Rouba Chalabi sitting on a sculpture beside a water feature wearing bright yellow jacket

Meet Rouba -
Food Addiction Counselor, Breathworker, and Author

Rouba Chalabi - Food Addiction Counselor, UAE seated at a restaurant holding glass lemon water

I’m Rouba Chalabi, nice to meet you

I am passionate about helping you find harmony within and transform the relationship between your body and food so that you can slim down.

You’re in the right place…

orange arrow graphic pointing downwards

I was an overeater and workaholic for 40 years

I felt:

  • Overwhelmed, from attending to everyone

  • Exhausted, from depriving myself from food only to binge back

  • Embarrassed, I just could not eat in moderation

  • Lost, because eating less and exercising more did not seem to work 

  • Troubled, by how often I self-sabotaged and self-medicated with food

  • Frustrated, for feeling stuck in an inconvenient body

  • Angry, that nothing I had tried seemed to work

  • Ashamed, that I was flawed and unworthy

  • Sad, wondering why I kept losing control to food while all other aspects of my life were under control

  • Lonely, because I could not sustain any love interest beyond 3 weeks

You are learning from a recovering food addict who has successfully lost 1/3 of her weight and sustained it for over 7 years.

Fortunately for you, this personal experience means I can empathize with your struggles in a way that other professionals simply cannot.

Together we can transform your body-food connection and have you find inner harmony and release weight.

Rouba Chalabi's reflection

You’ve only got one body

It breaks my heart to see overeaters exerting more willpower to control their eating.

This struggle with food is not the problem but rather the consequence of unaddressed unease in the body. The craving is an escape from discomfort to pleasure and safety. By focusing on willpower, overeaters perpetuate a fight with their body and miss the opportunity to understand the limitations and true needs of their beautiful imperfect body.

Fixing my relationship with food has involved making peace with my worst enemy: this body that I felt trapped in. I moved from living in my mind to learning how to operate in this one and only body of mine. This journey has allowed me to understand my body and manage its needs.

My journey to feeling at home in my beautifully imperfect body keeps evolving:

  • I developed awareness of my inner critic and learnt how to practice kindness to myself daily and rephrase my inner dialogue to address myself with dignity and compassion

  • I became more spiritual and connected deeper to my insides: as my mind quieted down, I was able to listen to the whispers of my soul

  • Once I stopped eating sugar and flour, my body and emotions became alive. I started taking care of myself and experimented with various ways to bring myself to a place of calm. I discovered Rouba’s likes and dislikes and began attending to my needs

  • I released my suppressed emotions through a regular practice of meditative dancing and active meditations

  • Through breathwork, I learnt to truly feel present and at home in my body

  • I now live in my body and thanks to pilates, I am able to feel stronger every day

Rouba Chalabi seated with her hands crossed over her chest

How did I release 1/3 of my weight and sustained it for the past 7 years?

After years of struggling with overeating and workaholism, I found myself on a path of radical physical, emotional and spiritual transformation following a burnout and a bicycle accident.

It was a journey that resulted, finally, in a weightloss I could healthfully sustain and an even greater sense of inner harmony.

This awakening inspired me to explore other ways of restoring myself. Leaving behind a twenty-year career in public affairs and crisis management, I began learning and training in a variety of mind, body, and soul modalities and meditation techniques.

Qualifications

In case you’re wondering, I am a qualified Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release Practitioner and Food Addiction Counselor.

I have coached online over 85 courageous overeating and hardworking achieving clients since 2019.

I have trained in Thai yoga and myofascial massage, thetahealing, qigong, childhood and sexual deconditioning, healing developmental trauma and meditative dancing. 

Do I sound like your kind of person?

Weightloss will come as a consequence of inner transformation

My passion for my work comes from my lived experience and my training in biodynamic breathwork and trauma release and the food addiction recovery model.

I have consolidated everything I have learned about transforming my body-food connection to help you get to a place of recovery and slim down.

Through online 1:1 sessions, group workshops and programs, I help you connect inwards, nourish and flourish.

BODY within orange circle
FOOD within yellow circle
LIFE within blue circle

  • Just like I did, I would like to help you build a new relationship with yourself so that you know how to:

    • Tune in, get cues from your body’s sensations and face your unease

    • Bring your nervous system to a place of comfort and safety that allows you to operate with ease and flow

    • Connect and release your suppressed emotions

    • Release tension from your body through breath, movement, sound, eye contact

    • Calm down and recharge

    • Be gentle and loving towards yourself

    • Become aware of what is missing in your self-care

  • I can help you break your obsession with food. I am passionate about teaching you how to use food for nourishment rather than the sole source of your energy and pleasure.

