We had the good fortune of connecting with Lara Days and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lara, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Yes, absolutely! I’m in the business of helping people, and especially tend to work with women. Women are constantly told that we need to fit into a certain box in order to be valued. We need to be small, quiet, polite, selfless, blah blah blah. It’s total bullshit. What we need to do is learn how to use our voice and step into our power so that we can make an impact on the people around us. My job, as a nutrition and mindset coach, is to help women find food freedom so that they can stop letting food and the scale dictate their life. We deserve to take up space. We deserve to nourish our bodies. We deserve to be fully energized, to sleep well, and to take care of ourselves first and foremost. We can’t pour into others unless our cups are overflowing. When women feel valued, fulfilled, and energized, their impact on the community and the world is infinite.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I actually fell into this job by accident. I had a couple of friends from back in Iowa (where I’m from) who asked me for help with their nutrition and fitness. I didn’t have credentials or insurance aside from my yoga teacher certification, so it was a hard “NO” at first. But then I thought about how much I love to help people, and about how much the health and fitness industry had impacted my life. So, I enrolled in a course, got biz insurance, and have grown from 2 clients to 27 over the past year! I still don’t really know what I’m doing half the time, but I am a huge believer in taking messy action and learning along the way. Messy action trumps perfection, always. I am also continuously making scary investments in myself and my business. I think the whole point of life is to continuously learn and grow. If we’re not doing those things, then WTF are we even doing here? One of the things that sets me apart from other nutrition coaches is that I’m really adamant about the “mindset” portion of “nutrition & mindset” coaching. I think nutrition coaches get a bad rap for being affiliated with MLMs, or not having the necessary credentials to make a difference. Then there’s this other level of having the credentials, but just handing people a meal plan or macros and saying “there ya go!” That’s not coaching. Coaching is teaching and leading. So yes, we talk about food. But we also learn about nutrition holistically (sleep, water, alcohol consumption, overall stress levels, etc.) and always dig into the “why” behind everything. We also really get into some tough mindset work: What was your previous conditioning around food and your body? Is your environment conducive to change? What is your self-talk like? Typically, people don’t seek out a nutrition coach if they have a healthy relationship with food and their bodies. I’m trying to change the reputation of nutrition coaches so that people don’t think we just hand them a meal plan and dip out. Ultimately, I care about helping people change their lives and step into their power much more than I care about people losing weight. If they change their body composition, rad! But if they change their mindset and their life? Hell yeah. That’s what I’m really about.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is especially hard to answer given that I haven’t really left my house in three months. Thanks, ‘rona! I’m a HUGE foodie and a HUGE live music fan, so most of the week would be spent eating and going to concerts! My husband knows all the best restaurants and I know all the best shows, so between the two of us, we’d be able to show them a good time for sure! On the menu: Town Hearth, Uchi/Uchiba, Beverley’s, Gemma, Bullion, Commissary, Bangkok City, Revolver Taco, and cronuts from Jaram’s for sure. During the day: DMA, mani/pedis at Verbena, picnic at Klyde Warren with a board from Fount, graffiti tour of Deep Ellum, coffee at Halcyon/Merit/Magnolias Sous le Pont. Night: Dallas Symphony, The Dallas Opera, and whatever shows are at Bomb Factory or Southside!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Gosh — there are so many people who have helped me along the way. My husband is certainly my biggest cheerleader and advocate. More recently, Dallas Fitness Ambassadors and the Dallas fitness community as a whole has been so freaking supportive. We LOVE hyping each other up!! Mai Lyn Ngo, the fearless leader of DFA (Dallas Fitness Ambassadors) has done a great job of lifting people up and scheduling virtual events during quarantine, so my shoutout is for her!

Website: https://www.laraelizabethcoaching.com
Instagram: @lara.days
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laradays/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/laraelizabethcoaching/

Image Credits
Samantha Salmon Photo