One of the most common challenges women face is the obsession with appearance and beauty, and in many cultures around the world, the desire to be thin. Pauline Hanuise, Class of 2013, was once trapped in a vicious cycle of food restriction, bingeing, and purging. For 15 years, this Belgium native was a victim of bulimia so serious that her teeth began to break, her hair began to fall out, and she suffered from an irregular heartbeat.
After hitting rock bottom at the age of 27, Pauline took control of her health and embarked on a journey of self-love and acceptance. She now has a thriving online health coaching practice where she helps other women regain freedom over food.
Pauline is taking over our Instagram account today – follow along here to see what she’s up to! Continuing our celebration of International Women’s Day, read below to learn more about her inspiring story.
On recovering from bulimia: Before IIN, I was a digital producer for some well-known international advertising agencies. From the outside, I was a very successful kind of girl. But on the inside, I knew I was living someone else's dream.
Since the age of 13, I had struggled in my relationship with food and quickly spiraled into full-blown bulimia. When I finally took responsibility for my own well-being, happiness, and recovery, I realized that my job wasn't serving me anymore. Instead, I wanted to help other women to recover from their destructive eating patterns and create a peaceful relationship with food, too. IIN magically appeared into my life at that specific moment and it became clear for me that becoming a Holistic Health Coach was the way to go to create a more fulfilling life for myself and help others.
On creating her dream career and lifestyle: My life changed in many different positive ways after enrolling at IIN. First of all, I started my own business with my health coaching practice. Helping women from all over the world recover from destructive patterns around food has been really fulfilling for me.
But that's not all. I also became location independent and lived and worked from many beautiful countries over the past years. After living for four years in Sydney, Australia, I spent nine months living in Bali. I am now back to Europe to be closer to my family. This year, I've already planned some time in France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the US and Malta, where I currently live. I am working online with clients from all over the world, so there are no boundaries about my work, or what I can do. This is something I really love! To be perfectly honest, IIN helped me create my dreamed lifestyle!
On her favorite part of the curriculum: Joshua Rosenthal is a very inspiring person that I really enjoyed learning from. The concept of bio-individuality is definitely the foundation of my practice.
On her health coaching practice: I am definitely able to provide an uncommon and untraditional approach to eating disorders and destructive eating patterns. I think this is still very new and unique but also very beneficial. I've got amazing results with the people I am working with, Some of them have been in therapy for years before, without any positive results. This is definitely a real gift to make a difference in these people's lives!
I recently finished working with a woman who had been struggling with full blown bulimia for over 25 years. She fully recovered in just two months of coaching! This was absolutely awesome. I am really grateful for being able to help make such positive changes in people's lives!
Connect with Pauline