Karen Louise Scheuner, Anti-Diet Dietitian, Intuitive Eating Coach

04/18/2025

We have 2 spots left and we start Wednesday April 30 @ 5:30pm (PST)! Join us!
If you’re not sure, book a free call with me!

04/18/2025

03/06/2025

Masterclass: How to Lose the Diet Mindset without Losing Control

Can't stop binging on sweets? This class is for you!
Wish you could 'just eat' and not eat your feelings? This class is for you!
Wish you had more 'willpower' to stick to healthy eating? This class is for you!
Can't stop feeling crazy and guilty around food? This class is for you!

I know these thoughts are tough and can make you feel out of control around food, but there is a way out. You can set yourself free and I can show you how!

Join me next Wednesday March 12th at 12 noon (PST) where I will share with you the 3 main reasons you feel out of control around food and what to do instead so you can feel free and regain your life back!

Click on the link below to register for this FREEE Masterclass!

12/21/2024

This little man is 4 and he told Santa, “more race cars!” I told Santa that I want Universal Healthcare and for all the genocides in the world to end. Happy Holidays my friends!

10/31/2024

It's that time of the year again where we are flooded with all the Halloween CANDY!
If you are a parent, you know that kids will pick up on our beliefs about food and bodies. When we make Halloween candy a problem, something to feel anxious about, they will also feel this.

As a dietitian working with eating disorders for almost 20 years now, I know that these issues can be prevented and it starts with healing our own relationship to food and body. And, it's tough in our current food system where there are so many mixed messages about "healthy" eating. I get it! It's confusing and frustrating as a parent.

We can do a lot to foster and encourage our kids to have a "normal" and positive relationship with food and their bodies.
If you want some tips on how to navigate all this candy without the usual deprivation/avoidance/guilt/hiding and binge eating/etc. reply below and I will send it you!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

10/17/2024

My therapist once told me that I could "always go back to weight watchers" that dieting would always be there for me.
And boy was she right.
And that was over 20 years ago!

It's the same sh*t, different day. Here we are again.
Dieting is still going strong!
People are still counting macros and weighing themselves.

Look, I get it.
In some ways, letting go of dieting, is probably the hardest thing to do in our diet and weight obsessed culture.

And, for some folks, they never really can or want to let go.
Maybe that's okay.

Who am I to say I have it all figured out, cuz I don't.

I can only share from my own experience as someone who was once really invested and addicted to dieting.

How did I let go?

It took time. And, I was deliberate about very specific things.
There are very specific things I did (and you can too) to begin to shift towards body and food liberation.

First off, you have to want it. Believe it.

Do you want to be free of obsessing about food and your body?

Do you believe it can happen to you? (even if it is a very small part of you.)

Are you willing to confront your own weight bias?

Are you willing to break some rules?
To do something radical and possibly alienate some of your friends and maybe family?

How bad do you want to be free?
What does freedom even mean or look like to you?

How bad do you want to trust yourself (instead of the experts) over what and how much you do to your own body?

It's hard, I know, trust me!

And, here's the truth about recovery.

You know you've heard that you never "arrive" at some place.
The journey of becoming whole and healing is a process that we are never done with.
That's part of the human experience.

That said, my recovery involves being very deliberate about how I show up and take care of myself and my thoughts and my food and my body.

Does this mean I never have moments that I struggle with my body?

Nope. They are few and far between these days. They pop in but pop out faster because I know how to meet them with a softening , a curiosity and a tenderness.

Does this mean I never struggle with food and eating?
Actually, this one is true. This struggle for me is GONE. I am 100% and intuitive eater.
This does mean that I occasionally over- eat and at times under-eat. I just don't even give it much thought. I move on with my day and go back to listening and trusting my internal cues.

What do I struggle with?
The process of recovering from this toxic culture, means that it's a game of whack-a-mole, other things to work on pop up!

My edges now center on relationships and dismantling internalized white supremacy thinking patterns/belief systems.

My relationship with myself and others is something I am always coming back to. That common thread of "never good enough" which drove me into my disordered eating, still pops up and gives me grief. It's so annoying! I thought I worked on this already, lol.

Nope, we are never done!

We are all recovering from something and to something, and we never arrive.
So, I identify as "recovered" from my disordered eating and body struggles, I am and will always be "recovering" from being human and the struggles that come with being raised in a toxic culture of oppression.

If you have read this far and you want help getting and staying on the other side of your disordered eating, reach out. I've got a roadmap for you!

10/16/2024

Most people who want to work with me, want to lose weight. Even though, my website does not even suggest 'weight loss' or 'weight management' At all!

In fact, I try to be as 'weight neutral' as possible. And, yet, 90% of people I work with want this. They want to lose weight. It's understandable.

They feel stuck in the 'restrict-binge-guilt' cycle of eating.

They want out of the shame and the hiding and the intense self-judgments and criticisms.

