by Libby

Recent Meals & Snacks

Hello everyone! How have your past couple of weeks been?

My life has been all over the place! At the end of July we went to Pennsylvania for a few days to visit some of Alec’s relatives / spend time with family. I was then home for a quick weekend of “catching up on life things” before heading to Traverse City with my mom for a quick overnight to see Jewel in concert at (her alma mater) Interlochen. I *HAD* to go to the concert despite the less-than-optimal Monday evening timing, and it was just as good as expected!

In today’s post I’m sharing some meals and snacks from my recent excursions, including how I navigated returning home to an almost-empty fridge for several days before going to the grocery store. (Preview: plenty of frozen items and pantry items for the win!)

Before heading to Pennsylvania, Alec’s mom and brother/his family came to Ann Arbor to visit for a day. We had them over for lunch and I made tacos / taco salad. I love to use this guacasaca recipe from Rise & Run whenever I make Mexican! Other toppings were pretty basic, including shredded cheese + chopped veggies + my favorite organic salsa from Costco. The guacasaca is also quite simple since you basically just throw everything in the blender (a high-powered blender like a Vitamix is ideal here).

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by Libby

Everyday Eats {July 2024}

Happy Wednesday, & farewell today to the month of July!

I hope you are having a good week getting outside, hopefully enjoying some sun, and eating lots of summer’s finest produce!

We are out of town this week on a family trip visiting relatives (Alec’s side) in Pennsylvania. I am off working with clients this week (M-W) and back to the regular work week tomorrow.

July has been a full, but not too full, month! 4th of July festivities, my friend’s wedding weekend, time with friends, navigating work dynamics, and now family time/trip at the end of the month.

August is generally one of my least favorite months, BUT, it does mean that Michigan Football is starting at the end of the month!! So we can all rest in that reality.

Recap of recent eats from July:

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by Libby

True Health (Including Fitness/Nutrition) and Recovery are NOT Mutually Exclusive

A common dynamic I’ve noticed in the eating disorder recovery world is this idea that if you want to eat a nutritious diet and be physically fit you are clearly disordered in your food/exercise approach.

There is a fine line (that looks different for everyone) when it comes to what is disordered or not in someone’s food/exercise approach.

Just because you care about nutritious eating and being physically fit does NOT mean this is inherently problematic!

(In other words, how you are relating to nutritious food and exercise may be disordered right now, but it doesn’t have to be that way).

I find that dietitians and other eating disorder professionals who approach their work with clients in such a black-and-white way tend to turn off and lose trust with a lot of clients who genuinely care about these things, even if they are struggling and experiencing health and fitness in a disordered way at the current moment. This can manifest from everything from direct interactions with clients (“you are disordered for wanting to eat/be healthy” vibes) to marketing (i.e., always showing photos of eating disorder dietitians eating cupcakes, as if anything else would be “disordered.”)

Maybe you are someone who truly does enjoy training for races and going to the gym, but these activities have become overly obsessive and disordered in how you are engaging with them. That does not mean that these activities are inherently bad, need to be “off-limits” for forever, or that you can’t engage with them in a genuinely healthy way in the future.

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by Libby

5 Recovery Challenges to Consider This Summer

If you are in the midst of recovering from an eating disorder (or any degree of disordered eating), summer can be a good time to challenge yourself a bit when it comes to your recovery journey.

While summer certainly isn’t always this way, oftentimes we might have a little more energy, space in our routines, and motivation to intentionally focus on something like our mental/emotional and physical health. Maybe you are a student in transition between semesters or school years, and your schedule is more open compared to the fall and winter. Maybe your job is a little less busy this time of year.

Any way you slice it, I encourage you to use the mood-boosting effects of all the sunshine, longer days, and summer outdoor-beauty to lean into your recovery more intentionally before the fall is here!

Today I’m sharing 5 recovery challenges to consider this summer. If you are walking through anorexia recovery, working on your relationship with food, or trying to prevent a relapse, then this blog post is for you!

5 Recovery Challenges to Consider This Summer:

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by Libby

Different Factors in Eating Decisions 2.0 {Beyond Hunger & Fullness}

Today we are talking about different factors that go into eating decisions BEYOND just our hunger and fullness cues.

(Note: I wrote a similar blog post on this topic about a year ago. If you’d like to read my previous post, here it is). 

Listening to our hunger cues is important. If we are hungry, this is a clear sign our bodies are in need of nourishment. No questions asked! We are also more likely to feel satisfied with our eating when we eat when we are reasonably hungry most of the time.

That being said, there are also other factors to take into consideration when it comes to the “when” and the “how much” of eating.

From my perspective, especially for teens and younger adults, if you ONLY eat when you are hungry, you are probably not eating enough!

Not eating enough can lead to a slowed metabolism, hormone imbalances, loss of a period, lack of energy for sports/studying/daily life, and a chaotic/obsessive relationship with food.

IF you are looking to avoid these outcomes, I recommend considering whether you are truly eating enough each day. This likely means eating beyond what hunger cues alone would lead you to eat.

What might those other factors be? That’s where today’s blog post comes in!

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by Libby

Everyday Eats {June 2024}

This past weekend was filled with lots of family time between celebrating my cousin’s wedding and also my mom’s 60th birthday! It was crazy hot and humid for Michigan during the second half of June, and finally the extreme heat broke for the most perfect weather on Monday! My mom and I spent the day at the pool (Monday was her actual birthday) and it was fabulous.

Other weekend features included filet mignon two days in a row (with how the events lined up — probably a first for me? lol), the best strawberry shortcake (see below!), and the busyness of going to/from family events. And now July 4th is already next week! I’m not a huge summer person in general so I don’t really mind that it tends to go by fast.

