Full Soul Nutrition

14/09/2021

As someone who has healed from an anxiety disorder and disordered eating, it took me a whileeee to feel anchored in my intuition. The biggest challenge I faced was answering this question: Is my INTUITION making this decision
(about food 🍴)
(about staying or leaving a relationship ❤️)
(about traveling 🌎)
(about anything really 🙃)
…or is ANXIETY making this decision?
Getting grounded in intuition looks a little different for everyone, but here are some tools that have guided me (and a lot of my clients) 🛠
How do you distinguish intuition from anxiety? I’d love to hear from you!
More on this coming on the next episode of the Full Soul Nutrition podcast! 🎙

31/05/2021

New logo🌻, new brand colors💜, new website!👩🏻‍💻
Click the link in my bio for a refreshed menu of Full Soul Nutrition offerings!🍴
I currently have space for 1️⃣ more 1-1 nutrition counseling client and space for 8️⃣ more people to join my group nutrition coaching program, Authentic Wellness (this program is all about exploring and implementing nutrition science without restriction, sacrifice, or body shame)! There are also free downloads, podcast links, and more up on the site 👍
I am so grateful and humbled and excited and energized by how much Full Soul Nutrition has grown since this time last year! ❤️
Huuuge shoutout to for her amazing, collaborative design work — if you’re looking for a website refresh (or complete redo!) I’d absolutely recommend her! ✔️
If you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about anything you see on the website, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I look forward to hearing from you 🙌

24/03/2021

If your self-care (healthy eating, exercise, sleep hygiene, meditation, etc) is driven by SHAME, it will not become a long-term habit 🚫
Shame is “the feeling of believing we are flawed or unworthy of love and belonging” (Brene Brown). So many diet and fitness programs cater to our shame — telling us that we’re “bad” if we eat certain foods, that there are “no excuses” for missing a workout, and that our bodies need to “transform” to become worthy. That’s a big reason why these “30 day” programs and challenges don’t work 👎
A habit forms when it FEELS GOOD! Nothing feels good when shame (about your body, your diet, etc) is the incentive. If you want to change the way you eat, if you want to increase movement, or you want to make other changes to your routine...can you rewrite your motivation to take shame out of it? Swipe ➡️ to read a few ideas.
If you’re having a hard time taking shame out of the equation, that’s a sign to start working on something deeper (like your relationship with food, your body, or movement FIRST) before attempting to make habit changes. A neutral or positive relationship with food and your body is a key foundation for making sustainable changes. That’s another piece of the puzzle that many mainstream diet programs leave out 🙃
When you set out the make a change to your diet, your movement practice, or other self-care: What’s YOUR motivation? Share below or reach out! I want to hear from you ✉️

12/03/2021

In January of 2020, I had 5 jobs. By March of 2020, I was laid off 4 of those jobs. By September 2020, I was forced into full-time entrepreneurship (which I can now see as a blessing but it sure didn’t feel that way at the time) 😳 And right after I lost my jobs, the ceiling in my apartment collapsed (in addition to a few other unaddressed maintenance issues...)🔨 I was also finishing the last leg of Master’s degree online 📚 Oh and there there was a global pandemic going on 😷
Of course, I had SO many privileges and SUCH good people in my life that carried me through this turbulent time 🙏 Still, there was so much uncertainty that made me feel unsafe, ungrounded, and pretty sad 💔 So one day, I decided to make a list of everything that I could be certain of. The list ended up including the simplest things like making my bed, washing my face, and eating breakfast 🍳 I realized that, even though I couldn’t “control” everything, I could source a sense of grounding certainty and comfort from these things 💕
In unsettling times, it’s so common to try to source certainty from restrictive diets, rigid exercise routines, or other not-so-healthy behaviors. But what we really need is to source our certainty from things like these (beautiful) Self-Love languages from ✅
I’m chatting more about this on the Full Soul Nutrition podcast today (Ep 36: Living In an Uncertain World/Tools for Creating Certainty Within Yourself) 🎙 Tune in on iTunes, Spotify or SoundCloud 🎧 AND/OR make a list of the ways you can create a sense of grounding, comforting certainty for yourself through these self-love languages ✨ Let me know which resonates with you most!

