Expat Living
January 2, 2010
A New Me: Inside and Out

I’ve gone from thinking I look good in plunging necklines, bias cuts and the color pink, to focusing on empire waists, A-lines, chocolate browns and gold tones. I no longer believe cheese is a great source of calcium and that diet coke is harmless. Thanks to the wisdom of Aileen Lane, I now pray to the vegetable gods, sing the praises of whole grains and worship the color orange.


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Since I first sat in front of Aileen Lane’s desk last month, I’ve lost two kgs and emerged from a major style and diet rut. I now buy home-made bread, edamame and sunflower oil, and resist snacking on little chunks of fat-soaked Gouda. I purged my wardrobe of several unflattering tent dresses and everything with dolman sleeves, and have learned my color palette is autumn.

I cringe at the image of a lumpy 40-something soccer mom in frumpy tops and denim pedal pushers, so it was high time to access my inner hottie before it was too late. I turned to Aileen and her tool kit of tips, insights and tell-it-like-it-is common sense. As a nutrition and image consultant for a firm she founded called Nutri-Style, Aileen helps people shed ingrained habits and misconceptions about what we put in our mouths and on our bodies.

Armed with a master’s degree in food engineering, a degree in biotechnology, a postgraduate diploma in diet and nutrition, and professional certificates in image consulting, Aileen knows what she’s talking about. She’s worked in the image and nutrition industry for almost a decade, and before that, in production and product development at major food corporations. Down to earth and easy to talk to with big blue eyes and a soft, kind face, Aileen couldn’t be further from the old-school image of the prissy Type-A image consultant with a plastic smile and stale spiel. Aileen is natural, poised, youthful and in the trenches with the rest of us. She herself is still chipping away at the last few kgs of pregnancy weight she’s been carrying since her son was born last year.

“I’m practical, I’m real and I like to see results,” she says.

Several appointments with Aileen set in motion a series of long-needed changes and tweaks to a daily routine that had become mired in denial, laziness and pure clueless-ness. I signed up for her nutritional make-over workshop, which entailed Aileen doing an analysis of my typical eating habits. She generated a report charting my intake of fat, carbohydrates, sodium, protein and various nutrients, and we spent two hours talking about the findings and how to make improvements to my diet and most important, lose those nasty 10 pounds that have been hanging on for dear life

“Weight loss has to come about from behavioral changes. It can’t be about counting, weighing and measuring all the time,” she says.

Unlike weight loss programs that focus on eating processed pre-packaged diet meals, Aileen takes a holistic, healthy approach that focuses on real foods like salads and brown rice. She advocates cutting out as much dairy and meat as possible because they’re so highly processed and difficult to digest (“Cow’s milk is for cows,” she loves saying). Her rules to live by include buying organic everything, loading up on vegetables and taking a multi-vitamin and calcium supplement daily. She’s crazy about nutrient-packed foods like avocado, lentils, chickpeas, soya, sprouted foods, nuts and seeds and stresses the benefits of healthy oils like sunflower, canola, flax seed and olive oils.

Still, Aileen is realistic. Not everyone is going to eat a plate of raw vegetables for breakfast like she does.

“It’s not about being extreme, it’s about incorporating better nutrients in your diet as much as possible,” she says. “Following a good diet five to six days a week is good enough. If your body gets 80% good food, it can process the white flour and other junk,” she adds.

Her most popular service is a 10-week one-on-one weight loss program for those who need some hand-holding to stay motivated. She and the client meet for 30 minutes a week for a weigh-in and a discussion about meal planning and overall nutrition. The before and after photos here, show a client who recently lost more than 10 kgs in the program and in return, gained a whole new lease on life.

“I’ve combined nutrition with image consulting, because both are tied into confidence and self esteem,” Aileen says. “It’s important to look your best so that you can feel your best.”
Even a slimmed down, fitter body can only look so good if it’s draped in unflattering colors and clothes. Addressing not just what you put into your body, but what you put on the outside of it, the image side of Aileen’s practice includes color analysis, style makeovers and personal shopping assistance.

“The biggest, most immediate impact I can make in someone’s life is doing their colors. The right colors really make you pop and create balance and harmony,” Aileen says.

Of the four color palettes she assigns to clients, two warm and two cool, I’m an “autumn” based on the underlying tones in my skin, eyes and hair. Aileen demonstrated this by placing large swatches of colored clothe over my shoulders. I could see for myself that deep, smoky shades of orange, blue, purple, green, brown and gold made me sparkle more than the icy blues, pastels and black that I’ve always gravitated towards.

Aileen’s figure and style workshop was also an eye-opener. After gathering my measurements and producing a style guide that takes into consideration things like rise (long), height (tall), bone structure (medium) and shape (pear), we spent two hours discussing what styles work for me and which don’t. Collars and wide necklines complement my long neck, for instance, and boot-cut pants and flip skirts balance that lovely pear figure of mine. I should definitely avoid baby-doll cuts, bell sleeves and tapered pants.

“I educate people with basic knowledge to empower them to make positive changes for themselves,” she says.

Armed with a color fan and fresh insights on healthy eating and flattering clothes, I’m well on my way to becoming that soccer mom of my dreams.

Contact Nutri-Style at 6887-5220, 20 Ridley Park.