Alison Barkman is an anti-diet registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor. After working in private practice with most clients seeking weight loss, Alison began to feel there is more to nutrition and health than obsessive exercise and constant dieting in hopes of obtaining the perfect body. This prompted her to dive deeper and complete coursework led by Evelyn Tribole, one of the authors of the book Intuitive Eating, to become a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Alison struggled with an eating disorder in high school, which lead to two decades of disordered eating. Her personal experience combined with her expertise as a dietitian brought her to a place where she now works to help women stop food restriction, disordered eating, and compulsive exercise in order to heal their relationship with food and their bodies.
Alison started doubting her body, wishing she looked a different way and had a different body from a very young age. She hated her nose and was teased over the size of it. She knew she couldn't change her nose, so she turned to change her body size. One diet turned into an obsession and an eating disorder in high school.
She dealt with disordered eating in her 20's and 30's. It interfered with SO many aspects of her life, including trying to get pregnant.
After the birth of her second son, she fell deep into post-partum depression and disordered eating. Although some people complimented her new body size, her family knew it was way too thin for what her body is naturally meant to be. Smaller was never small enough. She was miserable and dissatisfied with her body no matter how small it was. Alison was working as a dietitian and mostly seeing clients who wanted to lose weight. She hated it! Something didn't feel right.
Then she learned about the book Intuitive Eating while she was a nutrition student and something shifted.
Alison is now in a place of body acceptance, peace with food, and having so much space in life to truly enjoy life and accomplish so many things. When stuck in disordered eating she had time for nothing because those thoughts and actions of food and exercise consumed every waking moment.
Now she coaches clients in her 1:1 private and group online programs. She is the creator and host of the Speaking of Hungry podcast and she runs the Intuitive Eating & Body Compassion support group on Facebook: Intuitive Eating & Body Compassion Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/intuitiveeatingandbodycompassioncommunity/
Connection with Alison on Social
Instagram: @alisonbarkmanrd Facebook: @alisonbarkmanrd
Alison's Website: https://www.alisonbarkman.com
Alison's Podcast: Speaking of Hungry https://www.alisonbarkman.com/podcast