Lessons on health, happiness, and humanity learned from living with a chronic disease
What I learned about sizeism, healthism, and the pursuit of health, happiness, and being human from being diagnosed with an incurable disease.
Swimming 10k: a celebration of my body.
I was a runner for over 20 years. Between my own running and coaching others, my world revolved around running. I loved it. But in the last few years, my body had stopped loving it. I had chronic back pain. Then there was the pandemic. And I pivoted, hard (just like...
Design your mindful, healthy holiday
Sometimes health feels like this train you’re on. You get “on” the right track and you fear that if you steer (even slightly) “off-course” that you’ll go completely off the rails and never find your way “back on track.” After years of having a rather tumultuous relationship with health + fitness it’s totally fair to feel this way. In fact you’re not alone, most people I talk to have this same experience! There is so much mystery around motivation and what really works that if you’re like most people you’ve come to fear any minor deviation from what’s currently working. So you don’t adjust course AT ALL. But all this being “on track” is stealing all the joy, so you decide to “cut your losses” and “start fresh in the new year.” And you wouldn’t be wrong to do that….but what if there’s another way?
Tell people they’re more than “beautiful” with non-physical compliments.
Do you default compliment on people's appearance? What if always leaning on the "you're beautiful" or "you look nice" or my fave (insert eye-roll) "you're looking fit/ healthy/ strong" (as if those are things you can see) is not the feel-good antidote to the body...
Using the strategy of S squared to make your meals and snacks sustainable!
Do you ever eat and then like an hour later you're like "I can't possibly be hungry again?!" Within the practice of Intuitive Eating, we innately trust our bodies and honour our hunger...if we're hungry, we eat. And, we also recognize that our body's signals, hunger...
Stop Demonizing Emotional Eating (it’s your friend, not your foe)
In our Diet Culture-driven relationship with food one of the core messages (beyond you must diet to be "healthy"), is that food and your relationship with it is a moral one. There are good foods and bad foods. There are also good and bad habits around food. Enter,...
Activism requires action (big and small)
As you know I'm passionate about inclusion, normalization, and celebration of body diversity. I truly believe "healthy is an outfit that looks different on every body." When companies like Shimano (bike components) are producing mini-documentaries like All Bodies on...
I upsized my summer wardrobe, and it’s ok.
I didn't even need to pull out my summer clothing bin. I knew my summer clothes from last year weren't going to fit. Because much like many people this past year, I've gained weight (and it's ok). But rather than jump on the diet train and try and shrink my body (and...
Why I’m not wearing a bikini this summer
I got my first bikini about 7 or 8 years ago. At the time buying it (then wearing it) felt like a moment of victory for me. A triumph over the "battle with body" I'd waged my whole life. I finally had the confidence to (proudly) stand up against all the (diet culture)...
Body acceptance is not body complacence
Over the past year my body has changed. A fairly considerable amount. It happened over about a 6-10 month period without major changes to my lifestyle. What felt like "all of the sudden," my clothes weren't fitting. So I practiced what I preach and bought clothes that...