12/03/2021

Exercise (or working out or movement or fitness or anything you’d like to call it) can be a BEAUTIFUL tool for connecting to the wisdom of your body ✨ I can honestly say that it is for me! I want everyone to be able to find a form of movement that helps them get to the good feelings they are seeking (whether that’s a sense of presence, a sense or calmness, an energy boost, or stress relief) 🙏
Unfortunately, mainstream fitness culture comes with a lot of crap that makes it challenging to form a good relationship with exercise 🙁
There is NOT one surefire way to heal your relationship with movement (and before engaging in any movement practice, it’s important to check in with your medical team for clearance), but this carousel 🎠 has a few suggestions I hope you might consider trying! ✅
I elaborate on every one of these tools in an episode of the Full Soul Nutrition Podcast (Titled “Lessons from My Exercise Hiatus) Click the link in my bio to stream it 🎙
What tools have helped you heal your relationship with exercise? What should we add to this list? I would LOVE to hear from you in the comments or my DMs! ✉️

02/03/2021

An important reminder, incase you forgot: We’ll always have Parks and Rec. Another important reminder, incase you forgot: Food is not your enemy; it’s your life force ⚡️
Myths about food:
1) We should aim to eat as little as possible ❌
2) All of what we eat becomes body weight ❌
3) We need to precisely calculate and count calories, macros, etc in order to optimize our health and energy levels ❌
Facts about food:
1) When we are aiming to eat as little as possible, it’s unlikely that we will meet our nutrient needs. Mainstream media suggests that eating less is always the “healthier” choice, but the bare minimum won’t lead us to meet nutrient, vitamin, and mineral needs, and also doesn’t account for the importance of satisfaction ✅
2) Your body USES the food that you eat to undergo necessary processes that sustain your life. Meaning: food is not ONLY used for movement. Your BRAIN needs energy, and other systems of your body need energy to breathe, to fight against disease, to digest food itself, and so much more ✅
3) You need to make sure you have carbs, proteins, and fats in all your meals and most of your snacks — but getting caught up in the precise amount is not so necessary. Humans did not survive as a species because of My Fitness Pal or other calculators. Humans have survived because we have innate mechanisms that send us cues for what our body needs — listen to your body, its hunger-fullness cues, and its cravings ✅

09/02/2021

“You can’t pour from an empty cup” is a cliche because it’s TRUE. We have nothing to give if we’re running on empty. But for some reason, the truth of this cliche often goes out the window when it comes to diets. There’s a lot of “wellness” influencers out there encouraging people to fill their tank first, before attempting to serve others...but then promoting restrictive diets in the same breath. Let’s not forget that food is and always will be the foundation of your “cup.” ☕️
Everything that you will ever be able to give, accomplish, or experience will be because of the energy you get from food! ⚡️
Also, I’m on the Twitter! Follow along if you’re there too. I’m still figuring out what I’m doing. Advice/custom Twitter tutorial would be appreciated. I haven’t used Twitter since I was 14/15 years old and my handle was “caitness” 🤦🏻‍♀️

09/02/2021

If there were absolutely no “before/after” photos, no talk about calories burned, no pressure to “have abs” or “build a booty”....how would you choose to move your body? 🤔
and I are now offering weekly, livestream Full Soul Fitness classes where we encourage you to drop all the bs & tap into the stress-relieving, mood-boosting, self-worth-affirming benefits of exercise 🙌
Research shows that if you get moving because you want to enjoy yourself & feel good in the body that you have RIGHT NOW, exercise is more likely to have a measurable impact on your wellbeing 👍 That’s not the case if SHAME is your incentive. 🚫 That’s one (of many, many reasons) why Full Soul Fitness classes take a feel-good approach to exercise ☺️
Click the link in my bio to register for our next class. EVERY weekly class is pay-what-you-can to make it accessible to all! 💕
📸 hope you enjoy this throwback photo that represents how seriously James and I take ourselves while teaching (not seriously at all 🤪)

17/01/2021

Have you ever eliminated “all dairy except clarified butter?” 🤔 Have you ever eliminated gluten (without being able to define what gluten is)? 😐 Those are just two of many random & harmful food rules that the diet industry has made mainstream. These rules can be alluring because they are straightforward. But when we implement these “rules” instead of getting to know our bodies, we miss out on the opportunity to nourish ourselves well. When you let go of “rules” & stop labeling certain foods as good or bad:
1️⃣ You make space for curiosity (How does this meal make me feel? Do I even enjoy the taste of this food?)
2️⃣ You get to turn your focus away from external guidelines & towards internal cues (like hunger & fullness...yes, it is possible to really get to know these cues & use them to eat well)
3️⃣ You neutralize your relationship with foods, so that there is still space for enjoyment, but the pressure of “now or never” eating goes away (& you eat an amount of food that leaves you truly satisfied without overfullness)
GOOD nutrition is nuanced & individualized. ✅ If you’re reading a meal plan & it has a list of all/nothing, this/that food rules, run away. Find a nutrition professional who will help you get to know your unique bod ❤️

11/01/2021

It’s incredibly important to continually acknowledge that the work I do & the things I speak about are inherently political. I hold many privileges. I’m here to listen & learn from individuals whose identities & lived experiences are different from my own. I’ve tagged people/accounts that I’m extremely grateful to be learning from. Sharing their words in my stories today. Follow them if you are not!

