Everyday Chocolate | Libby Stenzel Nutrition - joy & healing with food, exercise, + body image

December 18, 2024December 17, 2024 by Libby

Everyday Eats {December 2024}

Hi everyone!

I can’t believe Christmas is only one week away! How are all of your holiday preparations going?? Wishing you all a restful, relaxing, joy-filled Christmas season. I feel like this is the first year in who knows how long that I haven’t felt overloaded and overbooked at the holidays, so I’m grateful for that.

I am working the rest of this week and then will be off for about a week and a half – almost two weeks. Looking forward to having a good stretch of days that feel less structured!

Recapping some December recent eats:

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December 4, 2024December 3, 2024 by Libby

6 Reasons Why Yoga Can Help Improve Your Relationship with Exercise & Your Body

I still vividly remember the first yoga class I ever took 15 years ago…

When I was really struggling with my eating disorder and my relationship with exercise, I randomly decided to try a yoga class, thinking that this might be a better alternative to my obsessive workouts at the gym. I also was looking for a new routine / activity to fill my after-school time.

I didn’t know ONE yoga pose and couldn’t even come CLOSE to touching my toes!

The entire class, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It was all kind of confusing and a little overwhelming. BUT, there was something about this new-to-me form of exercise that had me intrigued enough to continue coming back.

A decade and a half later, yoga remains an integral part of my life. Not only have I seen tremendous gains physically, but also in my relationship with exercise and my body. Not to mention, stretching and sweating (I especially love hot forms of yoga) feels absolutely amazing! I always find going to a great yoga class to be a helpful physical and mental “reset.” My body is sweating out all sorts of toxins, I’m focused physically, and my mind and emotions tend to settle by the end of the class.

(Note: when I talk about yoga, I’m simply referring to mindful stretching and breathing. I don’t personally engage with the religious elements found in some forms of yoga. I’m a Christian and see mindful movement and breathing as another way to connect with God and be more present with myself.)

I recommend yoga for EVERYONE, but especially anyone struggling in his or her relationship with exercise / body image. I’d love to share with you 6 reasons why!

6 Reasons Why Yoga Can Help Improve Your Relationship with Exercise & Your Body

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November 27, 2024November 25, 2024 by Libby

Everyday Eats {November 2024}

Happy almost-Thanksgiving! How are you spending your holiday??

It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of November. Personally I don’t love having Thanksgiving so late in the month, as it then feels like there is hardly any time before Christmas!

For tomorrow, we are hanging out at home in the morning — I’ll go on some sort of run or walk to get outside. We will then head to my parents’ to watch the Lions game and afterwards will have Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house. I’m bringing a big fall salad w/ mixed greens, roasted delicata squash, toasted pecans, pomegranate, goat cheese, and a maple cinnamon balsamic vinaigrette.

What is your favorite part of a traditional Thanksgiving meal? I absolutely love homemade cranberry sauce!

We’ve had such cloudy weather here in Michigan the past couple of weeks… gray skies upon gray skies, with little to no sign of that changing any time soon! We also had our first snow of the season at the end of last week!

On to some recent November eats!

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November 6, 2024November 6, 2024 by Libby

7 Questions to Consider When it Comes to Your Exercise Routine

Something that a number of my clients have shared with me is that it has felt to them like other eating disorder professionals / dietitians have conveyed the idea that they are “automatically being disordered” if they want to exercise or be physically fit.

Hmmm. *Skeptically scratching head.* I have to say I disagree!

I do think this is a tricky line to walk, as exercise and fitness intentions can certainly come from a place of being “mostly disordered.”

That being said, I don’t think that NEEDS to be the case. It’s all about your RELATIONSHIP with exercise, and your motivations for doing what you are doing. If your relationship with exercise IS currently disordered right now, we can work towards HEALING and CHANGING that. You can pursue physical fitness and exercise in a way that is genuinely and holistically healthy.

I am all about fitness and physical health in my own personal life, and love when clients and blog readers are passionate about this, too.

However, this wasn’t always the case. When it comes to working one’s way out of a completely unhealthy relationship with exercise, I GET YOU if that’s where you are at as you find yourself reading this blog post.

Based on my own personal experience and my work with clients, I have a lot of insight into what typically goes on emotionally and psychologically when it comes to a healthy versus unhealthy relationship with exercise.

