Compassion. Compassion. Compassion.
Compassion is key in this moment.
According to compassion researcher Kristen Neff, compassion literally means “to suffer together.“ And we are. And if you are, you are not alone.
Wherever you are, please be kind.
I’m talking with folx who have been in eating disorder recovery for years, and are noticing the disorder knocking at the door in the context of isolation and food scarcity and the world.
I’m talking with folx who have been in higher level of care eating disorder treatment, have been asked to leave programs, and/or move to virtual programming, and are being tested in a brand new way.
I’m talking with folx who have engaged in behaviors, every day, multiple times a day, since entering quarantine.
I’m talking with folx who are making incredible strides in recovery, in surprising ways, in this challenging moment.
There is no one right way to do this, in this moment.
Engaging in eating disorder behaviors won’t change this moment, and, please offer yourself compassion if that’s something you’re wrestling with. I see you.
Making progress in this moment may feel scary and, for several humans that I’ve spoken to, doesn’t seem to make sense. Moving forward despite the circumstances seems to be leaving folx feeling almost guilty. I see you.
Wherever you are, I see you and I care about you and I’m grateful that you are here.
COMPASSION. COMPASSION. COMPASSION.
#EatingDisorderRecovery #Food #Eating #Eat #weightloss #weightgain #weightneutral #allbodiesaregoodbodies #haes #recovery #sobriety #healthylifestyle #healthyfood #selfcompassion #health #anxiety #depression #haes #fatpositive #mentalhealth #love #life #wellness #well #love #covid #quarentine #dietitiananna
Because You Don't Need a Reason to Eat
Because you don’t need a reason. Eat.
Sending big love.
a .
#EatingDisorderRecovery #Food #Eating #Eat #weightloss #weightgain #weightneutral #allbodiesaregoodbodies #haes #recovery #sobriety #healthylifestyle #healthyfood #health #healthateverysize #wellness #well #love #covid #quarentine #dietitiananna
You Have Permission to Skip
Despite what you may be seeing on social media, no amount of exercise can make this moment less frightening.
If you’re feeling stressed, living in fight or flight mode, (which most of us are, to some degree) actually ENGAGING in the flight response via movement, can keep you in the stress cycle.
Am I saying that all exercise keeps people stressed? Of course not. But if your relationship with movement is unhealthy, perpetuating a practice out of stress won’t make it healthy. And might not do anything but exasperate your stress.
Clients are “arriving” to sessions feeling overwhelmed by the volume of home-based HIIT exercise routines that are espoused as critical for making it through this moment in time. Frustrated by the push-ups and sit-ups and feats of athleticism that are being featured on social media.
Comparison, in a moment calling for compassion, is good for nothing & no one.
If your well-intended friend, coach, influencer, whatever, is making you feel crummy, unfollow. Mute notifications.
Protect yourself.
If you are safe and able to move your body, that is your prerogative. But you do not need to exercise to successfully get through this long moment.
This is not forever, but how you care for yourself now will impact the future. .
#eatingdisorderrecovery #fitness #wellness #well #influencer #healthylifestyle #healthcoach #personaltrainer #nutrition #health #haes #optout #selfcare #covid_19 #quarentine #dietitiananna
Need Structure? Use Food
So many of us are contending with the reality of life at home. Lacking the structure that we use to allow our days to feel scheduled and comfortable.
If you’re in that boat, consider using food as structure. Eating regularly will not only help keep your blood sugar stable, your mood as regulated as possible, (no hangry) and your regulars, regular (💩) but it can also promote the creation of a schedule that might otherwise be lacking.
It doesn’t matter when you do this. You can start at 1 AM, and that’s fine. Despite what diet culture suggests, your body doesn’t care what time you eat. Food is metabolized without judgment.
But aim for the guideline of threes: all three macronutrients, grains, fats, proteins, approximately every three hours.
Meals are a combination of 3 to 6 food groups at a time, and snacks are a combo of 2 to 3 food groups at a time. Thereby, the guideline of threes.
Ask yourself, what I feed this to a friend?
We are in this together.
Join me for breakfast, and utilize the extensive support that is available here via @covid19eatingsupport and @theshirarose and others, for comfort and connection and EATING in this wild moment in time.
#EYFF
Love,
a
#EatingDisorderRecovery #Meal #Snack #Eat #mealplanning #structure #metabolism #metabolismbooster #antidiet #allfoodsfit #protein #macro #carbs #fat #nutrition #rdchat #covid_19 #dietitiananna
When Did Joyful Movement Become Exercise, Anyway?
