Your Essential Dietitian

03/09/2024

This ONE sentence sums up intuitive eating in a nut shell!

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach (4th Edition) by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

02/04/2024

🤔 What if…

… instead of desperately trying to find a new show to watch on the countless apps available….

… you turn on some music, grab a journal, a pen, and you start writing about your thoughts and feelings?

No one has to see what you write. 🫣 No one is judging you.

It doesn’t have to make sense. You just do it. 💪 You write so fast that you may not even finish your sentences.

😃 What will happen is…

… You will experience ah-ha realizations, “oh that’s what has been going on below the surface”.

… You will have clarity on what you may need to release to lighten your heart.

… You will gain confidence on what nurturing your intuition is calling in.

💫 So, what will you do? Find another show to numb out on or quickly move into feeling lighter through journaling? 💫

PS Let me know if you’d like a signed copy of Your Intuitive Life Journal

01/15/2024

Do you ever feel like your brain is against you? 🧠 🤺

It won’t stop thinking about this, that, and everything.

You’re worried about your family. You’re thinking about what’s happening in your friends lives. Work. The never ending to-do lists.

Not to mention your insecurities and past hurts. Those are there in strong force too. Guiding not only your thoughts, but also how you feel.

All this results in feeling out of control and overwhelmed. So what do you do?

📺 Zone out on Netflix naturally or grab some food to stuff down those feelings.

But as soon as that temporary break is done, all the thoughts flood back to you and your body is tense. It feels uneasy. 😩

Sound familiar?

I completely understand. Goodness do I. I am not going to claim to be perfectly past these types of experiences because I am human and I hold compassion for my normalness.

But what I can tell you is this.

- Don’t try to fight your thoughts. That will only make them stronger.

Instead…

… take a minute to pattern breathe. 💨 Try breathing in for 5 seconds, holding for 7 seconds, and releasing for 8 seconds.

Then, you can either choose to:

… be present. Rather than thinking about everything that is swirling around you and impacting you, shift your attention to the present moment. Become a witness, the observer, to that which is right in front of you. See it for its beauty. 👀

OR

… write down all that is swirling around with the intention of releasing it. You’ll be amazed how this act of taking it from your brain to paper magically provides so much ease. ✍️

01/02/2024

If you know me at all, you know I think that new years “get on the band wagon” healthy goals are cringe worthy.

Such propaganda. 🤮

Make huge unrealistic goals just so they can fall by the waitside yet again in just days due to being a normal human. And then you have a nice open invitation to spiral right into the shame cycle (shame = the direct opposite of health)

Ugh! Nope! Not for me (anymore)!

This being said, I believe strongly in the power of speaking your reality into existence. Which is done merely through setting an intention.

You might be wondering… what is the difference between a goal and an intention. To me, there is a strong energetic difference between a propagandist goal set due to societal pressure vs an intention that you can feel deep in your soul.

Here is how I find my intention…
… close your eyes
… take a deep breathe
… and simply ask yourself… in one word, “what do I desire”?

Allow the words to dance around your body until you feel “the one”. Then allow it to concrete into your brain. And if you want to get really crazy… journal about that ONE word.

💫 My word intention for this year is LISTEN. 💫

🗣️🗣️🗣️What is yours? Where do you want to put your attention? What do you want to speak into existence?

Can’t wait to hear yours 💜

11/27/2023

The one thing that helps me feel most like myself is ________ 💜 (see comments for mine)

11/24/2023

There is a VERY strong distinction between moving your body for fun, joy, and gentle nurturance versus repenting food choices or to force its shape. Where might you be falling today? 

11/21/2023

Imagine yourself with 💯 % confidence in your food choices. How do you also imagine this impacts your confidence throughout other areas of life? 🤔
👇👇👇

11/20/2023

Repeat after me: Love for myself is the highest form of illuminating my own light.
✨ Shine brightly ✨

09/12/2023

Instead of Where’s Waldo, it’s been Where is Tammy? 👀

I went almost completely radio silent overnight. I needed to. For me. I could leave it there, but as usual writing, even this post, helps me to process all that has been going on. And who knows maybe it will inspire someone else or provide a touch of “you’re not alone”.

