Meet The Bossy Nutritionist

Layla Flower is a nutritionist/lifestyle coach with a twist. Three years ago when Flowers arrived in Petaluma she wanted to really grab people’s attention. She wanted a tagline that just said it all.

“I was having lunch at with my step-dad who helped me put my website together.  We were throwing ideas around and he said something like, ‘Well, you know Layla, the thing about you is, you’re bossy,’” she said with a broad smile.

Layla Flowers  - Miss Bossy Pants? Not really. She is the calm, funny and encouraging type. But she did brand herself The Bossy Nutritionist, because it was just too true.

“My step-father has known me a long time. He’s seen me go through Crohn's disease and healing myself through nutrition. I get to be bossy because I know how to help people. I’m just bossy enough because I really care,” she said.

I know what a nutritionist is (an expert in nutrition) but I had to ask what a lifestyle coach was. I imagined someone blowing a whistle for white slacks after Labor Day or something.

“As a nutritionist and fitness trainer I use the term coach because so much of what I do is coaching, supporting clients towards their health and wellness goals.”

A graduate of Bauman College of Nutrition in Berkeley and a graduate of ISSA fitness coaching in Santa Barbara, she has a private practice in Petaluma and heads up the Lite N’ Up program at .

Because I grew up guzzling diet Coke, eating Laura Scudder’s barbecue potato chips for dinner and had emergency gall bladder surgery last year, I got down to my crucial questions pretty fast.

Summer can be tough for folks with eating issues. Fourth of July barbeques and street fairs every weekend are like culinary mine fields for dieters. So I asked her what are the three worst summertime foods and what are the three best?

“During the summer most people eat more ice cream. That’s a lot of saturated fat; but one ice cream a week is fine. People should also avoid alcohol and fair type foods like corn dogs, cotton candy or things like deep fried Oreos,” she said.

She suggested that healthy fresh foods found at Farmer’s markets are best, mentioning that does a great job of making eating healthy, easier.

“Tara Farms has those customized boxes that can include vegetables, fresh eggs, even meat. Summertime to me means easy, fresh food. Some grilled fish with those little red potatoes…”

It’s funny how when you’re overweight and not happy about it, everything Flowers says is slightly annoying even though she’s completely smart and sincere. We started talking about the real challenges involved in helping otherwise very intelligent people truly come to terms with lifelong unhealthy eating habits, including doing things like binging and hiding “bad” foods around the house like an alcoholic, being on or off “the wagon,” eating in cars, eating in movies, basically checking out and eating mindlessly.

She is an advocate of “mindful” eating.

“Mindless eating is very dangerous as it takes us away from our bodies true needs in regards to nourishment from food. It degrades our natural hunger and satiated signals and put us at great risk for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease,” she said.

She truly believes that having a guide and partner is crucial to changing habits. It helps to be accountable, she says.

“I do a lot of behavior modification in my practice, so much of what we do around food is about habits that can be switched out fairly painlessly,” she said. “Once that switch is turned on to mindful eating it’s very hard and uncomfortable to go back to mindless eating as it no longer works as the escape so many of us have used it for in the past.”

The way Flower accepts new clients is via a free 30-minute nutrition/lifestyle consultation either at her office or at Club One. If she’s confident that she can provide a customized plan that includes meal planning, exercise and weekly meetings, the coaching is launched. Typically new clients begin with a ten-week individualized plan, which includes a weekly half-hour to review a food journal and a half-hour of strength building exercise starting at around $360. The Bossy Nutritionist website offers other services like home visits to purge your pantry or simple cooking lessons.

Healthy weight loss and weight loss maintenance is Flower’s passion. Her reward for being bossy is seeing clients discover their true needs and enjoying a healthy lifestyle.

“Achieving a balanced relationship with food is not easy but it is possible. It takes coaching, tools and the desire to be at peace with your body and food,” she said.