Nina Mills in Moonee Ponds, Victoria | Health & wellness website

Nina Mills

Locality: Moonee Ponds, Victoria

Phone: +61 468 323 737

Address: Suite 29, 5 Everage Street 3039 Moonee Ponds, VIC, Australia

Website: https://feelgoodeating.com.au

Likes: 2203

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• Medical and health
• Alternative & holistic health service
• Health & wellness website
• Nutritionist

25.01.2022 So nice to see a mainstream news segment about food, eating and weight that is not shaming, thanks to my pals at Centre for Integrative Health

24.01.2022 This article just scratches the surface on the inequities faced by First Nations People when it comes to nutrition.

24.01.2022 Did I make you do a double-take there, mentioning a condition involving ovaries not being just about women? September is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) awareness month and in doing some research and prep, I noticed that all of the information and stats I was coming across was gendered. Information and fact sheets preface PCOS as being a condition that affects women and girls.... Statistics quoted only reference females. But, trans, intersex and non-binary people can also experience PCOS. So, the first thing I think we need to raise awareness about is that PCOS doesn’t just affect women. . . . . . . #pcos #pcosawarenessmonth #feelgoodeating #nourish #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #bodyimage #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #mindfulness #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet #bodytrust See more

24.01.2022 The first time I really registered that I had internalised weight bias, I was sitting in a massive room full of my peers and colleagues at an eating disorders conference. To say that it was an uncomfortable realisation was an understatement, especially because in the past, I had taken the Harvard Implicit Bias Test for weight and the result came out suggesting I have little to no automatic preference between thin people and fat people. Naturally, it raises the question: Am ...I a bad person for having internalised weight bias? I have been absent from the socials for a number of weeks and blogging even longer because writing has felt hard. The post that answers this question and explores what weight bias and weight stigma is, was especially hard to write. But with some help from Lindley and Fi (thank you!), it is finally finished and is over on the blog now. https://feelgoodeating.com.au/weight-bias/ It is by no means perfect because the work to acknowledge and dismantle our biases is not perfect. But it is a start and I hope you find it a helpful primer on the topics.

21.01.2022 This week I recorded a podcast interview with Jay Crisp Crow, the amazing human behind @CrispCopy. Jay asked me how I thought COVID has impacted womxn in business and their relationship with food. And it has been a question that has been on my mind ever since. I spoke about what I have noticed in my practice, which is that for a lot of my clients, they have found that COVID has given them the space to dedicate time and energy to addressing their food, eating and bod...y stuff. I mentioned how telehealth has opened up access to supports that have previously had financial, location, time etc. barriers around them. AND, what I didn't mention is that I know this is not everyone’s experience. There are people for whom COVID has put a significant strain on their resources and capacity and they are still in survival mode. And so, working with a dietitian is possibly the furthest thing from their mind when it comes to how they distribute their resources. I don’t think anyone has escaped SOME sort of impact on their relationship with food. Whether that be having to deal with unpredictable food supplies, the changes to how we can obtain food, the fatphobia that is rampant around COVID, the re-emergence of disordered eating or eating disorder behaviours, or brand new challenges. And there are definite disparities in how people have been able to process and cope with these impacts. At the risk of making this a total promo-post I wanted to remind you that I do have free and low-cost resources over on the website. I also have a new offering in the works I will be more promo-y about soon (but if you stalk my website you will find a sweet pre-sale deal for it now ). They do not capture the complexity of everyone’s experience but are there for anyone with food security at diet rock bottom looking for a different way to care for their body with food. See more