💕 First and foremost, I so appreciate all my loved ones and clients who have reached out to inquire… what’s going on, are you ok, etc? This has helped nudge me to reflect on these questions. Having support has been foundational. Support is seriously everything!
�Short story… yes I am ok. What’s going… a lot. So basically I am human just like you. 🧬

This seems to be the story of almost everyone I know lately. We are all making it through and there is so much going on. I have come to recognize… mid 40’s is a whole new welcome to life, right?

As I reflect further, I am completely amazed at how the last 9 months of radio silence have just breezed by. I feel like I blinked and when I opened my eyes, months had passed by.

🤔 So what is going on…

Long story, somewhat short… last Thanksgiving, the energy of the universe strongly propelled me to make a decision to move about 6 hours further south into Florida. This was quickly executed by 12/31/22.

And through this, I made a decision to temporarily hang up my online counseling practice and take a full-time position at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

I knew it would take time to acclimate to being in a workforce environment again, but I had no idea the lessons that were ahead for me. I am the supervisor for the department that is responsible for ensuring all human milk and formula feedings for the hospital are prepared safely, and delivered daily.

As you can imagine, completing the tasks of the department daily is non-negotiable. Babies and children need to be fed every day. What I didn’t know prior was just how attention-grabbing this position would be. It’s extremely fast-paced with high demand and short staffing. This is healthcare as we know it now.

🌟 In this position, I have had to apply all the things I have done before and taught my clients about, which btw hasn’t happened without intention and effort…
… how to prioritize self-care (all the elements of what I believe self-care to encompass)
… how to set boundaries
… how to give without burning out

I would be lying if I said this was easy. It has not been. I have been reminded just how different it is to practice all these things while working for someone else vs working for yourself.

🙏🏼 At the end of the day, I am just sooooo grateful to have these tools available to me and to have this experience. It has only helped my personal growth.

But work isn’t everything. That is only one minor part of life. I have also been radio silent as I have also been navigating the intermingles of several relationships… marriage, children, parents, siblings, friends, etc.

I chose not to share more here about the trials and triumphs of these relationships because I hold them dearly to my heart and respect their privacy. What I will say is… relationships and health can all ebb and flow for everyone. And lately, there seems to be a high flow of these relationships calling in more attention.
�What I will share is… I was previously so disconnected from my relationship with myself that when I was repairing my relationship with my food, myself, and my life… some other relationships were put on the back burner.

🫶🏼 This can be quite normal. So no shame (just a little reminder, in case you relate)

And now, I get to choose to show up fully present in my other relationships practicing what I learned for myself.

💫 I am so grateful to have the tools I began gathering on my intuitive eating journey which were deepened with understanding emotional mastery and the wonderful powers of brain science.

I seriously do not know how others operate without all of this knowledge in their life and navigate the challenges in relationships that can arise. So again, I am beyond grateful to have this knowledge and am committed to sharing more about the tools I have learned along the way, so that anyone who wants to… can apply them to their relationships, whether that be their food relationship, their relationship with themselves, or relationships with loved ones.

Stay tuned…

PS Your Intuitive LIFE journal can be a great start. Let me know if you’d like to find out how to grab a copy. 📖 🖊️ 🤯 💜

07/31/2023

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=611935284466644&id=100069505335894&mibextid=cr9u03

'Today I asked my body what she needed,
Which is a big deal
Considering my journey of
Not Really Asking That Much.

I thought she might need more water.
Or protein.
Or greens.
Or yoga.
Or supplements.
Or movement.

But as I stood in the shower
Reflecting on her stretch marks,
Her roundness where I would like flatness,
Her softness where I would like firmness,
All those conditioned wishes
That form a bundle of
Never-Quite-Right-Ness,

She whispered very gently:

Could you just love me like this?'

-Hollie Holden

Artist: Yulia Ustinova
Girl God Books