Positive Nutrition Blog

Aug 26, 2019

156: Fatness in Indian Culture

In this episode, Kimmie Singh shares her experience of the intersection of fatness in Indian culture. She shares her experience of eating disorder recovery and going to school to become a registered dietitian while being a higher weight person. She shares particular critiques of eating disorder treatment that can be more culturally sensitive as well as sharing ways Indian culture might move toward compassion for folks in various sizes. Kimmie Singh is a fat Registered Dietiti

Why It's Harmful to Equate Thinness with Health

Paige Smathers

May 20, 2019

Why It's Harmful to Equate Thinness with Health

If I could wave my magic wand and change one thing about how people thought about health it would be this. You cannot look at a person and know whether or not they're in good health. You know nothing about their eating patterns, exercise, stress or anything other health-related behavior by the way they appear. There are so many reasons why it's toxic to equate thinness with health. I'll go through some of the most salient reasons here in this post. I recognize that the way ou

7 Ways Intuitive Eating and Body Positivity Have Changed Me (Professionally and Personally)

Paige Smathers

Feb 25, 2019

7 Ways Intuitive Eating and Body Positivity Have Changed Me (Professionally and Personally)

I absolutely love my job! I feel grateful every single day for the work I get to do. In a nutshell, I get to hold space for folks who are looking to heal their relationship with food. I listen, offer support, provide education about nutrition, and strategize about self-care every day with my clients. I get to witness some of the most incredible shifts in perspective and approach that brings peace and wellbeing into people's lives. I don't say this lightly but it's true: the w

138: Sports Nutrition & How Athletes Can Work with their Bodies

Paige Smathers

Oct 24, 2018

138: Sports Nutrition & How Athletes Can Work with their Bodies

Fiona Sutherland is Director of The Mindful Dietitian & Body Positive Australia and has been practicing for 15 years primarily in the areas of eating behavior, eating disorders, body image, sports nutrition & education/training. She has been integrating the Non Diet Approach into Dietetic practice for over 12 years, and is passionate about supporting Health Professionals to develop skills in understanding more about the complexities of client presentations, and how we can foc

Paige Smathers

Jul 25, 2018

125: Resilience Through Loss

Laura Iu is a registered dietitian, intuitive eating coach and yoga teacher who is passionate about helping people heal their relationships with food and body. She lives and works in New York City and helps people heal themselves through food and joyful movement. Laura founded Nourish New York, where she offers private yoga and intuitive eating coaching. In this episode, Laura shares her experience of losing both of her parents early in her childhood. She talks about how the

124: Performative Health vs. Embodied Wellbeing

Paige Smathers

Jul 18, 2018

124: Performative Health vs. Embodied Wellbeing

This podcast episode dives deep into some of the most critical and core concepts within the realm of health and healing. I spoke with Dr. Lilia Graue, who is both a physician as well as a psychotherapist, to dive into the distinctions between performative health versus embodied wellbeing. Lilia Graue, MD, LMFT, is an eating disorders specialist and clinical supervisor; mindfulness, compassion and mindful eating instructor; and Certified Body Trust® Provider. With 18 years of

123: Answering Common Questions about Being a Health at Every Size Private Practice Dietitian

Paige Smathers

Jul 11, 2018

123: Answering Common Questions about Being a Health at Every Size Private Practice Dietitian

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be in private practice? Have you wondered about how it works to be an entrepreneur who is offering a counter-cultural approach to food and nutrition? Jessi Haggerty, RD is a fellow dietitian in private practice who also has a podcast, and joined me on the podcast to answer the most common questions we get about our work. We go through the following questions and more: How we got started What we were most afraid of when we started How w

122: Let Freedom Ring—Body Liberation & Emotional Freedom

Paige Smathers

Jul 4, 2018

122: Let Freedom Ring—Body Liberation & Emotional Freedom

On this day of Independence—at least for the United States listeners—I'm sharing a podcast episode all about liberation and freedom as it relates to food, dieting and bodies. Dr. Joy Cox is a social justice advocate, using her skill set in research and leadership to foster social change through the promotion of diversity and inclusion. Her research in Communication focuses on matters of intersectionality addressing race, body size, accessibility, and "health." She is the crea

121: What it's Like to Feel you Don't Fit In with the Non-Diet Message

Paige Smathers

Jun 27, 2018

121: What it's Like to Feel you Don't Fit In with the Non-Diet Message

Have you ever felt like you don't fit in with the non-diet message? Have you ever scratched your head about a post you saw on social media from someone who represents the intuitive eating approach, Health at Every Size, or anything else along those lines? Have you ever wondered if there's a place for you in the non-diet movement? The short answer is yes. But, listen to the entire discussion, because we explore a very real feeling of not fitting in going on in the non-diet wor

120: Practicing Mindful Eating & Self-Compassion with Diabetes

Paige Smathers

Jun 20, 2018

120: Practicing Mindful Eating & Self-Compassion with Diabetes

Can mindfulness and mindful eating work with a diabetes diagnosis? Is the compassionate approach to health—Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating paradigms—in alignment with diabetes management and treatment? Megrette Fletcher, registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, joined me on the podcast to discuss this very important intersection between mindful eating and diabetes. We talk about mindfulness-based nutrition therapy can improve health outcomes with a diab

