I'm popping in quickly to share today that the collaborative book, The Great Pause, is available for free download today! As you know, I contributed Chapter 18 to the book - talking about food and fear of weight gain during a global pandemic. You can also order a physical copy of the book from Amazon or my website. (Don't worry Mom, I have a copy for you!)

What I'd like to share with you today is an essay I wrote on healing. You can use this information to apply to anything in your life that feels like it's not working the way you want it to. You don't ever need any fixing, but sometimes we could all use some healing. The link to this post on my blog is here in case you want to share this with others.

I also found it enormously helpful to realize that sometimes - all the behaviors we beat ourselves up for (the ones we wish we did and the ones we wish we didn't do) might be part of our conditioning and programming and are not moral failings. Phew! Good to know!

I recently had an epiphany about our relationship with food and body. This epiphany had multiple parts and has actually been brewing over the past year. It will take some time to fully flesh out and explain but here is the relatively quick version.

I also want to make it clear that this epiphany has come after practicing intuitive eating for 7-8 years in addition to receiving my own life coaching, sifting through layer after layer of emotions and embracing my own spiritual transformation as part of doing the work required to heal my own relationship with food and body.

My epiphany is:

Wow, wow, wow - what a week it's been. I am so grateful for the awakening that is happening on the planet and so inspired and appreciative of the black women who have been so full of grace and love as we find our way through this next iteration of our evolution.

I am also awed by the anger and rage and thankful to everyone who has shared their experiences. It is humbling and heartbreaking and inspiring.

Growth and love - this is all about growth and love.

As you know if you have been reading this blog for a while, this space is all about inclusion and acceptance. It's about oneness and equality. It's about love and freedom.

Fat people, tall people, short people, small people. All genders, all nationalities and all colors.

Oneness to me is not political, it's humanitarian.

Last week I talked about weight gain during the quarantine since many people are worried about that (thanks to diet culture and diet mentality and our social conditioning). This week I'd like to talk about what else could happen.

It's just as possible that people will lose weight during the quarantine.

Or people may stay the same.

Disruption of routines can affect people in a wide variety of ways.

I’d like to talk about a few things that I know people are worried about during the quarantine.

The first is people being worried about gaining weight during quarantine and the second is related and the other side of the coin - the idea of eating "healthy" during the quarantine.

Ok - so let's dive in.

So today is going to be really fun. I'm sharing all kinds of resources from the world of energy medicine, energy healing, mind/body healing and spirituality. If this does not appeal to you - no worries!

I love this realm because it is full of possibilities. As a recovered chronic dieter and people pleaser, I spent most of my life trying to find the "right" answers and do the "right" thing.

I love the world of the spirit because it reminds us that there is no such thing and that "right" is different for every person. It also reminds us to go within to find out what that is. It asks us to question, "What Else is Possible?"

.....a message of love and hope.

So I don't know about you, but I spent the weekend in a bit of a fear spiral. I knew it was happening but I was drawn to CNN like butter to a potato.

It wasn't an all-out panic but it was enough to remind me that it doesn't help and it doesn't feel good and it's actually not necessary.

I know it sure feels necessary right now but one of the real challenges is not letting that voice and that energy suck you in.

I'm feeling inspired today to share what I believe. That way, you'll know if you are in the right place and if you want to subscribe to my newsletter and receive weekly(ish) support and inspiration on your path to food peace.

It's hard to capture everything, so this list will be incomplete.

This list will also change often because we are always changing. Change is about the only thing we can count on.

Hi all! I'm popping in today to share a few tools that I have been using lately in my self-acceptance practice.

Cognitively, it was really easy for me to grasp the importance of self-acceptance and the benefit I'd receive from reducing the negative thoughts that I had for myself and my body. 

But it has been more of a challenge to release the fears I had embedded in my body, about my body, and to practice my new beliefs in real life.

And now for a reader question!

JB says that she let go of dieting for 18 months and her weight stabilized. She didn't have a bottomless hunger anymore and was feeling better but…..

"I recently got married and now I've put on a bit of weight, I feel more drawn to sweet things again and am hungrier like at the start. I know that the key to all this is acceptance rather than liking it but I have a whole new set of clothes that aren't going to fit me again if I keep going and why now!

Among other things, I'm a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor.  My clients come to me because they want to learn Intuitive Eating. However, I'm also a Certified Professional Life Coach and what I also really want to share is that if you go straight to Intuitive Eating (IE) in order to heal your relationship with food, it's like "putting a vitamin in your poop" (a great phrase I heard from Melody Fletcher the other day.

Diet and exercise, in order to change your body and make you happy,  is also like putting a vitamin in your poop.

What you are eating and how you are moving, whether it's intuitive or restrictive, are the behaviors you have, which means they are the last step in the process when we make choices.

I'm headed to the Dr. today.  I have been having some pain and numbness in my arm that is causing me to lose sleep. Frankly, I think it's "Holidayitis" - it happens every year in some form or another. I actually know what I need to do - rest, relax, let go of some shit and have some holiday fun.

But this blog isn't about my aches and pains.  This blog is an effort to inform and educate those in the medical profession who might need to change how they do business in 2020.  This change has been needed for decades and I'm hoping it will start to sink in soon.

This blog is about health forms and the impact they have and how we can make sure they are having the impact that is most effective and intended.

This morning I thought of a great analogy between a popular book and working on your relationship with food and body.  I'll probably look back and realize I said something similar a year ago but that in itself brings up another good point. 

During this work, we will often revisit the same issues, concepts, and feelings that we may have already addressed in the past. It doesn't mean you are taking a step backward, you can never take a step backward. 

It's not uncommon that what is coming up for my clients is coming up for me and coming up for many people in my world who I am having conversations with. 

I know this isn't an accident because we are all connected.  

What I am noticing right now is the tendency we have to ignore how we are feeling about something, consciously or unconsciously, and then blame something, totally unrelated, for how we feel. 

Congratulations! That is so exciting that you have chosen to leave diet culture behind and repair your relationship with food and body.  Bravo to you. This work takes courage and strength.

To help you on your way, I wrote this post to give you some support as you head into the holiday season.

If it's the first time you are seeing family and friends since you gave up dieting, it can be intimidating and uncomfortable, it can also be incredibly freeing and exhilarating.

Here are a few things you can do to navigate those first few holidays.

Did you grow up despising or disliking your body? Did your parents like their bodies? Have you spent years and perhaps decades (like me) trying to change your body? How do we make sure we do not pass our harmful limiting beliefs and attitudes on to our children?

Or if thinking about your body negatively has never occurred to you, but it seems to be happening to your child, what can you do?