Stories and perspective to help your food life thrive.
Eating doesn’t have the be complicated or intimidating.
Becoming Foodtuitive means embracing a healthier perspective and embarking on a journey to unlock freedom and care for your body in a natural and healthy way. This is a place to find advice, inspiration and tools to make positive changes in your life, starting today.
“Hi, I’m Emily, When I’m not busy working with clients, I enjoy spending time with my family. I am married to my biggest supporter and mom to four fun and busy kids. We enjoy sports, being outdoors and getting creative in the kitchen.”
What is recovery? Putting yourself back in the driver’s seat… and staying there.
Last month I sent a newsletter and really appreciated the positive response. It's great to know that what I wrote resonated with many readers, and because of that feedback I want to share what I had written here on the blog. In case you are not on my mailing list and...
5 truths about eating and self-care during stressful times
This COVID-19 situation has us all out of sorts. There’s a lot of uncertainty, to say the least. I also think there’s a lot of noise about all the uncertainty and I want to be careful not to add to that. So here I am offering what I hope is support, not just more...
A dietitian’s guide to raising a body-positive child
In the appearance-obsessed culture we live in, raising a body-positive child takes intentional work and effort. Helping a child respect and feel confident about his or her body is no small feat, but it's definitely possible. Because our culture idealizes thinness, it...
What Dietitians wish more people knew about eating disorders – NEDAwareness 2020
National Eating Disorder Awareness Week happens each year during the month of February and this year, it takes place from February 24th through March 1st. This year’s theme builds on last year's: "Come As You Are: Hindsight is 2020." Those struggling with eating...
How do I stop eating when I’m full?
Last month I shared a blogpost called, "How do I know if I’m hungry?” and I'm sure it would feel helpful to follow up with some thoughts about fullness. Fullness often feels just as tricky as hunger. The biggest reason for that is we don’t stop eating just because we...
How do I know if I’m hungry?
These days, we are taught to be suspicious of our hunger cues, leading to distrust for what our bodies are actually communicating to us. Many people wonder if what they perceive as hunger could actually be boredom, dehydration or emotional eating. It’s an interesting...
How to navigate food abundant holidays while in eating disorder recovery
For those who struggle with food, the holiday season can feel overwhelming… to put it mildly. You can easily live in a constant state of stress, anxiety and overwhelm, which is so understandable given all you are battling and trying to overcome. The holidays do...
6 tips for handling diet and weight talk in eating disorder recovery
As I sit in sessions with clients recovering from eating disorders, this is what I hear them saying over and over and over again: "I just wish everyone would quit talking so much about food and weight." "I wish people would quit commenting on everyone's food and other...
Why structure supports unconditional permission to eat
Unconditional permission to eat is vital for making peace with food and putting yourself back in charge of your food choices. It's also the part of Intuitive Eating that feels most overwhelming. And it would! If you're going from rigid meal plans and strict food rules...
Mindful eating is a tool, not a rule.
I hear this a lot, "My problem is that I just love food too much!". I understand the concern in that statement.. but I disagree! I don't think loving food and enjoying eating experiences is ever a problem. In fact, maybe the goal is to love food MORE. That might sound...
Calories in vs calories out: Is there more to that equation?
For years, health professionals have tried to boil nutrition down to calories in and calories out, particularly when discussing concerns about weight. It seems appealing to make it that black and white, but is it an accurate theory? In reality, it’s a gross...
What is a healthy weight? Drawbacks to using BMI for measuring health.
Determining healthy weight is a complicated issue. We can observe the variability in just looking around us; obviously, we come in many different shapes and sizes. Regulation of body weight seems to be a mix of a variety of factors, most notably genetics and...
A weight-neutral approach to health
As a weight-neutral, non-diet dietitian, I believe strongly that weight is not a reliable predictor of health and am not one to measure the success of nutrition interventions based on changes in body weight. I'd love to take the opportunity to explain why I feel like...
Eat Confident Foundations – the 8 skills and strategies for becoming a confident eater
"I'm totally on board with letting go of diets and food rules and love the idea of becoming a confident eater, but where do I even start?" That might be a question I get more than any other. It’s a really great question and I’ve thought a lot about it. While there are...
Why focusing on weight can be harmful to your health
These days, it’s easy to believe that weight determines health. Your experiences could support that belief — perhaps you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes and your doctor has told you to lose weight. Or maybe you’ve visited a physician due to knee pain and they’ve once...
Are you a competent eater? Here’s how to tell.
It’s a common assumption that people choose nutritious foods because they know they should while people who don’t are being lazy or don’t care. However, we actually find that people choose food for a variety of reasons and only one of them may be nutrition. Other...
NEDA 2019: Come As You Are – Busting Myths About Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are serious life-threatening mental illnesses. National surveys show that 20 million American women and 10 million American men will suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives. There is not a single, specific cause; it’s usually a...
Eating Disorders, Infertility, Anger and Regret
My baby just turned one! I can honestly say that I’ve loved every minute of the past 12 months. I never thought I would have this experience again - both being pregnant and having a new baby - and I’ve savored all of it. But I’ve also been feeling incredibly emotional...
Are You A “Normal Eater”?
At this time of the year when so many people are making goals around food and eating, it might be helpful for you to know what “normal eating” actually is. That’s a confusing topic, right? Everyone has their own ideas. But it becomes a lot more clear when you factor...
You Aren’t Addicted to Sugar, But Here’s Why You Might Think You Are
The theory of sugar addiction (or food addiction more broadly) is controversial. Despite what mainstream media or mosts health gurus have led you to believe, the research to date is inconclusive. As such, the current sugar detox frenzy is more misinformed fear...