Nadine Dumas is a leading businesswoman and influencer in the worldwide fitness market. Her online holistic approach to health and wellness span the globe with a footprint in Asia, Australia, the Cayman Islands and North America.
Her experience and businesses focus on mind-body nutrition and eating psychology coupled with achieving individualised fitness objectives. Nadine has seen outstanding results through her online programs with over 15,000lbs in weight loss but most importantly lifelong transformations.
Nadine holds a business degree and is a Professional Eating Psychology Practitioner with over a decade of experience in mind-body transformations. Not only does Nadine work as a practitioner but she is actively involved in the corporate wellness space, consulting with corporations to bring a health focus to employees and creating an overall wellness to companies through her work in Eating Psychology.
As a global figure in health and wellness Nadine has been photographed and published in some of the most noteworthy editorials in fitness including Oxygen, Women’s Health and Fitness and Inside Fitness Magazine. She is a contributing writer for entrepreneurial platforms such as Influencive and Thrive Global and has been featured by the Huffington Post, INC., and Thrive Global. The Lagom Retreat, which is her most recent venture, is a luxury & wellness retreat bringing local exposure and international tourism to the Cayman Islands.
Hey, Nadine, can you introduce yourself to us?
Sure, my name is Nadine Dumas and I am a 37-year-old, Canadian born, a former accountant who now resides in the beautiful Cayman Islands. I am also a mum of the sweetest little boy you will ever meet. He just turned 6 this past January and is my little travel partner.
Can you tell us a little bit about your career background prior to becoming an eating psychology practitioner?
I left my hometown at the age of 24 years old to move thousands of miles across the world to the Cayman Islands where I pursued my career as a professional accountant. While I was down there I found a love for fitness and started competing as a bikini competitor in the bodybuilding industry. After only 2 years in Cayman and finding a passion for the sport I decided to leave the island and move back home where I built, from the ground up, my health and fitness companies. Once my companies became solely online I decided to move back to Cayman for some much warmer weather and run my company abroad. Over the past 10 years, I have worked with women (and men) to help them achieve their health and fitness goals by providing nutrition and fitness guidance. I spent 8 of those years hosting transformation challenges and have seen over 15,000lbs of weight loss success. My transformations are not only physical but most importantly from the inside-out.
How has the journey been?
Its been incredibly rewarding, but its also constantly evolving for me so I have to make sure I am always one step ahead of the game. In my opinion!
What training did you undertake and where?
I’ve been a certified sports nutritionist and personal trainer for years, and then in 2016, I enrolled in the Institute for the Psychology of Eating where I have now graduated as an Eating Psychology Practitioner and Mind-Body Nutrition Coach.
Where did the incentive come to want to become eating psychology practitioner?
Over the years of working with thousands of women, I began to see signs that made me want to ask them more questions, become more personal with them and dive into the why. So many women were coming to me feeling like failures on their diets, gaining their weight back but not understanding why suffering from negative body image and really struggling with burnout. I started doing some research and found the IPE which allowed me to learn and apply this style of coaching to compliment my work.
How can we find out which styles of eating support our body and lifestyle best?
You need to make sure you find a coach that will understand you. Ask questions about your lifestyle and your body and REALLY get to know you as a person. Everything I do is based on what will work for my clients and I spend a lot of time getting to know them and how they go about living their life. Anything other than that can be a recipe for failure.
Why do you think so many of us struggle to find the right balance through nutrition?
A huge part of this is because there is so much conflicting information out there and women don’t know what to believe, so by the end of it all, they throw the towel in and give up. I tell my clients time and time again that we actually have all the answers within ourselves and most of the time we know what we need but from an industry and social media perspective, they have done a very good job of not allowing us to listen to ourselves and what we want and need.
How do you think areas such as sleep, stress, adrenal fatigue, metabolic damage, and hormones help to contribute finding our inner balance?