Whether you are regularly exercising right now, taking a break, or thinking of getting back into it, here are 7 questions to consider when it comes to your exercise routine.

7 Questions to Consider When it Comes to Your Exercise Routine:

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October 23, 2024October 18, 2024 by Libby

Everyday Eats {October 2024}

Hello & Happy Wednesday!

This month is / has been a bit unusual for me with more travel during October than is typical for me… two weekends ago Alec and I were on Mackinac Island for our annual fall color trip which was fabulous!! The colors weren’t actually *that peak* on most of the island, but it was still a phenomenal weekend nevertheless.

This week I am out of town in Florida with family for my mom’s (delayed) 60th birthday trip. For the past several years most of my vacation time has been either long weekends or trips with more of an itinerary, so this time I am really looking forward to a lot of relaxing with mostly no plans for an entire week!!

Beach, reading, walking/running, unstructured time, eating out for dinners… will (likely) report more next week with a food recap!

Posting may be a little less frequent in the coming months, as I am in the middle of some work transitions & projects, including a website revamp that is coming in mid/late January! Be on the lookout for a new look!! I’m aiming to continue w/ monthly food recaps and whatever else I have time for as far as usual Wednesday posting goes, at least for a few months here.

This was our favorite spot on the island that we ended up returning to 4 different times. We went on a morning walk/loop that we really liked the first morning (that included going to this overlook) and did the same route the next two mornings. We also went back one evening as it was a perfect spot to watch the sunset! The above spot is right by where the Somewhere in Time gazebo is.

More life updates, Mackinac eats, & October food favorites:

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October 9, 2024October 9, 2024 by Libby

7 Reasons to Eat More (or Enough) Dietary Fat

Out of the three macronutrients — fat, protein, and carbohydrate — dietary fat has to be my favorite! Give me all the nut butter, grass-fed / organic beef & eggs & butter, and plenty of dark chocolate (obviously) :).

Some of my favorite (daily) ways to consume dietary fat include peanut butter & whole-milk yogurt on my breakfast bowls, walnuts/cashews in my energy bites & bars, olive oil-based dressings & nuts on salads, oils & butters for dinner veggies & rolls, meats & eggs w/ dinner, and evening dark chocolate & other delish sweets to cap off a nourishing day of eats.

Thankfully the low-fat craze of the 90s seems to be less of a thing now, but so many people still seem to fear eating dietary fat!

Like all things food-related, not all foods are of the same quality, and therefore the “same food” can be healthful or less-than-healthful depending on its quality. High-quality, preferably organic sources of dietary fat (including saturated fat sources!) are EXCELLENT and NECESSARY for optimal health.

That being said, you all know I”m all about balance and I’m not going to bat an eye about eating processed desserts, non-organic meat/eggs, or seed oils once in a while. Unless there is a valid health reason to be totally black and white about a certain food, I’m not going to concern myself with eating “less-than-ideal” options once in a while. I know my body can handle this and it is perfectly fine!

We need to look at the big picture of our health, food patterns, and overall toxic load, and not miss the forest for the trees by obsessing over the store-bought cupcakes or non-organic ground beef we ate yesterday.

Dietary fat does NOT “make you fat.”

In fact, I would argue that avoiding high-quality sources of dietary fat puts you at *greater risk* for unhealthy weight gain (beyond YOUR body’s natural healthy weight range), due to the effect that not getting enough dietary fat has on things like our metabolism, hormones, and overall nutritional status.

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October 2, 2024September 30, 2024 by Libby

3 Fall Salads to Try (+ Fall Weekend Eats)

Hello & Happy October!

I love everything fall-food-related… give me all the roasted root veggies, pumpkin-flavored everything, warm spices, and cozy soups & pastas.

I also love making fall-inspired salads. So much tastebud magic can happen when we combine flavors/foods like roasted veggies, maple, roasted pecans, apples, and pears!

Today I’m sharing three of my favorite fall salads, using my favorite maple tahini dressing!

This is my go-to fall dressing for a variety of salads/bowls… featuring tahini, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and the usual add-ins (salt/pepper/etc.). It is nice and creamy, and can function as a dip or a dressing!

The dressing is incredibly easy to make — I usually add everything to my Vitamix and simply give it a blend! I also usually make the dressing x3 so it will last for a good week or so!