Hopscotching
Swinging
Skip-it
Biking
Rollerblading
Swimming
Bug catching
Kite flying
Rope jumping
Treehouse building
I joined my first gym in response to being diagnosed with MS at 15. Rather, my family enrolled and incessantly encouraged my engagement. I probably went 10 times in the four years of high school. This wasn’t rewarding. I didn’t do it. Even though it was supposed to halt my disease. Also, child.
I found joy in running right before I lost my ability to run.
I used my first pedometer as part of my training to become a dietitian. Because counting steps makes me better at this job? Nope. But it makes a lot of folx obsessed with hitting some arbitrary number. Absolutely no joy in that.
I’ve never turned on the health app on my phone, but I’m sure that I’d never be given positive or kind input. I’d perpetually be under the step/stand/move (are those the categories?) recommendations.
If your gym is closed, please take this moment to rest. And if you’re in a place to safely move, please consider finding a method of movement that strikes joy.
THOSE are the activities you’ll go back to. Those are the activities that will result in you being called back into the house for food. (Remember that?) This is an opportunity to redefine your relationship with movement.
Make it feel good.
Don’t do it if it feels ungood.
Rest because you can, no questions.
Rest because stress is exhausting.
Rest because resting is part of a healthy relationship with movement.
#rest #exercise #fitness #training #fun #eatingdisorderrecovery #influencer #influencers #healthcoach #wellness #health #nutritioncoach #nutritionist #diet #dietculture #dietculturedetox #trainer #fitness #healthylifestyle #weightloss #carbs #protein #lifestyle #rdchat #thoughts #haes #antidiet #covid_19 #dietitiananna
I Am a Full-Time Disabled Person
I am a full-time disabled person.
I am a full-time dietitian&business owner.
I am a full-time human in need of assistance.
I am a full-time human of privilege.
I’m moving into a phase of illness that requires my asking for help. I’m fortunate to be connected to humans who are willing to step in. How lucky.
And as I’ve become increasingly disabled, I’ve distanced myself. For the sake of not inconveniencing, avoiding being seen as different, wishing to avoid a planet that is not designed to accommodate my needs, skipping hard feelings. And I’ve felt it.
Lonely. Less than. Should. Shouldn’t.
Lucky. Unlucky. Seen. Invisible.
I have missed events, for lack of sense of ability to navigate spaces. For requesting accessible hotel rooms and being put in rooms with steps. For not wishing to be seen as needy, while needing. Human.
And now events that have required physical attendance are being adapted to virtual. With challenge, to be sure, but it’s happening. And I wonder and hope that this reality will persist. And most of me assumes that it won’t.
So I’m taking social space. More than I have been. I’m leaving my house to take short walker walks and to get my monthly infusions. And that is it. My immune-suppressed body will take no chances. And because I live where I do, I can keep doing my job. I can eat with you. (And will have breakfast live on the weekdays until I’m back in my office.) I am lucky.
And I wish for the planet to make these accommodations permanent. And I’m saddened by the number of qualified disabled folx who have been sidelined. Because working from home wasn’t an option. Because maintaining certification requires in person conference attendance. Because ableism.
I started this career in an able body. I have the expertise I do because I could walk into eating disorder programs. I left my favorite job because I couldn’t. But I am lucky.
I don’t know how I came to be so fortunate as to have you here. I recognize that privilege is a big part of it.
I know what I know. I write well. I am white, thin, and with a nice face. I am also disabled & have a chronic illness.
So stand with me as I ask for access.
Now. Always. For me & those w/o my luck.
C+ Effort & Results are Okay Right Now
If there was ever a time for extra self-compassion, now is it.
You don’t have to navigate this situation perfectly. There’s no such thing.
It is okay if you do less, if you parent differently, if you aim for self-preservation and little else.
This is a tough moment for the perfectionists among us. And while I appreciate that attempting to maintain standards may feel supportive, it is likely not realistic and not necessary.
Thank you for showing up.
Thank you for being part of this community.
Thank you for being you.
Be gentle.
#selfcompassion #intuitiveeating
#food #nourish #nutrition #nutritioncoach #dietitian #dietitiansofinstagram #rdapproved #rdchat #parenting #eatingdisorderrecovery #fearfood #allfoodsfit #healthcoach #trainer #exercise #fitness #edrecovery #mentalhealthawareness #edrecovery #dietculturedetox #diet #covid_19 #selfquarantine #selflove #dietitiananna
Virtual Connection is Connection
If you’re feeling scared, lonely, anxious, all the things, you’re in good company. These are difficult moments. And social distancing feels like a lot. For me. Maybe for you, too. I’m choosing virtual connection as an alternative.