20.01.2022 This one goes out to all of the doctors, personal trainers, dietitians, physios, nurses, nutritionists, exercise physiologists and any other helping profession who feels the pressure to perform their role in a certain type of body or have a pristine record when it comes to their eating and movement. Your body is not a reflection of your training or your competence as a helping professional. Your body has nothing to do with how you care for your clients or... patients. How you manage to care for your body has no bearing on how you support your patients and clients to take care of theirs (and honestly it’s nobody’s business). I deliberately use the word ‘manage’ because I know for a lot of helping professionals, caring for their patients often leaves little time or energy to care for themselves in ways they might like to. Our healthcare systems uphold weight stigma and fatphobia. You are still humans who were trained in and are working in, these flawed and discriminatory systems. So I know that pressure to ‘look the part’ and ‘lead by example’ is real (and it doesn’t help when thinfluencers sprout their privileged BS all over social media either). Your body is not your business card.* Your body is not an advertisement of your health status. You are doing the best you can. *I don’t know who first coined this - I have heard Kaila Prins say it but can’t track down if they were the first person to say it. Here are 3 ways to inject more feel good eating into your life: 1 Check out the mini-training on 3 things you can do today to help prevent a binge 2 Stop fighting food when you implement the tools in the self-study version of In Charge Eating 3 Get the guide: How to stop dieting and 'eat normally' You can find links to all of these in my bio. See more

20.01.2022 It might just be me, but I always bristle when I hear certain foods being classified as "treats". Because to me, treats are what dogs get for good behaviour and obedience. Or for performing a trick. Of course, an eating *experience* might feel like a treat, but, you always deserve food - ALL types of food.... You don't have to earn your food - it doesn’t matter the type of food. . . Here are 3 ways to inject more feel good eating into your life: 1 Check out the mini-training on 3 things you can do today to help prevent a binge 2 Stop fighting food when you implement the tools in the self-study version of In Charge Eating 3 Get the guide: How to stop dieting and 'eat normally' You can find links to all of these here: https://feelgoodeating.com.au/online-programs . . . . . . #makepeacewithfood #allfoodsfit #disorderedeatingrecovery #feelgoodeating #nourishnotounish #haes #nondietapproach #compassion #healthnotweight #bodyimage #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet #bodytrust #selfcompassion See more

19.01.2022 Go on the Pill; lose weight and come back to see me when you want to get pregnant. Too often this is what people with PCOS hear when they ask their doctor about their management options. Contrary to its name, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome does not JUST involve ovaries. And fertility is not the only thing to consider.... People with PCOS can also experience things like fatigue, insulin resistance, acne, hair thinning or loss, irregular menstrual cycles, unwanted hair growth, dry eye, dark skin patches, mood disturbances, weight changes, anxiety, depression, body image issues, sleep issues and pelvic pain. And these are symptoms we are most commonly aware of. Bottom line is: PCOS involves the whole body - physically, mentally and emotionally; in ways that can significantly impact quality of life. Dismissing people with PCOS out of a consult room with a prescription to lose weight and go on the Pill is woefully inadequate. You deserve to feel in charge of your PCOS even if you are not wanting to or planning to get pregnant. . . . . . . #inclusivehealthcare #pcos #pcossupport #pcoshaes #pcosfatpositive #incharge #pcsoawarenessmonth #pcoschallenge #feelgoodeating #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet #bodytrust #selfcompassion See more

18.01.2022 We are not meant to look like carbon copies of one another. Body diversity is part of what makes us human. There is nothing pathological about that so, we need to be getting critical about the systems that are in place that have made us believe otherwise.

18.01.2022 Self-criticism is something that we humans are reeeeeally good at. But pause for a minute and have a think about what having a constant negative voice showing up in your mind might mean for your mood and your outlook on life? Can you imagine you would be feeling energised, encouraged, at peace? Or do you expect you might be feeling discouraged, flat, hopeless? The antidote to self-criticism is self-compassion.... Self-compassion invites us to talk to ourselves and treat ourselves in the same way we would talk to or treat a close friend or loved one. And we generally don't speak harshly to the people we care about when they are having a hard time. We are gentle and show them kindness. So, how might you cultivate your inner ally to strengthen its voice, so that the volume of your inner critic becomes quieter? See more

