Debra Benfield, CEDRD, RYT

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Winston-Salem, NC
Debra Benfield, CEDRD, RYT

Nutrition Therapy & Body Image Coach at the Intersection of Anti-ageism and Body Liberation.

Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist with 40 years of experience, passionate about blazing a new path to a respectful, nurturing relationship with your aging body. I am a Registered and Licensed Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist with 35+ years of experience, as well as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT)

If your relationship with food and your body is a struggle (a little or a lot), I am passionate about helping you:

• Experience the PLEASURE of eating again,with permission and confidence!
• Choose foods so that nutrition is optimal and satisfaction comes with ease
• Let go of fear and anxiety around food and body
• Compassionately cultivate a body that is well fed by an intentional mind
• Nourish yourself so that you will feel vital and have the energy for all of the ways you play! Offering Nutritional Therapy and Coaching for individuals, couples and families as well as Classes and Workshops. Nourishing Yoga and BodyLoveRevolutution Yoga Classes, Workshops and Individual/Family sessions

11/17/2025

We live in a culture that fears both food AND aging, moralizing what we eat and pathologizing the natural changes of our bodies in midlife and beyond.

No wonder nourishing our bodies in midlife+ feels confusing and complicated.

This week’s Countdown To Pub Day is based on Chapter 6: Nourishing Your Body for Vitality and Wellbeing, one of the most liberating chapters of the book-free of diet culture mess.

I also get into separating evidence-based recommendations for nourishing our midlife+ bodies from the hype (I see you longevity biohackers and menopause influencers).

This week’s newsletter focuses on this theme and includes an excerpt from Chapter Six!

Drop the word YES if you’d like to read the full post and I’ll send you the link. As always, you can find the link in my bio.

I’m thrilled you are here!

Love,
Deb💕

11/14/2025

Sick and tired of feeling like you’re always working on your body?

Me too, I’m so done!

I wrote about how you can repair the damage done to our relationships with our bodies by the anti-aging and diet culture industries, including strategies for your self-talk and reframes to support your repair.

If you want to read the full article, plus strategies, drop the word REPAIR in the comments or see the link in my bio and stories.

I’m so glad you are part of this movement!

With love,
Deb💕

11/13/2025

Every relationship needs repair sometimes.

Even, and maybe especially, your relationship with your body.

Diet culture and ageism tell us to treat our bodies as problems to manage-to override hunger, push through pain, and strive endlessly for control.

This ramps up in midlife and beyond with health anxieties, fear mongering from influencers and social media, and our internalized ageism and ableism.

But your body isn’t your enemy. It’s your oldest and constant companion.

Repairing the ruptured relationship with your body, just like other relationships, begins with listening, compassion, and small acts of attention and care.

Ask your body what you need today.
Add one more drop of kindness.
That’s how trust begins to rebuild.

Read more in today’s post with an excerpt from Chapter Five of Unapologetic Aging: How to Mend and Nourish Your Relationship with Your Body, out December 16th.

Link in bio or drop the word MORE in the comments and I’ll send you the link.

I’m so glad you’re here!

Love,
Deb 💕

11/12/2025

Grieving is a powerful part of the midlife transition. Recognizing all that diet culture has cost us-our time, missed experiences, and ultimately trust in our own bodies-is an essential act of letting go so we move on in this precious chapter of our lives.

Grief is a necessary act of liberation and an integral part of our healing.

This first part of my excerpt from chapter five focuses on what it takes to pivot away from our limiting beliefs rooted in ageism and diet culture, including the need to grieve what we lost to these limiting beliefs.

If you want to read this excerpt from chapter 5, check out my latest post via the link in my bio or drop the word MORE and I’ll send you the link.

So glad you are here!
Love,
Deb💕

11/11/2025

If you are in midlife and beyond, and you’ve been following along with this “Countdown to Pub Day” series, I’m thrilled you’re here!

We’ve arrived at Part Two of Unapologetic Aging.

Now that you have done some Untangling from Diet Culture and Ageism, it’s time to pivot toward Mending. This is the fun part! And this may be the messy part too.

Chapter Five, Nourishing Your Body Respect, begins the process of mending your relationship with your body after years of diet culture and internalized ageism.

Instead of following rules you’ve inherited from the external world, you’ll learn to practice listening to your internal world.

Instead of rigid restriction and deprivation, you’ll cultivate more trust and respect for your body (and yourself).

Instead of grasping for control, you’ll practice compassionate connection with your body to enable genuine care for yourself.

THIS is the true work of liberation in midlife and beyond.

See the link in bio for the full excerpt in this week’s newsletter or DM me for the link.