10/01/2021

As you seek to form healthier routines, rituals, or habits in 2021, please don’t forget that “wellness” is often dieting in disguise 🥸 And that ALL forms of dieting have been shown to be reliable predictors of weight gain, disordered eating, & poor health outcomes 🙃
If you’re looking for practitioners or educators to support you in taking care of yourself, that’s beautiful 🙏 Just be selective & and know that practitioners who do not encourage ANY form of dieting are best for sustained, balanced wellbeing. The internet is full of diets — but I promise many anti-diet practitioners are out there!
**Edit: hashtag on the second slide should read 😶

27/12/2020

As we move closer and closer to the New Year, there will be ads, influencers, and family members trying to feed you the idea that you need to find a sense of renewal outside of yourself. Remember: you don’t need a new diet, a new spin bike, a new house, a new relationship, or a new job to tap into a sense of new-ness 🤍 New beginnings are always available within you 🙏 Take time to notice the impact small shifts. And remember that your life is your own making! ✨
If you want a space to tap into the potential for new beginnings within you...join .lovestam.wellbeing and I for a special event on Sunday, January 3rd ☺️ We will be leading a journaling, movement, and mediation practice that will remind you just how powerful you are! Tomorrow is the last day for 25% off your ticket; click the link in my bio to register and learn more! 👍

23/12/2020

For the record: It really was ALWAYS time to say bye to BMI. But if you haven’t yet: here’s your sign 👍
Body Mass Index is a measure that was created by a statistician to categorize a population into different sectors for a research study. It was NEVER meant to be a barometer for health (and definitely not for wellbeing)!
Swipe ➡️ to read why we need to define health in a holistic and inclusive way rather than a weight-centered way. (Note: We don’t have to IGNORE body size. We just don’t use it to make ASSUMPTIONS about ANYTHING AT ALL [including but not limited to health, ability, habits, and happiness]) 🤍
Most people I meet assume that, as a dietitian, I “help people figure out how to lose weight.” That is incrediblyyy far from the truth. I help people cultivate self-compassion and self-awareness so that they can implement sustainable self-care habits...and pursue health if that’s a value for them! 😊

17/12/2020

There are endless reasons why I don’t prescribe “diets” or “lifestyles” centered in intentional weight loss/weight management. Here’s just 4 of them (and also 4 thoughts 💭 to anchor to when a family member, friend, or celebrity says they are dieting for their health) 🤍

16/12/2020

I do not support “new year, new you” or any “wellness” goals that are centered on restricting food intake or changing your body shape/size 🚫 But I DO support New Year’s resolutions ✅ There is an undeniable, new, & refreshing energy that comes through at the start of every year ✨ I believe it’s a great time to set goals or intentions that will help you become more yourself — these intentions may or may not be related to food or movement 👍
Whatever your goals are, though, you can be sure that self-compassion is the first step to reaching them 🤍 Self-compassion (as defined by Dr. Kristin Neff) is about being kind to yourself when you feel inadequate, recognizing the shared human experience (of being human...therefore imperfect), & observing your present thoughts or emotions with a sense of openness & non-judgment 😌
Wherever you’re trying to go, self-compassion is the key ingredient to helping you get there and STAY there. I recently talked with .lovelybecoming about how self-compassion is the most SUSTAINABLE avenue for personal growth (basically: being mean to yourself will only get you so far). Tune into the podcast at the link in my bio to hear that conversation 🎧

16/12/2020

There are SO many reasons why your body needs some starchy carbohydrates to function optimally. But you really only need to remember this reason: Your BRAIN 🧠 relies exclusively on glucose and needs a minimum 120 grams of carbohydrates per day! Decreased glucose to the brain leads to fatigue, irritability, and impaired memory.
People on keto and other carb-cutting diets may argue that you can “technically survive” without that minimum amount of carbs. But I’m pretty sure we all want to do more than “technically survive” - we want to thrive 💪, we want to be alive✨, and we want to feel whole and full ☺️
Your body needs more than JUST starchy carbs, but make no mistake: starchy carbs are essential to function optimally 👍

30/03/2020