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Shine On Success
Shine on Success is a dynamic, story-driven podcast where extraordinary entrepreneurs, visionary leaders, and resilient change-makers share their journeys to success, revealing both the challenges and the strategies that led to their breakthroughs. Each episode offers a unique blend of inspiring personal stories, practical business insights, and actionable advice, allowing our guests to connect with an engaged, growth-oriented audience ready to be motivated and uplifted. By joining us, you’ll not only have the opportunity to showcase your expertise and inspire listeners but also to be part of a powerful platform that celebrates ambition, innovation, and the courage to turn dreams into reality.
Shine On Success
Breaking Free: Transforming Emotional Eating into Mindful Nourishment
In this heart-opening episode of Shine On Success, host Dionne Malush sits down with Duna Zurcher, an integrative nutrition health coach, to explore the powerful journey from emotional eating to mindful nourishment. Duna shares her personal transformation from food guilt and shame to embracing a balanced, empowered relationship with food.
Together, they uncover the importance of understanding emotional eating, how life's greatest challenges often reveal our purpose, and the incredible healing power of self-compassion. Tune in for inspiring insights on how to break free from limiting beliefs and nourish both body and soul.
Connect with Duna here:
Website: www.mindfulhealthwithduna.com
Facebook: mindfulhealthwithduna
Instagram: mindful_health_with_duna
Connect with Dionne Malush
- Instagram: @dionnerealtyonepgh
- LinkedIN: /in/dionnemalush
- Website: www.dionnemalush.com
- Facebook: /dmalush
- LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/dionnemalush
Have you ever felt trapped by your relationship with food, wondering if there's a way to transform those habits into mindful nourishment? Welcome everyone to another episode of Shine on Success. I'm your host, dionne Malish. Today we have a truly inspiring guest, duna Zurcher, an integrative nutrition health coach specializing in emotional eating. Duna has transformed her own struggles with food and body image into a mission to help others break free from food guilt and shame. Get ready to be inspired by her incredible journey and valuable insights. Welcome today, duna. It's so nice to meet you. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:Nice to see you. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited and thank you for that introduction.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're very welcome, so I'm excited to have you here today too. So I would always start with this question. I think that a lot of people might think that what you choose, when you are younger.
Speaker 2:That's what it has to be your whole life, and I embrace change. I embrace opportunities to learn and grow, and when I see people think getting stuck because of the beliefs they have about how life should be, I think that's very sad. So that's something that I like, and this translates to food too, because you have struggled with food your whole life.
Speaker 1:That doesn't mean that the rest of your life needs to be like that. I love that, that's great, and I appreciate that you do that, because I think a lot of people do have struggles with food. Even for my own self, in my life I have struggles with one terrible bad habit, and it's caffeinated drinks. Right, so I'm trying. I take the little cans now instead of the big cans, so it helps, but I know that it's not easy, and for anyone to sit here and say it was easy for me to do it they're probably not being totally honest.
Speaker 1:So is there something interesting about yourself that most people don't know? Oof, that's a very difficult question.
Speaker 2:I try to be very open, but I sometimes feel that I have like two parts in my life, because I lived in a very small country and I was like you know, I studied to be a teacher and that's what was going to be my life. But one day I woke up and I was like wait a second, doing this for 60 more years? No, I can't do that.
Speaker 1:Really, that's how it happened. So what kind of teaching did you do? What was the subject? Oh, it was in elementary school.
Speaker 2:Elementary school, so it was little kids and at some point I was like, oh no, I can't do this for the rest of my life. And I didn't know English and I said I want to learn English. So I went to Australia Really, yeah, yeah, so and there I was. I went there for six months, but it went for three years, and after that I took my backpack and I went to Southeast Asia to travel around. And there is where I had an accident that required my repatriation. And this is when I realized that I had a problem with food.
Speaker 2:Until that point I just thought I am the problem, I have a problem with food and I just need to diet, but I'm not able to do it. But then, at that moment, after my accident and a lot of things that happened, I was like oh wait, a second, there has to be something else. But the thing is that the people that knew me before they didn't really know that I had a struggle with food. They didn't. No, I didn't have anorexia, bulimia or anything like that.
