Mt. Laurel resident Alene Brennan’s focus in the health-care field began at an early age when she became plagued with unbearable migraines.
“They were so severe when I was younger,” the 32-year-old said. “I needed something to help me get out of that cycle of migraines.”
After locating foods that triggered her migraines, such as chocolate, and cutting them from her diet, she noticed a dramatic change.
“It piqued my interest in the power of food,” she said. “If food can have that much of an impact on how I feel…what else can food do?”
Brennan is now a certified health coach and yoga instructor who hosts events primarily in Voorhees to help area residents improve their livelihoods.
“Health coaching and yoga have been my overall approach to wellness,” she explained. “You find there are so many ways to connect with people through either food or yoga.”
Brennan looks for a diet that works well and makes the subjects feel good at the same time.
She begins by identifying the foods the person currently consumes and then sees which foods can be easily canceled out of their diets and what they will need some help with.
“It’s not about stripping somebody’s diet of all the foods that they love,” she said.
In the case of migraines, chocolate, caffeine, nuts, artificial sweeteners, candy, gum, soda, processed meats and red wine can all potentially be triggers to the pain.
Once realizing that chocolate was one of her triggers, she developed a taste aversion for it.
“I don’t even crave it at all,” she said. “I have that association of what chocolate does to me.”
“There are other foods that I enjoy instead of chocolate.”
For some people, food is the secondary issue.
Many people, she said, overeat from the stress of a job or relationship.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re eating carrots or if you’re eating chips,” she said. Neither is getting to the root of the real issue.
Health coaching, therefore, creates a complete program to address all issues.
“Sometimes I describe it as life coaching with a twist on food,” she said. “So often, when there are issues around food, it doesn’t really have to do with the food.”
Brennan’s tagline is, “What nourishes you?”
She’s not out to convince anyone to follow a program, she said, but is “a resource for people who are looking to live a happier, healthier life.”
Many people find her through her online presence or the workshops she hosts.
“A lot of people will attend a workshop and understand my approach and understand how a health coach can benefit them,” she said.
Others, she said, sign up for a breakthrough session.
According to her website, a breakthrough session is a 50-minute confidential conversation, available either online or in person, that is used to identify life and health goals, long-term goals and to learn how she can help in the process.
Brennan has taken a particular interest in pelvic floor pain, a condition that affects many women.
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles at the pelvic base, she said, that is similar to a hammock.
“It’s great when it works fine,” she said, but over time, due to trauma, childbirth, surgery, abuse, or even poor posture, the muscles can weaken, causing symptoms such as painful intercourse and frequent urination.
“They can find relief,” she said. “I introduce a form of healing through yoga.”
She works with the women in the workshop through breathing techniques and yoga postures to strengthen the muscles.
She began her interest in yoga due to her migraine pain as well, she said.
Though she was skeptical when she first heard that yoga could help with her migraines, she decided to give it a try anyway.
“When it’s your health, why wouldn’t you?” she asked.
Learn more about Alene
View www.alenebrennan.com to learn more about Alene Brennan, send her a message at [email protected] or stay up-to-date on upcoming workshops. She recently hosted a series on pelvic floor pain in Voorhees. This fall, she will host events on natural remedies to headache and migraine pain, how to eat in tune with the four seasons, how to mindfully eat, a three-part series on cooking, glow in the dark yoga for teenage girls and a yoga practice for those with pelvic floor pain. Dates and locations have yet to be announced.