17.01.2022 Understanding HAES, Intuitive Eating and the Non-Diet Approach can be quite a challenge when we have spent our lives swimming in diet culture and cultivating our diet mentality. It means that our default is to try and make sense of them through what we already know and understand from diet culture. And diet culture has taught us to think in the black and white, in the all or nothing and that there is a right and wrong way to do things. So, while this is r...eally normal, know that it means we are likely to misunderstand what these paradigms are ACTUALLY about in the beginning stages of shedding our diet mentality. As you start to explore HAES, Intuitive Eating and the Non-Diet Approach, ask yourself gently if you are trying to process what you are learning as an absolute, as a black and white concept. Or if you notice you are trying to apply what you are learning as having a right way and wrong way. Classic examples of how we can filter these paradigms through the diet mentality include: I can only eat when I’m hungry I have to stop eating when I’m full Permission to eat in practice looks like eating junk food all the time I’m not allowed to talk about how I feel about my weight if I see a HAES Dietitian I shouldn’t be wanting to eat vegetables because vegetables are part of diet culture. Doing intuitive eating right means I will be losing weight HAES means I shouldn’t want to care about my health I’m wondering if any of these are familiar to you either now or you remember thinking them earlier on in your un-learning process? Please don’t feel badly if they do, getting tripped up by diet mentality IS bound to happen because it is really hard to recognise the diet mentality when it has been our normal for such a long time. AND, if you are feeling a bit stuck at this point or are feeling a little defeated trying to understand and put HAES, Intuitive Eating and the Non-Diet Approach into practice on your own, now might be the time to seek some additional support. I’m happy to talk with you more about how we might work together or can point you in the direction of my many wonderful HAES and anti-diet colleagues around the globe. We would all love to help you shed that diet mentality for good so that you can fully embrace food and body freedom.

16.01.2022 I have committed to amplifying the voices of BIPOC people who are deeply hurting (and have been for decades) this week, along with an ongoing commitment to shutting my mouth and listening - because I have so much work to do in this area. AND, I have realised that on this page, I still had my own content being published, which I am very sorry about. This is a great example of how, as white folx, attempting to do better, we are going to fumble and stuff up. So I am owning this... mistake and have made sure my posts are turned off. On Instagram, you can follow the #amplifymelanatedvoices and also check out the following resources specific to First Nations People. We need to start with what is going on in our own backyard... https://www.reconciliation.org.au/ https://www.instagram.com/blakbusiness/ https://www.instagram.com/reconciliationaus/ Image courtesy of Rachel Millner @drrachelmillner

15.01.2022 You know that saying If it’s not on social media, did it even happen? Yeah, that doesn’t apply to advocacy. Contrary to how it feels online at the moment, signing up for a social media account does not mandate that you use it only for advocacy and activism purposes.... Social media as a tool for cultural change is just that - one tool. There are plenty of other tools in the kit. Clinicians: The tireless work you do in session counts. The letters and phone calls you make, count. The policies and procedures you update to remove stigmatising language and include weight-inclusive practices counts. The conversations you have with peers and superiors inviting them to consider language, furniture, waiting room reading materials counts. Amazing fellow humans: The boundaries you set at the dinner table around diet talk count. Declining to be weighed counts. Telling your friend you aren’t going to engage in a body bashing session counts. The workplace ‘wellness’ challenges you opt-out of count. Your advocacy and activism don’t have to be on social media to ‘count’. What you do privately, personally, quietly counts just as much as what you might choose to do publicly, widely and loudly. . . . . . . #SocialJustice #DismantleDietCulture #Boundaries #Advocacy #feelgoodeating #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #bodyimage #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet See more