Paige Smathers

May 3, 2018

Of Course You've Changed

Hi everyone. Long time no talk. I’ve been incredibly busy over the last few months. It’s been an exciting time for me professionally and for my business. Over the last few months, I’ve rebranded my business, hired a registered dietitian to work with me, spoke at the Utah Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Annual Meeting about intuitive eating and Health at Every Size, hosted my first ever in-person workshop on mindful eating, put on a webinar about a dietitian’s role in addic

Paige Smathers

Apr 26, 2018

Intuitive Eating Isn't the Goal

My clients and podcast listeners will often reach out to me and report that they’re sad they haven’t been better at eating intuitively. They lament that they occasionally fall back into the dieting mentality, fail to perfectly honor hunger and fullness, or fall short in finding satisfaction at meals. I totally understand where this sentiment is coming from and I empathize with feeling like you’re falling short, especially when you’re trying to figure out how to walk away from

Paige Smathers

Apr 17, 2018

111: Breaking Down Weight Science

Fiona Willer, AdvAPD is a dietitian and academic who has devoted her career to empower health professionals to adopt weight neutral practice by providing support and training in how and why to do so. In short, she wants to destroy the perception and practice of 'dietitian as food police.' She does this though online and in-person training and is in the final stretch of completing her PhD. She is such an asset to the dietetics field! In this podcast episode, Fiona and Paige di

84: Navigating Two Worlds—A Story of Body Image & Food Struggles Across Cultures

Paige Smathers

Oct 11, 2017

84: Navigating Two Worlds—A Story of Body Image & Food Struggles Across Cultures

Melissa Carmona, LPCA is passionate about helping Spanish-speaking people have access to support and resources for mental health concerns. As a Colombian-American woman and mental health therapist, she is helping so many in their journey toward a more peaceful relationship with food and their body through her advocacy and professional work. In this episode of NMP, she shares her very personal story of her own struggle with body image and food and sheds light on how difficult

83: Giving Up Dieting and Exploring Health at Every Size

Paige Smathers

Oct 5, 2017

83: Giving Up Dieting and Exploring Health at Every Size

Nutrition Matters Podcast first explored the Health At Every Size paradigm in episode 41. In this episode with Meredith Noble, we take on the topic of HAES a second time, exploring it in even more depth than the first time. Together, we answer common questions about the HAES paradigm and attempt to dispel myths and misunderstandings about its scope and mission. Meredith Noble is a coach who helps plus-size people find food and body peace. Her practice combines Health at Every

71: A Radically Respectful Approach to Nutrition & Health

Paige Smathers

Jul 5, 2017

71: A Radically Respectful Approach to Nutrition & Health

All too often, visits with health care providers leave you feeling like you're a total failure and it can be so discouraging to feel like your questions weren't really answered because you were being judged or not really heard/seen. This is what I chatted with Katherine Zavodni, MPH, RDN about on the podcast. She is a registered dietitian nutritionist who believes wholeheartedly in a radically respectful approach to nutrition and health. In this episode, she outlines what exa

61: A Millennial Man with Binge Eating Disorder

Paige Smathers

Apr 3, 2017

61: A Millennial Man with Binge Eating Disorder

Ryan Sheldon is doing amazing things with spreading awareness about men and eating disorders through his blog and social media work. He shares his story of struggling with binge eating disorder in this episode and talks about what he'd like to see change in the body image, weight and food conversation. Ryan is a true genuine soul who is out there trying to do good in this world and I absolutely loved getting to know him in this episode. Links mentioned in this episode: Ryan's

60: What it's Like to Live in a Larger Body

Paige Smathers

Mar 14, 2017

60: What it's Like to Live in a Larger Body

I recently put out a question on social media about how to have conversations with kids about other people's weight. I had someone comment with an absolutely horrific story about how she has been treated by a friend based on her weight. After chatting back and forth, she offered to come on the podcast to talk about her experiences of living in a larger body. In this episode she shares experiences and moments in her life where she felt seen, heard and loved. She also shares ti

53: How One Woman Made Huge Strides Toward a Healthier Relationship with Food & Her Body

Paige Smathers

Dec 17, 2016

53: How One Woman Made Huge Strides Toward a Healthier Relationship with Food & Her Body

I just launched my online course!! It's been years in the making and I'm so excited to share this episode. This conversation is with one of the beta testers of the course and she talks all about her experiences of how she's made huge progress in healing her relationship with food and her body. She has some incredible important insight, so listen in—you're going to learn so much! I know I did. Important links: Positive Nutrition online course coming soon! Join the Nutrition Ma

Paige Smathers

Nov 23, 2016

How to Deal with a Food Craving

It’s 9pm. You finally have the chance to sit on the couch and relax from a long day; it’s time for a little me time. You turn on Netflix and start scrolling to find something to watch. All of a sudden, you can’t stop thinking about how much you want some ice cream. You want some and you want it now! Maybe you start telling yourself you shouldn’t have it. Or maybe you tell yourself you should have it because you deserve it. But, the point is, you’re at a crossroads. You can ei