Depending upon your personal situation, the holidays can be a wonderful, relaxing time with family and friends, or they can be stressful, full of drama, and exhausting. This year’s holiday season will be different thanks to the global pandemic, but many people still plan to get together either in person or virtually with family and […]
An Introduction Since starting this blog, I have had a blast connecting with people who read my posts and those who follow me on social media. I have heard incredible stories of people triumphing over disordered eating, body image issues, and diet culture as a whole. Another part of this whole thing called The Diabolical […]
An Introduction Picture this: you could swallow a pill that would help you lose weight, prevent diabetes, heart disease, and cancers. It would help you balance out your hormones, and it would make you happy, confident, and finally feel worthy of love. That would just be the bees knees, wouldn’t it? This is the image […]
If you have seen the amazing TV show Fargo, based on the movie of the same title, you may associate the term “aces” with beloved/hated antagonist Lorne Malvo. If you have not seen the amazing TV show Fargo, you should check it out on Hulu as soon as possible, because it is a dramatic masterpiece. […]
Welcome to part 2 of our discussion on youth sports and how they relate to diet culture. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, definitely start there, and come on back when you’re done. Last week, I did a fair amount of bashing when it comes to youth sports. These are thoughts and feelings I […]
An Introduction Asking people about their youth sports experiences can be a bit of a mixed bag. Some will say they always had great experiences, and that sports taught them to be resilient, respectful, and resourceful. Others, will say youth sports destroyed their confidence, body image, and overall well-being. Most people lie somewhere in the […]
An Introduction When I first heard the term “orthorexia”, I felt confused. I knew the suffix ‘orexia’ meant appetite, and I always associated the prefix ‘ortho’ with orthodontist. Could this be a condition where people can’t eat because of tooth and jaw problems? Well, after doing a bit more digging, I found that this was […]
An Introduction Ah, weddings. They’re a beautiful celebration of love and a lifelong commitment. I truly do love weddings- I have cried at most of the ones I have attended, even if I’m not super close to the people actually getting married. There is just something about the ceremony and the vows that gets me […]
An Introduction Hello and happy October! October may be filled with cooler weather, sweaters, warm beverages, and Halloween decorations, but before you get too caught up in October things, it’s time to talk about the book of the month here at The Diabolical Dietitian. I know you’re on the edge of your seat in anticipation, […]
I was 18 years old and scared out of my mind to go to college. Sure, I knew some people that would be attending the same university as me, but that didn’t take away the fear of living with a random stranger in a tiny, box-like dorm room, and it didn’t ease my mind about […]
An Introduction I think it’s safe to say that we have all been there. At one time or another, the vast majority of Americans have looked in a mirror and felt concerned about one part of their body, or several. Maybe it was stretch marks, or thunder thighs, or bat wings, or any other number […]
An Introduction $35 billion. That’s approximately how much money we collectively spend on dietary supplements each year.1 Another fascinating numerical value? There are over 85,000 dietary supplements marketed to us and are available for purchase in the United States alone.2 These figures may make it seem like dietary supplements are important, that they are the […]
An Introduction “Coffee Will Kill You and Your Entire Family” a headline in the local newspaper reads. One week later, you see a different headline bragging about how a “New Study Shows Coffee Can Increase Your Lifespan.” Many people who are exposed to these constant conflicting messages become, understandably, huffy about the topic of nutrition […]
An Introduction Chances are good you have at least heard of the phrase intuitive eating. It gets thrown around on social media, news outlets, and other mediums in such a conflicting manner that it can be hard to decipher what intuitive eating actually means. That feels so defeating, as intuitive eating is supposed to be […]
For those of you that have been following along on this blog’s journey from the start, you know that we have been talking about different studies that show calorie restriction and dieting doesn’t work in the long term. We have discussed how focused our culture is on weight loss and getting a “better” body. I wanted to take a few steps back to discuss and define diet culture in more depth so that we can all be on the same page. Diet culture is all around us, and the more you know about it, the easier it is to identify and dismantle it. And dismantling diet culture is what this entire blog is about.
