Love Yourself Towards Healthy

05/07/2024

Over 9 years of teaching group fitness and finally getting to wear COLORS instead of all black! It might seem like no big deal but it’s so weird…and oh so freeing! 🌈🎉💪🏼

04/15/2024

What happens if I just start posting pics of my food again like it’s 2013? 🤭

This summer salad is the best! High in protein & fiber.
-chickpeas
-diced veggies (I did zucchini, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onion)
-kale
-grilled chicken and/or hard boiled egg
-tossed in EVOO & red wine vinegar

Holds up so good in the fridge throughout the week too!

08/09/2023

Another beautiful day 🏖️☀️

03/25/2023

Happy 3rd Birthday, Laila! 🎉🐶

10/02/2021

Pop Quiz: Do you order the item you actually want? Or settle for the low-calorie version?

https://loveyourselftowardshealthy.com/blog/order-what-you-actually-want/

When you order what you actually want the first time, things go A LOT better and healthier. Read what happens when you don't.

09/21/2021

When your hair hasn’t been straight in 6 mos feeling!

If you need me, I’ll just be running my fingers through my hair.

09/09/2021

This hierarchy puts for-profit insurance first.

Yesterday I spoke to a potential client. She shared with me that she desperately wants to heal from years of dieting and become an intuitive eater. BUT. She needs surgery to improve her quality of life and insurance won't cover it until she loses 30 lbs. Her P*P even wrote a letter to fight it because she is of utmost health in organ functionality, bloodwork, A1C levels are of zero concern for pre-diabetes, etc.

But they overruled and denied it. Until she's out of the “obese” category on the BMI scale.

So she's now taking appetite suppressants, severely undereating, practicing disordered eating habits, not sleeping well, and feeling anxiety.

Essentially forcing herself to be UNHEALTHY so she can appease the “health” insurance company to get the surgery she needs.

This breaks my heart for her and enrages me!!!

This is NOT about health. This is about weight stigma. Fatphobia. Money. Power. And a damn numbers game that ignores actual health. Overruling medical doctors’ treatment plan!

This 👏 is 👏 not 👏 okay 👏 !!!!!

09/03/2021

Because IIFYM & carb cycling are restrictive diets.

It genuinely felt like food freedom. After years of anorexia and orthorexia, to be told to eat more food in general and a lot of carbs half the week, it was freeing!

But bodies aren't supposed to be restricted of carbs the other half of the week. Food isn't supposed to be micromanaged down to the gram. Food scales aren't meant to be a constant resident on your kitchen counter. Owning 4 sets of measuring cups & spoons isn't a sign of self-control around food. And destroying your mental health in hopes of losing inches isn't a badge of good health.

If you're realizing that your quest for better health has just resulting in a messed up relationship with food, fitness & body image...join my next group coaching session of Diet-Free Academy. We begin on Tuesday! 12-weeks to quit dieting and start healing.

09/02/2021

Blame diet culture for the confusion.

Physical appearance cannot reveal health & physical health is only part of your wellness.

Your physical appearance is diet culture’s calling card. Before/after photos, weight/fat loss advertising, inches loss brags, fitting into a smaller dress size and using words like ‘shred.’

But those visuals reveal NOTHING about a person’s health. A person may have intentionally starved themselves to lose weight and are dealing with a full-blown eating disorder. Or may be suffering through a major illness that destroyed their appetite. Maybe they’re undergoing treatment, like chemotherapy, that resulted in dramatic weight loss. It’s also possible they committed to an unsustainable, short-term fat loss program despite how it negatively impacts their mental health and physical health.

In other words, just because a person has lost weight, it doesn’t automatically mean they’re now healthy. Just as, a person who is naturally thin isn’t automatically healthy either. Because there’s so many other important factors when it comes to your health.

Your physical health is how well your organs are functioning to keep you alive. Blood panel stats like your hormone levels, vitamin levels, cholesterol, platelet counts, blood cells, etc. It includes your stamina, strength, balance, flexibility and mobility. How well your 5 senses are functioning (taste, smell, sight, touch & hearing.) Your physical health is impacted by hydration, sleep patterns, digestion, s*x drive, elimination frequency, and yes, the nutrition and frequency of the foods you choose to eat. But even with all of these important health factors listed, it still doesn’t capture the full scale of what health and wellness includes.

Diet culture hopes you'll continue associating weight/fat with health. They got $72B proving this method of confusion works and they want to keep growing. The question is though…will you keep supporting them?

08/28/2021

IF is counter-intuitive to your body's needs.

