“The healthy life is not the perfect life,” Jessica Sepel wants you to know. “The healthy life is truly one that has balance at the core of everything.” The 33-year-old Australian beauty is a clinical nutritionist, an author, and the founder of a worldwide nutrition empire. Now a rising star in international business, Sepel lived through an ugly, years-long dependence on fad dieting that hijacked her sense of self, until a turning point set her on a path to finding a different kind of life. Now, she wants other people to know that being gentle and kind to themselves can lead to better health and beauty.
Gentle, Kind Weight Loss
“I think my lowest point was when I had to throw the scale out,” said Sepel. She recalled that in 2012 her daily weigh-in had come to determine her self worth: “[I was] so distressed by it that my partner, now my husband, looks to me and says, ‘We’ve got to bring this to an end.’” He suggested that she get rid of the scale for good. “‘I cannot do it!’ I kept telling him—because I felt like I was throwing away a part of myself.” Sepel held the scale in her arms “like a baby” as they walked together to the dumpster. Deep down she knew she wanted to be rid of it, however, and threw the scale in of her own accord. She felt relief when it was gone.“I don’t think I would have done it myself,” said Sepel. It was an incredibly emotional turning point in her journey toward a gentler, kinder approach to beauty: self-acceptance. In place of extremes, dieting to pursue perfection, and counting calories, carbs, or pounds, she began eating healthy food most of the time, as well as supporting her sleep patterns and hormonal health through relaxing mindfulness routines that combat anxiety. “Slowly—I would say quite slow—[I] transitioned from being this fad dieter to becoming more of this healthy eater, but it was a quest.”
