Sign up for my weekly newsletter, MindBody Mondays!

Bad bunny

candy kids sugar Mar 25, 2024

I was a bad bunny. 

I’ll never forget the Easter I was determined to be the virtuous green goddess (aka diet culture) bunny. 

Candy hidden in Easter eggs? No way.

Chocolate bunny in the Easter basket? Not a chance.

Jelly beans in the faux Easter grass? Nope. 

Not for this clean mama and her disciples. 

As our kids dashed around the yard looking for their eggs, suspense to see what was inside was mounting. 

As they gathered on the grass to crack open their eggs, excitement dwindled as quickly as the air leaving a popped balloon. 


“Where’s the candy?”
“Why is there fake sugar cereal in these?”

“At least there’s some money in a couple”.

The comments and discontent were verging on mutiny except they were (thankfully) too young to know how to organize and demand reparations. 

Green goddess wasn’t going down that day though. It would take her some time to unlearn diet culture’s ways and it...

Continue Reading...

American Girl Got It Wrong

diets kids puberty Apr 12, 2021

My daughter cuddled up to my side peering over my shoulder at the drawings of the “inside” boy parts. When I started rattling off names like seminal vesicle and vas deferans, I could sense that it was time to lighten up before the “big reveal”. 

We had embarked on our homeschool version of the birds and the bees since official school lessons start next week. I switched over to the American Girl classic “The Care and Keeping of Us” so we could talk about deodorant and bras instead of male anatomy. 

It’s been a couple of years since I looked at this book, but I have to say, American Girl got it wrong. Their language around weight and food isn’t ok. Let’s break it down with some direct quotes from the book (unfortunately this is just a small sampling of the MANY erroneous statements). 

 "We've been getting that chicken takeout a lot. Can we think of something else that's healthy, but would be a change? How about...

Continue Reading...

Stop Laughing At Me

body image kids Nov 16, 2020

My son looked at me sheepishly and started giggling.

"What’s so funny?" I huffed after finishing a 30 second plank. 

"Umm, mom, your stomach looks kinda weird".

I looked down at my bare belly between my lululemon shorts and sports bra and had a brief, but important pause.

This pause reminded me that these are the moments where I can teach my kids (and myself) acceptance or disgust. Love or hate. Compassion or criticism. 

There was a time when I used to hate many parts of my body and would’ve likely heard that comment and recommitted myself to a new lifestyle change including extra cardio, restricted calories and food elimination.

I can honestly say that I’ve drastically eliminated my body dissatisfaction so I was able to look at my son and, wait for it, laugh with him.

"It does look kinda funny...sort of like a big marshmallow with a mouth in the middle! But you know what? I love my belly because all of you grew in there. It’s a very...
Continue Reading...
Close

Join Me for MindBody Mondays!

Sign up to receive weekly inspiration and advice on intuitive eating, being healthy at every size, self-care, and so much more!

Delivered right to your inbox, every Monday.