On Sunday, I decided to offer an hour of weekly, free virtual connection. On Monday, an exceptional team of practitioners joined my Weekly Support effort. What a gift!
From now until the world goes back to normal, the schedule is as follows:
Monday: 3pm
@dietitiananna
TUESDAY: 3:15pm
@bodypositive_dietitian
WEDNESDAY: 1pm
@hgoodrichrd
THURSDAY: 3pm
@encouragingdietitian
FRIDAY: 10am
@bodyimagewithbri
ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN STANDARD TIME.
Follow everyone and tune in live - AND - as I learned yesterday, (shoot!) if you cannot tune in live, sessions will be available in stories for 24 hours.
Sessions will be held in Q&A format, and participation is encouraged. Likely, we won’t be able to answer all questions, but are eager to create community in this weird, unknown time.
Because my live time occurs around the time that I would usually have snack, I will use this opportunity to eat with you, while interacting with you. I would encourage you to join me in the eating part!
If your relationship with food or body or recovery is being tested OR if you are a clinician navigating supporting your clients in a new way, please, please, please join us. 🤍
PLEASE GIVE ME IDEAS OF TOPICS YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO ADDRESS HERE! I’ll still answer questions live, but will spend extra time on themes if you help me prep here.
PLEASE TAG FOLX WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM ADDITIONAL SUPPORT & NEED TO KNOW THIS IS AVAILABLE.
#instagramlive #igsupport #bodyimage #eatingdisorderrecovery #virtual #free #freesupport #eatingdisorderdietitian #dietitian #therapist #nourish #community #covid_19 #covid #antidiet #mealsupport #food #foodcoach #edrecovery #diet #usnotme #haes #weightinclusive #virtualconnection #dietitiananna
Take Care of Yourself
Right now is a lot.
My sympathetic nervous system is reminding me of just how well it works.
Fight. Flight. Freeze.
I felt this way before, but never quite like this. In the past, I didn’t have the resources to self soothe.
To breathe, functionally.
To slow down.
To calm down.
I am much better at living with the unknown than I have been. Living with a progressive disease, a chronic illness, means doing that, all the time. So in some ways, I’m good at this.
And I feel unequipped to manage this unknown thing.
So I’m doing what’s recommended. I’m taking space. I’m washing my hands. I’m realizing that every time I wash my hands, I need to also be thinking about sanitizing the handles of my walker. Judge me if you will, but I’ve never done that before.
But that is how I walk. With two feet and two hands. And I will keep walking.
If you are feeling unsure or unsettled or uneasy or terrified, I see you. No matter how you feel, you’re doing it right.
This weekend, please be gentle. Please take care of yourself. I am taking more time to practice deep breathing. To meditation. To snuggling my dog. To eating.
I’ll also be thinking of you.
#health #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #eatingdisorderrecovery #wellness #nutrition #selfcare #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #washyourhands #staystrong #staysafe #askforhelp #disability #multiplesclerosis #dietitiananna
Food Rules Will Be Broken
Do you know what you don’t need?
A rule to dictate how you feed your body.
There are obvious exceptions to this; if you have a food allergy, check labels to make sure you’re not harming yourself. If you know a food doesn’t make your body feel well, skip it. But following food rules for the sake of food rules is a massive set up.
In my experience, food rules translate into restrictive interaction with food. This can be physical restriction, not eating a food, or mental restriction, relying on external input to make eating decisions, following a list of good and bad foods, abiding by numbers or rules, as it were, to eat. Your body does not differentiate mental and physical restriction. And the most common side effect of restricting is EATING. This is good. This is protective.
This is your body wanting to stay on this planet.
And there is a different way. There is a way of interacting with food that does not rely on external forces to dictate how you feed your body. If you have a specific concern about eating a food, and perhaps have had an experience with the loss of control with said food, or fear of said food, I am curious about whether or not you are giving yourself permission to eat it, in the first place.
❤️just because you have a history with a food does not mean you’re bound to replay that experience. Be open to new endings.
❤️notice diet culture butting in on a food experience? Notice it. Name it. Challenge the heck out of it.
❤️give yourself permission to eat. Get curious about what you want to taste, how you want to feel. Your body has your back.
❤️be gentle with yourself.
One rule for all: you don’t need rules to dictate how you eat or take care of yourself. They will be broken. And not because you’re not good.
#foodrules #wellness #nofoodrules #eatingdisorderrecovery #haes #IntuitiveEating #nutrition #nourish #bodytrust #antidiet #dietculture