Mindfully Well

01/07/2024

Sharing this as a resource for those in the Twin Cities who might be interested in an eating disorder and body image support group!

15/12/2023

Thank you so much to WCCO-TV for inviting me to speak on their "Good Question" segment! I'm often asked by clients about late night snacking, so I really enjoyed discussing this topic.

You can hear my response in the clip, but often late night snacking is more indicative of our eating pattern earlier in the day rather than a lack of discipline or control. And snacking isn't inherently a problem!

Here's a few of my top tips:
- Make sure you're eating enough on a regular basis throughout the day. A good place to start is 3 meals and a couple of snacks at regular intervals (about every 3-5 hours).
- Being over-hungry and restricted throughout the day is often what leads to feeling out of control around food in the evening - better to give it energy throughout the day rather than trying to hold off. This almost always backfires!
- At most meals and snacks throughout the day, aim to have a balance of all of the macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat) to ensure your body's needs are being met.
- If you're someone whose sleep is disrupted by eating later at night, try having something to eat about 2-4 hours before bedtime.
- If you have reflux that disrupts your sleep, reduce higher fat foods, spicy foods, caffeine, and citrus before bed.
- If your blood sugar tends to dip overnight (like with diabetes), a balanced snack before bed can be extremely helpful!
- If your needs are being met on a consistent basis and you're not hungry at night, but find yourself snacking, take some time to check in with your body and determine what you might be feeling both physically and mentally. If your snacking feels bothersome, seek the support of a registered dietitian.

Long story short: Snacking at night isn't a problem! It's ok to feed your body when you're hungry (and when something is just tasting good 😊). We may want to evaluate if we're getting enough on a consistent basis earlier in the day, but a bedtime snack can actually be helpful.

On this week's Good Question, Kirsten Mitchell talks to a dietitian about bedtime snacking.

15/02/2023

A really helpful analogy for thinking about eating disorders and ED recovery ❤️

Do you have a hard time understanding or describing your recovery process?In this video, we share a brief analogy to help you better understand the process o...

14/09/2022

Quick little update that I’m licensed to practice in both Minnesota and IOWA now! 🙌🏼

If you live in Iowa and are interested in working together via telehealth, visit the link in my bio to set up a time to chat to see if we’d be a good fit to work together. I’m able to accept a few major insurances, so we can talk about if that’s an option for you as well!

For those of you who don’t know, I was born, raised, and went to school in the Iowa City area (Go Hawks! 🖤💛). I’m so excited to be able to offer services to my home state now too!

25/07/2022

Today is a big day…

Three years ago I started Mindfully Well in the closet nook of our apartment. I was a baby dietitian with a baby private practice that I was doing on the side of my public health job because I missed the one on one connection with clients that I was able to be a part of while counseling. I was spending my precious evening hours and lunch breaks fulfilling a passion of mine, and I realized this year (through a lot of burnout and therapy) that I was burning the candle at both ends.

Today is a big day because it’s the first day I’m working in my private practice full time 🥹🥳

I never would’ve imagined three years ago that my passion project would have grown into a full-blown career and I am so, so grateful that I get to do this work. Thank you to my family, friends, and colleagues who believed in me and rooted me on. Thank you to my clients who have trusted me to be a part of their journeys healing their relationship with food and their bodies. I wouldn’t be here without all of you and I still can’t believe I get to do this for a job… pinch me! 🙊

With the transition to full time, I’ve recently expanded my hours and have availability for some new clients. If you’ve been considering working together, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m happy to set up a time for us to chat to see if we’d be a good fit!

If you’re not to the point where you’re ready to work one on one with someone, no worries! I’ll be posting a little bit more regularly on social media soon and return to being a resource, wherever you’re at in your journey!

Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🏼

03/03/2021

Contrary to popular belief, Intuitive Eating isn’t just eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. It’s a lot more nuanced than that!
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This can show up in a variety of ways, but one of the times we may eat when we aren’t physically hungry is when we honor “anticipatory hunger”. This means eating something even though we may not be physically hungry because we know we won’t have an opportunity for a while, which will likely lead to primal hunger (aka hanger 👹).
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Primal hunger doesn’t feel great. For me it means I’m irritable, shaky, and sometimes nauseous. I also often eat super quickly and whatever I can get my hands on at that point, often past the point of comfortable fullness. Overall not a great feeling in my body.
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Anticipatory hunger let’s me give my body the energy it needs through a time when I may not have the opportunity for a while. For example, I’m currently helping staff our vaccine clinics at the county. We have set breaks and I’m often not hungry at 11:30 🤷🏼‍♀️ However, I know that if I don’t eat at that time, I likely won’t have anything until dinner around 6pm (or when I raid the pantry the second I get home at 5). So even though I’m not physically hungry, I’m having lunch so that I have energy for the rest of my day and can enjoy dinner later (or a snack if needed!).
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This can be a helpful thing to do if you have back to back meetings, assigned breaks, or know you have a super busy day ahead. How can you anticipate hunger?
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24/02/2021

Want to win a copy of Unapologetic Eating by Alissa Rumsey Nutrition and Wellness?? I’m giving away a copy over on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLriRs6oOzj/?igshid=1ahc04006qoff

