I didn’t always have this business: the Masters degree in Nutrition Science and Public Health, the passion, the clients... in fact, years ago you could have found me endlessly counting calories and trying to find my worth on the scale and at spin class, exhausted in my pursuit of (what I thought was) health and happiness.

In my early twenties, I struggled with crash dieting and disordered eating. Little did I know, those circumstances would be my one-way ticket out of my restrictive relationship with food & fitness. Those experiences led me here: to the life-giving, sustainable, habit-based nutrition philosophy I embody today. Today you can find me living life without a calorie counting app and spending time with my husband, one year old son, and our two crazy golden retriever pups.

I enjoy spending my free time reading, sipping on matcha lattes, and dreaming of ways I can help other women create healthy, confident relationships with food without selling their souls to food rules and calorie counting apps.

Because nothing lights me up more than helping women live full and vibrant lives without food fear, rules, or restriction. I want to be that permission granter in your life that whispers: “you really can do this” while the rest of the world continues to settle for short-term satisfaction.

https://nutritioncoachingwithnicole.com/
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