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September 25, 2024September 23, 2024 by Libby

Everyday Eats {September 2024}

I hope your Wednesday is going well so far! 🙂 I’m loving the start to fall and the leaves starting to change… I always enjoy this time of year!

One annoying thing lately is that we have this insane construction project going on right outside our townhouse, and it is now officially impossible for me to cross the road and get to my favorite everyday running/walking path. UGGHHH. (It also adds ten mins to ANYWHERE we go with having to go around it all). I’m so bummed to miss out on the fall colors and scenery on my usual path while we *eagerly await* the construction to wrap up! (They seem in no hurry…). So, I’ve had to adjust my route and make do for the time being. It is not very scenic and not nearly as exciting but that is okay. I will appreciate my old route all the more when I can get back to it!

Diving right in with some end-of-summer / beginning-of-fall recent eats! What is the best thing you’ve eaten lately??

I loved this tasty fall salad! Mixed greens w/ black rice, roasted sweet potatoes, feta, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and green onion. Based off of this salad recipe from Cookie & Kate. I did make the ginger dressing she includes in the recipe, but didn’t love it with this salad combination, so I ended up using my usual balsamic vinaigrette when I ate it the next few times throughout the week. However, a lot of people in the recipe comments say they love it with the ginger dressing!

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September 18, 2024September 13, 2024 by Libby

7 Ways to Channel Your Driven Nature OTHER Than Your Eating Disorder

If you are like the vast majority of people who have experienced anorexia nervosa (in the past or present), I’d venture that there’s a good chance that you would use all or (at least) several of the following personality traits to describe yourself…

Organized
Hardworking
Diligent
Dependable
Perfectionistic
Intentional
Empathetic
… and Driven!

In general, many traits (including the ones listed above) can be good and fulfilling and helpful when they are channeled in the appropriate direction and with the appropriate intensity.

The same traits can also be harmful when channeled in the wrong direction and with too much or too little intensity.

Take being organized, for example. It can be a great quality to be an organized person, provided you aren’t completely obsessive with this to the point that it is negatively impacting your life and those around you, and that your organizational goals actually make sense.

We can channel our amazing organization skills towards keeping our home nice and tidy and staying on top of our household to-dos (while also being reasonably flexible with this). Or we can obsess over needing to organize the extra toiletries in our hallway closet for the third time this month.

There are two sides to every coin!

When it comes to drivenness, I think that being a driven person is a quality that can be AWESOME. I consider myself to be a very driven person and love to be inspired by the passion and intensity of other driven people.

But for all driven people, an important question to ask oneself is, where are am I driving?

And who is driving?

When it comes to anorexia nervosa, we are ferociously driving towards things like control of body size and food intake, and the suppression of distressing and uncomfortable emotions. Ultimately we are heading towards isolation, captivity, physical and emotional harm, and possibly even death.

It is our compulsions and fears who are in the driver’s seat, not our healthy, authentic selves, unhindered by suffocating grips of the anorexia.

In today’s blog post, I’m sharing 7 ways to channel your driven nature OTHER than your eating disorder.

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September 11, 2024September 9, 2024 by Libby

Intuitive Eating — 10 Principles in Action

Today I wanted to do a post revisiting the topic of Intuitive Eating. In case you aren’t familiar, Intuitive Eating is a framework for eating developed by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole and Elysh Resch. There is nothing inherently fancy or “new” about Intuitive Eating — it is essentially relearning how to naturally eat and be in tune with our bodies, dismantling and untangling the (largely unhelpful) outside voices and influences that may have negatively impacted our relationship with food and natural ways of nourishing ourselves.

Intuitive Eating is 10 principles summarizing a process of how to do that — relearn to eat in a natural, intuitive, and life-giving way.

You can read one of my earlier blog posts sharing more about the nuts and bolts of Intuitive Eating here!

In TODAY’s blog post, I’m going through recent examples of how the 10 principles might organically show up in my everyday life and eating. When we are relearning how to eat normally, I find it can often be helpful to see examples of how others go about this.

When I’m eating and going about life, (outside of client sessions) I don’t really *think* about the specific and individual Intuitive Eating principles per se at this point in my food journey. BUT they definitely make regular and continual appearances even if they are mostly integrated on autopilot.

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