Have you ever had an affair with food, Reader? Truth. I had a lustful affair with food in my 20s and 30s - especially during the holidays. My relationship with food was fraught with rules and conditions. My healthy eating habits were more about not eating and less about health During the holidays, I gave myself seasonal permission to eat chocolate, baked goods, and other foods that were off-limits for the rest of the year. From Thanksgiving to New Year's, I'd sneak holiday foods, binge on...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Are you going to the holiday party this weekend? I'm not sure I have enough energy or capacity to go. Parties with a bunch of people I don’t know aren’t my thing. But I like to support the friends who host. What do you wear to these things? What did you wear to holiday parties last year? Does it still fit? I tried on the maroon cords I wore to last year's Solstice Party. They don't fit. Ugh. I hate having to replace clothes. Holiday stress and obligations make it easy for negative...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Reader! Gaw, what can't I get my shitake together? I used to bake cookies, host parties, make holiday meals, and look reasonably put together doing it all. Now, I'm lucky if I remember to take the Costco mac'n cheese out of the freezer with enough time to thaw before my kid gets home from soccer - and don't even look at the pile of laundry and dishes that are mocking me from the corner of the kitchen. I'm just so tired all the time! I got no more f*cks to give! You too? Deep breaths. Not your...
16 days ago • 2 min read
Where do you stand on canned cranberry sauce, Reader? "It's not Thanksgiving unless you hear that slurrrp, plop as the cranberry sauce exits the can," said one of my grad school housemates. With rings of the can tattooed loud and proud around the middle of the burgundy-colored jello-like cylinder, that sound made the holiday for her, not in my world. I'm NOT team-canned cranberry sauce. Can it even be called a sauce if you have to slice it with a knife? My culinary dietitian-trained brain...
24 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, How do you feel about Thanksgiving week? The grocery shopping, meal prepping, travel, navigating family dynamics, and diet talk, all of it? It's a lot! I used to get super anxious about Thanksgiving. My dieting mind threw caution messages left and right like driving through a construction zone that went overkill on the orange barrels with the flashing orange lights. “How many miles do I have to run to burn off pumpkin pie? What if I eat the filling and not the crust?” “How can I...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
How many times have you tried to healthify a recipe Reader? Did it work? I lost count of recipe edits and brick-like baked goods results over my decade+ years of dieting. "Why do you want to add protein powder and reduce the sugar of the pumpkin muffins", I asked. What's your motivation or intention? Jane (not her real name) asked in our session last week how to alter a NY Times recipe for pumpkin muffins to make them healthier. With the recent uptick in sugary foods with Halloween and the...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Last Sunday I went back to my culinary education roots. The Bike Guy and I dug out big mixing bowls, cutting boards, knives, and a whole lot of cabbage to teach his neighbors how to make fermented vegetables. Small-town foodies, these folks knew their way around a kitchen. They'd been eating fermented foods made by The Bike Guy for years, but they didn't know why their bodies liked it. We taught them how to keep the process simple and delicious. We all worked together to crank out...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, As we wrap up menopause awareness month, what word(s) would you use to describe your life and how you feel in your body right now? Mine are embrace and spicy 🙂 To embrace this new season of life, we have to let go of what isn't serving us - like food rules, diet mentality, less-healthy lifestyle habits, relationships, and maybe even where we live! The first time I saw The Bike Guy he said, "How's the wind out there?" I was on my way home from a ride, riding past his house. Nice...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, "Why did you lock the house?" My Dad sternly said through broken-up cell reception as I flew down Snoqualmie Pass keeping up the the past of traffic at 80 MPH in the slow lane. 🙄 "Because we were both supposed to be gone for a day and a half. I wanted the house to be secured. Don't you have a key?" I asked equally frustrated because my Dad's tone took me from almost 45 years old to about 6 in 30 seconds or less. "No, I don't have a key!" He bellowed. "I'll have to climb over the...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, “I’m so frustrated with how my body is recomposing itself,” Jane said. She continued, “ I could do anything in the past to manage my weight. I had an active lifestyle. But now, I’m tired and uncomfortable in my body. My old weight control tricks don’t work anymore. I feel broken.” In her thirties and early 40s, Jane enjoyed hiking, strength training, and the occassional yoga class with friends. She followed various ways of eating (diets) over the years, switching up the plan...
2 months ago • 2 min read