14.01.2022 I wish I had known this sooner I can’t help but wonder what things would have been like if I didn’t do that very first diet" If I had quit dieting sooner, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this bad"... I feel so angry that I didn’t know this, and I have wasted so much of my life. Feeling regret, sadness and anger over the years lost to the pursuit of weight loss is really common. That intersection where know you cannot go on another diet ever again, but you still wish your body would change, AND you are grieving the time, money, energy and happiness you have given over to diet culture in the past, is what Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch of Intuitive Eating call Diet Rock Bottom. It sucks. Big time. I would do anything for you to not have to experience it. Unfortunately, until we have a radical culture change and dismantle all of the systems that are in place that have conditioned us to fear fat and fatness, diet rock bottom is still a place you might find yourself (maybe you are there already?). But like everything explored through the lens of a non-diet approach, there is value in this experience, something to be learned. Stick with me on this one! If you head over the blog, I am explaining why hitting diet rock bottom might be exactly where you need to be. Read the piece here: https://feelgoodeating.com.au/diet-rock-bottom/

12.01.2022 We could eradicate o**sity overnight if we all 'eradicated' that word from our language. The o**sity epidemic was created by and for industries who financially gain by pathologising body size. Fat bodies are not a disease.... Weight stigma harms and kills people. Fatphobia harms and kills people. Decades of time, money and harm have shown us that what we are doing is not working. It’s time we stopped funding research, campaigns, awareness days and programs to eradicate o**sity and funnel that money into creating systems that facilitate equitable access to healthcare, eradicating weight stigma and improving quality of life. . . . . . . #FatBodiesAreNotADisease #MyBodyIsNotADisease #LoseHateNotWeight #WeightStigma #Fatphobia #DismantleDietCulture #feelgoodeating #haes #intuitiveeatingofficial #FatAccpetance #WeightInclusive #EndWeightStigma #WorldObesityDayHACK See more

12.01.2022 Your body is not a problem. Your body is not a problem. Your body is not a problem.

11.01.2022 I have given my anti-diet gift guide a MAJOR overhaul and it is now live for your shopping pleasure over on the blog --> https://feelgoodeating.com.au/anti-diet-gift-guide/ I have pulled together homewares, art, self-care and wearable items from a range of amazing Australian-based creators who are, in their own ways, flipping the bird to diet culture, patriarchy and the other systems of oppression that harm humans. I also made sure they were Australian because I kno...w all too well the currency inequity that comes with a lot of online shopping. But more importantly, to support local small businesses. The books in this anti-diet gift guide are classics (or I have no doubt will be) and will likely be found wherever you prefer to buy or order books from. You will find stuff in there from @fussygus @gwm.candleco @themindfuldietitian @voluptuary_ceramics @bodyimage_therapist @chr1styharrison @theperfectpearearringco @evelyntribole @elyseresch @lindobacon @eatandenjoynutrition Oh, and I should say: it is also totally OK to go shopping here for yourself! Wrap these up and make sure put your own name on the gift-tag See more

10.01.2022 Humans are not factory manufactured to extreme precision so that we are all exact replicas of one another. Diversity in all its forms has always existed and will continue to exist. To suggest higher weight is a deviation, rather than accept it as a variation, pathologises natural diversity.

10.01.2022 The headline references lockdown, but we are a long way from this issue being resolved.

08.01.2022 Some people find the weekends and eating particularly tricky. During the week, their eating seems ‘under control’, but when the weekend rolls around, it is like a switch has been flicked and it is suddenly a free-for-all when it comes to food. This can happen for many reasons like: Trying to ‘be good’ during the week.... Subscribing to the concept of ‘cheat meals’ or ‘cheat days’. Having foods that are allowed on weekdays and foods that are allowed on the weekend. Finding it hard to transition from the week into the weekend. There’s a new post over on the blog that talks about the factors that can leave people vulnerable to binge eating (or overeating, or eating feeling out of control) along with a bunch of ideas to help stop binging on the weekend. https://feelgoodeating.com.au/stop-binging-on-weekends/