Speaker 2:But they didn't know how guilty and ashamed I felt for what I ate, how bad I felt because other people would eat salads because they wanted, and if I ate a salad it was because I should. You know so people. I realize now that a lot of people didn't know that about me, or even when I realized that I was eating emotionally, there's a reason why we eat emotionally right, and a lot of us haven't been taught to feel our emotions as we grow up. And I didn't, but I masked that really well too. So I think that a lot of people that might from my past, that might listen to me now, might be like who are you?
Speaker 1:So going from teaching. So this is teaching too. Right, you're still teaching in a sense, but you're also coaching people along in their journey. So tell me a little bit about what a session looks like with you.
Speaker 2:In my program. Let's say that there's a beginning where we are going to set the foundation, which means we are going to find out why you want to do this. What's the rock bottom, what is driving you to wanting a change? Because if we don't know our real why, if we are doing things for other people or because society tells you, you're not going to make lasting changes. So first we need to know the why and what is it that you really want to achieve so we can set goals. Why and what is it that you really want to achieve so we can set goals, we can tap into our values and strengths, because that's very important to set goals and to move, so that the client can move towards where they want to be. And for that we need to know what's their passions, their strengths, their values and all those things that give us a direction in our life. And from there it's a little bit.
Speaker 2:It depends a little bit on what the client needs, but we will always start a session with a kind of meditation or grounding exercise because we are so busy in our days. And then you get to the call and you just want to show you know, throw everything, because you are so loaded and overwhelmed. So we get to do the session and we create a space for us. We just, you know, grounding exercise, we come back to us and then we can really have a conversation where the person can really look I'm struggling with this or that and, like you say, it was teaching. It's teaching too, because I try to give my knowledge. Then, of course, the client needs to do the work. I cannot do the work for them, but I do give the knowledge and try to guide them and support them, showing them the things that work for me and things that I've learned. But then it depends a little bit what they need each session.
Speaker 1:So what does success look like you in this new career?
Speaker 2:I look forward to working and I think that's amazing, you know, when you wake up in the morning and you're not like, and you're like, oh great, today I have I don't know what session or a podcast recording or working on an offer, and to me that feels good and it's what I want. And also the freedom, because the fact that I have my own business of course gives me the freedom to quote, unquote, have my own schedule, and that is, to me, it's also part of success, because that gives me the opportunity to bring balance into my life, so I can do things for my business, do things for myself and, you know, create a good balance that works for me.
Speaker 1:So you talked about a big challenge that you had in your life, which is your accident, right, yes, so how did you overcome that?
Speaker 2:How did you do that with mindset, when I had the accident, I was repatriated to Switzerland and I couldn't walk for three to six months and I had to live with my dad and his and my stepmom, and I hadn't lived with my dad for 20 years. So that was, yeah, that was difficult, and at the beginning it was really hard because my dream was over after two months of traveling and at the same time, I met a person during that trip and we were getting to know each other and we were liking each other, so we got separated. Today he's my husband. I am with him.
Speaker 2:But of course the accident separated us and then COVID happened too. So I think that the fact that COVID happened it did help me deal better with my accident, because if I hadn't had the accident, covid would have stopped me in my travels anyway. But at the same time my dad was diagnosed with stage four cancer, and that's when I understood why I needed to be in Switzerland so I could be with my dad. And then I just looked at the beginning. For me the accident was the worst thing that could have happened to me, and now I look at it as thank you. Thank you Because that gave me the opportunity to be with my dad.
Speaker 1:That is so awesome that you said that, because I ruptured my Achilles about seven or eight years ago and it was when my husband and I were going through the worst of our relationship. We weren't married at that point. We'd been together probably 17 years then and we were having the worst of times and I ruptured my Achilles and he was by my side through the whole thing him and my sisters and I do believe it was a gift. Mine was a gift because I don't think we would be married today if it wasn't for that, because we got to be there for each other and it was very hard. I'm so thankful for you to have that with your father.
Speaker 1:My father passed away 11 months ago and I miss him terribly, like just that thought of you know, even for us for the last six months that he was alive, we were able to visit him. He lived about 600 miles away so we were able to visit. Every couple of weeks we would fly down and go and just being able to do that was the time was so precious and I actually I think I've said this on a podcast before, but I actually made a note in my phone called Dad said, and I kept track of some of the things that he said to me in the last year and a half, just little quotes, little things that he would say. And then I also tell everyone that I meet now it's really important to take those short videos, those little couple seconds of just things that they do. And to take those short videos, those little couple seconds of just things that they do, I had probably.