I fought the idea of intermittent fasting (IF) for like 2 years. I even remember buying a book about it, and tossing it across the room not even halfway in. I KNEW it could trigger my Anorexia.

I also fought the idea of joining a certain diet program because it promoted IF and had the dreaded words "Fat Loss" in the company name. Double-whammy. No thanks.

But I IGNORED MY INTUITION THAT TOLD ME TO STAY AWAY FROM THIS WAY OF DISORDERED EATING. Through a combination of bad body image, inexplicable weight gain, FOMO (I knew so many others doing/promoting the program) & feelings of out of control, I finally joined the diet program anyway.

That’s when I found myself teaching other women how to do intermittent fasting too.

And the way I taught them...I realize now...was to slowly suffocate their hunger cues. To "build endurance" for ignoring hunger. To work your way, in 30-60 minute increments, until you hit the 16:8 fasting protocol. I even coached women through 24-hour fasts...cheering that it was a mind-over-matter exercise to show yourself you have strength & discipline 💔🤦‍♀️

Coming off of IF, I even gave "intuitive fasting" (not a real thing) a whirl because I was finding it so impossible to rediscover my hunger cues and eat in the mornings.

I never apologize for this period in my career, because I genuinely believed in intermittent fasting at the time. I didn't know the damage it eventually would do to me and others. Issues like hormonal imbalance, thyroid issues, chronic stress, indigestion, and mental health issues. To name only a few.

Your hunger cues are there FOR A PURPOSE. To keep your organs functioning optimally. To provide energy. To help you stay HEALTHY.

Diets, in general, quiet the volume of our hunger cues so that we wait until we're absolutely famished. And IF kicks it to a whole new level. One that, take it from me, makes it REALLY REALLY hard to get back in touch with your hunger cues.

08/27/2021

When your goal is to FEEL better, the approach matters.

When I look back on my years of dieting, it's tempting to say 'wtf was I thinking?!' But that's not fair to me. Or really, anyone who has ever been caught up in diet culture (*cough* all of us *cough*)

When I finally quit dieting through therapy and Intuitive Eating, I realized I had wasted so much time and energy chasing after a smaller body in the (false) name of health. I had lost myself over the years. I had harmed my mental health through disordered eating. I had missed so many opportunities to just freely live my life with joy.

Therapy helped me learn that disordered eating was an UNhealthy coping tool I had used throughout my life so that I could feel more in control.

So we worked together to create healthy coping tools that would honor & serve my body. Coupled with the framework of Intuitive Eating and body image work, I've rebuilt self-trust & confidence in a way I've never experienced before!

What if you made it YOUR health goal to heal from dieting, feel your best and prioritize your health?

What if you tried therapy this time, instead of joining that August 30th round of ?

I imagine you would experience healing, better coping tools, self-trust & confidence too! Experiences that cannot be achieved through dieting. ❤️

(PS--I am not a therapist. But I am a Nutritionist who can help with the intuitive eating side of it. This post was inspired by my own experience working with BOTH a licensed therapist AND an intuitive eating coach. As well as many of my clients who thrive choosing a similar path of working with both simultaneously.)

08/26/2021

🚩Weight/fat loss = Diet 🚩

Diet culture is smart! They know a LOT of people are sick of the lose-weight-quick scams.

But instead of promoting evidence-based solutions for better mental & physical health, diet/lifestyle companies are crafting content to appear anti-diet. And investing more money & resources on amping up their marketing teams so they can outsmart consumers.

Diet programs (and all the coaches associated with them) are presenting bold statements like "stop dieting!," "dieting causes weight gain!" and "focus on your health!"

Which of course are true! BUT!!!!!

In typical diet culture fashion, they twist these statements into something that still fits their weight/fat loss company's narrative. Completely losing the intended meaning, nuance and context of the science-backed truth.

And it's getting frightening how well certain diets can mask their fatphobia. Especially when they cherry-pick terms that we use in Intuitive Eating and eating disorder recovery. And if you're coming off of a more severe diet, their co-opted language can feel empowering & healing.

But weight/fat loss-based programming perpetuates the same damage diet culture has been causing for decades. No matter what language they use. BECAUSE THEY ARE THE SAME.

Instead:
✅ Define what healthy FEELS like to you! Prioritize your mental health. Engage in behaviors that serve your own individual body. Work on your inner dialogue & learn healthy coping tools. Heal your body image & practice self-respect.

🚫 Avoid accounts who promise to "heal your relationship with food while still losing weight." And definitely steer clear of those who speak about fighting the "obesity epidemic." That was literally created by diet culture to fear-monger & sell more product/programs.