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.
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?
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.
There's a dangerous narrative that's been unfolding, and it's getting worse. Stealing the words and work of fat activists to sell weight loss.
The first Intuitive Eating principle is “Reject the Diet Mentality,” and while this principle is fundamental, it looks different depending on your dieting history.
(Includes some important 2022 updates!) Diets in disguise...they’re everywhere. But increasingly, diet promoters have turned to gaslighting by verbally jumping on the “non-diet” trend, then promoting what is in fact a diet while telling you it’s not. Well, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.
One of the original ideals of feminism was that we were supposed to stop evaluating women on the basis of their physical appearance. Instead, society has continually upped the ante. This can lead to eating disorders.
Perfectionism can be strongly related to eating disorders because the drive to be (or appear) perfect can trigger disordered eating patterns at various points along the spectrum. This could mean anything from occasional emotional/stress/comfort eating to orthorexia to full-fledged eating disorders.
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.
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 lead an every-other-month book club at Menu for Change, and our most recent book pick was Russ Harris' The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living. I originally bought the book based on recommendations from colleagues who work with patients who struggle with emotional eating, anxiety, eating disorders, and so on. Their recommendations were spot-on.
In Part 1, I talked about the analysis in the medical journal The Lancet about
Just in time for the tail end of Men's Health Month, my latest On Nutrition
Happy Monday! Did you read my column in yesterday's Seattle Times, "Can you be addicted
In yesterday's post, I shared some of Marsha Hudnall's insights on eating mindfully during the
This is my third post about last weekend's Renfrew Conference for eating disorder professionals. If
Happy Monday! I'm home from the Renfrew Conference, which was just as amazing as it
During my interviews for Sunday's Seattle Times column, "How to help a college student with
Happy Monday! If you missed my On Nutrition column in yesterday's Seattle Times, "How to
Yesterday, I “attended” a Center for Mindful Eating teleseminar on “Using Mindfulness to Calm Anxiety,”
This week is the second annual Eating Psychology Online Conference, and I absorbed as much
One concern about our culture’s preoccupation with weight in general, and some of the anti-fat messages that are coming out of the “war on obesity” specifically, is that they may trigger the development of eating disorders in children, adolescents, teens and adults who are predisposed to them.
With this post, I've finally fully shared the great info I gathered when working on
It’s no secret that in today’s society, many people feel quite free to offer their
Happy Monday! I hope everybody had a great weekend with at least a little dose
Today I had the good fortune to listen to a most excellent teleseminar sponsored by
I have a post I'm hoping to get written for (later) today, but just in
Think you can "spot" someone with an eating disorder just by looking at them? Think
It's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, so for the rest of this week I plan
Whenever I bring up the concept of "health at every size" with someone who has
I'll admit that I am moved when advertising uses its forces (read: ability to manipulate)
While there are some legit reasons for doing a strict detox diet (which I'll get
I was at the library the other day, and there was a copy of Love
As I've mentioned, last weekend I attended the Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders annual
Happy Monday! I'm home from Philly after an amazing weekend conference about eating disorders. My
Whew...I love conferences, but they take a lot out of you! Ergo, a skipped blog
It was exactly a month ago when headlines started shrieking that formerly obese adolescents and
One reason that diets don't work is that they promote all-or-nothing thinking. If you're "on
So what do you do if you suspect you might be struggling with orthorexia? Maybe
In researching orthorexia, I was at first surprised at how little has been written about
For my column on orthorexia in Sunday's Seattle Times, I spoke with Colorado CrossFit trainer
Happy Monday! If you didn't catch my On Nutrition Column in yesterday's Seattle Times, "When healthy eating becomes unhealthy obsession," check it out. The topic is orthorexia, a not-officially-recognized eating disorder that can nonetheless cause real mental/emotional/social distress and even physical harm.
I mentioned yesterday that I attended an education session on diabulimia last week. If you