Dietitian Approved Activity: Adults, Snacking
As a child, was after school snack a highlight of your day? Thinking back, you were also fed a morning snack?
And then you got older and somehow the importance of snacking just **disappeared?** And the act of nourishing between meals was vilified by diet culture or the humans around you?
Or you just Didn’t. Have. Time.
So when you started yawning between meals, you grabbed a coffee?
But not food?
Reminder that full-grown humans also need fuel on the regular. Not because we are growing any longer, but because our bodies are working.
All. Day. Long.
You are allowed to snack. It’s awesome for digestion & blood sugar regulation & prevention of hangry.
Challenge for the weekend: test out the guideline of threes, snack edition. When you feel tired during the day, you’re allowed to have your coffee, but grab a snack, too.
I’ll check in at the end of the weekend to ask for noted improvements in mood, concentration, bowel health, energy, and overall life experience.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SNACK.
If you’re up for it, what was your after school favorite snack?
Blue gushers, anyone?🔹
Super pretzels? 🥨
What I Know About Your Health by Looking at You
Wait for it.
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...keep waiting.
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ST🛑P.
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Bodies are endlessly varied. It is lazy to presume anything based on appearance, alone. I’m sorry if you’ve been put in a position to defend yourself, your wellbeing, based on assumptions made about your Earthsuit.
Humanity deserves better.
You deserve better.
I see you. I hear you. I believe you.
If You're a Fitness Professional....
I am privileged to have a following of diverse backgrounds. Some folks are here for eating disorder and body image support. Some folks are here for discussion of disability, multiple sclerosis, chronic illness, and inaccessible views. Some folks are here because, in the process of managing my MS, I had the privilege of working with @frankduffyfitness. When we worked together, he cataloged our collective efforts. Many of the humans who watched our journey, are here with me, today. I am most grateful for that.
On the heels of the resurgence of @jillianmichaels spewing her fatphobic rhetoric, because that’s how she makes her money, DOZENS of humans sent me a video of her take on a practice that she doesn’t understand, that I refuse to watch, urging me to do something. I decided to not waste my effort on her, but to speak to the trainers, coaches, & fitness professionals who are here, instead.
If you are a fitness professional, you are working with people who have eating disorders.
All of us are immersed deeply in wellness cultures’ interpretation of what fitness “looks,“ like. I hear this all the time in my office. A desire to look ‘toned.’ A desire for a ‘thick’ backside. A desire for muscle definition. Or a differently shaped tummy.
A sense that life would dramatically improve if these physical attributes were attainable. And more so, that they indeed are, if a human. Just. Works. Hard. Enough.
Except that’s not true. Many bodies will never have muscle definition, even if they are very strong bodies. Many bodies will never achieve physical characteristics that are largely genetically predetermined. And your words and messages really matter.
If you are a fitness professional, you are supporting humans who live with the most lethal of all mental illnesses.
It’s important to me that you know this. And it’s also important to me that you know that resources exist to support you.
My colleague, @jessihaggertyrd, is a dietitian and a personal trainer. She wrote a program, just for you. Follow & sign up.
I was recently on a podcast with @coachustrong in which we discussed this very topic. Listen, ponder John’s questions, and please let me know your thoughts.
Social Media Should Feel Good
There are a few things that make me uneasy on social media.
In this moment, photos of unmasked groups of humans. Make. Me. So. Anxious. And also frustrated.
Side-by-side photos.
Of humans.
Of food.
Anything, really. Unless it’s a kid or a pet. Those can stay.
Accounts that feature, predominantly privileged, ‘aesthetically pleasing’ bodies as the bulk of their content.
Humans suggesting that they have the answer for whatever I/we might be experiencing in any moment.
Encouraging us to send them a DM for all the answers.
Accounts that talk about calories or calorie recommendations in specific terms. Your energy needs are different from everyone else on this planet. A stranger, particularly a stranger on the Internet, making caloric recommendations? Nope.
Accounts that aren’t still discussing BLM. Or systemic oppression. Or how they’re learning & recognizing how whitewashed everything is. This is not to say that the reason I started or run my page is about this cause. But neglecting to use my platform for social justice is negligent. And so in conjunction with the eating disorder, body image, disability, and anti-diet content I’ve always shared, I’m bringing you with me for Black Lives Matter. Because they do. I’m bringing you with me for wear a damn mask. Because COVID is still here.
