BIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Liao is a Holistic Nutrition & Wellness Coach, writer and mother. With a passion for women’s health and empowerment, Lizzy believes that we can heal our bodies and hearts through the foods we eat and areas towards which we focus our energy.
In her practice, she coaches women entrepreneurs and executives on nutrition, stress, and lifestyle management. She also specializes in prenatal health and serves as a Birth Doula. She is known for her work in supporting mamas as they prepare for postpartum and undergo the transition to motherhood.
Based between Valencia, Spain, Rincon, Puerto Rico, and New York, and an avid traveler, Lizzy leads yoga and meditation retreats around the world. She teaches heart-centered Yin + Vinyasa + Prenatal Yoga. With a focus on the practice of Gratitude, she published the journal “I Am Grateful”. Lizzy is the author of Mama Eats First" (coming May 2023), a book focused on the transition to motherhood and a woman's first forty days postpartum.
In 2014 Lizzy founded Lizzy’s All Natural, Shanghai's first plant-based cafe chain. As of February 2020, she has officially stepped away from her work at Lizzy's to pursue coaching and teaching full-time.
In 2017, Lizzy opened zenergy holistic wellness center, a space in Shanghai dedicated to hosting yoga, meditation and wellness classes and workshops as well as private coaching and healing sessions. Since Covid, zenergy has transitioned to a fully virtual platform.
Lizzy is a wellness advocate and consultant. She works with lifestyle brands to support community-building initiatives. She now supports cafes, studios and wellness spaces with recipe development, branding, and business planning.
Lizzy serves on the board of the Aboro Foundation, an organization dedicated to teaching and inspiring local children through the spread of fitness and nutrition. She is also a lululemon ambassador and an R U OK? Ambassador, promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
Interested in coaching or collaborating?
Connect with Lizzy at lizzy@lizzyliao.com
MY STORY
HI, MY NAME IS LIZZY
My passion for health coaching and sharing sustainable daily practices for happy, healthy living comes from my own journey which has been (and continues to be) about getting to know my body, loving my body and honoring its needs.
Today I wake up with a smile, I rarely go a day without a green smoothie, my meditation practice, movement and spending time with people I love. Although there are plenty of ups and downs, my internal weather is usually very sunny.
However, for a lot of my life I haven’t felt like my best self physically, mentally or spiritually. I am so lucky to grow up in a family that shares more love than I can express.
Health wise though, my family history spans from having nearly all autoimmune diseases to addictions. At 12 years old I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and spent six weeks on strong antibiotics which essentially destroyed my gut health.
After a period of being overweight, I grew up and appeared to be pretty healthy (hey, I was technically free of disease!). Yet, I didn’t feel comfortable with the skin I was in. Literally, many of my diet and lifestyle choices resulted in constant breakouts on my skin, dull hair, improper digestion and excess weight on my frame. I thought I was eating healthily but I didn’t have the energy to live the life I believed to be possible.
In university, I drank more soy lattes than I care to admit, and snacked on low-fat yogurts, pita chips and take-out meals. I believed these were health foods! I craved sweets constantly – the cravings felt like someone yelling in my ear distracting me at all times.
I would work and study nonstop, sleep far too little and then at the end of the week take out my stress on a painful, uninspiring gym session or a numbing glass of wine.
On paper I was a health-conscious vegetarian with a gym membership but in reality I was deaf to the real needs of my body; I was not eating the living, health-enhancing whole foods that my body asked for.
Things began to change in 2013 when I started a food import-export business and moved to Shanghai. Starting a new business meant a limited budget for food. Additionally, being in a new culture, I was wary of trying many restaurants so home cooking was necessary.
To save time and money, I would blend vegetables and fruits to batch smoothies and soups for many of my meals. I ditched (most of) the expensive imported snacks and sweets and cut out essentially all dairy from my diet.
I started practicing more yoga, barre and would go for bike rides as I got to know the city. Inspired by the power of food as medicine, I needed to learn more. I enrolled in a holistic nutrition school and began to try out many of the dietary theories and new foods I was learning about.
I learned about the philosophy of bio-individuality and for the first time felt empowered to discover what foods and lifestyle choices worked best for my body, not the average person. There is no one-size-fits-all diet.
My skin cleared up for the first time ever and the best change in my came in the form of crazy amounts of energy and self-love I began to feel. Even though I still wasn’t sleeping enough, I felt way better than any of my soy latte days.
Over the past decade + of much trial and success with eating, mindfulness, and movement, I have learned what it means to listen to my body. It is a daily practice and I try my best. I’m fortunate to have the support system of teachers, coaches and loved ones to shine light where I’ve felt darkness.
My biggest challenges that I continue to work on are developing true self love and acceptance of who I am – because of and despite of all of my imperfections. I have long felt like my imperfections made me not worthy, not ‘enough’ and like I don’t belong.
Although I practice empathy and genuine acceptance for others, my inner-judge still comes out regularly, critiquing me for just about anything you can imagine.
Today I feel so proud to be the mother to Lila Grace and am pursuing my passion for women's health. Becoming a mother changed everything and I am deeply committed to my purpose of serving women around the world.
My journey feels long but I know I’m still just beginning. My mission in my life is to use the passion I have for holistic wellness to empower others to listen to their bodies, connect within and become their best selves. With this intention, I am sharing what I have learned and continue to study.
I hope that this is a conversation – where we can collectively receive and give.
