Welcome to Intuitive Nutrition

by Heather on July 8, 2010


Through my passion and belief in eating mindfully, coupled with my nutrition expertise, I build confidence and empowerment in my clients, allowing them to achieve their health goals.

Are you ready to learn how to eat instead of being told what to eat? Do you want more energy and improved health? Does your family need a nutrition makeover? Imagine if you had a partner in your quest for better health, someone to hold your hand and lead you to the other side.  Often, just having a support person who can help you create a plan and goals is the difference between success and running in place. If you are ready to begin your journey to a healthier you, you have come to the right place!

I promote intuitive eating, which will allow you to stay mindful, listen to your body, improve your relationship with food and release extra weight in the process.

What are your Goals for 2012?

by Heather on January 2, 2012


So, are you fully recovered from the holidaze yet? I have to say I am just about recovered. This year, I spent the last few days of 2011 at my parent’s beach house in New Jersey. The weather was unseasonably warm for the end of December, in the high 50′s. Yesterday, I participated in the annual Polar Bear Plunge in Brigatine NJ. It was the first time I did anything remotely as crazy as jumping in to 48 degree water. It was cold, but I am glad I did it, you only live once, right?

This time of year is a great time to reflect on the past year and look ahead to 2012. Looking back, what goals did you achieve in 2011? What things did you do right, or not so right? If you did achieve some of your goals, how did you find the motivation? Knowing what has worked in the past can help you achieve your future goals. This year, one of my goals is to finally get back to my pre-baby weight, my motivation is a trip to the Caribbean planned for late June. It’s easy to say, “I want to be thinner” but, saying, “I want to be thinner”, is probably way too vague. If I say I want to lose 50 pounds, that is probably unrealistic (at least for me). By changing the goal from vague to specific, and from unrealistic to realistic, I can more easily map the steps to get there. My current goal is to lose 1 pound a week until I reach my goal weight. This goal is specific and realistic. I want to increase my activity level by 1 extra hour each week and cut out some of the added sugar in my diet. These will be my first steps towards my goal.

Let’s say your goal is to be able to stop taking cholesterol medication by 2013. That is a specific and realistic goal. To do that, you’ll likely need to change your diet and increase your activity. What kind of diet will you need to consume to be able to stop taking the meds? A diet high in fruits, vegetables and plant based fats. If your diet doesn’t contain enough of these foods now, you’ll have to start incorporating them in. Fiber is also an important component to cholesterol levels. If you make your goal to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day, that is a good start. Of course, you may need to go to the market to make sure you have enough fruits, vegetables and whole grains available to meet your daily goal.

As for activity, you’ll have to slowly increase until you are getting at least 30 minutes most days of the week. Cardiac or aerobic exercise is important, but don’t underestimate the importance of anaerobic exercise (strength training) either. You may need to join a gym or hire a trainer to help you meet this piece of the goal.

Put another way, state your goal and then decide what the person who achieves that goal looks like. A person who doesn’t need cholesterol meds, is likely a person who is active most days of the week and also eats a healthy diet high in fruits and vegetables. Then map the steps from here to there and get started!

Good luck! Don’t forget that working with a registered dietitian and or personal trainer can really increase your chance of success when it comes to diet and exercise. Along with their expertise, they bring accountability, which can be the difference between succeeding and having the same goal next year (again, for the 8th year in a row).

Mention this blog post when you contact me to receive your complimentary phone session and 20% off your first visit.

What are your health goals for 2012?

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Happy Holidays!

by Heather on December 22, 2011


If you were Santa, you would be recovering from a major binge eating episode Sunday morning. Granted, the big guy probably burns a lot of calories carrying that pack, driving his sleigh and jumping up and down chimneys but just how many cookies does he eat on Christmas Eve? Here is the math:

About 95% of Americans celebrate Christmas every year, according to a recent Gallup poll. Currently, that means there are about 74,000,000 families with children under the age of 18 celebrating Christmas in the United States. If Santa ate just one cookie at each of those households that would equal 5.5 billion calories (in round terms, pardon the pun) – that’s 1.6 million pounds of overeating – or enough calories to feed 2 people for a whole year :)

Fortunately, for the rest of us, eating over the Holidays isn’t that big of a binge episode… although sometimes we feel like we ate enough calories to feed two people for the next year. If you follow just a few of these tips, you can be sure to enjoy the holidays with no guilt.

1. At a holiday party, choose nibbles that are special. These means, pass on the chips and dip and go for great-grannies special cheese and nut ball – that she only makes once a year and is planning on taking the recipe with her when she enters the Pearly Gates. Pass on any kind of item that is prepackaged and/or store bought and go for the homemade fare.

2. Make sure to take at least 30 minutes out of your day to participate in some type of physical activity. Even a round of Dance Party or Wii Olympic Sports counts!

3. If you are planning on attending an evening event with lots of food and drink, consider eating lightly during the day. Stick with fruit, low fat dairy and vegetables for breakfast and lunch, eat enough that you are not starving before the party.

4. Make sure you are drinking enough water. Aim for 6 to 8 glasses a day, maybe more before and after indulging in alcohol. That hangover headache is caused by dehydration.


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We Adore Santa’s Muffin Top, but, Our Own Muffin Top? Not so Much.

by Heather on December 17, 2011


Click below to see Jean Fain’s article and how we can help ourselves lose the muffin top. Carb phobics and sit-up addicts need not apply :-)

Jean Fain Blog Post on How to Lose our Muffin Top

 

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This Thanksgiving, Serve Yourself Turkey with a Side of Compassion

by Heather on November 23, 2011


Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, my friend,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new end.