An Introduction Hello and welcome to August! It’s the first of the month again, and you know what that means: it’s time for The Diabolical Dietitian’s book of the month pick! Last month, we talked about I Might Regret This by Abbi Jacobson. It isn’t about diet culture, but it is about the importance of […]
An Introduction: Calvin: If everyone looked at the stars each night, I bet they’d live a lot differently. Hobbes: How so? Calvin: Well, when you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day. Hobbes: We spent our day looking under rocks at the creek. Calvin: I […]
From 2004-2016, the show The Biggest Loser aired on NBC. I was definitely aware of this show as it aired, but I was busy watching SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly, and other wonderful programming instead.
Introduction Welcome to this week’s article all about the crappiness of calorie counting!!! I’m trying to be cheerful while talking about calorie counting, but it’s difficult because the premise simply makes me grouchy. Truth be told, there are many, many reasons why I dislike calorie counting. Most of them come from my experience of doing […]
You’re on your way to the doctor’s office for a routine, yearly physical, and you’re dreading it more than you would a root canal. You check in, take a seat in the waiting room, and wait for your name to be called. When it is, the nurse looks you up and down before greeting you […]
An Introduction Have you ever seen the show Broad City? If you haven’t, and you can handle feminist, political, relatable, heart-warming, sexual humor, you need to check it out ASAP. If you can’t handle those things, watch it anyway and learn to handle them. A dear friend of mind recommended this show to me a […]
I miss the good old days where research ethics weren’t so stringent, and we could run experiments more freely to learn about psychology and physiology. Think of all the cool stuff we could study if “human rights” didn’t stand in the way. I kid- thank goodness for research ethics, but they do prevent lots of […]
First, A Parable Stories have a way of getting through to us and sticking with us for the long haul. The discussion this week is an important one, so we will start this thing off with a parable from the 4 Hour Work Week (affiliate) by Tim Ferriss: An American investment banker was taking a […]
When we find a bout of motivation, we feel like we could make huge, sweeping changes in our lives and move mountains. Unfortunately, that motivation wears out pretty quickly when we feel overwhelmed by our ambitious plans. It took me 5 years to work up the courage to create this blog and write regularly because I was frozen by my perfectionist tendencies, especially for an undertaking this large. I have since learned that dipping your toe in the water first and working your way in from there may be a more sustainable way to make changes and get things done.
An Introduction Hard work, thick skin, and constant striving were the three pillars instilled in me as a child. I wouldn’t have become a dietitian or accomplished the other things that bring me pride without those values and skills. I feel so grateful and lucky to have grown up in a two-parent household that always […]
Half Price Books has been my happy place for over a decade. Every time I step through the doors, I feel a flicker of hope and excitement rise in my chest as my eyes scan all the possible reading materials available to me at discounted prices. I had just finished my freshman year of college, […]
I love jokes, comedy, and humor. Dad jokes are my number one choice of wisecracks. Those are my favorite because they’re light-hearted, and they usually don’t come at anyone’s expense. I actually just heard a really funny one the other day, here it goes:
Hot Bod: that was the name of one of my Pinterest boards when I was a freshman in college. It had pictures of females who had the body that I wanted more than anything. They could wear tight sports bras without that dreaded armpit bulge and spandex bottoms without a fresh-baked muffin top. For a […]
It’s a chilly Sunday morning in the middle of February. I pull up to the yoga studio to meet my sister for our weekly hot yoga sesh, which is a tradition I look very much forward to. It allows us to catch up about the week, work up a good sweat, and maybe go for […]
How many times have you gotten something new, thinking it’ll make you so unbelievably happy every time you use it? It’s fun for a while, and you appreciate it the first few times because you really notice the difference between the old and new things. Unfortunately, those feelings of newness wear off pretty quickly. We […]
