Latest inspiration for a life well-nourished

 
 

Hi there! I’m Rachael, a registered dietitian and nutrition therapist. My journey has lead me to the belief that the key to a healthy and happy life is through the peace we make with our food, bodies, and mind.

Find your path to a well-nourished life with nutritional coaching services designed to help you start living without limits.
 

 
 

Nourish Your Body

Featured
Vegetarian Breakfast Enchiladas Recipe
Vegetarian Breakfast Enchiladas Recipe

Better than breakfast tacos? This vegetarian breakfast enchiladas recipe is stuffed with sweet potatoes, black beans, scrambled eggs and topped with spicy green enchilada sauce and melty cheese. Perfect as a make ahead breakfast for meal prep!

Read More →
Romesco Chicken with Kale Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Romesco Chicken with Kale Mashed Potatoes Recipe

This romesco chicken with kale mashed potatoes looks complicated, but only takes 45 minutes to make! This thick and tangy sauce is sure to become a new favorite! Make extra and freeze for later so you can whip up this dish in no time, or enjoy over potatoes or with roasted vegetables.

Read More →
Easy Chicken Burrito Bowl with Homemade Guacamole Recipe
Easy Chicken Burrito Bowl with Homemade Guacamole Recipe

This easy chicken burrito bowl recipe is the perfect (mostly) pantry meal! Most of the ingredients are easy to keep in your pantry or freezer, so just grab chicken and avocado to round it out! Made with grilled, marinated chicken, sautéed peppers and onions, charred corn and an easy homemade guacamole over brown rice. Great for meal prep too!

Read More →

Nourish Your Soul

Featured
Why am I Feeling Hungry After Eating? Satisfaction vs. Fullness in Intuitive Eating
Why am I Feeling Hungry After Eating? Satisfaction vs. Fullness in Intuitive Eating

Wondering why am I feeling hungry after eating? Intuitive eating is all about using internal cues, like hunger and fullness, to guide eating. But sometimes Intuitive Eating is taught as a "hunger/fullness" diet, which overlooks the importance of satisfaction, which is an even more important cue to stop eating. Learn the difference between satisfaction and fullness in intuitive eating.

Read More →
Can I Diet to Lose Weight Before Starting Intuitive Eating?
Can I Diet to Lose Weight Before Starting Intuitive Eating?

Pretty much everyone who is interested in intuitive eating holds some desire for weight loss, because otherwise they’d already be a pretty intuitive eater. We live in a culture that is obsessed with dieting and thinness. So of course the question of can I diet to lose weight before starting intuitive eating is a common one. In this post, I dive into why you don’t have to lose weight before starting intuitive eating, and why you can start eating more intuitively today!

Read More →
How to Use the Hunger Fullness Scale in Intuitive Eating
How to Use the Hunger Fullness Scale in Intuitive Eating

Years of yo-yo dieting and disordered eating can get you out of touch with internal cues, like your body's hunger and fullness signals. Learn how to use the hunger fullness scale in intuitive eating, a tool that can help you can back in touch with when and how much to eat.

