I met Ceylan last year (2015) during a conference of IIN (Institute of Integrative Nutrition). We connected during lunch and together with 2 other students we spent the weekend exploring healthy restaurants in Barcelona (where the conference took place). With her smile and enthusiasm she is a great person to spend time with. With that same enthusiasm she launched her health coach business in Geneva. One year later she has a succesful practice helping many adults and kids living a healthy lifestyle.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Who are you, where do you live, what do you do?
I am a Health and Nutrition Coach and a Power Yoga teacher, coming from Istanbul and living in Geneva, Switzerland for the last 4 years with my 2 sons and husband. I spend my days partly for coaching my clients for weight loss programs, helping them to regain their health, energy, digestion and improvements in their life and wellness goals.
My clients are mostly moms with busy life so I also help them to make healthier family meals and snacks, by supporting them with recipes, weekly meal plans, shopping together, pantry detoxes, etc.
One favorite part of my job is to give workshops about healthy life style and nutrition. I especially enjoy giving presentations at schools to kids as I feel so good about helping to make a positive change in their lives.
I also do and enjoy so much power yoga either with my clients or for my own practice and try to take a walk-run a few times during the week.
What/who inspires you?
People above 60 year old, still have the energy to do what they want, go where ever they want and enjoy life with their beloved ones. Also my husband and my kids are always inspiring me with new ideas and give support for new challenges.
What made you decide to study to be a health coach?
I worked for food and beverage industry for 15 years in the big, international companies like Nestle and Coca-Cola! I always tried to stay healthy during my demanding marketing professional days but it as never easy in that environment!
One day I remember my son asking me, “Mom is it possible that your next job is about a healthier product that I can try?”. That was a big wake-up call for me!
My brother was doing this health coaching program at IIN and was very impressed with it. As I was having a break from career when we moved to Switzerland, I thought this is a good time to start, “something healthier”!
Though I must admit that I was always interested in nutrition, fitness, diets, weight loss programs as well as cooking and trying new recipes. My own challenge and story to stay healthy and fit as I enjoy the gourmet side of life, made me think that I should help others to achieve this! And for this I needed some background and the health coaching certification did gave me that!
If you can give one piece of advice to start a healthier lifestyle what would it be?
Sleep well, have a strong breakfast and very light dinner! This will give you the enough energy to come over cravings and late evening heavy dinners. Then I strongly advise to try or do more often yoga, to relax the mind and body and get stronger for more activities! I know I am beyond being “one piece of advise” but can’t stop saying the importance of slowing down, being mindful and grateful of our lives!
How does your ideal day look like?
Weekends! A great big breakfast with my family, go out for ski or hike with friends and family, have a picnic out and under the sun with a view, come back home to relax and unwind, maybe do some relaxing yoga-stretching afterwards, a light and smooth dinner and maybe a good movie to be watched under a cosy blanket!
Weekdays, again a strong breakfast, client meetings in the morning, yoga at lunch time, salad-protein for lunch, more clients or sometimes grocery shopping in the early afternoon, pick-up kids from school-activities, healthy snack and spend time with them until dinner (homework-games), a light dinner, bed-story-pillow talk time with kids, then reading or social media surfing until about 23:00 and eyes shut at 23:00!!
My favorite time of the day is the breakfast and dinner tables with my family, sharing our days and supporting each other on our good and though times!
What are your favorite foods?
Salads! Any type of salads with lots of lemon and olive oil sauce -since I was a child is my favorite!
Nuts, especially almonds, walnut, cashews, dates, figs, seeds…
Yogurt! Plain, homemade yogurt by itself or with nuts-seeds-fresh fruits!
How do you combine being a mother of two, a wife and a busy job?
Being a health coach and yoga teacher, managing my own agenda gives me a lot of flexibility for taking care of my family. I take appointments before afternoon or after dinner time as Skype calls. Therefore I can still enjoy my late afternoons, early evenings with kids.
I am not earning as much as I did when I was a marketing professional but for the time being, we can manage this as a family. We are an expat family, living abroad and moving every 3-5 years. So I am following my husband’s career and he is my biggest supporter in my new business and I am always so grateful for this.
Being coach gives me the flexibility to work at and from anywhere in the world and stay connected thanks to Skype calls and social media!
Any advice what to do after a time where you get off track of living healthy? How do you get back on the wagon?
I am much better with my holiday periods or social outings since I started this program so usually I do not need to. However there come the times, especially during winter holidays when we go back home and all “moms” treat us with special meals!
My favorite way of dealing with these is to skip dinner on some evenings and replace them with green juices. I love a mixture of spinach, 1 apple, lemon, cucumber, celery, ginger and enjoy the detoxing effect of this magical drink! I also replace my afternoon snack with a smoothie made with homemade almond milk, alkalizing my body as much as possible! And of course increasing the exercise periods, sweating a lot, also help me to get rid of the toxins and unnecessary fat!
I love detoxing every 2-3 months, either with juice fasting or a high protein & veggies, minimum carbohydrates (and no sugar-alcohol-grains-legumes-dairy) diets.
What is you favorite quote?
“You must be the change that you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi
