https://www.positive-nutrition.com/

Positive Nutrition with Paige Smathers, RDN, 2936 S Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, UT (2026)

05/17/2021

This is your reminder that movement can be fun and joyful!

If the way you’re approaching exercising/movement is working for you (i.e. feels aligned with your values, sustainable, positive, in balance with other things etc.) I want you to know: IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU.

And for the rest of you, I want you to know this: movement can be fun. It doesn’t need to feel punitive. It’s okay to not track steps, workouts, or numbers at all if that helps you reconnect to joy in movement. It’s okay to experiment with different things to find what works for you. It’s also okay to not know exactly what a healthy, positive relationship with movement looks like for you yet. You’ll get there through time, curiosity and experimentation.

My advice? Play, respect your current ability,avoid comparison with your past self and others, explore, think back to what you liked to do as a kid, be gentle with yourself, check in with how you’re feeling, don’t be afraid to take breaks, let go of making forms of movement a competition.

And also: take or leave any or all of these thoughts in whatever way helps you align to what brings you joy and goodness. There are lots of ways to relate to movement and exercise and there’s no one *right* way. 😘

04/27/2021

When was the last time you visited a physician, dietitian, dentist, OBGYN, therapist, physical therapist, or any provider where you left feeling seen, heard, understood, supported, and positive? I know it doesn’t always go this way, and I wish it were different. I get emails all the time of people asking me to help connect them to a provider who will help, not harm. Can you help me?

I believe in helping each other out and I’d love it if you could help me help others find good care by commenting with the name of the provider and location and what they did to help you feel supported.

So if you’ve had a good experience, please comment with who it was, what they did that was helpful (so other providers who are here can learn), and where you are located! ❤️❤️❤️ Let’s help each other out and spread some goodness and support.

04/16/2021

Ask yourself if your scale helps or harms you. Get curious about what days look like where you like what you see on the scale vs. days where you don’t. Ask yourself what weighing yourself is about and check in with that intention. Does it feel aligned with your values?

You are not a bad person if you weigh yourself. Body autonomy is critical here and I support you and honor you in doing what is best for you. My intention here is merely to let you know you have permission to let go of the scale if you feel it’s making it harder for you to care for yourself. You have permission question and wrestle with your relationship with the scale, and to land in a place with it that’s right for you. I know this can be HARD, and just know I’m rooting for you!

04/02/2021

You can be a kind, loving presence for yourself. The process of parenting your adult self may come in many forms and many of you may already be working on this concept to some extent in your lives. Our parents and caregivers did their best (I’m sure with some exceptions but in general I’m confident this is true) but all parents make mistakes and as adults it’s our job to look at those experiences with honesty and heal, learn, let go, and create new patterns for ourselves.

It can be powerful to consider how you can show up for yourself with food. How did you need to be fed as a kid? How did you wish people talked about their bodies and food around you? What did you need? Pull out a pen and paper and jot down your thoughts. Then get to work! Start treating and feeding yourself a little more like you would feed someone you love.

04/01/2021

Eating what sounds good is fun and great. But sometimes nothing sounds good: maybe you’re anxious, sick, tired, busy, or something else. It’s important to have a plan and some skills in place for those times when you don’t have a specific food in mind to eat or a specific craving. Eating what sounds good is nice, but that’s not always practical or real life. To be honest, I’d say about 50% of my eating is not rooted in a specific excitement for a certain food, but just based on what’s around, what I’ve planned, or what I feel like I *could* eat. My appetite is not always bang on and my hunger doesn’t always align exactly for the blocked off eating times i have in my schedule. I only share this because I’ve seen far too many clients express feelings of inadequacy when they hear “eat what sounds good” but their reality doesn’t align with this ideal. Food is boring sometimes! Food is routine sometimes! This is normal and OK.