Speaker 1:I have 25 of them. I wish I had 500 of them, but there's 25. Like I can watch them now and see his hands move, yes, and I can see him talk or smoke a cigar or a pipe that he loves so much. Like I get to see those little pieces. So I understand where you're coming from, because sometimes things happen to us, they don't happen to us. They happen for us Exactly, and that clearly happened for you.
Speaker 2:Yes, so, even though in the moment we cannot see it with patience and compassion, we can try to understand the why.
Speaker 1:Amazing. So it's really wild about this podcast how the people that I'm attracting to it are going through so much of what I have, whether in business or personal, and I'm not sure how it's happening. It's not my doing, it's somebody else. You know God. He's helping us along, but I started this podcast for this reason to help people push through adversity. So it's not just about business, although there's plenty of adversities being a business owner. All the other sides that people don't always get to see because social media looks amazing right, we have a great, you know, profile on social media are fun and pictures, but the sadness that we have inside is real and you know. So, being able to help people in their time doing it's, I commend you for it. So at what point did you know that it was going to be integrative nutrition and emotional eating versus teaching?
Speaker 2:Because when I started my coaching training and we had these accountability coaches so we could practice and help each other, I just felt called to that. It was my purpose, that's what I wanted to do and I like teaching and I really like having my class and all the kids and I like small kid, I like having small kids and I really enjoyed it. However, I don't really like the systems, how they are, like I think we don't teach Well, I was, and some certain social skills, things that I believe that are very important, things that I learned at 30, that I'm like why didn't anyone teach me this before? Something as simple as you are not your thoughts. You have the power to look at your thoughts and you give them the power to direct your life or not, because you can change them, you can challenge them and you can change them.
Speaker 2:And if you are someone that's always I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid that's going to have an impact in you and how you see yourself, in your mood, in your emotions, but we have the power to change those kinds of things and I think that could challenge my thoughts and that I was, not my thoughts To me, that big, big thing and I'm just sad that I learned it so quote-unquote, like it's never too late, even whatever age you are. But I think those are skills like even the self-coaching yourself like oh, I'm reacting this way, why am I reacting this way? Where is it tapping? What can I do? A lot of things that if we were all taught this earlier on, we could change the world exactly.
Speaker 1:We definitely could change the world.
Speaker 1:Exactly. We definitely could change the world and, you know, we get the power to direct our mind to whatever we choose. Think about it. We're, you know, we're human beings that have a power. It's like a superpower, right. A lot of people don't tap into it because they don't understand it, but had we taught that in school? Or have you read the book Think and Grow Rich? No, so you should, and I think that was really helpful, and I think it should be in a junior high level. They should start teaching success principles because the secret to success is in that book.
Speaker 1:The secret to success is in us, and you can find it by searching and reading and seeking expert counsel. But we don't. We teach about things in the United States I'm not sure what they teach in other countries but things that really aren't relevant to life. Yeah right, so wouldn't that be incredible if we taught life lessons, success lessons, food lessons like what you're talking about?
Speaker 1:let's teach them and teach them how to make their own decisions, and then you know they can do it. They can create their own future so yeah, I love what you're doing, and so let's talk about this. A specific problem you faced with emotional eating, so tell me about that. A specific problem. Well, how?
Speaker 2:did. You know you had a problem. So, like I said, I struggled with food my whole life. So I went diets and food rules and all that, and I did pretty strict diets and when my dad was diagnosed, of course my emotional leading was all over the place. The thing is that he survived for two years and three years and I came to the States to be with my husband and my dad stayed there, which was a very difficult decision. My stepmom was like Duna, you're not staying here for him, you need to do your life. My dad said the exact same thing. So you know it was a very difficult decision.
Speaker 2:The thing is that I could not go back there as easily because I was applying for a green card here but I got a special permit. So during my dad's last month of life I could be with him, but of course I knew it was the last month. We were just, you know, being there for him, knowing that he was going, and of course at that moment it was just too much for me and because, also, I was there for a month, I had a return ticket and if I was not coming back by that date they would not let me come in into the States. So there was a lot of pressure and my dad died three days before I had to come back. So that, emotionally, and it was very, very hard.
