Many of my clients have a dam­aged rela­tion­ship with food, and they strug­gle with body image/weight issues. To help them gain per­spec­tive, I like to ask them unusual ques­tions designed to take them straight to the core of their belief sys­tems about their bod­ies. I thought it would be inter­est­ing to share one of my favorite ques­tions with you all today: Read more

Happy December! The Self-Discovery Word by Word Blogger Series con­tin­ues this month with a word that’s near and dear to my heart: authen­tic­ity. Read more

Hey every­one! Mark Kearney of Loaded London is with us today to share his insights on free­ing our­selves from the con­stant bar­rage of media mes­sages — mes­sages that most often tell us we’re not good enough. I think it’s very cool to hear a guy talk­ing about these issues! Also, while we’re on the sub­ject, I urge you to take some time to watch Killing Us Softly 4. Jean Kilbourne, the cre­ator, has been research­ing the impact of adver­tis­ing for 40 years and what she shares is noth­ing short of pro­found. You can watch a full length “pre­view only” ver­sion here for free. It’s about 45 min­utes and well worth your time. If you are moved, chal­lenged, and inspired by what you see, I invite you to spread the mes­sage in what­ever way feels right to you. (A shout out to TaylorGirl6 who encour­aged me to share this with you all!) Okay, now let’s get to the guest post! Enjoy!

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Just pic­ture it, you step out your door on your way to work. The birds are tweet­ing, a fresh breeze brushes past your face, the sun gleams down through the clouds and then.… VROOM!! A big old bus rolls on by as your fresh breath of air is inter­rupted by a smoggy blur of gas. Read more

My fab­u­lous blog­ger friend Karen C.L. Anderson is host­ing this month’s Self Discovery Word by Word Blogger Series and has selected a pro­foundly chal­leng­ing word: vulnerability.

As I’ve been pon­der­ing this word, I’ve come to the con­clu­sion that vul­ner­a­bil­ity isn’t a choice. We are all vul­ner­a­ble. Every sin­gle one of us. Try as we might to shield our­selves from harm, loss, and pain, not one of us is guar­an­teed even another moment with­out fac­ing the inevitable val­leys of life. In a flash, any one of us could lose a loved one. Any one of us could be diag­nosed with can­cer. Any one of us could have our worst fears come true. Read more

About four years ago, I took my first Nia class. At the time, I was reg­u­larly run­ning, lift­ing weights, and tak­ing sev­eral pound­ing step aer­o­bics classes each week, but my rig­or­ous exer­cise wasn’t enough to keep me from gain­ing weight. My binge eat­ing was out of con­trol, and I just couldn’t burn enough calo­ries to off­set the impact. I walked into a Nia class because I heard Nia involved lots of danc­ing, which sounded like a fun way to squeeze in an extra calo­rie burn­ing ses­sion a few times each week. Read more

Okay… I’m tak­ing a deep breath as I write this because I’m shar­ing a new video today and it’s a BOLD ONE. Read more

Please give a warm wel­come to a very spe­cial guest today: Eliza Fayle of Silver and Grace. Her guest post is extra spe­cial to me. You see, I started col­or­ing my hair in my mid-twenties just for the fun of it. And then, about a year ago, I noticed that once my color started to fade, I had these mys­te­ri­ous sil­ver threads show­ing up all over my head. That trig­gered a sense of panic — I’m only 31! How can I have grey hair? Now I HAVE to color my hair. Suddenly, some­thing that had been fun and friv­o­lous felt like a bur­den and a chore.

Well, folks, that’s just not how I roll. I’ve made a con­scious deci­sion to live my life in a way that feels open, free, and authen­tic, and I refuse to cower in fear behind a bot­tle of hair dye. Who decided that these lovely sil­ver strands are ugly?  I dare you to look at the gor­geous pic­ture of Eliza above and tell me she is not the epit­ome of time­less beauty. Thanks, Eliza, for lead­ing the way toward self-acceptance as our bod­ies beau­ti­fully age.

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There is no such thing as grey hair. No really, it’s true!

“Ya, okay Eliza, hello, look in the mirror!”

No, really. Me, a full fledged mem­ber of the Grey Haired Sisterhood, only just found this out myself. Who knew? Read more

Do I look fat in this?

I hate my thighs.

Wow, she’s really put on weight.

You are so lucky. You can eat what­ever you want and stay skinny.

She does NOT have the right body to pull off that dress.

I wish my waist was as small as yours.

Have you ever made com­ments like this? Have you engaged in full con­ver­sa­tions that revolve around these types of state­ments? Most of us are guilty of speak­ing this way from time to time. It may seem harm­less, but the truth is that this type of talk is dam­ag­ing. It affirms and rein­forces the body shame that has become a part of our cul­ture — the feel­ing that we are deeply flawed if our physiques don’t match up to the thin ideal. Read more

I used to work part-time for a weight loss com­pany, and I would often give the fol­low­ing advice to the many strug­gling, dis­cour­aged members:

I know it feels like you are hang­ing off the edge of a cliff and you are just barely grip­ping on with your fin­ger­tips. You’re using all your strength to keep from falling off. I know you’re tired and you just want to let go, but don’t do it. Keep grip­ping on with all your might. Whatever you do, don’t let go!

This, my friends, is the worst advice I’ve ever given. Read more