There’s a song that begins with the line, “It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day” that keeps running through my head. I don’t know about you but ever since I stopped dieting it’s like the world is conspiring in my favor. It seems like I’m far from alone in getting to this point of a very long and arduous restriction journey. Hence, serious diet backlash appears to be popping up everywhere on social media. Case in point: Last year I participated in a speaking summit organized by Stephanie Hutchenson. The title was Living La Vida Vegan. When I received a solicitation from her this year to be a part o ..read more

Good morning lovelies!!!! My apologies for getting off track again with blog posts. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I’m wrapping up this whole weight loss, dieting, blogging, searching, researching, and experimenting thang, but before I say “Au revoir,” there’s quite a few things I’d still love to share with you. The complication is that I’m distracted with a new and wonderful lettering/calligraphy/bullet journaling/watercolor painting hobby (yes, I have an Instagram account for that! @loveslettersandbujos.) I’m having so much fun that it’s hard to stop to write anything anymore, which is a g ..read more

I cannot overemphasize how the following exercise impacted my mental health. It’s so easy, you’ll probably wonder (a) why you didn’t think of it yourself and (b) why it took you so long. I cannot take credit for this suggestion. I believe I first heard it from a woman named Isabel Foxen Duke. If you don’t know who she is, it’s very likely worth your time to listen to a few podcast episodes she’s been featured on (like this one and this one) and also to sign up for her mailing list. She sends out great articles and links to interviews with her. Okay, so here’s the way you become 1000% happier ..read more

My final blog post series would not be complete if I didn’t include today’s topic. I’m going to be exposing an idea that chances are, if you are a reader of Healthy Girl’s Kitchen, you may not even be aware of: Health at Every Size. When I began blogging almost a decade ago, weight loss/maintenance was the only thing that concerned me when it came to my body. But that quickly changed as I discovered the whole food, plant-based diet, the doctors and other folks that promote it, and the communities of people embracing it. I vividly remember a lot, and I mean A LOT, of discussion in certain onli ..read more

At the risk of revealing my own stupidity, in the next six blog posts I’m going to write about subjects that up until recently were TOTALLY foreign to me: The Thin Ideal Health at Every Size Last Supper Eating and how my “food obsession,” “food addiction” and “binge eating disorder” magically disappeared once I stopped dieting How diets (aka caloric restriction) are most likely a major component of the obesity epidemic Body Positivity, Body Respect, Body Love AND how to get yourself some-a-dat Outstanding resources that explain all of this in greater detail You may already be very aware of ..read more

Like all worthwhile things in life, the experiment that was and is Healthy Girl’s Kitchen is complicated. I have to say the same for my time in Bright Line Eating land. It’s complicated. There were things about BLE that I’m tearing my hair out thinking, “how did I ever let things get that far?” and many other things that I thank my lucky stars about (the incredible friendships I’ve made, Bright Line Healing/Molly Larkin, eating fat and higher protein foods again with no fear). One of the things that I’m grateful for is my Mastermind Groups. Before joining the world of Bright Line Eating ..read more

Before I dive in to the story of how I went from being one of the most dieting obsessed people on the planet to a person that is not currently trying to change my body, it might help to have a short refresher on the history of my experiment. I began writing this blog about ten years ago, after I had quickly lost forty pounds on Weight Watchers (later to become a total of fifty pounds). On a whim, I started blogging with one question in mind, “How do thin people stay thin?” I began interviewing my thin friends and I wrote about it. I researched the subject and quickly got enmeshed with a group ..read more

Hello Friends! You may or may not have noticed that I’ve been on a long hiatus with Healthy Girl’s Kitchen (the blog part). If you noticed, THANK YOU! Your support is much appreciated. If you don’t have the slightest clue what I’m talking about, don’t worry, it’s all good. I’ve been suffering with a serious case of “How do I tell you this” for MONTHS. This might just be one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to say out loud, come clean about or admit to anyone other than my husband. I’ve stopped dieting. Yes, you read that right. I am not currently trying to: restrict lose weight cut out sp ..read more

Lesson Number 3: Never Say Never! A few days ago I received the following comment to a blog post: “I’m really curious if you are going to address, in your 10 things you learned blogs, how weighing and measuring helped or didn’t help you get more at peace with your food. We’ve spoke before and I know you from other groups you were in and so I’m curious the difference from eating whenever you want but it being whole foods plant-based, to going to the BL way…..I’m fascinated! hope that makes sense?? ?” Thanks for asking! It’s the perfect segue into the next lesson that I learned these past 12 mo ..read more

Lesson Number 1 revisited: Trust my own instincts. I got totally distracted from writing more blog posts in this series by our celebration of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. In case you missed them, here’s Lesson 1 and Lesson 2. In order to get back in my groove, I’m publishing this post revisiting my first lesson after something came up for me this past weekend. I’ve been spending a lot of my time over the last few weeks listening to the interviews from The Self-acceptance Summit from Sounds True. It’s the perfect compliment to the type of self-reflection one does when a new year is upon ..read more