Nona Diaries is a series featuring some inspirational women and their period stories. Today’s feature is about Alvina Olivia aka @alvinaolivia.
Alvina is a certified health coach pursuing to be a nutritionist. She is also certified in macro coaching and passionately helps women achieve sustainable weight-loss and improve body composition by restoring their metabolism and balancing their hormones.
Alvina started her own health and fitness journey engaging in a decade of disordered eating and obsessive exercising habits. Having gone through those years, with a deep commitment, her mission is to help women break free from chronic dieting so they have more bandwidth to live their life to the fullest.
Alvina strives to inspire other women to create a life of health, happiness and self-love that they deserve. She is also a renowned keynote speaker and health educator who frequently shares her knowledge and experience, so women can learn that they are not alone in their struggle around eating, exercising, body image, and mental health.
Hi! Let's start with your name
Alvina Olivia from @alvinaolivia.
How did you get into nutrition coaching? What do you like about it?
I started my own health and fitness journey engaging in a decade of disordered eating and obsessive exercising habits. Having gone through those years, gave me a deep commitment and a mission. And that is to help women break free from chronic dieting so they have more bandwidth to live their life to the fullest.
There are many things I love about working as a nutrition coach and being able to help others, but what I love the most is when I get to witness clients’ making massive progress and they are proud of themselves. It’s amazing to see when things start to click and they start to be more consistent, more confident and start seeing results.
What are your favorite ways to work out?
I will forever love weightlifting. It was my first love and I think it will continue to be my favorite until I’m really, really old. I also diversified my training and started incorporating sports like tennis. And I do frequent mobility work to improve all-round functional fitness performance.
What is your food philosophy like?
All foods fit. When I first got involved in fitness, I learned all about “clean eating”, avoiding all the forbidden foods, and consuming dozens of supplements to be “fit”. I fell for all of it. I became so obsessed with being perfectly fit. I emulated what other people do without realizing it was affecting my mental health and life! I was miserable. It took me a while to learn and fully understand that there is no dichotomy in fitness and nutrition, only the ones you create inside your own head. You absolutely can have health and aesthetic goals and still eat the damn cookies. I practice flexible eating through macro tracking.
What’s a typical day of eating like for you?
I eat 3 big meals and 1 snack. I allocate a big chunk of my carbs around my workout.
- Breakfast: a nutrient dense protein smoothie or protein oat porridge
- Lunch: chicken or salmon with a big portion of stir fried veggies and a side of rice
- Snack: a bowl of mung bean porridge with an egg
- Dinner: usually the biggest meal of the day. Menu wise, it’s similar with lunch, + a sweet dessert.
Do you have any kitchen / pantry food staples?
Eggs. Can’t run out of eggs. I love blackbean spaghetti. Eating spaghetti while getting in protein and fiber. Bang for your buck!
What feelings do you have towards your period?
I tend to be more sensitive and self-critical! But I usually catch myself and manage to shrug it off. It’s just hormones.
Do you get any womanly intuition or signs when your period is coming?
Plenty of telltale. Breast tenderness, water retention, bloating, slightly constipated, difficulty falling asleep. I track my period religiously so I know what’s going on.
Are there any habits that you incorporate into your lifestyle to honor your period?
Yes, as a woman, our body goes through significant changes each and every month. These fluctuations influence many things including how well we metabolize our food, our sleep quality, how effective our exercise routine is, and how much patience we have. Hehe. So I frequently alter my lifestyle, nutrition and exercise routine based on the phase of the cycle I’m currently on.
Do you remember the first time you got your first period?
Yes I was still in my SD uniform. And I went home with a lot of questions in my head!
If you could give your younger self advice when you first got your period, what would you say?
Don’t worry!! Get excited!! You have the body of a woman now. Intuitively, you will know what your body needs, please don’t choose to ignore them. And monitor your cycles and phases, it’s never too early to start knowing your body.
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Read more about other inspirational women in our Nona Diaries series. Want to nominate any other women for this series? Email us or let us know here!
Read more: 6 Facts About Menstrual Pads
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