Shame Free Nutrition

Much like our bodies, food has A LOT of emotion associated with it. I grew up as a teenage girl in the 90’s, raised in the grip of our “new” diet culture and Standard American Diet propaganda. Low fat, fat free, no sugar (a.k.a. artificially sweetened), diet this, low calorie or lite that. And diet after diet promising “results”. The results most of them promised was to be smaller, less fat, and to do it as quickly as possible. SlimFast, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, Paleo, Keto . . . I know I’ve missed a few, but you get the point! Until I set out to find a new path in life, this and the Canada Food Guide were the source of most of my wellness and “nutrition” knowledge.

FULL

I’ve been working hard on my own food demons alongside my nutrition education and have come up with some key guiding principles for this community:

First & foremost … NO SHAME!!

"We do the best we can until we know better. Then when you know better, do better."

This famous quote by Maya Angelou has become the guiding principle of my life. If we can learn to give ourselves grace, there is less room for shame and without shame, everything feels a little less heavy and more manageable. In this space, there is no judgment of foods as good or bad, allowed or not allowed. There are no absolutes (e.g. NEVER eat or SHOULD eat). I view food from a good, better, best perspective and recognize the other spaces that food holds outside of nourishment. I am not here to judge you.

Food is food. Some foods give our bodies the things it needs to carry out all our necessary body functions. We call these Super Foods (a.k.a. whole, unprocessed foods). Some foods serve very little nutritional benefit to the body but bring us joy for many different reasons. We call these Sometimes Foods. We need both kinds of food to be healthy and happy. It all comes down to balance – I like to focus on eating 80% for nutrition and 20% for my soul. I’m not here to judge what you eat.

Every human body is different. We are biologically unique. We have different needs, tastes, preferences, emotional attachments etc. What works for one person may not for another. The human body carries out hundreds of thousands of essential functions everyday. It is smart and gives us clues as to what is happening. The key is to learn how to listen to it and interpret its clues. Those clues allow us to choose foods that support our body in the best way possible to establish and maintain equilibrium. This is my superpower.

My goal in this community is to help you question some of the paradigms that may be the only thing we’ve ever known. To be a safe and judgment free space. To be curious, to learn to listen to your body. To understand that sometimes it’s not always about a food, but what we associate with it. And to be open to perspective shifts. Some of our judgments around food and our bodies are so deeply ingrained it’s like an autopilot – we don’t even realize they are there. Most of all my goal is to help you learn grace for yourself and learn to trust and honour your body, mind and spirit. When we do that, the choices that we make will naturally shift. When they do, the clues that our body gives us will shift as we address imbalances. Each day, we have the opportunity to make new and different choices. That my friends is a gift like no other.

Yours in Health,
Andrea

(formerly known as Andi Sauce) … that’s a story for another day

Beyond the Small Talk

Now for the juicy stuff – I’m a human just like you, with human stuff. I feel things deeply which is both amazing and hard. I’m sassy and sarcastic, but I’ve also been told I’m the best listener and encourager. I’m not afraid of other people’s hard or my own. I don’t look away from pain. With the guidance and support from many hours of counselling, I am a recovering perfectionist and diagnosed at 44 with ADHD-C + math learning disability; a diagnosis that has provided me with clarity as my whole life has been explained before my eyes. I have experienced both depression and anxiety before my diagnosis, which I am learning is common with many women late diagnosed with ADHD. I am currently on a break from therapy while my AMAZING psychologist brings new life into the world and experiences the joy of motherhood. I’m a super sensitive gal and wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m not great at small talk, I can be blunt and impatient. I can cuss with the best of them, but I am a great listener, and I care deeply for others.

I am 5’4” and I am currently 140lbs (give or take a few). In my adult life, my weight has fluctuated between 135lbs and 165lbs. I currently weigh myself, at the very most, once a week, but I often go long enough that I can’t remember the last time I stepped on the scale. This was not always the case. To this day, every time my dad gets something new he jokes “does this make my butt look big?”. While the inside family teasing always brings a chuckle or two, it is a testament to how many times that phrase was uttered in our household during my teens and young adulthood. I share this information, not because I use weight as a benchmark for much of anything other than acknowledging and supporting clients with their goals. It is just a number. I believe once we balance our systems and give our body the nutrients that it needs, everything will naturally fall into place and that number will change and fluctuate during that process. I share it because I have worked hard on my own default beliefs about food and body image alongside my nutrition education and acknowledge the narratives deeply ingrained as a teenager in the 90’s immersed in diet culture. I share it because while we all have different lived experiences and relationships with food, emotions and body image, I believe as humans those diverse experiences, and resulting patterns can help us by learning from each other, supporting each other, and sometimes simply by holding space for each other in our challenges. There’s that old saying “it takes a village” in reference to raising children. I believe that extends not just to children, but everyone. Even adults need a village to be happy, healthy and most importantly to be WELL.

So, from one “work in progress” human to another, I am excited and honored to be a part of your village. To remind you (and probably myself) that it’s not about perfection, but progress. To work together to make different choices and to learn to listen to your body again. To be your cheerleader and encourager, your idea dropper, perspective shifter, and maybe even friend on this journey back to yourself - body, mind, and spirit.

Yours in Health,
Andrea

Ready to find your wellness within? Book a complimentary 30-minute call to chat and see if I would be a good fit for your village.