No Shame in Her Game

It seems ironic that Santa Barbara author Nicole Black, who has just published her first book, Fat Shame, is the ex-wife of top pastry chef Renaud Gonthier, who has just opened his latest outpost on Coast Village Road.

The pilates teacher, massage therapist, and certified rolfer, describes herself as a survivor of body image and eating disorders, amazingly losing more than 100 pounds while working at the popular French bakery.

She is an advocate of holistic transformation, where a person’s wellbeing comes through the integration of mind, spirit, and body, creating change that starts on the inside and flourishes outward.

The book, subtitled Ditch the Shame, Get Confident, and Claim the Life You Deserve, is part journal and part handbook, and sets out to give readers the confidence to break free from cycles of food addiction and negative body image toward whole beauty.