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Intuitive Living Eating RD, Ottawa, Ottawa, ON (2025)

12/08/2025

I was telling my coach (of six years) how I always leave dirty dishes on the table after my kids go to their dad’s. Sometimes they stay there for days. For the longest time I told myself the story that it meant I didn’t respect myself — that if I wanted a minimalist, calm space when the kids were away, why couldn’t I just clear the dishes?

Her question stopped me: “Is keeping the dishes on the table letting you feel like the kids are still with you?”

I hadn’t even thought of that. The real thing was simpler: clearing the table just wasn’t a priority. I hadn’t assigned any value to that space because I didn’t need it... until I started making space for creative play and doing more for me — not just giving, giving, giving at work and in relationships.

Now the table means my creative time. It feeds me. So the dishes get cleared — not because I respect myself more, but because the thing became a priority.

Pause with me for a second — what story are you telling yourself about a small action that might actually be about priority, not character? Tell me one small thing you’ve been calling “lazy” or “disrespectful” — maybe it’s just not a priority (yet). 👇

12/06/2025

So yes… my clients do lose weight.
Let’s just say it out loud.

Not because they’re white-knuckling another diet.
Not because I hand them a list of “good” foods and “bad” foods.
And definitely not because we obsess over the scale.

They lose weight because they finally learn how to listen to their bodies instead of fighting them.

But here’s the truth I want you to hear loud and clear:

Expansion isn’t a weight-loss program. It’s a life expansion program.

And here’s something most women have never been told:
Your weight is influenced by far more than diet and exercise.
Trauma, stress, nervous system patterns, genetics, hormones, and decades of messaging about your body all play a role.
You were never supposed to “willpower” your way through that.

Inside Expansion, we work with the whole picture.

Women in midlife learn to:
✨ Understand their hunger cues without second-guessing themselves
✨ Break out of the all-or-nothing cycles that sabotage them
✨ Build trust with their bodies (many for the first time in decades)
✨ Make food choices that feel good physically, emotionally, and mentally
✨ Create space for rest, compassion, and nervous-system regulation
✨ Stop the shame spiral and start living intuitively

And when you do all of that?
Your body responds.
Your energy shifts.
Your habits naturally realign.
Your relationship with food softens.
Your weight may change—and for many of my clients, it does.

But it’s no longer the focus.
It’s no longer the boss of your day.

Instead of “How do I shrink myself?”
The question becomes,
“How can I live more fully?”

That’s the shift.
That’s the magic.
That’s Expansion.

Enrollment is open now.
Join today, get support through the holidays, and walk into 2025 already in alignment—not waiting for another “fresh start Monday.”

✨ You don’t need another diet.
You need a different way of being with yourself.

https://cathyrichardsrd.com/expansion/

12/04/2025

I’ve been thinking a lot about intuitive living and intuitive eating… and how deeply the two weave together.

Because here’s the truth: it is so easy to slip back into old patterns.
I was away for a couple days, walked back into the chaos of single-mom life with three kids, and — without even thinking — snapped right back into the hustle, the duties, the “go-go-go” mode.

But intuitive living asks something different of us.

It asks us to pause.
To take even 30 seconds to breathe.
To check in with ourselves instead of sprinting past our own needs.

And it’s in those tiny moments that we remember:

✨ the choices that actually make us feel good
✨ the foods that nourish us
✨ the routines that support us
✨ the pace that our body is quietly craving

Those small check-ins bring us back to ourselves — and to the version of living that feels grounded, intentional, and aligned.

So I’m curious…
How are you living intuitively or with intention these days?
What’s one small pause you’ve taken lately that made a difference?

Share below — you never know who your reflection might support today.

12/01/2025

Everyone talks about willpower… but honestly?
It’s not willpower we’re missing.
It’s skill power.

You don’t need to “try harder” to eat intuitively.
You don’t need to “just be more disciplined.”
(If that worked, it would’ve worked a long time ago.)

What most women in midlife are truly missing is the skills:

✨ Knowing how to pause long enough to hear their hunger cues
✨ Knowing how to feed themselves in a way that actually satisfies
✨ Knowing how to navigate stress eating without spiraling
✨ Knowing how to trust their body again after years of diet noise
✨ Knowing how to make food decisions without second-guessing

Willpower burns out.
Skill power builds you up.

And the truth?
You’re not supposed to figure it all out alone.
Nobody becomes fluent in a new language without support.
Why would intuitive eating be any different?

That’s where working with me changes everything.
I give you the structure, the reflection, the real-time support, and the accountability that makes these skills actually stick.
(And yes — when your brain wants to slip back into old patterns, I’m right there to pull you forward.)

