You know what I find incredibly satisfying? Using things to the end. Like the bitter end. I wear socks and favorite t-shirts until there’s a hole. Any tube at our house like toothpaste, sunscreen and shampoo gets cut open so we can use up every last drop. At last count, I had 4 tubes cut in half in various rooms of our house. 

I’m currently using up a jar of coconut oil, too. Do you remember when the “experts” were recommending coconut oil to cook everything? That was way back when I jumped on the health goods bandwagon. (Let’s not count how many years I’ve had this stuff and never mind that I could just empty the tub, recycle it and move on with my life.) Back to the oil. This stuff is gross. Sorry if you love it, but I think it tastes awful.

What's really awful is the number of things I stomached over the years in the name of "health". I wasted too much time, energy and money on the so-called health expert's picks. It's frustrating...

Summer is here! We survived homeschooling and are onto the task of camp mom.

One task I'm glad I've quit for good is shopping for diet products that are so-called "approved" on the latest plan. 

If you grew up in the 90’s you might remember the brand Snackwells,  or maybe Entemann’s fat free desserts. Back then, diet culture had us believing that everything should be fat free because fat was the devil causing our waistlines to increase and our moral values to decrease.  

Maybe your mom did Weight Watchers, the cabbage soup diet, Nutrisystem, or Jenny Craig. Maybe she even dragged you to a meeting or weekly weigh-in - in which case, it’s very likely you  developed a negative narrative around how you feel about your body.**

Fast forward to the 21st century: many women are now onto the diet industry. We know that diets only work in the short term and that there’s no diet out there that works long term.  We’re much cooler...

Hey mama, 

Summer is here! We survived homeschooling and are onto the task of camp mom.

One task I'm glad I've quit for good is shopping for diet products that are so-called "approved" on the latest plan. 

If you grew up in the 90’s you might remember the brand Snackwells,  or maybe Entemann’s fat free desserts. Back then, diet culture had us believing that everything should be fat free because fat was the devil causing our waistlines to increase and our moral values to decrease.  

Maybe your mom did Weight Watchers, the cabbage soup diet, Nutrisystem, or Jenny Craig. Maybe she even dragged you to a meeting or weekly weigh-in - in which case, it’s very likely you  developed a negative narrative around how you feel about your body.**

Fast forward to the 21st century: many women are now onto the diet industry. We know that diets only work in the short term and that there’s no diet out there that works long term.  We’re...

Hey mama, 

This past week has felt heavy and hard. I don't pretend that as a woman with white privilege that I have any answers or that I'm an expert on being anti-racist. I'm sure I'll say and do things that are wrong, but I'd rather say something than nothing. Silence brought us to where we are today and won't work going forward.

It's impossible to silence the truth about the intersectionality of marginal identities. Race, gender, religion, size, sexuality and disability all affect our experience with discrimination. To truly fight oppression and discrimination, we must first understand where we sit in society. Without doing this, we will never fully appreciate the inequities woven into our society and too many will continue being compromised. Here's where I won't compromise....

I know that I'm learning to be anti-racist. 

I know that I'm for equality. 

I know that I'm learning to be anti-diet. 

I know that I'm for ending oppression. 

I know...

Hey mama,

Depending on where you live, you might have been feeling like your life was slowly returning back to normal. Then things started looking abnormal again.

George Floyd. Minnesota. Nationwide riots. Violence. Rage. Racism. 

I got this text message from my friend who lives in Minnesota:
"Burned cars on the highway. Signs everywhere about the murder. Burning buildings, huge smoke clouds coming from St. Paul and Minneapolis. Things not going well here."

It's not good here. It's 2020 and racism in any form isn't ok. I'm horrified that innocent people are being killed. Our system has failed too many for far too long. 

Diet culture has it's roots in racism and the entire diet culture system is based on oppression. While it might seem superfluous to talk about food and body, it's important to see the connection. I know it's uncomfortable to consider that dieting and racism are related, but they two are connected. The belief that thinner is better and that larger bodied...

Hey mama,

Happy Memorial Day! If you're anything like me, you don't know whether it's Tuesday or Sunday these days, but hopefully you can pause today to honor those who've lost their lives while serving for our country. 

Our country is in the midst of fighting a pandemic that will undoubtedly shift the way we live, work and socialize for months and likely years, yet fatphobic comments and obsessions with weight are still taking center stage. 

Regardless of what side of center you sit with your politics, I hope you can recognize that Nancy Pelosi calling Donald Trump, "morbidly obese" is wrong. This was in response to Mr. Trump announcing that he's taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine, which is a drug traditionally used for malaria. 
Here's her direct qoute: “He’s our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and his, shall we say, weight group ... m*rbidly...

Hey mama,

We're coming into the homestretch of school which feels both good and bad. The weather in the Northeast is finally warming up and the spring flowers are in full bloom. Neighbors are out in their driveways, riding bikes, jogging, walking and skateboarding. Some people are actually smiling and waving to us which feels like a huge improvement for the typically cold New Englanders. 

I like this extra time we have on the streets getting to know our neighborhood and appreciating the gorgeous Spring colors and smells. I've found myself stopping to take pictures of flowers and notice neighbors doing the same. When was the last time you actually felt like you could "stop and smell the roses"? 

Being able to stop (maybe not during the week which is a solid repeat of school, cooking, zooming, and cleaning) is a gift. While I don't underestimate that this is an extremely difficult time for many, I do want to recognize what is good. This unwelcome pause on life has given...

Is it just me, or have some of the rules at your house gone out the window during the pandemic? 
No screen time during the week has now become hours of screen time daily!
No pajamas to school unless it's pajama day is now wear your pajamas all day, every day!
Some of the rule breaking has been more welcome than others. 

What happens when you don't have rules around food? Spoiler alert: no rules around food is a good thing. 

One of the tenets of Intuitive Eating is to give yourself unconditional permission to eat. This means throwing out all rules and restrictions around food, and tuning into what your body desires. This can seem scary for a lot of people, and you may be wondering what happens when there are no rules around food.

Deb Burgard, strong supporter of the Health at Every Size movement, and an advocate for Intuitive Eating, has a great line that explains the process you may experience when  learning to eat intuitively. Deb says:

“We go from...

Hey mama,

How's it going this week? 

Do you remember that commercial with the Oreos that showed how everyone had a different way of eating them? Oreos are a favorite at our house and each of our 5 (#6 doesn't eat food yet) kids eats them differently. One dunks in milk, one breaks them apart and just eats the creme, one likes to break it into small pieces, one twists and licks off the creme before eating the cookies and one just eats them straight up. It's safe to say we have a bunch of cookie monsters at our house!

Did you know that there's a game called "Are You Hungry, Cookie Monster?" Last week, I was helping our 5 year old with his classwork and was listening to his PE class. The kids were playing the game which is really just tag. The kids take three steps closer the person playing "Cookie Monster" after asking "Cookie Monster" the question, "Are You Hungry, "Cookie Monster?" "Cookie Monster "replies "no" along with a "healthy" food he/she ate. Eventually...