I'm thinking a lot these days about what life will be like next week, next month, this summer, next year.  What if things don't go back to the way they were? None of us knows the future which is why trying to live there makes us anxious.  

I used to be anxious about my body all the time. What if I eat this or don't exercise or don't follow the latest supposed health promise (which really just meant a smaller body)? What if my body doesn't go back to the way it was before I was pregnant? 

After pregnancy, nobody tells you that your body doesn't just "bounce" back. We're flooded with celebrity images showcasing their miraculous comeback after birth while the rest of us are in our leggings and spit-up filled clothes wondering what's "wrong" with me and my body?  

After our 6th baby, my body isn't the same (no surprise there) and people at my house are noticing. I’m sitting with my five-year-old reading books at the end of the day and he quietly...

This weekend we celebrated Easter at our house.  Dying eggs, hiding eggs, making and enjoying a big meal, hunting for baskets and baking.  Having lived abroad once and in different states than our family for many years, this wasn't our first rodeo for a solo holiday.  Still, each time we celebrate alone, it feels a little empty without family and friends. 

To feel like we were with family, my girls and I baked some traditional Italian cookies that my grandma used to make (and my mom still makes). These cookies are melt in your mouth good and very festive (see here). Once the dough was made, I shaped them into fun Easter shapes like baskets, hearts and bunnies. 

The shapes were ready to go in the oven and as I was sliding the cookie sheet in, my daughter said "Oh, look at that fat bunny. Wait, that wasn't very nice, sorry little bunny!" 

Pause for dramatic affect.....(did she really just say that?)

Does she know I write...

We just made it through our 3rd week in quarantine and it feels like sh*t just got real with homeschooling 4 kids, wrangling a toddler, caring for an 8 week old baby, and keeping up with cooking, cleaning and laundry.   

I hear about people posting lofty three month goals, showing off completely organized and clean houses, baking delicious sweets, crafting extravagant projects that would impress even Martha Stewart and sharing quarantine schedules to maximize productivity.  To be honest, I’d like to be doing some of these things (I told you I was a secret organizer last week), but the reality is I’m often getting through each minute much less each day at a time.  

To maintain some level of sanity during the quarantine (when will it end??), I'm doing six things everyday.  I hope you can consider adding them to your day to keep you mentally and physically well for the long haul.  

1. Get some air.  Luckily, the northeast...

It's been a long time since I've engaged personally on social media.  I made the conscious choice to stop scrolling online and start focusing my time IRL.  As a busy mom of 6, my time is precious and getting sucked into the social media vortex wasn't where I wanted to spend my minutes, hours, days and years over time.  Even just 10 minutes a day adds up to 25 days over 10 years.  

I admit, however, that social distancing has me wanting to reach for my phone and scroll as a distraction, to see "what's going on" or to feel connected.  So far, I haven't been pulled back, other than reading a few specific posts (you know the ones that pop into your inbox....so and so has a new post!). I know that if I do scroll, however, my feed will be "safe".  

A while ago, I made sure that all of the people I follow in my feed were body positive.  Research shows that looking at images of people who are smaller than you or model size zero, will negatively affect...

Our family is on week 3 of quarantine.  Just like you, we're having our highs and lows.

While COVID-19 is by no means a laughing matter, laughter is medicine that we could all use during this time. If you haven’t seen this video about Every Mom In America Right Now yet, do yourself a favor and watch 3 minutes of hilarity. 

I laughed so hard at this video that I actually had tears streaming down my face.  I was that mom standing at the closet threatening the donate pile. If, like me, you’ve already tortured your children with a closet clean out, it’s your turn to spring clean. 

Confession time: I secretly LOVE organizing and editing, especially closets.  

Cleaning and editing your closet are two very different things, however. I want to encourage you to actually edit your items so that you have a streamlined, happy place to start and end your day.  Doing this will make getting dressed a pleasant and even fun...

Nope, no thank you, Corona.

I'm not going to use your quiet, unspoken and unwelcome invitation to use this time in isolation to go on one final diet or cleanse or fast.  

I'm not going to give into my natural fears during an uncertain time to do something to my body that will harm me both physically and mentally (aka dieting). 

I'm not going to try gaining "control" in what feels like an out-of-control situation by restricting my food or overexercising.  I know that this false sense of control would, ironically, only lead to me feeling out of control around food.   

I'm not going to use this time of fear to create more fear or shame in my life about my body or my health. 

Nope, I'm going to use this time to really listen to my body.  Listen to what she needs, what she wants and what she desires.  I'm going to commit to getting to know myself even better and practice self acceptance (not always east post baby).  

I'm going to remember to...

I used to think hope was such a strong and powerful way to approach things that I wanted to achieve or have happen in my life.  

If I hoped really long and hard about something, I believed that would increase my chances of getting what I wanted.

But, lately, I’m not hoping for things anymore. Hoping with fingers crossed and eyes closed isn’t the best approach to getting what you want. The thing is, there’s no action in that hope.  

And sometimes, hope can actually be harmful.  

Hope can keep you on that never ending diet cycle, because maybe you “just haven’t found the right one for you yet”. Hope can make you feel like “if I just try harder, this next diet will work”.

The problem is, we’ve become emotionally attached to the idea of being thin. We’ve been told a lie - that “thin is feasible and necessary for health and happiness and success”.

We do harmful things to ourselves to...

“When I eat more than my normal amount of food, the food makes me feel numb.”  

Have you ever said this to yourself?

Have you ever wondered why food makes you feel numb?

Let’s break this statement down to see what we really mean when we say this.

It is true that food may physically make you feel sleepy, or affect your blood sugar (aka your energy levels), BUT, food itself has no power to emotionally numb you from the world.  

Our emotional feelings are a direct result of our thoughts. Therefore, the food we eat cannot create an emotional feeling. There must be a thought that we associate with food that results in the feeling of being numb. And most likely, that thought is littered with shame and guilt.  

It might go something like this:

“I can’t believe you ate that, you have no control, you’re hopeless, you’ll never be good enough.”

That thought right there is what actually causes you to feel numb,...

Do you believe in love at first sight?

What about life after death?

Do you believe that you can do anything you set your mind to?

Do you believe that you should be able to control your body through diet and exercise?

Do you believe that only a certain body type is worthy of love, respect and admiration? 

I want you to stop and think about what you believe about food and your body.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you may have already learned to see some things differently - or maybe you’re still clinging to your old beliefs.

Take a minute and write down a few of the thoughts you currently believe. (Or – if, like me, you have a toddler yelling “Mommy!” 10 times in a row and then forgetting what he needed - maybe just think about them).

Did you do that? Ok, great.

Did any of these thoughts come up?

1.   I know that other people can lose weight, so I should be able to do the same.
2.   If I could just find the “right” way to...

Some days it’s easy to love yourself, and some days it’s really hard. I work in the world of professional coaching and I hear this message touted all the time: We have to take responsibility for creating our own results, and we have to love ourselves in order to make changes.

I agree with these principles to an extent - but sometimes all the self love in the world doesn’t change the fact that a situation really just blows.

Take, for example, the experience of a woman living in a larger body and the barriers she faces due to systemic prejudices. Women living in larger bodies:

-       have a harder time getting approval for medical procedures like surgeries, joint replacements and fertility treatments

-       make an average of $9,000-$19,000 less than their thin counterparts

-       have to take extra care when navigating public spaces, such as airports and restaurants and doctor’s offices, to make sure they...