💬 I’m curious — which one do you feel like you’ve relied on more: willpower or skill power?
Drop it in the comments.

11/29/2025

I snapped this photo of my daughter’s slippers this morning.
Just sitting there in the hallway… cozy, soft, and so her.

When my kids aren’t home, the house gets quiet in a way that sits right in my chest.
Sometimes it feels like I’m all alone in it.

But then I see something simple — a pair of slippers… a half-finished craft… a note on the counter — and I’m reminded that even when they’re not physically with me, I’m not alone.
Their presence is woven into everything.

And honestly?
That’s exactly what support should feel like.

This is the kind of support women get inside The Expansion Program.

You may not be on a call with me every day.
You might be navigating a tough food moment, a stressful holiday dinner, or a “why am I doing this?” kind of morning.
But inside Expansion, you’re never actually doing it alone.

You’ll feel that support — in your choices, in your confidence growing, in the quiet moments where you catch yourself showing up differently.

✨ Join now and you get access through the holidays
— which means you don’t have to white-knuckle it through December.
You get me in your back pocket (25 years of experience), a community of women who get it, and guidance that holds you even when we’re not on Zoom.

And then in January, we start strong.
With clarity.
With grounded energy.
With a plan that actually fits your life — not someone else’s rules.

If you want 2026 to feel different,
if you’re tired of doing this alone,
if you’re craving the kind of support that stays with you even when life gets loud…

👉 Join Expansion today.
You deserve support that sticks, just like those little moments in your home that remind you you’re never alone.

Let’s expand together. https://cathyrichardsrd.com/expansion/

11/27/2025

When was the last time you ate something that truly satisfied you?
Not “meh, that’ll do.”
Not “I guess this is what I should eat.”
But satisfied you on a deep… soul-level.

The kind of satisfaction where:
✨ The texture hits just right
✨ The flavour makes you pause mid-bite
✨ You feel present in your body instead of fighting with it
✨ You finish the meal and your whole system exhales

Because food isn’t supposed to be a battle.
It’s not supposed to be a box to check.
It’s meant to be experienced.

Diet culture taught us to ignore satisfaction — that wanting food to taste good was somehow wrong.
But satisfaction is actually one of the most powerful tools for rebuilding trust with your body.

So tell me…
What was the last meal that made you close your eyes and say, “YES… this.”?
Drop it in the comments. Let’s remind each other that satisfaction matters.

11/26/2025

You’re waiting.

Waiting for the “right time.”
Waiting to feel ready.
Waiting for the sign that tells you it’s safe to choose yourself.

You know you can’t keep doing this.
You feel it in your body.
You hear it in the quiet moments.
You know something has to change…
But the unknown on the other side feels too big, too blurry, too risky.

Maybe it’s diet culture’s grip.
Maybe it’s a job that drains you.
Maybe it’s a relationship that’s run its course.
Maybe it’s the belief that “this is just how it is now.”

But here’s what I know about women in midlife:

We’ve walked through fire already.
We’ve carried families, careers, expectations, and the invisible weight of being “the one who holds it all together.”
We were taught to shrink, to be grateful, to not rock the boat.

And yet—
We are also the ones who can take on the unknown and come out the other side stronger than anyone ever expected.

If you’re standing at that edge, wondering what’s next…
If you’re terrified to move but even more terrified to stay the same…
If you feel like you’re the only one stuck in this in-between—

You’re not alone.

I’ve been there.
I’ve been in the job.
I’ve been in the marriage.
I’ve been deep in diet culture.
I know what it feels like to pretend you’re fine while quietly falling apart.

And I also know the freedom that waits on the other side of “I can’t do this anymore.”

You don’t need a perfect plan.
You don’t need to be fearless.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.

You just need one moment of courage.

If you’re ready—or even if you’re not—there is so much more life coming for you.
And you don’t have to walk toward it alone.

11/22/2025

✨ Two things can be true ✨

You can want to heal your relationship with food and still feel uncomfortable in your body.

It doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing.
It doesn’t have to be “I’ll love myself after I fix everything.”

Undieting yourself doesn’t mean you magically wake up obsessed with every inch of your body.
It means you’re choosing respect over restriction, compassion over control, and curiosity over criticism.

So today, pause and remember this:

➡️ Your body has carried you through every chapter of your life.
➡️ It has shown up for you on your best days and your hardest ones.
➡️ It has supported you in ways you never even noticed.

Healing your relationship with food starts with acknowledging these truths—
even if it feels messy, imperfect, or uncomfortable.

Your body isn’t the problem.
Diet culture is.

