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
PSA: Your Body Has No Judgment About Food
This is time.
And a time for a reminder that your body does not hold judgment about the food it is given. If you’re allergic to a thing, your body will respond accordingly, but that’s still not from a place of judgment.
If you’ve filled your kitchen with more non-perishable items, more packaged or prepared or preserved things, know that you’re doing this right. And that your body is made to handle foods of all kinds.
This is a moment in time in which #wellnessculture can back up. And exit.
Frozen.
Canned.
Dried.
Packaged.
Processed.
These are adjectives to describe food.
It provides nourishment, it is a good food. All food is good food.
Please give yourself permission to eat.
Sending big LOVE.
#food #foodhacks #eat #nourish #nutrition #nutritioncoach #dietitian #dietitiansofinstagram #rdapproved #rdchat #rd2be #science #wellness #eatingdisorderrecovery #fearfood #allfoodsfit #healthcoach #trainer #mentalhealthawareness #anxiety #edrecovery #dietculturedetox #diet #covid_19 #selfquarantine #selflove #selfcare #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
Wellness Culture Is Not About Wellness.
Wellness culture is not about wellness.
It’s not your fault if you have fallen prey to the messages of wellness culture. They are strong. They are convincing. And they make promises without considering the ramifications.
One in four dieters will progress to develop an eating disorder. More than that will experience a disordered relationship with food. I cannot tell you how many humans have reached out to me to suggest that in the context of healing from and living with an illness, have gone on to develop a disordered relationship with food.
This should make all of us take pause.
Wellness culture, like diet culture, doesn’t care about your life, your experiences, your body knowledge. It cares about your vulnerability and your ability to be dependent on it to navigate the challenges of living on this planet.
It cares about your cash, not your well being. Am I saying that all of wellness culture is bad? Of course not. There are beautiful, health promoting things that, with access and privilege and time, would be lovely and good for all of us. But as someone who has fallen prey to wellness culture herself, I can confidently say that my reliance on the wisdom of experts has not worked in my favor, in most situations.
I WISH for you to feel good.
I WISH for you to feel connected.
I WISH for you to feel well in your body.
I WISH for you the ability to navigate diet culture, gently.
#Wellness #chronicillness #recovery #whole30 #keto #fitness #healthcoach #rdchat #rd2be #antidiet #eatingdisorderprevention
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