“We’ve not been very good at treating obesity for a very long time” – Dr. Sean WhartonYep. While counting calories can be effective as a short term intervention to bring awareness, it routinely fails as a long term intervention, because it fails to address the root cause.Counting calories for the rest of your life is akin to telling someone to use crutches to walk for the rest of their life.Obesity is not a logic or a math problem, and it’s not an information problem. It’s a behavioural and emotional problem that runs much deeper and is exacerbated by many modern…

If you want to truly transform your health, you can’t do it without these 3 things.Time, Patience and Compassion.Take a look at the last 6+ decades of diet culture. We’ve created multiple generations of people who fear food, don’t trust themselves, and always feel like they’re failing.And worse, there’s an entire (failed) multibillion dollar industry that’s based on the premise that you’re not good enough, that sells you quick-fixes, and makes you feel like it’s your fault when they don’t “work”.Trapped in a cycle of guilt, regret and shame, for being the imperfect human that they are.There’s no pill or…

“You’re not enough.”That’s the story that most people carry around with them their entire lives. It’s a heavy story that weighs people down and holds them back from ever enjoying happiness.It’s a belief that’s reinforced from an early age, and continually pushed into our faces because social media is a highlight reel that conditions us to believe that happiness lies in achieving a certain status, or looking a certain way.It’s a story that I struggled with for a long time. As a nutrition professional who doesn’t maintain 6-pack abs, a “jacked” physique, or a fridge full of perfectly prepped meals,…

If my friend had a hard day, and I sat down to have a glass of wine together and talk, listen and share, I’d be a good friend. But, if every time my friend had a hard day, I handed them a glass of wine, I’d be helping them become an alcoholic.Sometimes we mistake a short term act of kindness for a viable long-term strategy, when in fact, as a repeated act, it becomes highly destructive.What if that friend was myself, and instead of wine, it was pizza, cookies and chocolate?When I was using (and abusing) food as a coping…

My new friend Sanjay shared with me some of his wife’s incredible Indian cooking, and we proceeded to spend the next hour and a half talking about food, culture, history and travel.Anyone who says “food is just fuel” is living a joyless life around food, and I feel sorry for them.So many people spend their lives trapped in a tortured relationship with food, ridden with guilt, angst, shame and suffering.And the irony is, it’s only making their struggles with health and weight worse.Eating can be such a sensual and pleasurable experience, heightened by meaningful connection to other human beings.I’m here…

I’m sure we’ve all seen the joke floating around that says:Wife asks husband “did I get fat during COVID?”Husband says: “Don’t worry dear, you were already fat”Wife kills husband in a white hot rage because he made an honest, but blunt remark around her current physical conditionWe all chuckle, because it’s an exaggerated stereotype, but there’s a grain of truth in itBut, then my brain goes “Hang on a sec … What belief are we perpetuating here?”That women should be so sensitive about their current physical condition that they should become physically violent toward anyone who mentions it?That they’re so…

“Losing weight is simple. All you have to do is eat veggies and lean protein for most of your meals”Sure, that’s true … If you wre an emotionless robot who had a mostly effortless life, with low demands on your time and emotional and mental energy.Any blanket statements around health and weight loss entirely ignore the human experience and place an impossible burden of expectation on the individual.On top of that, when someone fails to adhere to said guidelines, they’re often told that they just don’t want it bad enough.Are you freaking kidding me?Whenever someone makes such a blanket statement,…

One of the biggest obstacles that actually stops people from changing is the fear of what others will say.Yet, that’s something that we have no control over.Which means letting something that you DO have control over … is being stopped dead by something you have zero control over.Trying to control others’ opinions of you is like trying to hit the wind with a baseball bat … you end up exhausted and yet nothing meaningful accomplished.“I want to lose weight, but I’m worried what my partner/family/friends will think about my efforts to get healthy … so rather than come into conflict…

There’s something hugely wrong with conversations around weight loss. ☹️When someone posts that they’re struggling to lose weight, well-intentioned friends will rattle off a list of all the things that they did, that may have worked:“I did keto” … “I went plant-based” … “I cut out gluten” … and so on.What I don’t hear a lot of is “I’d like to hear your story”.It’s easy to throw out simple platitudes: “It’ll get better, I promise …” or “I’m thinking about you …”It’s not so easy for people to open up their heart to truly LISTEN.People don’t just gain 100lbs overnight. It…