Vote Vote Vote
Right now is a lot. We are living through a moment in time that will be forever etched in the history books.
You are a part of that history.
Right now.
YOU.
Books will be written about this moment and your participation in it.
Your inclusion, your oppression, your resilience, and your frailty.
> Please wear a mask. I have the good fortune of being taken care of by nurses whose clinics were closed for the three months that COVID-19 ravaged New York City. They wore PPE while working in ICUs all over the city. And now wear masks. Without face shields. Their clinics are open again. If you need more evidence that face coverings are effective, I’m not sure what to say. Driving through Manhattan? It’s a sea of humans wearing masks, taking this very serious illness very seriously.
Please do the same.
> Black Lives Matter. Black oppression is real. Living in a Black body should not be a death sentence. It is one. And those of us with the privilege of just noticing how. bad. it. is. need to pay attention. Need to recognize privilege as fact, not fiction. Need to stop NOT having conversations about reality. And do anything, everything we can to demonstrate that we are going to do our part to change the trajectory of history in the direction of equity.
> Register to vote.
Get your tush to the polls, if you can do so safely. I’m voting from home. It all counts.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.
2020 has been a lot. It’s not over.
We need all of you, right now.
Your earth suit being the least of it.
Permission to Eat at Any Hour, Granted
The truth is, if you stop eating at X hour and wait to eat until the following morning, your body might change. It might not. But it might.
What is guaranteed? Is that you will experience hypoglycemia. Probably nothing dangerous, but your body will be seeking out additional food.
Assuming you don’t eat in the middle of the night. Which you might do. And no judgment, but most of my clients dislike that eating experience. If I’ve not fed myself thoughtfully enough during the day, I get hungry at night and eat. But I’d prefer uninterrupted sleep.
Making rules about when we stop eating, in accordance to a clock, is like making a rule about when we stop going to the bathroom, in accordance to a clock.
Silly. Also, an invitation for a UTI. Fun!
And, normalized restriction.
Somebody, sometime, somewhere, made some statement about the importance of pushing pause on appetites in the evening. I don’t know who that person was, but I do know that they have been fucking with my clients for as long as I have been a dietitian, and I would wager but they have been fucking with humans for a lot longer than I have been in practice.
A stop sign? A rule. It makes sense. Not up for interpretation.
Voting? A privilege and responsibility. Not a rule, but highly encouraged. And critically important.
Putting bodily functions on a timer? Foolish. Unnecessary.
No food after some hour because someone said so? A rule with unknown ideology that is well worth breaking.
Permission to eat at any hour, granted.
One Word to Describe Your Ideal Relationship with Food
This may feel like a useless task, but there is power in speaking to what you want to experience. Say it here, write it in your journal, write it on your hand.
Take it one step further. Say it here, and identify one action item to make it possible. This is incremental. It doesn’t need to be entirely possible right now, but saying and planning step one is the first step in making a change.
Name it. Commit to the action. For today. See how it feels. Recommit tomorrow.
What’s your word? ⬇️
Notes of Gratitude
I closed my office on March 13th.
To think that I have been working virtually since that time, six months ago, is incredible.
I’m not sure about you, but pandemic time is weird. I can’t believe it’s been six months. It feels like time has flown in a flash. And the first several weeks felt like they were going by so slowly. It felt like the month of March was never-ending. I can’t believe that the summer is almost over. And what an odd summer it has been.
I miss people. In real life people. And I’m also grateful for the fact that I’m healthy. The humans around me are healthy. That is a blessing.
My appreciation for humanity has increased exponentially in the time in which I’ve had limited contact with it. Because somehow in this weird time, I still feel really connected. How fortunate.
I made these notes because they are things that I have said to humans that matter to me.
I mean it when I say it, every time, and I am deeply grateful for my connection to each of you.
Please accept these notes with my sincere gratitude. Feel free to tag anyone, in comments, who you wish to share these messages with.
Warmly,
a
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.
Body Image and Self Love
Are you around on Tuesday night?
8PM EST / 5PM PST?
Join me, @tiffanyima, @missalexlarosa, and @tessholliday when we chat about all things body image and self-love with the fabulous humans @moxxiemade.
This event is FREE interactive forum hosted on Zoom, accepting donations for @thelovelandfoundation - an organization supporting the therapeutic needs of Black women and girls. This is an organization that I support independently, and I’m over the moon that this event will further that support.
Head to @moxxiemade to sign up! Or check out the link in my stories.
Can’t wait to see you there!
xoxo,
a