My clients tend to be researchers, including when choosing to hire someone like myself for support on a tender topic like food and body issues.
Here’s my deeper story, told in a timeline, to support you in your information gathering stage.
Told in a Timeline
1978
Born into my mother’s family who fought the Nazis in the Hungarian-Austrian mountains and my Dad’s who were Jews fleeing persecution in the Ukraine. Truth, justice and intensity are in my blood.
1982
Eye surgery to correct a lazy eye. I wear a full Wonder Woman underwear set to my follow-up appointment and show my optometrist. I am deemed enthusiastic and full of chutzpah.
1987
I get a pink slip home for “shouting” out in class without being called upon. I start an underground newspaper the teachers don’t know about. I will not be silenced!
1989
Relentlessly bullied and isolated in fifth grade. I try Weight Watchers for the first time and begin eating bagels after school in private.
1992
Diagnosed with cancer. Nine months of chemotherapy and radiation.
1994-97
I’m skinny from chemo. And it’s AMAZING. I get attention and positive feedback from everyone. I get a boyfriend. I can wear whatever I want. I am normal.
1997-2001
I become an emotional eater in college. I gain and lose weight. I struggle with depression. I get on meds and find a therapist. I don’t get worse. I don’t get better.
2002
Devastating first work experience in the corporate world. I’m diagnosed with IBS.
2004
Hoping my continual weight gain is because of my thyroid, I see my primary care doctor. My thyroid is normal, and she gives me a low-fat salmon recipe with Splenda.
SPLENDA? That’s a known carcinogen.
SPLENDA of all things, is my slide into the Heroine’s Descent
(life is hysterical)
I have done everything right, worked hard, got good grades, graduated from Penn State’s Schreyers Honors College, had the well-paying corporate job working all over the world (hello Paris, London, Madrid, Stockholm and Prague).
And yet, I feel fat. Unfulfilled in my job. Never going to meet a partner.
Being thin was amazing. Why couldn’t I stay there? I’ve tried so hard.
Listening to everyone else wasn’t working. I needed better questions.
2005
I meet Carlos at an Irish Pub in Philly. He’s attractive. Smart. Kind. And really into me. So of course, this freaks me out.
He asks me out and I say yes. We fall in love even though I’m 30 pounds above my “goal” weight. This interrupts my unshakeable ‘once I lose weight, then I’ll meet someone’ logic.
What else don’t I know about what I thought I knew?
2006-2009
I go back to school and discover food as medicine. My skin glows, and my IBS and depression are gone. How did I not know about this for the past 18 years?
Dark night of the soul ensues as I realize no one is at the wheel of our medical system. And Big Corporate interests are riding shot gun.
What else don’t I know about what I thought I knew?
When you stop eating pre-packaged foods, you stop wanting a pre-packaged life.
Everyone needs to know about the power of food!
2007
After getting results with my first several clients, I leave my corporate life to spread the good news and support other people who want food freedom too. (This is literally my business plan).
2009
I enter Penn for my Masters to study what transformational emotional change happened with me and is happening with my clients. Food is only half the equation. Yet I’m unclear what the second half is beyond overly simplified self-help and coaching platitudes.
2014
What an (exhilarating!) rabbit hole. The matrix is real. And I’m grateful to be out of it and feel so free.
It turns out my medical records left out the most meaningful experiences and medicines of my life. The pesticide poisoning at the age of six that caused toxicity, inflammation and my initial weight gain. The steroids and mustard gas in my chemo and the antibiotics and Accutane for my skin, which were destroying my gut and were the root cause of my depression, stomach and skin issues. The traumatic experiences of being bullied and having cancer made me my own worst enemy. Unresolved, they created a battle with myself that caused me to lose profound pieces of myself and the bravery to live the life I really wanted. I was self-critical but not self-aware.
2015-present
The resilience and results from building my business healed me from cancer as much as chemo did to cure me. I released old stories, patterns and behaviors and replaced them with my natural and well-earned chutzpah and enthusiasm.
I’ve returned to my roots: the nine-year-old me who owned the underground newspaper is now the host of the Insatiable podcast. It’s an independent, wisely rebellious show because there’s tremendous value in going against the (GMO’d) grain.
I consider myself a midwife for others who want to get off the all-or-nothing eating roller coaster, stop monitoring themselves with food (and in life!) and reclaim the freedom and bravery to step into who they truly are.
It’s the personal growth challenge and opportunity of a lifetime. If you’ve read this far, you certainly have the curiosity and stamina to set yourself free, too!
I am committed to diversity and inclusion.
I believe that innovation, strength and power come from different perspectives, backgrounds and cultures. I open-heartedly invite diversity in clients and attendees, including ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, body size, religion, and physical ability.
Barbara Modinos-Capps
I started crying @ the end of your Timeline you posted Ali…some many of us are “WalkingWounded Emotionally Damaged Adults” (WWEDA) searching for validation & acceptance of what we unceasingly try to FIX ALONE! Thank God for people like YOU Ali who offer us HOPE that no.1, we are NOT ALONE and no.2, We can oneday be “In Love with Ourselves ” Again.
Barbara Modinos-Capps bmodinoscapps@gmail.com
Ali Shapiro
I’m glad this resonated Barbara. I think we all are walking wounded adults…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing! I think our wounds open us up to some incredible gift. At least they have the potential to if like you so say, we don’t try and do this alone. That is the key. You’re on it! And it’s a lesson I keep learning over and over again!
Laura Van Hagen
“Dark night of the soul ensues as I realize no one is at the wheel of our medical system. And Big Corporate interests are riding shot gun.” So true!!! Thank you for following your conviction and committing to this work.
Ali Shapiro
I’m glad you understand. I start to feel crazy sometimes at how much UNlearning there is to do! Glad to meet up on the path!