let's transform your relationship with food from the bottom up

SOMATIC NUTRITION THERAPIST & INTUITIVE EATING COUNSELLOR

We need different beliefs and behaviours to have an easy relationship with food. But I believe we don’t change when we “know better.” We change when it feels safe to change — a challenge when so many experiences can leave us feeling unsafe.

Overwhelmed (e.g. trouble letting go, relaxing, constant worrying about what's next, general anxiety)
Frustrated, antsy, on edge, irritable
Chronic pain, autoimmune condition
Difficulty sleeping (falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up rested)
Low threshold for sensory stimulation
Concentration and attention difficulties
Immune and hormonal symptoms
Skin and digestive issues
Intensely empathetic; you are deeply impacted by the mood of others

Trauma can stem from acute stress due to a perceived threat to your life or a result of cumulative stress. This can really impact your ability to be in your body and comfortably access and honour cues such as appetite, hunger, fullness, and satisfaction.

These experiences — accidents, invasive medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, neglect, emotional abuse, war, natural disasters, loss, birth trauma, chronic illness, or the ongoing stress of fear and conflict — cause a threat response. Sometimes, the threat response doesn’t get to “complete” its full cycle and the residue stays in our system.

Even if you intellectually know the event is over, it can still feel like it’s happening.

Food insecurity can make it difficult to stop eating at comfortable fullness in the present.

Ongoing rejection and criticism of our eating habits and food choices can leave us dreading restaurant outings and scared to try new foods.

If we were soothed with food as children rather than having our feelings validated, we might find ourselves under-eating or constantly eating past fullness (emotional eating, binge eating) to cope with strong emotions.

And weight-based discrimination and anti-fat bias can have emotional, physiological, and psychological ramifications.

i have experience working with:

Chronic dieting cycles/yo-yo dieting
Disordered eating
Body dysmorphia
Body image and weight concerns
Orthorexia (a preoccupation with healthy eating)
Binge eating disorder, sub-clinical binge eating
Emotional eating
Bulimia Nervosa (must be medically stable)
Anorexia Nervosa (must be medically stable)
Food avoidance
Exercise hesitance
Anxiety and eating concerns
Sexual violence (e.g. incest, rape, objectification) and eating difficulties
Developmental trauma and eating difficulties
Neurodivergence and eating difficulties
ARFID/Sensory hypersensitivity (heightened sensitivity to taste, smell, sight, sound, and touch.)

with 9+ years working with disordered eating and body image under my belt, i know nervous system dysregulation drives food and body obsession — and somatic work is part of the answer.

ABOUT sarah

This is where nervous system work comes in. How do you know if you have a dysregulated nervous system? Some hallmark symptoms include experiencing or feeling:

what is trauma or an adverse event? and how does it show up with food/body?

i understand where you are...because i've been there.

I'm Sarah Berneche — NUTRITION THERAPIST, CERTIFIED INTUITIVE EATING COUNSELLOR, author of enjoy it all: improve your health and happiness with intuitive eating, AND SPEAKER.

i battled disordered eating and its various manifestations for 15 years. while i loved the concept of intuitive eating, i struggled to implement it. i never felt safe enough in my body to truly surrender. my experience, combined with the gaps i noticed in my practice, brought me to somatic, trauma-integrated work.

B.A.H. & M.A. in English Lit & Creative Writing

Registered Holistic Nutritionist + Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor

Professionally mentored by Isabel Foxen Duke: October 2021 - May 2022

ACT for Beginners — March 2021

Digestive Disorders and Eating Disorders: A Complicated Mix (Marci Evans, CEDRD-S & Lauren Dear, RDN)

Nutrition Counselling for Eating Disorders (Marci Evans, CEDRD-S)

Body Image Training: The Missing Piece of Whole Body Healing (Marci Evans, CEDRD-S & Fiona Sutherland, APD)

Group and Individual Supervision: July 2017 — October 2018, The Kyla Fox Centre, Kyla Fox, MSW RSW

Group Supervision and Continuing Education: May 2019 — May 2021, EDRDPro

Non-Diet Counselling Skills - September 2020 (Tracy Brown, RD)

Individual Supervision: May 2020 —January 2023, Tracy Brown, RD

Advanced Trauma-Informed Counselling Skills / Somatic Counselling Skills — February 2021 (Tracy Brown, RD)

Somatic Experiencing® Student (Advanced I)

Guest of various podcasts, including Ditch the Diet, Devoured, Going Beyond the Food, and Chronically Healing

Presented for or facilitated workshops for various companies, including RioCan, Starbucks, eOne, Women's College Hospital, BMO, FlightCentre, MaRS, League, and more

Nominee, Trailblazer Award
CSNN Holistic Nutrition Awards

a few of my credentials and qualifications..

my core beliefs...

Now, I have a few core beliefs I’d like you to know about:

I believe you have what it takes to put your food and body concerns behind you.

I believe you deserve to live a life free of disordered eating and weight obsession—and it would be my pleasure and privilege to partner with you in that.

I believe diet recovery is possible...and in the freedom to define for yourself what that looks like.

I believe weight stigma, weight cycling, and food-related stress are all worse for your health than just eating the chocolate cake.

I value curiosity, compassion, courage, integrity, and honesty.

All of this to say…if you’re ready for something to shift, I'd love to explore what that would look like with you. To learn more or to sign up to work with me, check out my services.