11/19/2025

A little story + a question for you…

I was working with a client recently who had travelled for work.
We’ve been focusing on healing her relationship with food through an intuitive eating lens.

And on this trip?
There was food available all day, every day—regular meals, regular snacks, no scarcity, no “should I / shouldn’t I.”

Here’s what surprised her:

👉 As the days went on… she ate LESS.
👉 Her usual cravings? Didn’t show up.
👉 She felt satiated, grounded, and calm around food.
👉 Supper wasn’t a huge event.
👉 Evening snacking didn’t take over.
👉 She ate what her body needed… and moved on with her evening.

Why?
Because when your body feels nourished, it stops sounding the food alarm.
It doesn’t panic.
It doesn’t grasp for snacks at night.
It feels supported.

Your turn:
Have you ever noticed that when you actually feel nourished, the cravings ease up?
Or does it still feel scary to trust your body like that?

Drop a 💛 if you want more posts about what nourishment really looks like.

11/15/2025

I wanted to try intuitive eating… but I was terrified that once I started eating, I wouldn’t be able to stop.

A client said this to me recently, and honestly?
So many women feel the exact same thing.

Because when you’ve lived inside diet culture for years — tracking, restricting, bargaining, negotiating every bite — the idea of giving yourself permission to eat feels dangerous.

If I let myself have chips, I’ll never stop.

But here’s what actually happens in the work we do inside Expansion, my three-month program for women ready to heal their relationship with food…

We let you have the chips.

Every day if you want.

We normalize it. We neutralize it.
And then something incredible begins to happen:

After a few weeks, you realize the chips have been sitting in your cupboard for a month…
and you haven’t even thought about them.

That is the magic of intuitive eating.

✨ Imagine eating for pleasure
✨ Eating for satisfaction
✨ Eating without fear
✨ Eating without the constant mental chatter of “Should I?” “Have I earned this?” “What will this do to my body?”

Imagine simply enjoying food again — with ease, with safety, with confidence.

This is what freedom looks like.
This is what expanding your relationship with food feels like.
This is why I do the work I do.

And if you’re feeling that pull — if a part of you is whispering “I want this… I just don’t know how to start” — I’m here.

Expansion begins again in January, but when you join now, you get bonus support through the holidays… the time of year when you need it the most.

Because you don’t have to do this alone.
Not anymore.

Are you ready to expand into the version of you who trusts her body again?

Join Expansion now. Let’s begin.

https://cathyrichardsrd.com/expansion/

10/22/2025

You know how sometimes your body whispers at you to slow down… and you just keep going anyway?

Yeah. Me too.

The body has wisdom — and one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the past six years is how to actually listen to it.

Some days, I still don’t.
Like this week — I woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck.
Did I rest? Nope.
I went for chiropractic treatment… and then went right back to pushing through my to-do list.

And of course, my body said, “Alright then. We’ll stop my way.”

The body always finds a way to make us pause — sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently.

Learning to respect and trust our bodies takes time. It’s not about doing it perfectly. It’s about being honest enough to notice when we’ve stopped listening… and choosing to tune back in.

If that’s something you’ve been trying to do too — to rebuild that body trust — I can help. It’s the heart of the work I do with my clients, and the work I keep doing with myself.

Because sometimes, not always, we just need someone to remind us that our bodies know the way. 💛

This is the kind of work we do inside my programs — gentle, honest, and real. Let’s connect.

10/18/2025

Are you hanging on to things you no longer need?

I caught myself doing that this week.

I was packing my daughter’s old bike back into the shed.
She hasn’t ridden it in two years. The brakes stick, the seat’s cracked, and honestly—she’s outgrown it.

Sure, part of me hopes she’ll ride again next summer.
But deep down, I know this isn’t her bike anymore.

So I decided to give it away.

And you know what? It felt freeing.
More space in the shed. More space in my mind.
And room for her to pick her new bike—the one that fits who she’s becoming.

It’s exactly what I see with so many of my clients.
They’re still holding onto rules that don’t fit anymore—
❌ Rules that make them feel shame.
❌ Rules that keep them stuck.
❌ Rules that were never really meant for them.

And when they finally let them go?
They make space—for trust, for ease, for freedom in their bodies again.

If you’re ready to stop holding onto food rules that no longer serve you, my next intuitive eating program starts next week.

There’s a space waiting just for you 💛

✨ Let’s make room for the version of you who feels free.

https://cathyrichardsrdworkwithme.as.me/NourishDontPunish

Intuitive Living Eating RD

12/08/2025

12/06/2025

12/04/2025

12/01/2025

11/29/2025

11/27/2025

11/26/2025

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