06.01.2022 One of the first things I tell clients with PCOS is to resist the urge to Google how to manage their PCOS. And that is because the dominant narrative about the management of PCOS Is steeped in fatphobia. This means advice given is typically a recipe for a disordered relationship with food and body.... People with PCOS do not need to go on restrictive diets. They do not need to eliminate foods or whole food groups. They do not need to exercise for hours every day. And they do not need to obsessively focus on shrinking their body. Psychologist, Dr Deb Burgard has (now famously) said; We prescribe for fat people what we diagnose as disordered in thin people. This happens far too often for people with PCOS. It is incredibly harmful and has to stop. . . . . . . #inclusivehealthcare #pcos #pcossupport #pcoshaes #fatphobia #pcosfatpositive #disorderedeating #pcsoawarenessmonth #pcoschallenge #feelgoodeating #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #bodyimage #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet #bodytrust #selfcompassion See more

06.01.2022 I had an appointment with a new specialist recently and as was to be expected as part of the assessment, they asked what I do for work. When they heard that I am an eating disorders dietitian, they launched into self-deprecating commentary about their body. To be honest, it was not an isolated incident being self-deprecating, justifying or apologising for their body is something that often happens when someone I meet for the first time finds out what I do for work health ...care provider or not. And like it always does, it put me on the spot. It was awkward. I didn’t know how to respond. And in classic human fashion, it was only once I was back in my car driving home that I thought of something! This is what I *wish* I had said: "You never have to justify your body. It deserves to exist exactly as it is right now." I'm going to try and keep it in the memory bank for the future, but I wanted to share it here in case you needed to hear it too See more

06.01.2022 It *seems* illogical, but it *is* the control, restriction and restraint we (try to) exert over food that sets the stage for eating that feels out of control when a 'forbidden food' is next available. Not the food itself. It's a response known as deprivation driven eating and one that is embedded in our biology. Which means this is not (and never was) about you not having enough willpower, or being weak, or not having found the "right" diet yet.... If you do experience eating that feels out of control, I invite you to look for where you might be holding food and eating too tightly. The antidote to out of control eating is not more control, it is loosening the grip. Where might you feel OK to loosen it just a little? Or a lot? If the prospect of loosening the grip feels scary, daunting or challenging, I want to help. This is the work that I do with my clients every day and it is what I have taken and refined into my program In Charge Eating. We start on Monday 16th November, so there is still time to join - and we are 100% having a biology lesson so that you understand exactly what's going on 'under the hood' with this deprivation driven eating thing. Link is in my bio or head to https://feelgoodeating.com.au/in-charge-eating See more

05.01.2022 It was near the end of a 14-day trip to Japan. I was really unwell (not that I knew it at the time) and exhausted from going-on five nights of little to no sleep and navigating finding food safe for my allergies. We were in Shimokitazawa where I had just dropped my camera and smashed the lens cover and dinted an expensive lens. I had no idea if the lens was ruined. I was sooo close to tears. We stopped at Frankie Melbourne Espresso which as the name sugges...ts, was a coffee shop - Melbourne style. I ordered the latte and lamington that you can see in the image thinking it would be a kawaii homage. But that first inhale of the aroma and sip of the coffee and I was transported right back to Melbourne. To home. To the familiar. To where I feel safe. I had had plenty of coffee in Japan by that stage, but this one tasted JUST LIKE a Melbourne latte. If you thought I was on the verge of tears before, you better believe they were ready to spill now. That snack was so fortifying for my soul in that moment. That experience was exactly what my nervous system needed. And sitting here now in 2020, I can still conjure up the memory on my tongue of that delicate sponge cake pierced with the sharpness of the jammy centre jumbled with the soft grittiness unique to shredded coconut. That food experience, in that moment, imprinted a new memory on my nervous system. Food is so much more than fuel. . . . . . . #MoreThanFuel #MakePeaceWithFood #feelgoodeating #FoodForTheSoul #FoodMemories #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #bodyimage #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet #bodytrust #selfcompassion See more

