Life After Diets

10/05/2020

Every single time you say you look fat (and imply that that’s a bad thing), every time you say you hate your tummy (or your arms or your legs), every time you turn down food because it’s “too fattening,” you’re teaching your kids a lesson. You’re teaching them to be critical of their bodies. You’re teaching them that your body isn’t a thing to be treasured. You’re teaching them that your worth comes not from what you do, but from how you look. ⠀
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So, whether you have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, or godchildren in your life, enjoy your Mother’s Day and remember to be kind to your body. They can hear you. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

11/04/2020

Important reminder. Happy...Saturday? Yeah. Saturday.

31/03/2020

Everyone deals with times of stress and crisis differently. If you’re not hurting or endangering yourself or others, you’re doing damn fine. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

21/03/2020

Things I’m grateful for today: a job I can do from home, a partner I actually enjoy being stuck inside with all day, my cute and silly cats, and still being able to go on long walks and runs outside. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

20/03/2020

Take care of your health, take care of your loved ones. You can resume freaking out about your insecurities when this is all over. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

20/03/2020

Last week, when my boss explained our new work from home policy, and it became clear that I’d be spending a lot of time in my Brooklyn railroad apartment, I had a brief moment of panic that was completely unrelated to any real-life problems my family or I would soon be facing. It was divorced from the very reality of a global pandemic, the then-looming financial crisis, and the probability of our city, or even country, going into lock-down.

No, for that one moment, I internally freaked out, instead, at the idea of being home for days or weeks with the massive supply of food (mostly carbs) my partner and I had accumulated over the last few weeks. For just a moment, I relapsed into an old mindset where I fully believed that if I were to allow myself access to that much food, I’d eat all of it.

A place where words matter

08/03/2020

Happy International Women’s Day!⠀
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06/03/2020

In the last three years, there has been a change in our language, if not our behaviors, around dieting and what we’ve termed “wellness.” We’ve seen everything from laxatives disguised as health teas to vaginal eggs marketed to us as wellness products.⠀
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But, the only way to truly effect change is to develop habits, over time, that fit into your current, actual lifestyle.⠀
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My advice is always to go to the source of whatever you’re reading about. Read the studies that are cited. Read the books that are referenced. Look specifically for things that disprove the claims you’re reading, not just ones that confirm them.⠀
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Also, stay away from laxative teas.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

A place where words matter

10/02/2020

The advice of much of the anti-diet movement, often professed by straight, white, cis-women in relatively small bodies, comes from a place of privilege I hadn’t really acknowledged, in either myself or the movement in general, until recently. I’ve started grappling with my place in the anti-diet movement. I’m not a trained expert. I have only my experiences, and a lot of research that I know was acquired with a healthy dose of confirmation bias.

And, so I’ve begun to wonder whether I would have come to this place of recovery quite so willingly had I been fifty pounds heavier. Would prioritizing my emotional and physical health have looked the same in my 200-pound body as it does in my 150-pound body? Or would pursuing health in a larger body have meant something completely different for me at that time? Would it have meant intentional weight loss, despite what I was learning about diets and diet culture and what I knew from my long history with those actions?

If I’m being honest, probably yes.

A place where words matter

04/02/2020

The last ten years have seen the rise of the fitness influencer and a whole host of sketchy diet trends. Which ones are worth trying and which ones need to hit the road?⠀⠀⠀

A place where words matter

22/01/2020

Tips and tricks for making those boring treadmill runs a little less tedious this winter.

A place where words matter

09/01/2020

Many dieters and disordered eaters experience loneliness and social isolation as a result of these behaviors. That loneliness can be even more detrimental to health outcomes and mortality rates than obesity and inactivity

A place where words matter