I never promise any weight loss nor changes in body composition.

I tell them, "it could happen. It might not happen."

To do the deeper work of healing our relationship with food and our bodies, we need to get off this weight centric path.

We need to go deeper and explore what are the things that are driving the behaviors - whether that's binge eating or feeling unmotivated to exercise. Whatever behavior you want to do or not do, what's getting in the way?

What are the unconscious unmet intrinsic needs? (I know that's a lot!)

How are the behaviors helping you in some way? Keeping you alive?

And, how can we get curious enough to explore the underneath of this all. To get to the real root of the issue?

Doesn't that sound like fun? ha

Our culture tells us we need to "pull yourself up by the bootstrap" to motivate us to change.
No pain, no gain.
Just stop eating so much! Just get rid of all the candy at home!
Just go to the gym more! Come on!

Welp, news flash .... if being hard on ourselves actually worked, we would all be doing great.
And, we're not.

That voice from our culture and from within is actually creating more conflict and creating more of the problem you don't want.

I teach people how to unravel from this pattern.

How to access the part of them that wants to heal and that wants to change.

Without having to actually change the size of your body first.

First, we go in and explore, get curious and learn how to meet ourselves with kindness and with a softening, that allows space for something to come forward; this is where the magic happens.

I graduated a client today. Four months ago, she came to me wanting to lose weight.
Did she lose any weight?
Nope. And she is okay with this outcome. In fact, happier than she could even imagine.

What changed for her?
She's feeling better in her body and has begun to exercise with more regularity and consistency.
She's using food less to cope with her negative emotions at night.
She's more connected to her body than she has ever been before.
She feels agency and liberation over her body and her choices.
She feels "healthier" and more in control.

She's also sitting with grief more and her humanity and what to do with all this grief. (she is in her late 60's).

She feels surprised about her progress and told me that she did not even imagine that the work we did together would bring her this much clarity in her life and what she really wants to do in the last few chapters of living.

And, it was weight loss that got her in the door.

If this sounds like you, reach out below!

10/04/2024

I've been thinking a lot about being an ally for folks in larger bodies, otherwise known as a 'Fat Ally.'

Why is this important?

Because people in larger (fat bodies) are literally dying everyday because of the ongoing discrimination and hatred and stigma they endure.

Btw, I use the word FAT as a neutral descriptor and many are reclaiming this word, but especially if you are in a larger body, you get to use this word to describe your body if you want.

While I am not in a fat body and receive many unearned privileges because of my size (and skin color and education and the zip code I live, etc) I am aware that my position in this world is to use my voice to advocate for people who may not be able to.

As a dietitian working in the eating disorder field for nearly 20 years, we have a lot of work and healing to do.

One of my passions is to reduce and fight against this stigma for folks in larger bodies. Because no one is free until we are all free. Body oppression is so pervasive.

And, I haven't even told you about my cousin who was born in a fat body, and as a kid was teased with such cruelty that he developed and eating disorder and later killed himself.

You see, it's all related.

I can't tell you how many clients have told me similar stories. The teasing since they were children. The fat jokes. The painful assumptions about what they eat. The relentless ongoing mico aggressions that leave a permanent mark on their hearts.
So many clients who want to end their lives to avoid the ongoing stigmatization.
The world is not safe for them.
And, it doesn't have to be this way.

So, I'm in solidarity with the movement that is fighting against this collective shame and stigma. I've heard that our modern day Ozempic age is like a witch hunt against fatness.

Here are some ways we can all become better allies in support of body and size inclusivity and diversity.

1. Stop assuming a certain body size is healthy.

2. Don’t sign up for workplace weight loss programs. Don't sign up for Noom. Don't sign up for any other weight loss programs that promise a smaller body.

3. Advocate for furniture that can hold all body sizes (also good for disability accessibility). Think about your spaces and if they will be safe and comfortable for folks in larger bodies.

4. If someone makes a fat joke, act confused and ask what they mean. If they have to explain that the joke is funny because they’re just making fun of fat people, they will out themselves and feel crappy (which is good). Raise awareness, invite conflict and then educate.

5. Disengage from diet talk that centers on weight loss, calories, body loathing etc. Change the subject or say something like, 'you know weight is the least interesting thing about you.'

Will you join me in becoming an ally?

10/01/2024

“If you have felt something missing from your own experience or cultural context of grief, we see you. We are you. Grief winds itself through our lives, our relationships and our presence in our lives. It can be overwhelming alone. Whether it is bereavement, nostalgia, regrets, anger, injustice, climate change, or missed moments – these sorrows accumulate and deserve to be felt, witnessed and expressed. The world needs our nuanced presence in the midst of so much darkness. When grief is shared, when we have a deepened experience of entanglement with one another and the animate world, something wildly beautiful and necessary begins to alchemize.” ~Carmen Cool

My colleagues are offering a group tarting on October 20th, Hilary Kinavey (Therapist & Body Trust Co-Founder) and Carmen Cool (Therapist & Body Justice Activist).