Anonymous

I know it’s been awhile since my last post, but this post may be worth the wait. I am hoping that you find this post so inspirational that it actually begins to change the way you think about your body, your weight and your life. I recently came across the book The Self Compassion Diet by Jean Fain. This book was incredibly inspiring to me, and I highly recommend it to any and all of those who struggle with body acceptance.

You see, even though I preach body acceptance to my clients, I am guilty of not completely accepting my current body. I am getting there, with practice – and trust me, some days are better than others as far as the negative thoughts in my head go… but I am not what I would call, there, yet.

Some days, I find myself struggling with the same questions my clients often pose to me. “I can savor my food and appreciate the texture, flavor and aroma of each bite, but that doesn’t seem to be making me eat any less.” Or, “I just don’t understand how by accepting my current body, I will be able to lose weight, doesn’t accepting my body mean that I have given up?” Or, how about this question, “If I let myself eat whatever I want, I’ll never stop eating and I’ll gain even more weight, don’t I have to cut out all white sugar and white flour and anything else that causes me to salivate if I ever want to fit into smaller jeans?

Even though intellectually I grasp the concept of the connection between mind and body, I whole heartedly believe that everything in moderation is sane advice and I agree with the Buddhist who strive to walk the middle path… There are some days when I consider going on The Grapefruit Diet, Slim Fast or South Beach or any other fad diet that promise to make me lose weight quickly. Like yesterday.

Enter, The Self Compassion Diet. This book really helped me to see the connection more clearly. It threw my questions and doubts about how eating more mindfully, more intuitively and having more compassion for my body could lead to lasting weight loss right back at me with logical explanations backed by scientific studies. It’s broken down into four parts, each part offers a slightly different, non-diet approach to weight loss. There are practices and exercises given for each part.

Part I : Self Compassion

Part II: Hypnosis

Part III: Mindfulness

Part IV: Social Support

You can’t lose weight without accepting who you are and how you got where you are now. It starts with acceptance, and even though you may not like the number on the scale, or your thighs, or your muffin top, you have to accept it. It is what it is. You can’t complete a journey if you don’t know where to start. It has to start with the right here and the right now, once you accept the now, you can begin to move forward. The next logical step after acceptance is self compassion. Again, you may be so angry at yourself that it is hard to not want to punish yourself. But I ask you, and be honest here, has punishing yourself worked in the past? I am willing to bet that if you are unhappy with your current weight, unhappy with your obsession about food, unhappy with your level of physical fitness or feel that your eating is just plain out of control, that you got where you are now by punishing yourself for the last umpteen years.

I would like to suggest that you change from self punishment to self compassion. It may sound crazy, but crazy might just work. Actually, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Are you dieting over and over again and expecting different results? Are you punishing yourself yet again with verbal abuse (inside your head) and depriving yourself of foods you love and expecting it to magically create long term weight loss?

So on this day of thanksgiving, and gratitude, I am asking you to serve yourself a little self compassion on the side. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, the whole year through! Especially if you practice it every day, or at least as often as you catch yourself with negative thoughts about your body, diet, activity, etc.

I ask you to come up with 10 things you appreciate about your body, right now. Every day you are here on earth is a gift, start by being thankful for that – for the breath that allows you to be on earth. Now, go eat some turkey!

If you would like to practice a 5 minute guided visualization on self compassion, CLICK HERE, and listen to Jean Fain.

Jean Fain LICSW, MSW

Author of The Self Compassion Diet

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with blessings and gratitude for all that you have and all that you are!

 

 

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YouTube videos are here!

September 12, 2011

Here is the link to some YouTube videos I did as part of GeoBeats “Expert Series” Low Carb Diet and Weight Loss Benefits of Drinking Water How to Avoid Overeating 5 Worst Snack Options at a Gas Station Foods to Improve Your Energy

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Healthy Tips for Packing Lunch for Your Child

September 7, 2011

  Welcome back to school! I know that I for one, am happy when September rolls around. We made it through heat waves, earthquakes, hurricanes and even a tornado warning here in Philadelphia, but now the golden days of fall are upon us and it is time to get back into the daily routine, which [...]

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Is Your Child Part of the Obesity Epidemic?

July 19, 2011

By Kelly Sipala Helping your child overcome a weight issue is never an easy task.  If you are like most parents, you may find the task so  difficult that you loose patience and want to give up.  When it comes to children and obesity, it is a struggle for the parents and the child.  As [...]

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The Local vs. Organic Debate

June 29, 2011

  This post was written by Jessica Griffin. Jessica is a Nutrition Dietetics major at IUP who enjoys running, the beach, and healthy living.       When trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, the biggest factor for most people is simple: what food should they eat. However, it has become clear that not only [...]

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Thinking about the Dukan Diet? You may want to read below first.

June 12, 2011

This article was researched and written by Kelly Sipala The Dukan Diet is basically the English version of the South Beach Diet. It focuses on protein, and specific low fat foods, while limiting the consumption of carbohydrates.  There are four phases to the diet. The first phase is the attack phase, a person can expect [...]

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How Much Water should you be Drinking?

May 26, 2011

As the weather is turning warmer, you and your family may be beginning to increase your activity and may be sweating more. Does this mean you need to drink more? Do you really need 8-10 glasses of water every day? If you are active and the weather is warm do you need more than 8-10 [...]

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