    You will learn how to organize your eating, choose food that neutralizes your cravings and follow new eating rituals that cultivate a positive relationship with food.

  • I would like to help you flourish in life by helping you build a nurturing relationship between your mind, body, food and life so that you do not feel the need to overeat just like I did.

    You will learn how to:

    • Put your needs first and take care of yourself

    • Do more of what gives you energy and less of what drains you

    • Have daily practices that give you joy and fulfillment

    • Manage stress and your emotions in a healthy way

    • Connect to your body and slow down to recharge when needed

    Weightloss will come as a consequence of all this inner transformation.

Get to know me…

Rouba Chalabi standing in a dress by the beach, Dubai

I am a Cancerian and love spending time at home, going on road trips and discovering new places!

You will find me relaxing by the beach and in the mountains. I am ridiculously uncomfortable in cold weathers. That’s why I live in the desert…

Rouba Chalabi with arms outstretched standing on a rocky outcrop in the mountains

…I speak three languages fluently: English, French and Arabic.

I have travelled to all continents except to Latin America and Australia. I would love to visit those two places in the future, but you will rarely catch me in a crowded place…

…I relax through playing backgammon with my partner Hadi, and enjoy cooking as a form of relaxation and self-love.

I still remember the day I first watched Michael Jackson’s Thriller video clip, and was in awe with Madonna throughout my teenage years. I managed to watch her perform live in my twenties and travelled to Paris especially for that!

I love buying books about self-help but I’m not always so good at reading them!

What self-care looks like to me

  • Orange line graphic of food

    Organizing my food

    Organizing my food is my utmost priority. I eat four meals a day, every four hours, and prepare my food from scratch. I make sure there is nourishing food for me to eat, whether it’s freshly cooked, leftovers in the fridge or defrosted from the freezer. I am a big fan of meal prepping. I bulk cook and freeze ready to eat meals as gifts for my future busy self.

  • Orange line graphic of apple and carrot

    Buying fruits and vegetables

    I buy fruits and vegetables 2-3 times a week to make sure my fridge is fully stocked with an abundance of fresh choices.

  • Orange line graphic of crescent moon

    Getting enough sleep

    I follow my body’s natural clock and go to bed early. I have learnt that this is a must for my brain and body’s harmony.

  • Orange line graphic of hand writing in a journal

    Journaling every day

    I journal every day to reflect on what went well, get insights about what’s bothering me and practice gratitude. This informs whether I need to make any adjustments to my schedule so that I can attend to my body’s ever evolving needs.

  • Orange line graphic of profile of a face with three leaves

    Take time to pause

    I take many small pauses during the day to tune in and connect with myself and the space around me: I take a few breaths, listen to my body’s sensations and hear what they are asking me to do.

  • Orange line graphic of a drum

    Drum uncontrollably

    When experiencing intense emotions or persistent noise in my head, I drum uncontrollably to allow all that is stuck inside to leave. Check me out here on Instagram.

  • Orange line graphic of a figure dancing

    Having a morning routine

    My morning routine involves a mix of breath, sound, movement, and free flow dancing.

  • Orange line graphic of a leaf and two oil droplets

    Use essential oils

    Essential oils help me relax. I make sure to massage myself with a nice oil after my bath once or twice a week. I also have a diffuser on my desk that keeps me relaxed while working.

  • Orange line graphic of a pathway through a hill with trees below a sun

    Getting outdoors

    I resource myself in the outdoors. Time in nature allows me to connect with myself and recharge.

DOWNLOAD A FREE EXCERPT OF MY BOOK

Beyond the emptiness:
How I found fullness outside of food

Rouba Chalabi author of Beyond the Emptiness

I wrote “Beyond the emptiness: How I found fullness outside of food” to spread hope among overeaters. My memoir describes my pain growing up and living 40 years as an overeater and the circumstances that kept me in this vicious cycle. I share how I transformed on a physical, emotional and spiritual level to lose 1/3 of my weight and sustain it for 7 years.

“Amazing book. Grab yourself a copy. It is a short read, yet profound, deep and beautifully written by a beautiful soul.”

— Lara