Fall grief group — Tending: Accompaniment at the Gates of Grief. Check out the link below. Such necessary and important work for all of us.

09/24/2024

How many times have you sat in a circle of people who believe they are devoted to making the world a better place and yet the conversations about bodies and health devolve into judgment, shame and blame? Weight bias, overt and often unnamed, runs amok between us. Bias lives in words that pathologize certain bodies, like "obesity" or "overweight"; it expands when we believe we know the solutions to "help" change another person's size and collude with body shame when we offer advice; and it flourishes when we apologize for the food we are eating, discuss it as "indulgence" or talk about how we are going to "make up" for it later.

Weight bias also shows itself every single time we sell weight loss and body change to one another despite the fact that data doesn't support a focus on weight, size and shape to address health. Sadly, this is even happening at some eating disorder treatment centers who are beginning to add "weight management" to their list of services. Health care professionals, healers, coaches, and fitness professionals are missing the boat when they make assumptions about a person's health based on size. After a collective 30+ years working in the eating disorder field, we want you to know you that these conversations aren't doing anyone any favors and are not healing, nor are they health promoting. They just reinforce the culture's narrow standards of beauty.

09/20/2024

Most of the folks I work with find me wanting help with food and body issues.

Food and body issues present themselves as such: wanting to stop "overeating" or binge eating.

Wanting to learn how to be an "intuitive eater," wanting to trust their bodies to tell them what, how much to eat, and when to stop eating.

They want help with "mindless eating" and they want to be "healthy" or become more so.

Most folks want to lose weight and they find me even though I am not a "weight loss" coach/dietitian.

What starts out as a "food and body" issue soon becomes a deeper explorations into other areas of their life that need tending.

Food and body are the portal into these other areas of ones life.

Sometimes we work on the food stuff, for example, we might talk about fiber or protein and how to increase these into the diet to feel better, p**p better, have more energy, etc.

BUT, most of the time, I'm not really talking that much about nutrition. (Also because it kinda bores me lol)

What I find far juicer is the deeper more symbolic stuff that drives and maintains these behaviors that they say they don't want to be doing anymore, ie. binge eating or hating the size of their thighs.

I walk my clients through a process, a "decoding process" whereby they get to discover *exactly* what needs are unmet in their lives. Exactly what positive feelings it is that they are trying to re-create and co-create by doing their "unwanted" behaviors.

From there, they discover all the ways these unmet needs and or positive feelings are showing them a way out of their misery.

A way out of the sense that something is wrong with them.
A way out of the belief that they just need more willpower or self-control.
A way out of the belief that they need to put their life on hold until they lose 'the weight.'

Yesterday, one of my clients discovered that the reason she binges at night is because she deep down is not using her creative skills and has always wanted to start her own business. WOWZA.

Her cravings for sugar will soon be fading as she moves in the direction of knowing how to symbolically feed herself and nourish her essential intrinsic needs.

She will learn to find ways to set her nervous system up to feel good, to bring pleasure back into her life in the same way that the binges also provided her those positive feelings (although just in the first few bites of eating!)

Because when we are finding a way to meet our needs and follow our hearts and move in a direction to feel whole again, we don't need to use food (as often) to cope with the discomfort of not knowing and not trusting our own intuition and wisdom.

We begin to feel whole again. We feed ourselves intuitively, naturally without force or deprivation.

Our food and body stuff will lead us out and lead to to the thing that we most want in our lives.

This is the gift of having food and body struggles.

How are your struggles with food and body here to inform you?
What is it here to teach you?
And, if you stop counting calories and macros, what would you be counting instead?

04/30/2024

My conversation with a prospective client went like this:
Me: Can you imagine being able to keep potato chips in your house and not feel like you have to eat all of them (at once), just to start over on Monday with a new diet?

Client: No, I can't keep those foods at home. I just can't I've always heard people can do that.

Me: One of my clients told me that she found a half eaten box of Girl Scout cookies that were stale in her cupboard. She forgot about them. Can you believe that? She said she was beginning to understand the "magic" of intuitive eating.

Client: I want to be one of those people but that can forget about the chips or the cookies or whatever and not feel like I have to eat them all at once, but I'm not sure it's possible.

Me: I know it feels impossible, I get that, diet culture is so normal in our culture where everyone around you is obsessed with foods and dieting. Learning Intuitive Eating and Body Trust is radical work. And, it is magical. Let me be your guide...

Are you curious about The Magic of Intuitive Eating?
Do you wish you could keep certain foods at home and not go crazy with them? do you wish you could obsess less and feel free to eat just a handful or two without guilt, without the need to get rid of them? How is that even possible?
Drop me your email below, or DM for some secret sauce!