04.01.2022 Hey, it's me! On the Love Food Podcast! I had the great honour and pleasure of answering a letter to Food with Julie Duffy Dillon this week. I love the idea of body trust and it is something I wish for everyone to experience, but as someone who works with lots of people with chronic conditions, (and as a person with a growing collection of chronic conditions myself!), I can totally appreciate that body trust can feel like a bit of a stretch at the best of ...times, and near-on impossible when things aren't going so great. Because chronic conditions aren't always static. And they are not always predictable. Even though body trust can *feel* near-on impossible, I don't think it is *totally* impossible for people with chronic conditions. I think "body trust" might just look and feel different. I touch on this in the episode and share a small way to start re-connecting with body parts and sensations that can feel a little more predictable and ones we can feel more neutral towards. Yes, it is a letter about PCOS, but I think there is stuff in this episode that is useful for anyone who has felt like they have been battling their food and body for a really long time. If you would like to have a listen, you can find the episode here: http://juliedillonrd.com/LoveFood224 I would love to hear your thoughts! . . . . . . . . . . . . #chronicillnesssupport #bodytrust #inclusivehealthcare #pcos #pcossupport #pcoshaes #pcosfatpositive #disorderedeating #pcsoawarenessmonth #pcoschallenge #feelgoodeating #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #bodyimage #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #bodyneutrality #selfcompassion #weightinclusive

04.01.2022 While diet culture promises the world in return for pursuing weight loss, most people find that what *actually* shrinks is their life rather than their body. Pursuing weight loss does not come without costs. The cost is a gradual erosion of relationships, presence, social life, our sense of self - all of the things that contribute to our quality of life; as dissatisfaction in our body and micromanaging our food and eating consume our time, mind, energy and... wellbeing. It’s like being in a vice and diet culture is slowly turning the handle, applying more and more pressure until one day you realise that it is squeezing the life out of you. There is so much life happening outside of trying to shrink your body get free from the vice and reclaim it. See more

04.01.2022 In Charge Eating closes for enrolment for this live round in a few hours (3pm AEDT) You can join via the link in my bio or at https://feelgoodeating.com.au/in-charge-eating What's included?... A program that takes you step-by-step through the root causes that are driving out of control eating, so that you are empowered to take action with none of the overwhelm. 4 laser-focused modules with over 18 video lessons. Plus captions and transcripts so that whatever your preference, your learning style is accommodated. Actionable tools for your toolkit that cover the biological, emotional and habitual drivers of out of control eating, so that you can work on healing your relationship with food and eating from all angles. Worksheets, checklists, frameworks, journaling prompts, exercises and experientials to support your learning. A whole lesson on carbs so that you can take back your power from them. Troubleshooting lessons in each module that anticipate common sticking points, so that you don’t have to waste another minute and can continue to move forward in healing your relationship with food and eating. Weekly group calls with an anti-diet dietitian to talk through your progress, challenges and whatever else you might need. Access to the self-study material for the lifetime of the program, including any future updates. Be sure to check out all of the details of the program to see if it is right for you and if you have questions or want to chat, let me know. Looking forward to you joining me. . . #BingeEatingRecovery #DisorderedEatingRecovery #Overeating #EmotionalEating #MakePeaceWithFood #InuitiveEatingOfficial See more

04.01.2022 Salad: a casualty of diet culture. A lot of clients share that they sit in this place of tension, feeling like they *should* eat more because: VEGETABLES and HEALTH. While at the same time feeling repelled by salad because of its reputation as a ‘diet food’... How do you feel about salad? What other food do you think is a casualty of diet culture? . . . . . . #dietland #dietfood #youdontmakefriendswithsalad #relationshipwithfood #dismantledietculture #makepeacewithfood #feelgoodeating #haes #nondietapproach #healthnotweight #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #mindfuleating #myfoodmybusiness #selfcare #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #bodykindness #antidiet #healthateverysize See more