They will 100% effect to your inner balance. Its very hard to focus on that when you are lacking sleep, living a stressful life, suffering from adrenal fatigue, have metabolic damage and your hormones are out of whack. Every single one of these areas I look at and work on first before even diving into a nutrition plan with a client because, if you were to throw a nutrition plan at someone that is suffering from all of the above, it will only add to their plate and cause more issues.
Can you us what is the most seminal point in your career so far?
A big seminal point was when I was voted the #1 fitness female in all of Canada by the Inside Fitness Magazine. Not because of the title but because I was recognized for my work in the industry and how I have remained authentic and well respected. It meant a lot to be named #1 out of every woman hoping to get that top spot. I would also say that it was when I decided to move into the Eating Psychology & Mind-Body Nutrition coaching, it really set me apart from others in the industry.
Any challenging times you have had to overcome? When were they and how did you learn to overcome them?
I don’t think there was anyone challenge in particular but definitely many little challenges along the way. The industry is evolving and its the matter of staying on top of things and being able to pivot and be ok with it.
Have you ever had to deal with any doubts of contention or lack of support from relatives or friends? If so how did you push through?
I have. I am from an Air Force family and my grandfather when he found out that I was quitting my career as an accountant to become a ‘personal trainer’ he was not happy. He wanted me to ‘get those papers’ and nothing else so it took some time to prove myself to my family that I had made a good choice. From a friends perspective, I would say that my drive for this career and to be my own boss had me miss a lot of events. I was either traveling to working tirelessly on building the company that I missed out on some things. With being in the fitness industry and being in front of the camera I also had to make sure I was on my game which came with a price of missing some events that might involve alcohol or certain foods simply because I had to meet a certain criteria/look. I don’t regret any of it as its brought me to where I am today but certainly, in the beginning, it was tough for me to learn and others to get used to.
Have you ever had a coach or mentor throughout building your career? If so how has this benefitted you?
Absolutely, I have a few actually. They are whom I count on when I need advice and guidance. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for them.
What outlets do use to market the coaching programmes you offer?
To be honest, so much of my coaching programs are word of mouth, referral based and through media outlets such as interviews like this or magazines. I do also use your typical platforms such as Facebook, IG, and LinkedIn
Which methods are you using to build your audience and expand your network?
All of them still, I am just upping my game for 2018.
What is the best piece of advice you have received to date?
Quality over quantity! It was the last thing my grandfather told me before he passed. He sat me down, we shared a cinnamon bun and coffee and he told me that he’s been watching me on Facebook and my website and was so proud of me and told me to never sacrifice quality for quantity. Its stuck with me since.
What would you tell your 18-year-old self?
To not be so afraid and shy. I was such a shy girl and always so worried about what others would think. I also wished I did more public speaking and not skipped so many classes in school because I had to stand up in front of the class.
Which other coaches do you also admire and why?
To be honest, I don’t pay a lot of attention and since I have moved more towards the reasons why we eat the way we do, there really isn’t a lot in that field and so I find that I am just paving my own path right now.
What Youtube or online space channels are you watching currently?
Marie Forleo I just love. I love women in business and go-getters.
What is a good article or book you have read recently?
Lately, all of my reading is around eating and the mind-body connection so the few I would say I have enjoyed lately are The Hunger Fix, Eat Dirt and It Was Me All Along.
What does success look like in your eyes?
Happiness. It’s being happy in your life, loving what you do and making an impact on others lives.
What does #BEYOUROWN mean to you?
I love this and its something I am known for which is marching to the beat of my own drum. It means carving your own path, blazing your own trail, doing what you are set out to do and educating, transforming and inspiring others.
Lastly, what is next for you 2018?
2018 is going to be a big year for me. I have my second luxury wellness retreat being held this fall which sold out in 36 hours and in May I am off to Bodrum, Turkey to look at launching another retreat and tacking on a side trip to London for my first time ever. I will be spending this year really planting my feet in the market in the UK and I am really excited about it. I will be kicking off a tour in the fall there with my wellness talks. Other than that, a nice summer off with my little one and traveling back home to see family.
Twitter: @JNDumas
Instagram: @nadinedumas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NDCoachingLtd/
Website: https://nadinedumas.com
