About Me

I'm Shira, a Registered Dietitian living in Baltimore, MD with my husband and 3 kids.  I entered the field of nutrition because I always enjoyed biology class but I didn't want to be a Dr or PA.  I always thought I'd enter the field of clinical nutrition "because I can't put people on diets; it's just so not me."

I remember when my favorite college professor asked at the end of the semester, "OK, so we've learned all about how different foods are digested and utilized in the body and about the different processes in place to control hunger and satiety.  So, how do people become obese?"  I was so intrigued by that question.  How, indeed?  Her answer, unfortunately, was weak, in my opinion, and left me feeling like I was missing something, but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly.

When I was introduced to Intuitive Eating during my Dietetic Internship, I understood the term 'lightbulbs went off in my head' on a new level.  I felt like this was the missing puzzle piece I had been searching for; it answered the questions I had been able to articulate as well as the issues I had not.  The more I learned--and continue to learn-- about Intuitive Eating, diet culture, and body image, the more I believe in the importance of working to dismantle diet culture and redefining what it means to live a healthy lifestyle.  I created this blog as a forum to discuss these ideas to engage with people who are hearing them for the first time as well as those who have been immersed in these topics for years--and everyone in between.  So much about these topics is misunderstood and/or misrepresented, and I do believe it is hugely important that these ideas become common understanding.  I want this blog (or my email, if someone is more shy!) to be a 'safe space' for people to ask any questions they have about diet culture, intuitive eating, body image, health at every size, etc..., no matter how contrary to what I've posted it seems.

I hope you'll accept my invitation to engage and that together we will change the dialogue; that the next generation will grow up with different ideas and accepted beliefs about what it means to be beautiful and what it means to be healthy. 

On that note--I'm curious:  Is there any idea related to beauty/weight/health/nutrition that you grew up accepting as fact that has affected you negatively more than positively, and you would love to not pass on to the next generation?

I'd love to hear!

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Shira

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