In light of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, I am choosing to share some of my own journey, in hopes that someone will be inspired to seek help and let go of the stigma or shame that is so often linked with mental health issues and getting treatment. I started going to therapy many years ago. No one told me to go, except a small voice within myself that was saying, “There has got to be another way to live. Get help,” which I believe was my intuition. So I got help. Th

I am so excited to announce that this is a guest blog post by my lovely and talented intern: Lauren Tinkey is about to graduate from Georgia State University’s Coordinated Program in Nutrition. As a RD-to-be and personal trainer, Lauren is passionate about helping people live their best lives through nutrition and exercise. Before diving into food talk, I would like to ask what you see in the image below. Do you see a white vase or two black heads? Do you see both? The image

Ah, January. There’s this classic, fast and furious renewal of fitness memberships and resolving to move more. The diet & fitness industries are pulling out all the stops to make sure they rack in the cash before everyone falls off their new (and often very extreme and/or rigid) work-out regimen. Despite the frustration I hear from my clients (and that I also feel) about our society’s disordered messages around food and exercise, especially in the New Year, I really do believ

The term literally makes me cringe. Search the hashtag “cleaneating” on Instagram and you will find images of super-lean women taking mirror selfies at the gym. There are also photos of low-calorie, “ice-cream” and “milkshakes,” plates of only vegetables, and a bunch of guys’ washboard abs. All of these photos are sending the same message: Eat clean, and you’ll be a much more attractive person with a better life than the one you already have – the one you have while you’re

You’ve heard it all: Sugar is bad. Sugar is toxic. Sugar will destroy your health. Fear-mongering messages around sugar abound. They are extreme, unhelpful, and take the joy out of eating dessert. Truthfully, nutrition science is just not that simple – cutting out one ingredient (like sugar) or groups of food is not what will lead to better health. In fact, it can be detrimental to health. I know from experience. I used to avoid sugary foods thinking they would somehow make m

Last night, I saw Fattitude –a documentary about how popular culture fosters fat prejudice. It offers an alternative way of thinking. In a word, it was amazing. Although I have been immersed in research and information around Health at Every Size and the non-diet approach to nutrition for some time now, this documentary was still eye-opening for me. It reminded me that we have all been programmed, from childhood, to believe the size of our bodies determines many things in lif

It’s easy to think that yoga is only physical poses. It makes sense why we would think that, since our society tends to focus on the external. I’m not discounting the physical benefits of yoga — it strengthens the entire body and increases flexibility — and most importantly, it can help us to be more present and at home in our bodies. Yoga is in fact an embodied practice, meaning it is not mindless. It can help us really tune in and connect to our bodies, and feel, release an