I would love to hear about what rules are you ready to release in the comments 👇🏼.

11/06/2025

Hey! If you are local to the Triad area (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point) of North Carolina, this is for you! Our Body Respect Book Club meets tonight, Thursday, November 6th at Lot 63, , which is located in Old Salem and has plenty of parking!

We’re meeting at 6:30 pm and will be discussing The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor.

This gathering is FREE and open to the public. This an opportunity to be part of a community where fat talk and diet culture are not invited to the table!

I hope to see you there! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

11/05/2025

Ever notice how a comment, a glimpse of your reflection, or a photo can make your whole body tense or feel flooded with anxiety?

That’s your nervous system’s way of letting you know that you do not feel safe.

Why is that and why is this a thing in perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause?

In my latest Substack, I get into how body shame shows up in midlife and beyond-and what helps you feel safe again.

Hint-it is NOT fixing your body!

If you’re interested in reading the full post, see the link in my bio, or drop the word SAFE in the comments ⬇️, and I’ll send you the link.

11/04/2025

When our culture tells us that our body changes are failures, it lands in our bodies.

That sense of urgency that your body is wrong and there is and you must go about fixing it NOW is rooted in sensing that
“You are not safe.”

The bracing, the shallow breathing, the pit in your stomach,and gritting your teeth are signs from your body’s alarm system.

Healing begins when we respond to these messages with care rather than grasping for control.

A small sigh with your exhale.
A softening jaw.
A reminder: you are safe in this moment.

You are allowed to soften.

I wrote about how our body image affects our nervous system in midlife and beyond, plus an excerpt from Chapter Four, as part of my Countdown to Pub Day Series in this week’s Substack.

Find the link to my Substack in my bio or drop a 🦋in the comments below and I’ll send you the link.

I’m so glad you’re here.
Love,
Deb💕

11/03/2025

Food is a birthright.

Using hunger as a political strategy is deeply immoral.

We must take care of one another.

Together.

10/28/2025

While I was researching and writing UNAPOLOGETIC AGING, I found that within the menopause, “pro-aging” and longevity spaces, a familiar message persists: you are never doing enough.

What began as encouragement to move our bodies has evolved into something more demanding-heavier lifting, faster intervals, stricter routines.

The tone has shifted from support to scrutiny.

For many of us in midlife and beyond, especially those with a history of disordered eating or body image dissatisfaction, this “never enough” messaging can quietly reignite old wounds.

Fitness becomes another arena where worth and belonging are measured by performance, appearing youthful, or thinness.

In Chapter Three of my book, I explore how fitness and diet culture intertwine with ageism, how even well meaning advice about “aging well” can morph into a moral mandate to defy aging itself.

Movement can support our mental health, strength, wellbeing, playfulness, connection to our bodies and others.

But when it becomes about control, comparison, or calorie math, it loses its healing potential.

This week’s Substack gets into it and includes an excerpt from Chapter 3.

If you’re interested, here’s the link to the full article:

https://open.substack.com/pub/debrabenfield/p/never-enough-midlife-fitness-culture?r=16vgx&utm_medium=ios

I’m so glad you’re here!
Deb💕

Address

Winston-Salem, NC

Telephone

+13367731443

Website

https://www.debrabenfield.com/

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My Story and Passion

I am passionate about supporting Body Liberation as a Nutrition Therapist (CEDRD) with over 30 years of experience! I am a Body Liberation Coach, offering virtual and in person sessions, and a Registered Yoga Teacher, Certified in Curvy Yoga and am Trauma-Sensitive in all of my offerings. My work includes Re-Parenting your Eating and Body Image, Deconstructing Internalized Diet Culture, and somatic practices which support your calming and connecting to your body with compassion and curiosity! I am on a mission for all to know There Is No Wrong Way to Have a Body.#TraumaSensitive #EmbodiedEating #BodyLiberation #HealthAtEverySize #IntutiveEating and #YogaforEveryBODY If your relationship with food and your body is a struggle (a little or a lot), I am passionate about helping you: • Experience the PLEASURE of eating again, with connection, compassion and curiosity • Develop Ease and Peace around Food, Eating and Body Image • Nourish yourself so that you will feel vital and grounded and have the energy for all of the ways you play! Offering Nutritional Therapy and Coaching for individuals, couples and families as well as Intuitive Eating Groups, and Intuitive Eating and Yoga Workshops, Body Liberation Yoga Classes and Retreats, and offer a Body Liberation Book/Film Club which is open and free to the public. I own and supervise the care of fellow RDs in my private practice, offering Nutrition Consults for Eating Disorder Prevention and Recovery along with general support for your well-being with a Health at Every Size perspective.