YOUspiration

07/27/2022

Truly.

07/23/2022

Just start…

07/21/2022

07/17/2022

Timeline photos

07/17/2022

07/13/2022

Progress, not perfection

07/11/2022

07/09/2022

Another great mama tip

07/09/2022

I still struggle sometimes to name the work that I do. The term “anti-diet” is often used to describe what I consider weight-inclusive nutrition care, but there’s sometimes confusion about what “anti-diet” means. So here are some of my thoughts:

“Anti-diet” does NOT mean: anti-weight loss, anti-nutrition, anti-health, or anti-person who diets.

Rather, it means: Anti-the-oppressive-diet-culture that causes us to feel “less than” and then use our time, energy & money to "fix" or shrink ourselves in order to healthy, loved, accepted.

It means: Anti-the-oppressive-diet-culture that causes us to deny what we really want/need in favor of what society deems “acceptable”.

It means: Anti-the-oppressive-diet-culture that disconnects us both from our bodies AND our true selves. That keeps us small, hidden and busy trying to shrink our bodies to fit a supposed “ideal” instead of fully living and trusting in our intuition.

I’m anti-the(racist, sexist, classist)oppressive-diet-culture that keeps people from stepping into their own full, unapologetic power.

I do not shame or blame anyone for wanting to lose weight. It makes sense why they would want to bc, in doing so, we are promised belonging, health, happiness. Giving up the idea of losing weight can bring about the (legitimate) fear of being judged, disrespected or worse. Very real oppression exists in our society; it’s understandable that someone would want to protect themselves from this injustice by losing weight.

Moving away from dieting and holding an “anti-diet” stance is NOT about convincing people that they shouldn’t want to lose weight; it’s about freeing people – especially folks with marginalized identities such as women, fat people, and BIPOC people – from historically rooted systems of oppression.

Everyone has body autonomy and can pursue weight loss if they want to. AND I also believe in informed consent. So we have to talk about things like:

-The societal forces involved in the desire for weight loss
-The abysmal statistics about the efficacy of long-term weight loss
-All the negative side effects pursuing weight loss has
-The evidence that weight does NOT equal health

Thoughts? Questions? What did I miss?

If you looking for more support, my team and I provide 1:1 nutrition therapy services - we have openings and are taking on new clients for July and August. Learn more: https://alissarumsey.com/nutrition-coaching/

07/09/2022

It’s always interesting how we look at food. Why do we view some foods as fattening versus others? It’s true that protein content can modify fat versus muscle gain slightly but our activity and genetics play more of a role there. So in the end it’s calorie intake.

Calorie intake can change based on the food type too. Would the salad leave someone fuller than the pizza which would cause fewer calories to be eaten later? Maybe.

But I also think stress and guilt from eating foods we deem as fattening isn’t great either. Or the restriction of such foods because we think they are bad.

Yes, focus on more fruits and veggies and lean protein sources, but don’t get caught in the dichotomous thinking (some foods are good and some foods are bad). ❤️

As someone on twitter pointed out, I’d like my salad and pizza. Lol!

07/09/2022

There are a lot of marketing ploys that oversimplify health while greatly exaggerating the benefits of a drug, diet, food, etc. How can you navigate the misinformation superhighway, and save your time, money, health, and energy? An excellent resource is the website science based medicine :-)

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/

Carpe Datum and Semper Sci!
[Sgt Scholar Actual]

07/07/2022

Apply now to get started by completing this pre-consult form: https://forms.gle/n7kgMn1e22pwA8Rs9

07/04/2022

07/04/2022

Food rules are especially challenging because eating in a way that makes sense for you, your body, your brain, your spirit and your heart cannot be summed up by a rule.

07/04/2022

A paper that asks the question if we should 'eat the rainbow' and the answer is 'yes' as this amazing infographic from the paper shows. Full text https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/27/13/4061

06/08/2022

YOUspiration updated their phone number.

YOUspiration updated their phone number.

06/04/2022

I am working on creating a program right now to help you reach your health goals. Want to help me create it?

06/04/2022

Ready to focus on the root of your dieting behaviors not just the diet plans?

I'm on tiktok! Follow me

05/30/2022

Timeline photos

Believe it or not, exercise is actually a pretty terrible way to lose weight. ⁠
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So why even bother!? Great question.⁠
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We exercise to feel good. ⁠
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We exercise because it gives us energy. ⁠
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We exercise because we are designed to move. ⁠
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We exercise because it makes us strong. ⁠
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We exercise because it will extend our physical and mental wellbeing as we age. ⁠
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We exercise because it's fun.⁠
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We exercise to build heart and lung health.⁠
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We exercise to build muscle. ⁠
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We exercise because we have specific goals in mind. ⁠
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We do NOT exercise to lose weight. ⁠
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This is cycle we need to get out of:⁠
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Overestimate how many calories we burn doing exercise we hate, then we feel like we've earned a treat for the misery we just put ourselves through (which has more calories than we realize), and then we get really disappointed when all of our hard work and misery results in zero progress. ⁠
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NO MORE, my dear friends! ⁠
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Let's start training for our goals and working on our relationship with food. ⁠
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Exercise isn't a punishment for food, and food isn't a reward for exercise.⁠
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If weight loss IS a goal you have (which is perfectly fine), 90% of your success is going to be a result of your shifting habits around and relationship with food.⁠
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We can stop doing exercise we hate if we're just doing it to lose weight. It's not giving us the results we think it is! ⁠
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So if we "don't like exercise," change our definition of exercise. ⁠
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It can be literally anything that we enjoy that gets our heart beating faster than when we're on the couch watching . ⁠
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Let's start there. We can up the difficulty and intensity later, depending on our goals.

05/30/2022

😂