26/01/2021

✨ SATISFACTION IS KEY TO BECOMING AN INTUITIVE EATER ✨⁠
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If we were to imagine Intuitive Eating as a wheel, satisfaction would be the hub at the center. All of the other principles are spokes coming off of the hub, but without satisfaction at the center, the wheel will never turn 🤸🏼⁠
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Many of us fear pleasure and satisfaction when it comes to food (likely thanks to the Food Police), but without allowing ourselves to find it in our food and eating experiences, we’ll continue being stuck in the diet mentality.⁠
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Satisfaction is about asking yourself "what sounds good?" and honoring that when you're able. However, there are other things you can do to make your eating experience more satisfying beyond the food you eat:⁠
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😋 Eat when you're moderately hungry. Food tastes better when you're hungry; however, if you're ravenous, you'll likely eat your food too quickly to taste it! (Just me?? 😅)⁠
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🕑 Give yourself plenty of time to eat. It's hard to enjoy a meal when you're in a rush! Block it off in your calendar, baby.⁠
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🧘🏼 Sit at your table or away from your desk. Eating when distracted takes away from the experience and therefore satisfaction. Find a pleasant place to enjoy your food.⁠
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🌬️ Pause and take some deep breaths before eating. This can help center you in the moment, reduce anxiety, and get you body ready to digest.⁠
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👀 Focus on your senses. Sight, taste, smell, touch, sound – get all of your senses involved whenever possible!⁠
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🤔 Check in on your fullness.Taking a pause in the middle of your meal can give you a chance to assess your fullness level. This doesn’t mean you have to stop eating at this point, but it can slow down your pace and give you the opportunity to see if you’re satisfied or would like some more.⁠
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What would you add to this list to help making eating a satisfying experience?⁠

25/01/2021

What does a satisfying meal look like to you? 🍽️⁠
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For me, it's one that will fill me up, but also include what sounds good. It could be something I'm craving, a specific texture, a specific cuisine, but in some way it's gotta sound GOOOOD. At the moment, a satisfying meal for me is looking like a big ol' pepperoni pizza with a Caesar salad (specifically Red Wagon in Minneapolis... IYKYK)😋⁠
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Alright, now that I've probably got your mouth watering a bit, when was the last time you ate a truly satisfying meal? One where you didn't choose what to eat based on calories, macros, points, or what's "healthiest". Rather, it sounded good, filled you up, and left you feeling content 😌⁠
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If you're just starting out on your Intuitive Eating journey, or still "on a diet", you may have to think back a bit or are struggling to remember something recent. You may even feel a little guilty or anxious just remembering 😬⁠
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Pleasure and satisfaction, especially around food, have become something to fear for many of us thanks to diet culture and the Food Police. BUT satisfaction is KEY to being an Intuitive Eater and healing your relationship with food. ⁠
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Today on the blog, I'm breaking down why satisfaction is important and how to make eating a more satisfying and enjoyable experience: www.livemindfullywell.com/discover-the-satisfaction-factor⁠

20/01/2021

Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt personally victimized by the guilt you feel for something you’ve eaten or have thought about eating 🙋🏼‍♀️ If your hand is high in the air like mine, unfortunately you’re not alone. This is the most common thing clients tell me they are experiencing and want to be done with – feeling guilty over food.

Most of the time, food guilt shows up in the form of a little voice in our heads telling us we’re “bad” for eating something or that choosing a certain food automatically means we’re “unhealthy”. The same voice can also nag at us to choose something “healthy” or “be good” so we don’t fall off track. This voice is the Food Police 👮🏼 I lovingly refer to it as your “Inner A**hole” 🙂

Today on the blog I'm chatting about identifying the Food Police (plus its co-conspirators) and how to shift your self-talk to come from more helpful voices.

Read the full post at www.livemindfullywell.com/challenge-the-food-police/

If you think you could use some help shutting down your Inner A**hole, send me a DM or visit www.livemindfullywell.com/challenge-the-food-police to apply for 1:1 coaching 👊🏼

19/01/2021

After a somewhat lengthy and unplanned break, I'M BACK 🥳 ⁠
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I'm excited to begin regularly posting helpful content for you all again (bear with me as I get back in the groove), but I wanted to pop in today with a quick announcement. ⁠
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While I was on my extended break, I decided to partner up with the folks at Twin Cities Therapy and Counseling so that I could start accepting insurance for Minnesota residents! This is hopefully one step of many I will be taking towards making nutrition services accessible to more folks. ⁠
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Mindfully Well is still kickin' of course, but the insurance process was super intimidating for a solopreneur like myself, so I'm very happy that TCTCA reached out with this opportunity to partner and be added to their insurance panels. Much less stress and headaches for me hopefully 😅⁠
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If you're a Minnesota resident, I now accept the following insurance plans:⁠
- Aetna⁠
- BCBS MN⁠
- Health Partners⁠
- Preferred One⁠
- UCare⁠
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Schedule an appointment with me via www.twincitiestherapyandcounseling.com if you'd like to use your benefits for nutrition counseling/medical nutrition therapy.⁠
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AND if you're NOT interested in using insurance or don't have nutrition benefits, feel free to set up a FREE Discovery Call with me at www.livemindfullywell.com/nutrition-coaching and we can come up with a plan that best meets your needs 👍🏼⁠
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🚨 I'll be resuming my Intuitive Eating blog series starting tomorrow, so keep an eye out for Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police 👮🏼⁠

06/10/2020

FALL FLAVOR THROWDOWN 🚨

Are you Team Apple 🍎 or Team Pumpkin 🎃?? Personally, I’ve always been , but with the new seasonal flavors from Oui by Yoplait there’s no losers here! When they reached out offering to send me samples of their Apple Pie and Pumpkin Caramel French style yogurts, I had to try REAL hard not to fan girl because Oui is one of my breakfast staples 😂

I love how luxurious, creamy, and delicious these yogurts are, and the new Fall flavors are sure to make you cozy 🤗 Plus, they come in glass jars which can easily be recycled or reused - like to propagate plants, which Colin tells me I need to stop doing 😬

So tell me which you want to try first: Apple or Pumpkin??👇🏼