And a quick reminder: just because you don’t have a perfect idea of what to eat, a perfect appetite, or a perfect level of hunger DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD JUST SKIP EATING. It’s OK and normal to eat in the absence of exact and perfect appetite or hunger. You are not broken if this happens to you. This happens to me regularly, and I still have and keep a commitment to myself to eat regularly.

What’s your favorite strategy for deciding what to eat when nothing sounds good? I listed three in the slides above, but I’m very interested if you have other ideas! Let’s learn from each other and support each other!

03/31/2021

It’s about adding *to* rather than taking away.

Have you tried this? How has shifting to a more mindset (rather than a restrictive, punitive approach) with food helped you?

03/31/2021

It’s about adding to, rather than taking away.

Have you tried this?

03/25/2021

It’s true. Permission isn’t the reason you feel out of control. Restriction is the reason!

Think about it this way: when you finally allow yourself something you haven’t allowed yourself to eat for a long time, usually you are bargaining in your head. You make it “okay” to give yourself permission to it it because you tell yourself today is the last time, this won’t happen again, tomorrow you’re back in your diet, etc. that thought process right there—bargaining to make it okay by promising you’ll restrict in the future—is RESTRICTION not permission.

Giving yourself permission with food means there’s permission today, tomorrow, the next day and so on. When you know you can enjoy this thing again, it allows you to access other important questions like: do I want it now? Does it still taste good? Am I still enjoying this? How am I feeling?

True permission is ongoing, not just something you do in a particular instance with a particular food. That ongoing permission and trust that you can eat it again makes it possible to connect to what you really want now.

So don’t blame permission if you’ve had an experience where you’ve felt out of control with a certain food. Take a look at where restriction is still creeping in. When have you done this? How has it played out for you? Let’s learn from each other.

03/19/2021

When people used to ask me about myself I would sometimes struggle to know what to say. Ummm, I’m a mom and a dietitian and I like spending time with my family? Those are all great things and are all real things that are important to me, but I remember feeling distinct discomfort with not being sure exactly who I am and what I care about beyond the usual ways of defining identity. It’s nice to be a little more sure these days of more things about who I am beyond those three, but I’m also still learning!

So many of my clients will express something similar. They’ll tell me how scared they are to let go of restriction or other food-related disordered behaviors out of a fear of not knowing who they are without it. Identity and food are often intertwined deeply, and sometimes we don’t always know this consciously. So healing from disordered eating and EDs can feel scary even down to the core of identity.

But here’s what I’m realizing and appreciating—finding out who we are is exciting and fun! I hope there never comes a day where I feel like I’m done discovering who I am. I hope I will continually find new things I love, new hobbies, new ways to have fun, new approaches to life that bring more depth, compassion and goodness to me. And I wish the same for you.

This picture is me in a brand new sweater I knitted for myself. I’m so glad I was open to learning how to knit from my friend who taught me 7 years ago. It’s such a fun hobby that connects me to the natural world, history, color, art, design, appreciation for clothing, patience, connection to other people who share the same passion and excitement for it.

What about you? What are important parts of your identity you’re discovering? Who are you beyond what you eat and how you choose to move your body? Let me know in the comments!

For anyone interested: pattern is by and the yarn is Daylights American Cormo (🤩 total and complete joy to knit with by the way) that I bought from in Salt Lake. 🧶 📸: my 6-year-old

03/15/2021

Nutrition science is complex! People dedicate their entire lives to understanding the human body and the nuances of feeding ourselves. But the practical side of how you apply the science to your everyday doesn’t need to be complicated. It can be fun, positive, sustainable, and relatively easy.

