What'd you have for lunch, Reader? When I asked Julie this, she said, "I have zero clue about how or what I should be eating - at lunch, for breakfast...should I even be eating breakfast? I keep hearing about intermittent fasting for weight loss during menopause. Should I be doing that? I have no. Idea. What to eat anymore." When I asked Jennifer what her typical day of eating looked like, she said, "I'm tired of dieting yet I'm also tired of feeling uncomfortable with extra weight. I'm...
22 days ago • 2 min read
How do you deal with the winter blahs and cold weather Reader? Winter of 2023, chocolate chip cookies made with coconut oil were my coping strategy. I thought, "I have Full permission to eat cookies whenever I want! If I eat the whole batch in three days, it's time to make more!" To be honest, I was coping with more than winter blahs and cold temps - struggling in a relationship, living between 2 states, and feeling a heavier loneliness than I'd ever felt. Chocolate chip cookies to the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
"I'm a crunchy-type person. I don't want to take another medication. But my cholesterol just went through the roof at my last doctor's appointment. Now what?" I love working with "crunchy-type" people! 😎 Hey Reader, Since February is heart health month, here’s what you need to know about gentle nutrition basics for heart health - in real life! And without compromising satisfaction or falling into the dumpster fire of diet culture. The most important nutrition strategy is this... What foods...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Running fashionably late Reader, but on my way!” Friends get this text from me often. Inevitably, I try to do "all the things" for all the reasons, and occasionally my body battery runs out sooner than I'd like. Limited capacity is real! Many of us have limited capacity to do everything on the to-do list compared to when we were in our 20s and 30s - including what we want to do for our health. Despite good intentions, dropping the ball on behavior-based health goals is easy. Not because you...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, “Can I reduce my cholesterol without going on another diet? Heart disease runs in my family. My cholesterol and blood sugar jumped up out of nowhere! Can I still do intuitive eating? I don't want to get obsessive about food again!” Sound familiar? Or maybe it's your blood sugar creeping up into the pre-diabetic range or you were recently told by your doctor you have insulin resistance. Many women I work with, have an intro-understanding of Intuitive Eating and its principles. Some...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, "Look at this board," Mary said staring at the broad, wooden trailhead sign at the start of the Ingalls Lake Trail. "It's like entering the land of No." No campfires at the lake. No camping at the lake. No dogs allowed No firewood cutting The trail and the gorgeous alpine lake set in a cirque between two rugged peaks has been loved to death. Making it "the land of no" was the only way to attempt to protect the fragile alpine ecosystem. Your body is not a fragile alpine ecosystem -...
3 months ago • 3 min read
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...
3 months 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...
4 months 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...
4 months 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...
4 months ago • 1 min read