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
What If We Bragged?
You know what it’s like when you’re around someone who has found the latest, greatest wellness ‘solution?’ And they talk about it, with ardor and consistency and determination?
As though it is not some rehashed, rebranded version of an intervention that came before.
As though YOU are the silly one for not getting on the bandwagon.
As though THIS one will be THE one.
As though you are very interested in the way another human takes care of their body? Or buys into diet culture? Or buys into wellness culture?
And maybe you’re in that cycle right now. You’re welcome here.
What if this was the way that we spoke about therapy?
About taking medication?
About having hard conversations that we’ve avoided, and have put off, and finally found the courage to have?
About setting limits and maintaining boundaries?
What if we talked about mental health and tending to it, in the same braggadocious way that folx talk about wellness culture?
I am here for that.
#MentalHealth #DietCulture #Diet #keto #paleo #Wellness #WellnessCulture #Selfcare #antidiet #healthcoach #therapy #depression #anxiety #eatingdisorderrecovery @i_weigh @neda
Gentle Reminder
Gentle reminder: weight loss observed outside of diet culture is typically indicative of risk.
Of a decline in wellness.
Of a sign of somatic stress.
Of a change in mental health.
Of a change in physical health.
An indication of things not being okay.
Because diet culture so handsomely rewards weight loss, genuine suffering is congratulated.
There are more impressive things for a body to do than to effort endlessly to be smaller.
All of you, ALL OF YOU, is welcome and needed here.
#haes #healthateverysize #bodytrust
#eatingdisorderrecovery #recovery #orthorexia #fitness #wellness #weightloss #diet #mentalhealth #bodytalk #dietculture #antidiet
I Think You're Really Special
For being you. For doing nothing extra. For showing up. For setting boundaries. Choosing not to do all the things. For challenging yourself. For challenging beliefs that don’t serve you.
For being who you are.
I think you are really special. And if you haven’t heard that lately, please hear it now.
Tell me something cool about yourself.
Tag a human who you think is really special in comments. Send this meme to them.
Human is hard. A little love goes a long way.
#Gratitude #Community #Recovery #EatingDisorderRecovery #Antidiet #DietRecovery #Wellness #MentalHealth
You. Can. Eat.
You. Can. Eat.
Does this feel like rule-breaking? If yes, where did that rule come from? Ask the rule: how do you know?!?
What would you add to this list?
The moral of the story is that you can eat.
#eat #antidiet #foodrules #nofoodrules #fitness #foodhack #food #orthorexia #anorexia #bingeeating #bulimia #osfed #weightloss #weightgain #weightneutral #foodhacks #eatingdisorderrecovery #dietrecovery #youcaneat
Two Things That I've Learned About Myself
Two things that I’ve learned about myself
1. I’m not interested in Twitter arguments. It’s not good for my brain, and most often, does nothing but frustrate me. When I’m able to engage in thoughtful dialogue, I will. Sometimes. And then sometimes I will just choose to disengage if the human I’m talking to is not interested in dialogue, but is looking to throw barbs. I’m not interested in fighting with strangers on the Internet. Not even kind of.
2. Not understanding a concept is a normal part of growth. It is human. It is okay and important.
I did not know about Health at Every Size until I did. This understanding has changed my life.
I did not appreciate ableism until I became a disabled person. I’m still working on not apologizing for my shifting needs.
I didn’t endeavor to engage in thoughtful conversations about racism because they made me feel less than settled, and are now a part of conversations that I have regularly.
I have never NOT witnessed the oppression of fat humans, but did not always think about this in the context of fatphobia and weight stigma.
I didn’t know. And now I know better.
The word “privilege,“ Is used in common vernacular a lot more now, than I’ve noticed it before. I’m happy to be corrected on that. I’m also happy to see it in use.
Thin privilege.
White privilege.
Financial privilege.
Privilege of access.
Generally not-oppressed, privilege.
None of these things need to make any of us comfortable. If they make you feel uneasy, lean in. Acknowledging privilege is not the same thing as abdicating responsibility. But blatantly disregarding its existence, is just ignorant.
This post is on the heels of engaging with a human, briefly, about the fact that “thin privilege” exists. The rebuttal was something along the lines of “thin privilege is this the same thing as a stupid privilege.” Whatever.
But if you don’t understand the concept of thin privilege, and are going to insist on seeing the “research,“ about it, then know I’m going to point you to research about the impact of weight stigma.
The oppression of fat bodies is the reason that thin privilege exists.