If an account makes you feel uneasy, uncomfortable, or anything less than good, please Unfollow. This is your right and this is your superpower. To the best of your ability, control the content that you experience.
Strong recommend that you go through your explore page, click on anything that makes you uncomfortable, and let Instagram know that you don’t want to see it anymore.
Take it one step further, and report it as hate speech or instigating eating disorders or risky behaviors or whatever applies.
I don’t really use the explore feature, but have adjusted it so that I am seeing content that I want to see. Bodies & body stories that I don’t have first-hand experience with. Posts that teach me things, that leave me curious, challenged, & sometimes uncomfortable. The latter is often the most important.
Unfollowing is a superpower.
Happy & safe social media for all.
You are Worthy
The opportunity to engage in health-promoting action is a privilege not afforded to many of us.
It’s also not a golden ticket to health.
Healthy? You’re worthy.
Not healthy? You’re worthy.
Working to improve your health? Worthy.
Not aiming to improve your health? Worthy.
Wherever you fall on the very relative health scale, you are worthy.
Of love.
Of respect.
Of rest and resting.
Of quality health care.
Of opportunity not related to health status.
Of being listened to. And heard.
Just for existing? Worthy.
What You Eat is Not Who You Are
This statement literally makes no sense to me: “you are what you eat.” Nope.
You’re not kale or quinoa or pizza or a burger. Your body is psyched to use whatever you give it, macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, water - and does so with ZERO judgment.
The fact is, if you’re privileged enough to eat a variety of foods, to eat foods occasionally cooked at home, I have very few concerns about your nutritional status. You needn’t worry about specific minerals or vitamins if you’re eating a variety of foods. Equally, considering macros is unnecessary if you are eating adequately. It’s unnecessary anyway, because the way people talk about MACROS right now is so irritating and diet culture laden. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are not new, FYI.
You are not what you eat. You’re more effected nutritionally by how you’re feeling about what you eat, familiarity, comfort level, stress level, than anything else.
So take care of yourself. Eat what you enjoy. And fear not, you’ll never turn into sugar. Although I’m certain you’re very sweet!
*sugar chosen as a representative of anything edible. Just makes the joke work.
Organic Food is a Treatment For Nothing.
I was just talking to a friend who had been experiencing gastrointestinal distress, sought out the help of a professional, and was advised that her symptoms would resolve entirely if she ate organic foods only. (I choked a little bit...) This is not only elitist, but it is utterly foolish.
Organic food is a treatment for nothing.
This public service announcement also applies to dietary recommendations including, but not limited to, juice fasts, kale in everything, cleanses, clean eating as a concept, gluten-free/dairy-free, for no reason, alkalinity, or blood type eating. The stupid list is endless.
Healthcare providers, before we make recommendations about how to take care of other humans, we must have a greater global awareness of their life and lifestyle. A human is NOT noncompliant if they are unable to afford the recommendations you are making for them. They are not non-compliant if they disagree with your recommendations.
And also, the recommendations listed above are not based in GOOD science, at all. That irks me ENDLESSLY.
Food is not actually a treatment for anything. I hate the expression “food is medicine.“ True, we need a variety of nutrients and adequate energy to live our lives fully and healthfully, and food is not medicine. Medicine is medicine. And I hear you, and understand that scurvy is preventable with adequate vitamin C. But even that is not about an organic lemon.
Having a healthy relationship with the food you eat is wayyyy more important than eating the latest and greatest food ‘solution.’
PS: if you are healing from the eating disorder, food certainly is medicine. This post is about my frustration with the idea that specific foods will (but won’t) provide cure all’s...
Also, if food or a change in food has helped you to feel better, I’m delighted for you! Please refrain from commenting about it. This is not at all about shaming you, but protecting folx from confusion and comparison. Thank you!
Restriction is a Disordered Behavior
I’ve been having lots of conversations lately with clients who feel embarrassed about certain parts of their interactions with food, and revere other parts.
To be clear, restriction is a disordered behavior. As are binging, purging, and exercise abuse. There is no such thing as a “good” eating disorder. There are just different symptoms. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness. I take every single symptom seriously. I do not care what your body looks like. I do not care what your BMI is. (Ugh.) I do not care if you are able to hide your behaviors or not.
