Jenna Viera couldn’t shake her love-hate relationship with food.

It started in her teens — she would exercise and diet, but it didn’t stop the weight from piling on. “If I was happy I would eat, if I was sad I would eat,” she said. “If I came home from work and I was stressed I would eat.

“[Eventually, I realised that] sometimes it’s not what you’re eating, but what’s eating you.”

It’s something the 31-year-old learnt after she took an online course with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

It taught her to focus on her “holistic health”, qualified her as a lifestyle coach and inspired her to open her own business, Simply Well, Bermuda.

“All this time I was looking at food but wasn’t looking within myself,” she said.

“The course really taught me how to appreciate myself. It was healing. When I was taking the course I thought, I know I’m not the only one who goes through this. I think a lot of women go through insecurities about weight, like myself.

“I loved to talk to people about food and how to feed themselves right.

“Now, I like to talk to people about taking care of themselves along with it. It’s about the whole person.”

She runs the business in her spare time. Courses of one, three or six months are designed to help people to set, meet and maintain health and fitness goals.

“It is important to work on your mindset,” Ms Viera said.

“It is about making friends with yourself. The six-month programme is the best programme because it really helps you to instil sustainable changes in yourself.

“It is 12 sessions, twice per month. It will help you see results and get committed.

“I have two clients now who started with the three-month programme and have now extended to the six-month; it’s whatever feels right for the client.”

What the course ultimately teaches is how to love yourself, she said. “You have to be comfortable with where you are.

“Don’t fight yourself. Not every exercise programme works for everyone. If it doesn’t feel good and you don’t enjoy it, you aren’t going to do it.” The experience has also helped her make peace with her own body.

“I am not at the weight I would have liked to have been four years ago,” she said.

“I’m not sure that weight is attainable to me. I am working on just taking care of myself. I started doing a bit of meditation and that’s been helping. I am eating really well. I allow myself to have what I want some of the time. I am a little more balanced. I am in control.”

jenna@simplywellbda.com; 799-2391 or Simply Well, Bermuda on Facebook.