How do you get there? How do you feed yourself with more ease and trust? Start with the following*:

- eat regular meals: as in, sit down, put food on a plate, and take some time to eat a “real meal” multiple times per day. Then do the same for times in between meals where you need a snack to get to your next meal hungry but not primally starving.
- ask yourself what you can add rather than what you need to take away: does that leftover pasta sound good for lunch? Great! Ask yourself what you can add to it to help you feel full and satisfied.
- pay attention to how you feel and be willing to experiment: did that salad for dinner leave you starving in a half hour? What else could you eat with it to feel full and satisfied? Does cereal for breakfast feel different than eggs, toast and fruit? Practice curiosity with what your body is trying to tell you and adjust and experiment until you find a general structure and routine that functions well for you.
- practice flexibility: let’s say you had a plan for what to eat but a wrench is thrown into your day and circumstances change. The approach you take with food will work best with room for flexibility so you can more skillfully adapt to the curveballs of life. Be on the lookout for rigidity with food and stamp it out with more flexibility and self-compassion. Perfect eating doesn’t exist! Your body likes averages. You don’t need to micromanage every detail.

What are some of your go-to values and tools with food? What works well to keep you nourished and satisfied without getting bogged down in the minutiae? Tell me in the comments.

*This list is is vague on purpose because it’s Instagram! It’s not individual nutrition therapy. Take what works and leave what doesn’t in the above thoughts.

03/11/2021

Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to take a step back and look at how much you are apologizing. And I don’t mean the times where you truly did something wrong and need to make amends and express an apology. Those types of apologies are necessary and great.

What I’m talking about here are the times I see my clients, friends and myself apologize for things like: sneezing, speaking, taking up space, and merely existing. My friends, you don’t need to apologize for your presence. We are glad you are here! No more apologizing for those things.

Practice noticing when you say sorry and get curious—are you actually trying to express gratitude? For example, if you are late for something, maybe an apology is necessary, and maybe you are actually just grateful that your friends were patient with you. If you are expressing an opinion and your instinct is to apologize, maybe it’s not because you’re sorry, maybe it’s because you aren’t very practiced in speaking your truth. Maybe you’re just grateful they’re giving you the chance to express yourself?

These are just ideas and just an invitation to get curious. Let me know what you find out about yourself as you explore this in your life.

And here’s another layer: how are you apologizing without actually apologizing? Are you communicating an apology through your body language? Are you trying to make yourself small by slouching, slumping, or slipping into the background? Can you work on showing up as your full self, without apology, taking up space?

I’m all for apologies when they’re needed, and all for stopping the incessant over-apologizing we normalize in our society, especially for women. Take up space! Exist. I’m glad you’re here.

03/10/2021

It’s Registered Dietitian Day! Wishing all the amazing dietitians I know a very happy RD day and extending so much gratitude for my mentors, colleagues, and friends. And thank you to my dear friend .evon for this adorable sticker I’m going to add to my water bottle today.

And while I have your attention, I’m going to make a recommendation for fellow dietitians and really anyone who is here: listen to the March 9 episode of the Ezra Klein Show called What Does Toxic Stress Do to Children? With Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. Dr. Harris has pioneered the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) research which, in her opinion, is up there with germ theory in terms of importance in overall scientific understanding. As someone who is intimately involved in people’s health myself, I would agree with her assessment as to this understanding and body of literature being groundbreaking and absolutely critical science in our understanding of health and trauma-informed care. In this podcast she outlines what happens physiologically in the body with toxic stress and how the affects health outcomes and how things that happen to us as kids actually change our brains, immune system, heart health, etc. If you care about health (dietitian or not) THIS STUFF IS SO CRITICAL to understanding trauma-informed solutions for individuals who are suffering and to our collective wellbeing as a community and society. They also spend some time talking about the toxic stress we are collectively going through during this pandemic which was a thoughtful and insightful part of the discussion I enjoyed too. Listen! I’ll post a link in my stories.

Happy RD day! And let’s do better as a profession to provide trauma-informed care to our clients, patients and really to all the humans we come across 😘

Positive Nutrition with Paige Smathers, RDN

05/17/2021

04/27/2021

04/16/2021

04/02/2021

04/01/2021

03/31/2021

03/31/2021

03/25/2021

03/19/2021

03/15/2021

03/11/2021

03/10/2021

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