Who Is Michelle Minero?
Hi, my name is Michelle Minero; my purpose is to love myself and to help others love themselves. I am a marriage and family therapist, and I have been working with clients with eating disorders since the early 1990s. In 2000, I created the Quest Program, an intensive outpatient eating disorder program for PsychStrategies Inc. In 2005, I brought the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) support group to Petaluma, and I founded Eating Disorder Recovery Support, Inc (EDRS), a Bay Area nonprofit that hosts an annual conference which raises money for California residents who can’t afford treatment.
I bring creativity and spirituality into the healing process: in my private practice, through the Love Warrior Community, through SoulCollage workshops, through body masking retreats, through presentations – and now through this e-course.
Prior to my Self-Love Diet, I bought into our culture’s myth that my body was a reflection of my worth. I can still remember stepping on the scale to know if I was OK. If I gained weight, it was a bad day, and I was bad. If I lost weight, it was a good day, and I was good. I have a history of dieting that began in the 6th grade and continued into my adult life. I was either on a diet, off a diet, or contemplating the next one. Although on the outside everything looked good, I had a loving marriage and healthy children, something was missing. I know now that the missing piece was me. I didn’t love myself the way I was. I didn’t believe I was good enough. In my 30’s I went back to school and got my Masters in Counseling. I addressed my own compulsive eating and began living a recovery based life.
In 2004, I began my Self-Love Diet practice in earnest. This was inspired by the work with my clients in recovery from eating disorders. I saw over and over again that stopping the disordered behaviors was just the first step of their recovery. So many of my clients continuously struggled with self-hatred and body hatred long after they no longer used disordered behaviors. This did not feel like full recovery to me. I knew there was more healing work to do. We agreed to change our focus to the deeper issue of learning to accept and love themselves and their bodies.
It was not long before I noticed my own negative self-talk and my own critical thoughts about my body. It became clear that I needed to do the same work I was asking my clients to do. I knew it was important to “walk the talk.” By going inward and offering myself the love I was asking my clients to offer themselves, I was inspired to write Self-Love Diet: The Only Diet That Works.
I now live a life full of joy and gratitude. I wake up counting my blessings instead of focusing on what to eat or not eat. I know for a fact that it is possible to recover from eating disorders and our culture’s toxic messages. I believe that everyone has everything they need inside of themselves to heal. We all just need some guidance and support.
I’m excited for you to embark on this journey with us. It will be the most important thing you do. When you love yourself – that love spreads to those around you, and it expands throughout the world.