Read More →
 

Daily inspiration for your mind, body, and soul

Just gonna drop this one off here. #intuitiveeating #haes #rdchat
AD: One of my favorite activities to do with clients is to create a self care toolbox. In that toolbox, we put all the skills and activities and other things that help them cope with stress. Just like an actual toolbox has everything from duct tape and glue to heavier duty tools like screwdrivers, nails and bolts, a self care toolbox has a wide range of tools too. I like my clients to have everything from quick 1-5 minute tools to turn down the stress a notch (deep breathing exercises), tools for preventative maintenance (getting adequate sleep), and tools for processing stressors (like therapy, or calling a friend). Being a busy small business owner, the tools I turn to the most are the quick and easy things I can do to chill out a bit. Here’s five of my favorite tools: 1. Snuggle with the pups! Pup kisses always make me feel better! 2. Go outside or into the sunroom for a bit of sunlight. 3. A 2-5 minute guided meditation. There’s a ton online and lots of apps! 4. A bit of chair yoga. 5. Making a warm cup of @ancientnutrition CBD infused Golden Chai tea! I love the warm, spicy flavor, and how easy it is to make, even when I have just a couple minutes. I just warm up a mug with half vanilla almond milk and half water, then whisk in a scoop of of their golden chai tea powder, which is made with a blend of fermented hemp infused with cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, ashwagandha, and 20 mg of CBD hemp. It’s USDA certified organic, and third-party tested. Pro tip: it’s also delish blended into my tropical turmeric mango smoothie and peach kefir chai smoothie recipes! If you have 5 minutes on a busy day, what are your favorite ways to chill? #AncientPartner #AncientCBD
Anti-diet dietitian does not mean anti-you the unique individual with very different lived experiences who chooses to pursue intentional weight loss. I see my role as providing you with choice, as well as information and support in making that decision. We live in a world with a multi-billion dollar diet industry that spends a lot of money on the brightest minds in marketing to convince you weight loss is the fix to all your ills. Their sneaky BS needs to be called out! It's not fair that millions of people are making decisions about how to take care of their body based on lies and misinformation! We also live in a world that's obsessed with thinness, one that treats people in larger bodies (and other marginalized bodies) in really awful ways. Having not experienced that, I can't blame anyone for choosing to diet. If you're someone who is actively pursuing weight loss, or not ready to put that on the back burner, please know you are still welcome in this space! Calling out diet culture and the people who profit off of it does not mean we are calling out you. As a human, you have the right to choose what to do with your body. Admittedly, I'm cheering for one team, but it's only because I know you deserve the peace and freedom that comes with the pursuit of body acceptance. #intuitiveeating #haes #healthateverysize #nondietdietian #nondiet #antidiet #dietitian #selflove #wellness
Oktoberfest in Columbia. It’s 85 degrees but at least there’s spatzle and beer.
There is so much fear mongering about the "freshman 15." When I was heading off to college, I remember hearing more about how to prevent weight gain than studying skills, campus safety, or managing finances combined. Things that can have much more of an impact on your future than 15 pounds. Certainly, there's a place for talking to new college students about how to feed and care for their bodies in college. For most college kids, they are figuring out how to eat without parents being in charge. Conversations like how to plan a filling meal at the dining hall and the importance of breakfast vs. sleeping in to the very last minute before your 8 am class are worthwhile. But why do we have to frame these conversations under the fear of weight gain, especially when many college students, if not most, still have growing to do. While college students may be adults legally, their body and brain is still maturing into adulthood until about 25ish. That really needs to be normalized. Trying to stay in a high school body in college is like trying to stay in a middle school body in high school! Coping with a changing body through different stages of life is challenging. But bodies are supposed to change, and it would be a lot less challenging if we accepted those changes rather than fighting them. If you need more support in this area, click the link in my profile for a post I wrote on body image through stages of life. #bodyimage #intuitiveeating #freshman15 #haes #selflove #wellness
{NEW BLOG POST} Forget about breakfast tacos, we’re making breakfast enchiladas a thing 🙌☺️😜 Seriously though, if you’re like me and keep hitting the snooze button for another five minutes until you’ve slept in for almost another hour (oops), then you’ll appreciate the make ahead-ability of this dish. Stuffed with chili spiced sweet potatoes and onions, black beans and scrambled eggs, and topped with a spicy green enchilada sauce and cheese. Click the link in my profile for the recipe! #breakfast #mealprep #makeaheadmeals #enchiladas #vegetarianrecipes #yahoofood #thekitchn #f52grams #buzzfeedfood
Every single day we all navigate this world that is obsessed with thinness and appearance, some of us in bodies that are more conforming than others (at least temporarily… we all get older). The idea that we can live in this world and not let those expectations affect us isn’t really reflective of reality. Accepting the reality of this world means a few things for nurturing a healthier relationship with food and your body. It means a big part of recovery is learning how to cope with triggers, to sit with the discomfort and try not to let it affect how you feed and care for your body. It means accepting that there probably won’t be a day when you 100% are cool with everything about your body, and there may even be days that you are 0% cool with anything about your body, because bad body image days are part of life. It also means we have to constantly assess our assumptions about other people and their bodies, because just as diet culture affects how we see our self, it also affects how we see other people. @bodyimage_therapist shared this quote on a recent episode of Food Psych with @chr1styharrison that I highly recommend listening too!