Speaker 2:But at that point I just saw myself eating and I just had aha moment because I was finishing my coaching training and you know, they're like, oh, what's your niche, what's your niche? And I was like I don't know. I don't know, we'll see, we'll see. And one day I just see myself eating, eating, and I was like I'm not hungry, what's going on? And it just came. I was like what is this? And I just saw something about emotional eating. I was like what is the emotional eating? And things just starting to connect. I was like, okay, I am eating emotionally, I am an emotional eater. Why, what's going on? Oh, okay, so when I was a kid, I did not learn how to feel and express my emotions. I learned to be a people pleaser, to keep peace around me, and food made me feel better. I always liked pizzas and burgers and fries and chocolate and cookies and all that made me feel better. Okay, so, problems with emotions and problems with food I am an emotional leader.
Speaker 2:But, of course, that was not a five second or five minute reflection. That was, you know, by working on it and looking back at the past and trying to understand, and that's when I then started healing my relationship with food for real and I then decided that emotional eating had hold me back a lot. So I was like I don't want other women to struggle with this. I want to help them, because we all deserve to have the energy, time and money to focus on what we want our life to be, instead of food being there just haunting your thoughts and your life really.
Speaker 1:I remember when I first started in real estate, I spent a lot of time on the road and I used to actually spend my mornings figuring out my day and always would be where I would go to lunch that day. That was so important to me, like before I even left for the day, like there's some days I don't have lunch because I'm busy and I don't think of food as the most important part of my day. Now I know that it's important. It was so important that I had to schedule my calendar and look and say, oh, what restaurant is in this area.
Speaker 2:You know while I'm driving there what's the restaurant, and I spent a lot of.
Speaker 1:In the last probably five years, I've barely been to a restaurant alone. You know I love it to be there with my husband and my friends and our staff and our family I love that way more and just to have conversation over dinner. But, I think, if you look at everyone, we're all going to have some kind of emotional attachment to food because it's good, right? There's a lot?
Speaker 2:Yes, and this is important to say emotional eating it's not something that's bad, because we all do it, like you say, and even if you go through a very bad breakup and you eat a pint of ice cream, it's a typical example. I mean, we are not robots, we are humans. We have emotions and sometimes it's difficult to manage those emotions. However, if your only way to manage your emotions is through food and then you feel guilty and ashamed, that's when we have a problem, when food is your only primary coping mechanism. I healed my relationship with food. I still eat emotionally sometimes, and it's okay, but I have a variety of other ways to feel and manage my emotions that don't involve food, and that's what we want. We want to find a balance that works for us.
Speaker 1:I love that, so thank you for sharing. So what's next for?
Speaker 2:you in your journey, as you're, you know, recently starting building your business. What's the next phase? I'm now creating a new offer to do a little group coaching I'm still working on it like a live course group coaching. I'm working on it. I'll talk about it more officially in a couple months, but I am very, very excited.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I just love talking all about growth and food and emotions, because it's not only about healing your relationship with food and emotions.
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, what I see is that when you do this kind of work, you heal your relationship with yourself, because when you grow up, you have all these beliefs that come that I don't know you're not enough or you need to be this to do that. All these things and our self-confidence or self-esteem might not be the greatest, or we put barriers for ourselves because we think that things are not possible for ourselves. But when you start this journey of growing and self-reflecting and it's just to me all paths open up in front of you and then you can really do wherever you want and feel good about yourself and your life, and I think that's it's very important. We have one life and we need to appreciate it and live it fully with our challenges. Of course, that's never going to disappear. It's not supposed to be happy a hundred percent of the time, but I think I always think about how incredible it is that we are here alive today. So I think it's important to be grateful and to make the most of it.
Speaker 1:I agree with you 100 on the gratefulness. And so let's tell our listeners how can they find?
Speaker 2:you online. So I am on social media, on Instagram mindful health with DunaHealthWithDuna2. And then I have my website, mindfulhealthwithduna.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:MindfulHealthWithDuna. That's all you need to remember. Very easy, on my website you can also find a blog that I've been writing to you know share all the things that I know and I want to share with the world. I also created a blog graphic, which is the same, but everything in an image, just because I love, like post-its and things like that, reminders. So, yeah, I'm also trying, always trying, to create things that can help people and, of course, my programs too.
Speaker 1:I love that and thank you for sharing and thank you for being on the show today. So, for our listeners, don't forget to like, subscribe and share and you know, if we help just one person on each podcast, our podcast is a success. Thank you, dana, I appreciate it.
