healthy and beautiful

In the time I’ve been practicing nutrition I’ve become a mother twice (three times if we count Bronco). I’ve seen clients have children and younger children grow up. I’ve had clients refer their parents to me and of course parents “urge” children, of all different ages, to start Foodtraining. The weight dynamic within families is something Carolyn and I spend a lot of time sorting out. Last week, I read a letter a father submitted to Social Q’s in the Times. His letter opened with “my 9-year-old daughter is fat” ouch, no mincing words with that sentence. The father felt his daughter was old enough for a dialog about making good choices and indicated that his wife disagreed. “She worries about the effect on our daughter’s self-esteem.” Philip Galanes blasted the father in his response. He pointed out the father’s bluntness, lack of apparent love and interest in how his daughter’s weight reflected on him. He warned this father that he would increase the chances of developing an eating d...

I haven’t written in a bit but I have a good reason. I was in food shock.  It started a few weeks ago. We decided- I should say I decided to replace our cracked kitchen tile and countertops. My husband gave me the “is this really necessary?” line.   The truth is that his kitchen experience amounts to occasional coffee making, gluten free beer opening and table clearing when he’s in a helpful mood. I could’ve wasted my time pointing out that the kitchen to me was the equivalent of the golf course for him but I had a more productive idea. I selected the countertop material   (Caesar stone) and flooring (light wood planks). I presented my husband with two samples of each that were basically the same so he could “choose” and put him in touch with the kitchen guy. Our division of labor for any renovation is design- me and construction- him. This proved to be a mistake. Two weeks ago today, the boys had started spring break and I was enjoying not having to be out of the house a...

I read two types of books. For work it’s mostly non-fiction. There’s a stack of books staring at me on fascinating topics such as probiotics, hormones and seeds. On the weekends, I’ll treat myself a novel, something I can read more than one chapter of at a time. Though I like anything nutrition-related, rarely am I captivated by something I’m reading for work. However, I spent most of Saturday on the couch with It Was Me all Along. And if you’ve ever struggled with food or family, you will cherish Andie Mitchell’s story. I do something weird while I read (and I randomly found out another friend does too). I fold the bottom of the page in a book if there’s something I want to return to. I had so many corner flips as I read this one. A few of my favorites: Where does emotional eating begin? Without giving too much away, in the first part of the book you learn about Andie’s early years. In a way both of her parents were absent. But it was her mother who was “scared of scarcity” and baked...

Wow, a year ago today the Little Book of Thin was released. I was holed up in my apartment reviewing and reviewing for a Today show segment. I wasn’t thinking resolutions. Yesterday I was pretty free and spent some time reading resolution advice.  Time magazine suggested resolutions work better when you “fork over cash”.   The Daily Good referenced Seinfeld’s comedy writing and suggested picking something you can do every day and to focus on the doing versus the results (liked that). Anyway you frame it though, the resolution success rates (under 10%) are almost as grim as weight loss statistics. “Nobody keeps their resolutions, nobody loses weight long-term". In 2014, I would’ve said those comments make me want to punch the doubters in the face but since it’s the first day of the year (and one of my personal   goals is calmness) instead I’ll just say let’s prove those pessimists wrong. What I know for sure in this department: A year is a long time - start with a ...

Simple is Healthy! Simple is Healthy ~ Food, Part 1 YES…I have lots to say about keeping it simple and being such a chatter box, and trying not to jump too hard on the soap box, I knew this was going to become a series of SIMPLE.   I came across a quote that struck me “90% of people avoided obesity and diabetes long before anyone knew what a calorie was let alone counted them…let’s make “healthy” healthy again” and it ended with the word…SIMPLE. WOW, I thought on that and realized just how dynamic and powerful this statement was to me and how true it is for my life.   As a child, my parents modeled living from the land in our back yard and boy do I ever remember how my weekends were spent…pulling weeds from the garden.   Talk about a bitter sweet chore as a child…dirty hands, dirty knees, blisters…and the smell of tomato leaves so strong it could choke you…anyone relate?   Fruit trees adorned our backyard, and my Dad was a master grafter trying to create the perfect...