Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Kastin.
Hi Rebecca, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Creating Radiant Wellness has been a labor of love. Transforming my life over the past several years, I have not only healed myself, but I have also helped others live their best lives. Every year I would reflect on my struggles and events of the year before. Very happy to see the year go. Vowing that the year ahead would be different. A year of promise. A year of success. A year of love and ease. As if by magic, I expected miracles to happen.
Clarity finally hit me like a ton of bricks, stuck in cyclical patterns of codependency, fear, scarcity, loss, and grief. My teachers came to me in a series of painful, life-altering events. As far back as I can remember, I never honored my wants and needs, giving away my power and identity to some man just to feel secure, loved, cared for, trying anything to fill a void. I thought of the Albert Einstein quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.” Of course, I diagnosed myself as insane, searching my soul for what I was going to do differently. How was I going to change my life and my story? How was I going to make miracles in my own life? I was so tired of all of the pain and suffering. I was so tired of living under a dark cloud. A glimpse of my life ahead was tragic and terrifying unless I made changes and let go of my old stories and limiting beliefs. I had always been the light and savior for the people around me. Why not for myself?
My health was suffering from years of stress, anxiety, and disordered eating. I was 50 something, broke, raising three daughters on my own after a grueling divorce, and powerless as everything was taken away from me. My home, my money, my friends, and my health because of a series of bad decisions that my ex had made. My girls and I were collateral damage and survival was the only instinct I knew.
I realized that I could not be a good role model for my daughters or even keep a roof over their heads if I didn’t get myself healthy and discover who I was and how to stand on my own two feet. At the advice of a friend, I enrolled at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to better understand and demystify my health and wellness. I began my journey. I loved being back at school and choosing to learn something just for me. I was inspired and exhilarated. The most impactful thing I learned is, health and wellness are unique to each person, and there is no one size fits all way of eating for everyone. There is no magic bullet – or the one perfect diet that will solve all of our problems. When I recognized that everybody differs, including me, in their nutritional needs, as a result of their external and internal factors like the foods we eat, our emotional thoughts, lifestyle patterns, and our surrounding physical environment. I knew that was the secret to internal peace and individualized optimal health.
This concept was life-changing. As an ex-dancer, habitual dieter, and someone who defined her worth by appearance and weight, I was always in search of the diet that would make me thinner and make me feel like I was enough. My aha moment came when I learned how our thoughts and emotions affect our health. Negative and repressed emotions can zap mental energy, negatively affect the body, and lead to chronic stress and health problems. Having a positive mindset and unconditional non-judgemental support is crucial for healthy change. A healthy body and wellness go deeper than just the food on your plate.
It was then I realized I had not been struggling with my relationship with food, all these years, I was struggling with a relationship with Me. All of my past experiences had a purpose, had changed me, and I was so grateful for them. The willingness to be honest is what I believe has caused the greatest change in my life. Acknowledging the Truth!
I went deep into myself that year, a consistent meditation and yoga practice helped keep me grounded, focused, and calm when I just wanted to scream, “I can’t do this.” I spent a lot of time alone, removing all negative energy from my life that was not aligned with the work that I needed to do. I asked for help and support from people who were living their lives in ways that felt healthy and inspiring to me. I realized that things were out of alignment for me. I needed to rewire societal and family values that had been ingrained in me as a child growing up in the ’70s and ’80s. My instinct to flee has always been so strong, but now there was nowhere to run as a single mom with three daughters who depended on me to be brave and strong and appear to have it all together. I knew that I had to fight. I needed to stay in that place that was so uncomfortable, where I couldn’t breathe and feel ok being in it until I figured things out. There would be no rescue this time, No White Knight. I would have to be my hero.
Since my journey began, I changed my life. I can feel the truth in what I am saying in the deepest parts of my heart. After all that I had gone through for years, I was finally ready to claim my strength. I redirected my experiences and struggles with food and disordered eating to help heal others by creating Radiant Wellness, a lifestyle transformation program, creating sustainable, lasting change through intuitive eating, whole food, and lifestyle changes that make you the expert on your body’s innate nutritional needs. It’s an empowering process, which not only promotes health but is also your doorway to freedom.
With my help, you will come to understand your unique relationship with food, body, and self. Through my coaching, I help you create a customized, easy-to-follow food and wellness plan that is based on you, as an individual, and your needs. Eliminating confusion and creating radiance by indulging in gorgeous, healthy, clean eating. No deprivation, fad diets, or gimmicks. Ditching food obsession, emotional eating, and all-or-nothing thinking. You’ll finally be empowered to embrace a healthy relationship with your body and the food you give it. You will learn with ease how to create optimal sustainable good health, confidence, and longevity. Freeing yourself from the place that has kept you stuck for years and finally moving you towards actual permanent weight loss, optimal health and wellness, confidence, and joy.
After receiving my certification as an Integrative Nutritionist and Holistic Health Coach from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, I decided to face more fears, and I completed two- 200-hour RYT Yoga certifications and became certified in Hormone Health and Plant-Based cooking. But, I was not finished…
These days, the title of “Health Coach” has come to mean many different things. I wanted to set myself apart from other health coaches and gain credibility in the medical field. I began to study for my Health and Wellness Coach Board Examination. NBC-HWC stands for National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. It’s a huge honor to have these letters after my name. The exam is administered by the Medical Examiners Board (NBME), and it was not an easy achievement.