Vadiveloo, 2016
Phelan, 2017
Tomiyama, 2018
#haes #weightstigma #oppression #sexism #patriarchy #disability #racism #fightthepatriarchy #lgbtrights #disabilityrights #fatpositive #fatactivism #activism #thinprivilege #eatingdisorderrecovery #healthateverysize
Today is a Great Day to Eat All Day
Do you know what would be awesome today?
For you to have regular meals.
And then to have regular snacks.
To eat consistently, all day.
Not only would your blood sugar stay stable, but you’d be less likely to be preoccupied with thoughts about food, would likely be a little bit more patient with that friend or colleague or classmate whom you find irritating, would be more capable of physical efforts, and would be able to make more thoughtful eating decisions.
Today is a great day to eat all day.
….so is tomorrow and the next day.
FOREVER.
#eat #antidiet #foodhacks #eatingdisorderrecovery #fitness #wellness #selfcare #hangry
Digestive Issues Impact Up To 98%+ of Humans Living With Disordered Eating
The literature on the connection between the existence of digestive issues in humans struggling with disordered eating (see: ED, dieting) is clear: Up to 98+ percent of humans will deal with symptoms of IBS as part of their story.
Gas, bloating, constipation, nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, heartburn, dysphasia, altered motility, more.
As a new dietitian, working in a clinic, I got really good at telling clients that their symptoms would resolve as their bodies healed. I imagine I was rather insistent about this. “Feed your body, feed your gut, heal your body, heal your gut.“ For some clients, this worked. For others, it didn’t, but I remained staunch in my insistence that it would.
🙅♀️What a jerk.
If you have digestive issues in the context of healing from diet or disorder, I believe you. The fact is, incorporation of regular quantities of food and a wide wide variety of food, after a period of dieting or restrained eating, will likely upset your belly. That’s pretty normal.
And if things do not get better as you move through this process, please talk to your doctor. Get a referral to see a gastroenterologist.
Please don’t rely on Dr. Google to provide you with good health solutions.
They are almost always diet-wellness culture infiltrated. Even if ‘experts,’ are owning the suggestions.
You don’t need to struggle in silence.
And even if the first treatment suggested is food, regularly, and patience, you might need more. That’s okay.
I HOPE YOU FIND EASE.
Abraham S, Kellow J., 2011
Janssen P, 2010
#eatingdisorderrecovery #dietrecovery #digestivehealth #digestion #wellness #gastroparesis #diarrhea #constipation #gas #bloating #healing #ibs #guthealth #BingeEatingDisorder #Bulimia #osfed #ARFID #Anorexia #disorderedeating #dietrecovery #diet #orthorexia #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram
I Love My Job
I LOVE MY JOB.
I am humbled every day by the work that my clients do. I am humbled by the number of opportunities that I have been given to do this work that I LOVE. I am humbled by the tireless work that is required to truly move through eating disorder recovery.
AND
I’m so delighted to say that RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE. Even if you’ve struggled for as long as you can remember. Even if your eating disorder has been a loyal companion. Even if, even if, even if.
I went to college and graduate school with the sole intention of becoming an eating disorder dietitian so that I could tell an important human in my life that recovery happens.
I’m so glad that I did.
And I’m so grateful to say that I’ve seen recovery in action. Over and over. That I have ZERO question about whether or not recovery is a thing.
Recovery is THE thing. I’ll stay here. I’ll stay in this work. With the hope that one day, I won’t be needed here.
Fight on #recoverywarriors - and stay in the fight. Just stay. You’re worth it.
#nedawareness #nedaweek #eatingdisorderrecovery #nationaleatingdisorderawarenessweek #edrecovery #edawareness #recovery #believe #heal #nourish #comeasyouare
Eating Disorders are Unique Conditions
Having the pleasure of working with humans who are struggling with eating disorders, disordered eating, moving away from diets, and body image issues is a great honor and pleasure. It is also something that I was NOT trained in during my undergraduate or graduate education.
We all start somewhere. Read. Listen to podcasts. Go to conferences. Seek out support. Learn before you treat.
Our clients deserve the best. If you are treating humans who have challenging relationships with food or body, it is your responsibility to be trained to do so safely and appropriately. It’s also your responsibility to engage in continuing education and supervision.
Professionals who are treating eating disorders MUST be supported in doing this rewarding and important work.
Our clients DESERVE THIS FROM US.
#EatingDisorderDietitian #nedawareness #nedawarenessweek #nedaweek #neda #EatingDisorderRecovery #eatingdisorderspecialists #supervision #responsiblehealthcare #haes #eatingdisordereducation #rdchat #rd4bc #rd2be #weightstigma #comeasyouare #intersectionality @iaedpfoundation