04.01.2022 I made a @beatrixbakes cheesecake a few weeks ago. It is a real labour of love and definitely not how I usually approach cooking and baking. I knew I needed to slow. right. down. and take my time. So I did. The slice you can see here is the end result. Yeah, that blob of dulce de leche on top looks a bit strange but otherwise, this image does make my heart flutter a bit. I mean, look at those lush rolls of dulce de leche oozing over the fork... But swipe t...hrough the slides and you will see that it is only one perspective of the 'story'. Zoomed out, you can see that my cheesecake is not textbook perfection. And my attempts to cover it with a layer of caramel just ended in a messy landslide. I'm sharing this as a reminder about the art of deception. Highlight reels, angles, lighting, makeup, postproduction edits are what we see all the time. But we are led to believe that what we are seeing is the real deal. Not just with food. But bodies. Faces. Clothing. Hair. Lifestyle. What we think we are striving for when we compare ourselves to people online usually isn't actually real. It may have never even existed. P.S. the cheesecake tasted phenomenal and we ate the whole thing - landslide part and all! See more

03.01.2022 This article from Sabrina Strings and Lindo Bacon just scratches the surface of this issue...

03.01.2022 Weight stigma is not just experienced as receiving poor healthcare. For people who experience weight stigma, it doesn’t have to be obvious. The felt sense of: My body doesn’t belong here My body hasn’t been accommodated The world doesn’t care about my body is how weight stigma lands. This clothing tag might seem innocuous, but it is weight stigma in action.... It signals to people with higher weight bodies that these clothes are not for them. They don’t belong in this store. That clothing is not designed for their body from not just a fashion perspective, but also a functional perspective. Weight stigma is not always obvious and in your face. That doesn’t make it any less painful or harmful to the people who experience it. P.S. I ranted more about this clothing tag this time last year if you want to go and check it out in my highlights labelled "Dress Your Body" . . . . . . #StrainTheSeams #WSAW20 #WSAW #EndWeightStigma #WeightStigma #WeightInclusive #EndWeightHate #fatshion #feelgoodeating #haes #nondietapproach#healthnotweight #nondietwarrior #intuitiveeatingofficial #bodyrespect #foodfreedom #healthnotdiets #antidiet #bodyneutrality #fatacceptance #nondiet #bodytrust #selfcompassion See more

03.01.2022 Look, it might just be me, but I always bristle when I hear certain food being classified as "treats". Treats are what dogs get for good behaviour and obedience. Of course, an eating *experience* might feel like a treat, but, you always deserve food - ALL types of food.... You don't have to earn your food - it doesn’t matter the type of food. See more

03.01.2022 When I moved into my new house, I really wanted a jasmine plant. But, I was deterred by my notorious brown thumb. I didn’t want to waste money and my fragile ego on a plant that, based on my track record, had a 99.9% chance of dying. Three years later (in January this year), I finally bought one. Here she is, all fresh and new! (slide 2)... Fast forward to July, and I was ready to call time of death because, over the preceding months, her leaves turned brown and mottled, her growth had stunted, and I was tired of fighting the spider that kept weaving its web all over her. (slide 3) But, I couldn’t be bothered throwing her out. I just left the pot sitting on my balcony and gave her water when I watered all my other plants. At the end of August, I couldn’t believe what I saw - my jasmine had little buds shooting out of all of those (seemingly) dead stalks! (slide 4) Within days, those buds started shooting out glorious vibrant green growth. And then in November, she flowered. (slide 5) It got me thinking about how this parallels the process of healing our relationship with food. Sometimes growth is not going to be obvious. That just because it doesn’t LOOK like anything is happening, it doesn’t mean that the ‘watering’ and nurturing we are doing (even when it might be half-hearted!) isn’t cultivating growth internally. That with patience, compassion and persistence, even when it seems futile, we can look back over the months and years and realise that we have actually bloomed. That we are worth not giving up on. P.S. I fully acknowledge the flaws in drawing parallels between growth in our relationship with food which requires moving away from the aesthetic and growth in a flowering plant which is purely aesthetic, but I hope you can land with me on the sentiment See more