The National Board Certification for Health & Wellness Coaching provides a minimum standard and measure of foundational competencies: the knowledge, tasks, and skills essential to the practice of health and wellness coaching.
The NBHWC has set a standard that provides a certain level of qualification to distinguish between coaches who have the kind of background and training needed to partner most effectively with the medical community. There are currently 4500 Health Coaches certified by NBHWC in the U.S. I’m excited to have joined their ranks.
Nothing I’ve done in my professional life has been so rewarding as assisting people as they navigate the kinds of health and behavioral changes needed to feel better, reduce medications, and increase energy. The reason behind the lack of success with lifestyle interventions is simple – behavior change is hard. There is, however, a tool that makes behavior change easier – “Health Coaching.” Growing evidence of Health Coaches and their ability to help people successfully make behavior change leads to significant improvements in weight management, physical activity, physical and mental health status. Empowering people using the health coaching model increases their knowledge, confidence, and skills, and enables them to make healthy lifestyle choices, and reduces the risk of future episodes of ill health.
I honor the years I have invested in making my health, my heart, my work, my family, my community, and my life as a whole the best it could be. This journey took me lifetimes to conquer because I didn’t know where to begin. I found my healing, the hard way. But through my struggles, I discovered an easier path… I found an approach to healing that adapts to every person who seeks it. This coaching I do isn’t just coaching. It’s a journey I take with my clients together.
If you’ve contemplated working with a Health Coach and are seeking long-lasting changes, I would love the opportunity to partner with you as you, improve your health and well-being, optimize your lifestyle, and facilitate behavior changes that will provide you with lifelong benefits. Everyone possesses the ability to change. Changes in health and wellness can appear challenging. I will offer you the best support while you create the healthiest version of yourself.
Rebecca is a graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, a Hormone Health Specialist, and is a National Board Certified Health Coach. She is also a 200-hour Vinyasa Krama teacher and a 200 hour Transformational Yoga teacher. She teaches plant-based cooking and has authored her first cookbook, “For The Love Of Real Food” and is the mother to three beautiful, empowered daughters. When Rebecca is not teaching or coaching, you can find her practicing yoga, traveling, and leading workshops to promote her ultimate message of living a healthy, balanced life.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Radiant Wellness Coaching Program is entirely unique in the wellness industry. It’s the culmination of over 40 years of personal experience, healing, education, and experimentation, designed to do one thing: discover what works for you and your body. I work with you to discover the individual rhythm of your body and treat it accordingly by creating a uniquely personalized program that fits your bio-individual needs.
Health isn’t just about “being healthy.” Health isn’t just how many nutrients we’re getting or how much we exercise in a week. Health is relationships, careers, spirituality, and fulfillment… Health is mind, body, and soul… And it needs to be treated that way.
From customized meal plans to private yoga and deep emotional support, the Radiant Wellness Coaching Program will up-level your health and your life in every way: I offer 1 to 1 Private and Group Coaching programs to support you in finding sustainable health, lifestyle changes, and longevity.
Working with me you will set and accomplish nutritional goals in a way that empowers and excites. You will find your way of achieving and maintaining your ideal weight. Understand how to reduce your food cravings and take control of your sugar addiction. Ease your transition from pre-to post-Menopause the natural way. Learn to eat the right foods to fight inflammation and get rid of toxins. Learn the health benefits of Whole Food Plant-Based eating and how to easily create delicious, balanced plant-based meals.
Increase your energy levels. You will feel great in your body. Improve your personal relationships. Discover the confidence to create the life you want. You will learn about the foods that feel good to you (no more crazy dieting). Discover powerful ways of healing your body. Find the healing tools that work for you. I feel the most pride when I see the changes my clients make, not only in changing their bodies but the whole way they look at themselves and their lives. I’m over the moon when they become role models for their families and the whole family begins making healthy changes.
I am the agent of change in my clients. Help my clients discover the “why” behind their desired health change. Empower my clients as the experts on their own bodies, minds, and circumstances. Help my clients identify challenges and blind spots that are preventing change. Provide support and accountability to support client success and continued motivation. I use my broad knowledge of health, wellness, and behavioral psychology to help my clients navigate a variety of health concerns.
Through my struggles, I discovered an easier path… I found an approach to healing that adapts to every person who seeks it. This coaching I do isn’t just coaching. It’s a journey I take with my clients, together. It’s my passion, my service, my struggles turned into strengths to serve. Health and Wellness coaching is a total culmination of my life experience, extensive education, and the lessons found through my healing journey—designed to do one thing and one thing only: to serve you in your healing.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
At age 15, a self-proclaimed vegetarian, I had moved in with my dad to finish high school after my mother relocated. We began cooking vegetarian meals from one of the only vegetarian cookbooks at the time, DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET by Ellen Buchman Ewald. Every weekend we created new meatless recipes from the book, which ignited a passion for cooking, meatless eating, and great bonding experiences with dad.
Contact Info:
- Email: rebecca@rebeccakastin.com
- Website: www.rebeccakastincoaching.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebecca_kastin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccakastincoaching
Image Credits
Arianne Swisa @bellazoomphotography
