Few people can balance life and inspire the North Judson community the way Madison Osborne Fingerhut does. Fingerhut is a talented coach, real estate broker, yoga instructor, and YouTube personality, who has a passion for health and the planet.
Fingerhut’s path to a fulfilling, healthy lifestyle was a journey filled with lessons, and she now shares her knowledge with the world. She is a natural teacher, and is happiest when she is helping others. To date, Fingerhut has 600 followers on Instagram and one of her YouTube video has close to 300 views.
Fingerhut sought a healthy lifestyle as early as her teen years. Her drive to master nutrition and fitness was fueled by dreams of a perfect figure. Like many young women, Fingerhut was influenced by unrealistic beauty ideals promoted by Instagram models. Achieving that appearance is impossible for most, and Fingerhut fell into the trap.
“I didn’t have a great relationship with food and I would feel terrible if I ate,” Fingerhut said. “There was a point that I was only eating 900 calories a day.”
Fingerhut considers her previous lifestyle extreme and unhealthy. She was working out seven times a week and was too restrictive with calories. In fact, MyFitnessPal, a popular food tracking app, warned that her intake was too low.
“Yes, I was skinny, but my under eyes were black and I screwed up my metabolism. But since I’ve made those mistakes, I can encourage other people.”
Fingerhut’s views on beauty evolved with the help of her yoga practice. Health took on a whole new meaning
“Health means having a positive relationship with yourself, your body, and food,” she said.
After realizing she wanted to teach, Fingerhut took a vigorous online yoga teacher certification course. She started doing some yoga exercises on Instagram to track her own progress, and so people could see that beginners don’t start with automatically having a perfect form.
She passed her yoga teacher test, and began her career as a instructor by offering free classes. She built a solid following and a brand “Yoga with Maddie.” She taught at a small studio in town before landing a position at a popular gym.
“What drew me to yoga was seeing people who are older, and they were still vibrant, and I wanted to be like that,” Fingerhut said. “Being flexible quickly became important because I was lifting weights. I started to find a balance of strength, flexibility, and strength of mind.”
Since Fingerhut is a volleyball and swimming coach, she promotes the idea that health and beauty start within. To help her team, and women around the globe, Fingerhut started a YouTube channel.
Fingerhut’s chanel was originally yoga exercises, but has grown to incorporate the topics of veganism and a low-waste lifestyle. After a lot of research and soul-searching, Fingerhut changed her diet to vegan two years ago.
“Veganism was this radical idea that I get to eat as much as I want and not worry and feel guilty about it,” Fingerhut said.
While Fingerhut started her plant-based diet for herself, she later added environmental and ethical reasons to motivate her to stick with it. Fingerhut is passionate about the welfare of animals and leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
Fingerhut believes that it is wonderful to see veganism on the rise, although she is the only vegan she knows of in her community, which has its challenges. Fingerhut often will call ahead to restaurants or research the menu online to see if there is anything she can eat. The benefits are worth the extra work.
“I am passionate about this lifestyle and I hope to be lead by example,” she said.