Why self-compassion isn’t a zero-sum game
Self-compassion (and compassion) are infinite resources. You don’t need to fight for your slice of the compassion pie AND you don’t need to deny yourself compassion because someone “deserves it more.”
Self-compassion (and compassion) are infinite resources. You don’t need to fight for your slice of the compassion pie AND you don’t need to deny yourself compassion because someone “deserves it more.”
What's authentic health? Authentic health happens when you weigh any external health advice against your own experience before deciding whether to incorporate it. This supports health while helping you break away from diet culture.
When you’re charting a path away from diet culture, it helps to be mindful of your thoughts and words. Are they still reflecting diet culture?
Food and body shame is futile, because it's not motivating, and perilous, because it does real harm. What to know if you're struggling.
If you already tend to have anxieties about food, holiday eating can make you especially anxious. Here’s some food for thought about how to approach holiday eating that brings you joy and leaves you feeling good, too.
If you’re intrigued by intuitive eating, or at least heard of it, you might wonder what you need to consider, or perhaps do, before giving it a go. Here are three factors that I think are important.
You know what bothers me? The idea that anyone needs to change their body to meet someone else's ideals. That "someone" could be a spouse/partner, a friend, a stranger, or society at large.
When you’re moving away from a history of dieting and body dissatisfaction toward a future of intuitive eating and body respect, appreciation, or liberation, self-compassion can be a powerful tool.
Why can it sometimes feel easier to just keep trying to lose weight than it is to accept your body as it is? Here are some reasons why you can be exploring, even practicing, intuitive eating and body acceptance, but still want to lose weight.
Dieting to lose weight (even under the guise of “lifestyle changes”) is so normalized in our culture that it indeed feels normal. And if it’s “normal” it must be OK…right? Let me break this to you gently — not only can dieting lead to disordered eating, but in many cases, dieting IS disordered eating.
“Body positivity” is a buzzy catchphrase that has deep origins. But is body positivity achievable, even in today's watered-down version?
The second edition of my book, “Healthy For Your Life” is now available on Amazon. This new edition is revised and updated as well as expanded, with 80 more pages, new recipes, and selected citations. It also has a new subtitle: “A non-diet approach to optimal well-being.” Here’s are some excerpts.
It used to be 'health is wealth.' Now, health is a modern form of 'cultural capital.' For many people, this means performing 'health,' which can become harmful.
Diet culture is just one of many social systems in which people are treated inequitably. It often overlaps not just with ableism, sizeism and healthism, but also with racism, sexism, ageism and classism.
You know what bothers me? The idea that anyone needs to change their body to meet someone else's ideals. That "someone" could be a spouse/partner, a friend, a stranger, or society at large.
If not dieting, then what? That question tends to loom heavy in your mind when you've decided it's time to get off the diet rollercoaster, but aren't sure what life after dieting would look like. And there are many reasons for saying goodbye to dieting, a.k.a. the intentional pursuit of weight loss.
Not feeling great about your body or your eating or exercise habits? Instead of falling for diets in disguise, consider what wellness really means.
Grappling with food guilt? it's likely that you feel that you've eaten something you shouldn't, that you’ve had a willpower “fail" by bumping into one of your food rules.
Why diet culture causes harm to everyone, even if you've never dieted. How? By impacting relationships, affecting how you view food and your body, and warping your view of what it means to be healthy.
It's Weight Stigma Awareness Week, and in honor of that, I've put together a round-up of articles and blog posts I've written (and one podcast I've appeared on) about this important topic.
Want to know what simultaneously breaks my heart and makes me want to punch something? When I hear the stories of stigma, shame and self-doubt my clients experience simply because they have the audacity to walk this earth in a body that is deemed larger than what’s appropriate.
I don't have kids, but I feel super strongly that parents, doctors, teachers and other adults should not comment on children's weight. Here are the many reasons why.
There are a billion reasons to exercise. When weight and appearance is your prime exercise motivation, what happens might not be what you wished for.
I'm thrilled to appear in the current episode of the Food Psych podcast, hosted by fellow Intuitive Eating and anti-diet dietitian Christy Harrison. In this interview, I talk about the origins of my own food and body issues that began in early childhood, my history of chronic dieting, and my movement to a Health At Every Size philosophy.
If not dieting, then what? That question tends to loom heavy in your mind when you've decided it's time to get off the diet rollercoaster, but aren't sure what life after dieting would look like. And there are many reasons for saying goodbye to dieting, a.k.a. the intentional pursuit of weight loss.
Self-esteem isn’t new, but a “self-esteem movement” of sorts started back in the 1970s, predicated on the idea that many of society's problems were due to individuals’ low self-esteem. Well, this was a failed experiment, and there are a few reasons why.
I'm heading to sunny San Diego to attend the Be Body Positive facilitator training. But what does it mean to be "Body Positive" and is that realistic for everyone?
I attended the Association for Size Diversity and Health conference a few weekends ago. I've been processing ever since. My thinking about sizeism and how it intersects with racism, sexism, classism and a whole lot of other -isms certainly evolved in this weekend, in part because of the words of Linda Bacon.
Are you pregnant or the mother of a young child? Consider participating in some research my dietitian friend Rebecca Scritchfield, author of Body Kindness, is doing regarding body image healing after pregnancy. If those parameters don't apply to you? I recommend reading her book, anyway!
To state the obvious, I have not been blogging regularly, and that's largely because I
Addressing some comments about my latest On Nutrition column in The Seattle Times, which took aim at Weight Watchers' targeting of teens but also carried the broader (and somewhat overlooked) message that wellness should be promoted for everyone, at every weight.
Weight Watchers announced last week that it would offer free memberships to teens ages 13 to 17. Yeah...I have a few thoughts on that.
I recently had a rather heated discussion with someone near and dear to me about the alleged association between higher body weights (body mass indexes, or BMIs, in the "overweight" or "obese" ranges) and health problems. Let's just say that if our walking route had taken us a little closer to Lake Washington, I might have tossed him in.
I want to talk about something that I've been thinking about—a lot—and that's been bothering me...a lot. Namely, the idea that you (or anyone else) needs to change your body to meet someone else's ideals.
I don't remember exactly when I first heard of hygge (HOO-geh)...sometime last year I think. My first thought was that this was the next trend to replace the "life-changing magic of tidying up." My second thought was that I was intrigued.
One of the things I love about spending time on a beach in Hawaii is the bodies on display. All kinds of bodies. It's a really good reality check about your own body...namely, the fact that, yes, you have one and it's carried you this far in life. I kind of got that Hawaii feeling when I watched Embrace. We all have bodies, and those bodies are not one-size-fits-all.
Humans come in all shapes and sizes, and I dream of a day when we collectively become more accepting body diversity. If we don't expect everyone to have brown eyes or a wear a size-7 shoe, why would we expect everyone to have the same body size?
I confess that I subscribed to Julie Duffy Dillon's "Love, Food" podcast months before I started listening to it. But once I started listening, I couldn't stop, and I recommend it to anyone who feels like their relationship with food could use a little (or a lot of) healing. Here's a Q&A with Julie herself.
Last week, I was sitting with a group of my Menu for Change patients at an event, and one of my long-time patients said that whenever she tells someone about Menu for Change, they ask her, "So, what's the diet like?" She looked at me, and we laughed, and I said, "I would rather die than put someone on a diet." And that's the truth. Because diets don't work.
My husband doesn’t always like to take our golden retriever running with him, because even
It’s no secret that in today’s society, many people feel quite free to offer their