02.01.2022 We are only talking about weight stigma this week as a direct result of the efforts from Chevese Turner and her team at Binge Eating Disorder Association to establish WSAW back in 2011. I can talk about weight stigma because I am standing on the shoulders of the tireless efforts from Chevese and other fat activists who worked to amplify the harms being done to fat bodies well before I was a dietitian and in times where it was much riskier to speak out against fatph...obia. I am so grateful. But to understand what weight stigma is, we need to start with understanding what weight bias is. We each hold a set of socially informed attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and judgments people hold about individuals based on their weight or body size. We learn these beliefs from family, friends, the media and the culture in which we live. These are our biases. Typically, weight bias refers to the negative attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and judgments people have about higher weight bodies (fatness). Which means on the flip-side that people tend to have positive attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and judgments about lower weight bodies (thinness). Weight stigma results from weight bias. While bias describes our beliefs, stigma describes our actions. Weight stigma is how people are included or excluded in society based on their weight. Weight stigma typically refers to how people with higher weight bodies are excluded from many facets of society including the built environment (such as planes, movie theatre seats, bathroom stalls), healthcare and fashion. While everyone can have internalised weight bias; weight stigma and internalised weight stigma can only be experienced by the people being stigmatised, i.e. only people with higher weight bodies. See more

01.01.2022 As a society, we place a lot of value on physical health. This prioritisation is not only extremely ableist, but it is also extremely narrow-sighted. Health is more than just physical. Our mental, emotional, social, financial health also play equally important roles in how we can show up, contribute and enjoy our time on this planet.... We need to reject this idea that there is only one component to health and that health is binary - where you either have it or you don't (and are therefore deemed "unhealthy" and less worthy of respect). And we need to reject the idea that health is static. How I want to experience health can be different from how you want to experience it and yet they are both valid. We get to define what health means to us and pursue it how we want. And those choices should be met with dignity and respect.

01.01.2022 Tomorrow marks the start of Weight Stigma Awareness Week so you can expect to see a lot more content on social media that focuses on weight stigma. Dismantling weight stigma is extremely important given how physically, mentally, financially and emotionally harmful it is to people with higher weight bodies. We NEED to be talking about this more.... AND for people who experience weight stigma, an influx of content on the topic can be an incredibly painful reminder of how much the world excludes their body. Of how much the world doesn’t want their body to exist. If you are someone who has experienced weight stigma and finds being exposed to discussions and examples about weight stigma difficult and upsetting, have a think about how you want to navigate social media this week. Do you want to limit the time you spend here? Do you want to stay off it altogether? If you are someone who will be re-sharing other people's content, please consider seeking permission before you repost content this week- especially if you are sharing someone's experiences with weight stigma. Being subject to weight stigma is incredibly stressful, upsetting and harmful. People who choose to share their experiences often do so with a lot of consideration and risk, as the online space can be very unsafe for people with higher weight bodies. Unfortunately discussing weight stigma brings out trolls and the last thing we want when we re-post is to call attention to trolls who then further harm and demand labour from the original poster who may have only consented to share their story, content, experiences with their own followers. If you are someone who will be sharing your experiences, your stories, would putting guidance in your bio about reposting your content be useful? Or including it in the caption that goes with your post? These are just some of my ideas about creating boundaries, choice and consent based on bearing witness to countless examples of weight stigma shared with me from my clients along with having my own lived experience of weight stigma. I am not saying these are the ONLY ways or the CORRECT to navigate #WSAW2020. What else can you think of that might be useful to consider when navigating Weight Stigma Awareness Week safely this week?