Excited to share that this month, I'm checking a major career goal off my list! Later in the month, I'm presenting at FNCE, our national dietetics conference in Philadelphia! 😬😭🙌 Fellow dietitians, if you're attending, I'm speaking bright and early 8 am Tuesday morning alongside my pals @streetsmart.rd and @michelledudash on sustainable business practices and how to build a practice that lasts. In my part, I'm focusing on burnout prevention, cause lawd knows that's a topic I've got some experience with. Because let's face it, this idea of "work-life balance" is kind of a myth to make you feel like you can have it all, but also, you're not doing yourself or your clients any favors when you're physically and mentally exhausted, cynical and unmotivated. I hope to see you there! And if that topic isn't your bag, I have to shout out my friend @olivetreenutrition who is speaking on culturally sensitive recipe development at the same time, and I'm devastated I won't be able to make it! Highly encourage hearing her speak too - that's just one less person in the audience that I won't be imagining in their underwear 😜 #fnce #rdchat #dietitian #fnce2019
{NEW BLOG POST} If I had a quarter for every time I was asked by someone if they could diet to lose weight before starting intuitive eating...well, I wouldn't be rich, but I would probably have enough money for a nice new pair of shoes. It makes sense that this is a common question. We live in a diet and thinness obsessed culture, so the idea of putting weight loss on the back burner feels really scary. Plus, most of the prominent voices in intuitive eating (myself included) are thin, so it doesn't surprise me that someone might feel like they need to diet to "earn" the privilege of practicing intuitive eating. In reality, pretty much everyone I work with on intuitive eating still holds the desire for weight loss, because otherwise they'd already be a pretty intuitive eater. While on social media, it might seem like intuitive eaters just woke up one day and decided to ditch diets and be cool with their body, I promise the journey was much messier than that! There's a lot of fence straddling while letting go of some dieting behaviors and clinging more strongly to others. If you're someone who is interested in intuitive eating, but feel like you need to lose weight first, my latest blog post is for you! In it, I explore why you feel the need to lose weight before intuitive eating, why intentionally dieting before starting intuitive eating may be harmful, and why it's ok (and normal!) to start practicing intuitive eating while still wanting to lose weight. #intuitiveeating #haes #nutrition #dietitian #antidiet #wellness
You know how I know that despite what diet culture tells you, weight loss isn't the key to loving your body? Because that's not what love is. Think about the people in your life who you love? What is it that made you fall in love with them? My guess is that putting time and effort into building trust, caring for and treating each other with respect was part of it, and it's kind of the same for your body. As any honest person in a long term relationship will tell you, loving someone doesn't mean liking them all the time, or liking everything about them. Ditto for your body. There may be moments where you "fall out of love" with your body, as you and your body change throughout life. But y'all are LEGIT bound to each other for life, so hopefully you'll choose to work through it and continue treating your body with respect and kindness. Also, if the phrase "body love" doesn't resonate with you or feels off limits, which it may for many people, especially those who have experienced trauma, chronic illness, etc - that's OK! I don't necessarily think loving your body is necessary for living a good life. Can you tolerate and respect it instead? I won't argue with anyone's individual experience of feeling better in their body after weight loss, because of course you would in this culture we live in. I just ask that you look deeper than aesthetics in building a better relationship with your body. If you knew weight loss wouldn't help you love your body more, what would you do instead? #intuitiveeating #bodypositive #bodylove #selflove #bodyrespect #bodykindness #haes
As weight stigma awareness week is coming to a close, I wanted to share some of the people and resources that I have learned about weight stigma from. Because even though there’s just a week dedicated to weight stigma awareness, stigma is something fat people have to deal with every day. Please follow them and support their work! A few days ago I asked my followers with larger bodies to share what they wish people understood about weight stigma. My stupid IG response feature was bugging out on me, but here’s some of what was shared: *”It’s a life and death issue! Fat stigma prevents me from getting the medical care I need and deserve, and makes me scared to go to the doctor because when I have strep throat I have to weigh the possibility of my deadly eating disorder being re-triggered because my doctor wants to give me diet advice. For strep throat.” *” It makes me self-conscious of everything I do in front of people for fear of being judged” *” I really don’t want anyone’s opinions, even if it’s coming from a place of ‘care’” *”THERE IS ACTUAL SCIENCE THAT SHOWS FAT STIGMA HARMS HEALTH! Stop pretending you care about my health by giving me unsolicited diet advice or ‘tough love’” *”Its rampant in ED treatment and that’s really fucked up.” *”I feel like I constantly have to prove my health to people. I have perfect labs, run half marathons and am fat. Thin people in my family who live on frozen pizza and Cheetos still try to tell me I’m unhealthy 🙄” *”I was always so afraid of gaining weight. And then I did. I’ve also never been happier.I’m pleasantly surprised to learn that I can be larger bodied and love my life - I wish someone told me that sooner.” Listen to and believe the experiences of fat people. If what you’re hearing makes you uncomfortable, listen and learn some more. Join or donate to @naafaofficial or @haes_sizediversity. Read books written by fat activists like @themilitantbaker, @sofiehagendk and @sonyareneetaylor. Diversify your social media feed and support the work of people you’re learning from (free idea: a couple months ago I set aside $ in my business account to support the patreon, art or writing of people I was learning from {contin}
{NEW RECIPE POST} Romesco is one of my top five sauces. If you’ve never had it before, it’s a Caralan sauce made with roasted peppers and tomatoes blended with almonds, smoked paprika, bread crumbs, and garlic. This recipe for chicken in romesco sauce get served over a big bowl of kale mashed potatoes for sopping up all the deliciousness! Link in profile.