If you are in a place where you are upset by one part of your eating disorder behaviors, but are apathetic or pleased by another, please know that they are connected. Restriction is a wonderful invitation for binging. This is about survival. This is about persistence of the specie.
Human bodies are incredible.
Please give yourself permission to eat food. Regularly. Your body exists with the sole purpose of taking care of you. Return the favor.
I believe in you.
If you are stuck in a series of shifts between restriction and other behaviors, know that that is your body protecting you. An underfed body is going to seek out food. This is biology. This is factual, not a fault.
For reflection:
1. Why/when/what was going on when restrictive eating or avoidance of certain foods began? Is this helpful in the same way that it first was? Have the rules shapeshifted?
2. Is avoidance of foods based on MY experiences of them? Or someone else’s? Society’s?
3. What might happen if I incorporated these foods? Pros/Cons list time. There can and will be both. That doesn’t need to stop you from challenging this belief. The existence of the pro is probably what keeps you stuck. Use the cons with equal attention.
4. Create a mantra and make a change.
“This is my parent’s rule. Feeding myself differently is my parenting myself. I deserve gentle care.”
“This food is safe. My body knows how to handle foods. All of them.”
“The glorification of restriction is about making me quiet and small. I am here to take up space.”
Body Diversity is Not an Accident
Body diversity is not an accident.
Some bodies are small.
Some bodies are large.
Some bodies hang out somewhere in the middle.
Some bodies are short.
Some bodies are tall.
Some bodies come with large hands or large feet.
Some bodies come with small hands or small feet.
Some bodies enjoy a relative health.
Some bodies experience disease.
Some bodies are nourished.
Some bodies are malnourished.
Some bodies are privileged.
Some bodies are oppressed.
ALL bodies are worthy.
You, today, are worthy. Please don’t buy into the diet culture promise that if you change your body, you will achieve life goodness. The fact is, the majority of people are unable to sustainably change their body. Our bodies’ miraculous biology, their staying power, the part that makes it difficult for sustained change to be maintained, is amazing. It’s life-giving.
If you have spent any time or energy trying to change your body, know that you are welcome here. If you’re currently on a voyage of body change, you are welcome here. If you’re grieving the loss of time dedicated to body change, you are welcome here. Body success, in my book, is about arriving to yourself, your body, on all of the days.
Body size is not a life goal.
You are a million wonderful things. And whether you love it or not, your body represents only a tiny part of that wonder.
Diet Trends Come and Go.
Diet trends come and go.
In the 70s, table sugar was advertised as a pick-me-up for housewives. In the 80s, cabbage soup was all the rage. The ’90s brought in low-fat everything, only to be replaced with low carb everything. And remember when there were ideas about eating like cave people? That was fun. Now it’s keto everything, which is fabulous if you are a child with a seizure disorder, and otherwise, not sustainable or good. Oh and noom. Which is not a diet, but is a diet.
*diets don’t work sustainability, so replacement of them was and always will be, inevitable.
Now, eating is more confusing than ever. The diet-wellness culture suggests that food will save us. That it will cure incurable diseases, prevent viral transmission, will prevent aging, and all of the undesirable things. If only.
Food itself, is neutral.
Our culture makes it far more powerful than it actually is. If you’ve felt that pull, consider yourself a human. And please know there is another way.
The normalization of orthorexia, a very real and culturally normalized eating disorder, is horrifying to me. Preoccupation with perfect eating leads to extremely distressed living.
It is within your rights to eat foods for the sake of their nutrient content. It is also your right to eat food simply because it tastes good. Trendy eating suggests that one of these options is good and the other is bad. I would like to challenge that idea.
Intuitive eating makes room for all foods. As does your body. Fear, anxiety, distress, guilt, and shame are far worse for you physiologically than ANYTHING you’ll EVER eat. Ever.
At this point in my life, I have more of an aversion to trendy food then I have an interest in it. Eat trendy food if you enjoy it. But please do not feel as though you must eat on trend with food to be a healthy human. Or to be a human who is welcome on this planet.
Trend shop elsewhere, maybe? I understand that legging shorts and mom jeans are cool now. Those, were cool when I was a child. I wore the shorts, my mom wore the denim. Neat that we’re going back there?🤦♀️
Something that cannot be trendy?
Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter cannot be a trend.
STAY.