How is your summer going so far?? How do you feel about summer??

What I DO love about summer is all the fresh in-season produce. Can’t be beat!

That being said, let’s get to plenty of June delish summer eats! 

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by Libby

Benefits of Eating Regularly (3 Meals & 3 Snacks)

Today I wanted to do a post on some key reasons why eating regularly is beneficial – both from a nutrition and a relationship with food standpoint.

By “eating regularly,” I’m talking 3 meals and around 3 snacks per day, every 3 hours or so. Some people may prefer/need more like 2 or 4+ snacks, and some people eat a little more often or go a little longer in between meals, depending on hunger cues/personal preferences/schedules each day. BUT, I find these rules of thumb for regular eating rhythms tend to work well for pretty much everyone. (Since they are based on human biology & psychology!)

As an example (everyone is different!) you can see how I might incorporate 3 meals & about 3 snacks in my everyday eating here.

Oftentimes, a client will come to me eating only 2-3 meals per day and no snacks. Snacks might be viewed as “bad,” and the thought of eating more regularly may at first seem anxiety-inducing or counterproductive. However, it’s common that the client is experiencing a range of symptoms that can be vastly improved upon with regular eating rhythms.

These symptoms may include bloating, constipation/diarrhea, obsession/preoccupation with food, binge eating, chaotic eating, difficulty noticing or listening to hunger/fullness cues, lack of hunger cues, slowed metabolism, imbalanced hormones, feeling addicted to food, and more!

Once we begin to understand more what is going on and start to make gentle shifts towards more regular and balanced eating, these concerns start to improve.

Let’s explore some of the main reasons why I recommend eating regularly! (3 meals and ~3 snacks)

Benefits of eating regularly: 

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by Libby

Summer Reading List Ideas

We are well into June — how is your summer going so far??

It seems like every year summer seems to fly by. My life has felt all over the place lately, and I keep having these weird moments where I remember that we are already into June! My mind is still frozen in April mode.

SO — reminding myself it is time to enjoy all the summer produce, all the sunshine, and all the outdoor time with friends and family before I miss it all!

That would certainly be sad. We only get so many sunny days each year in Michigan!

Summer can ALSO be a great time to start reading a bit more! Whether it is at the beach, by the pool, in your backyard, or simply all comfy before bed (like I prefer!), reading can be such a nice way to get your mind off stressful things in life, dive into a topic you are interested in, or learn from the experiences and stories of others — whether real life (memoir, biography, etc) or through fiction.

Below I have 10 ideas for books to add to your (actual or hypothetical) summer reading list! Some of these I have read before, and others I am hoping to read in the coming months.

I’ve compiled a mix of books below — food/body image-related, emotional health-related, one fun fiction read, and a couple of memoirs! Maybe 1 or 2 of them will resonate with you as far as something to check out in the months ahead. 🙂

Note: While I do recommend the mental/emotional health-related books below, I don’t agree with 100% of the thoughts in said books! That is probably obvious, as rarely will we find a book that we wholeheartedly agree with 100%. Most things aren’t that black/white. That being said, I still find them to be useful and helpful in many ways and would read them again / recommend them to others. (With my mini caveats) :). 

Summer Reading List Ideas:

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by Libby

Ideas for Increasing Food Intake in Anorexia Recovery

One of the most challenging parts of anorexia recovery (specifically the weight restoration phase) is the AMOUNT of food that it takes to physically recover / get to a healthy-body-weight-for-you.

Clients I have worked with are often shocked by how much they have to eat to start gaining weight. It takes a LOT OF FOOD.

Most of the food/caloric intake early on in recovery is going towards normalizing your metabolism and bodily processes. This alone takes quite a bit of food before any weight gain will even be happening.

Eating this much can be quite difficult (to say the least). Your stomach and GI tract aren’t used to handling this quantity of food, so there is often significant discomfort. It can be hard mentally to increase your food intake that much and to be gaining weight as your goal when everyone else around you seems to be striving for the opposite.

What’s more, another challenge can be thinking of ideas to increase your intake when it comes to restoring weight efficiently and effectively. I’m guessing you don’t want to be in the weight restoration phase for forever!

You might be feeling…

  • Tired of thinking of yet another snack or breakfast idea
  • Unsure of how to get more “bang for your buck” by focusing on calorically-dense options
  • Like you don’t even enjoy food right now, so it’s hard to be creative

That’s where my comprehensive list for ideas to increase your food intake comes in!

Bookmark this page and come back to it as you find yourself feeling stuck, in need of a new idea, or in need of a little extra inspiration in your anorexia recovery journey. As someone who has been in your shoes, I am here for YOU!

(Note: If you aren’t already eating my recommended 3 meals and at least 3 snacks, you might want to start with this post first!) 

Ideas for Increasing Food Intake in Anorexia Recovery:

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by Libby

How to Structure Meals & Snacks

Today I wanted to do a post sharing about the basic “meal structure” that I use in my own personal life and that I often talk about with clients.

Don’t be scared by my use of the words “meal structure” … this is a very loose, flexible, simplified approach to balanced eating!

I find that most people tend to do well having some sort of structure to their eating. Now, I’m all about eating something random when the mood strikes, but I do think it’s generally helpful to have some regularity and basic structure instead of winging it each day as far as food goes.

Not only will your meals likely be more balanced and nutritious, but it also can take a lot of unnecessary mental energy trying to spontaneously “reinvent the food wheel” each day. Without some intentionality to our eating, we are also more likely to under or overeat.

Libby’s Basic Meal Structure:

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