Joyful Eating

Cooking with kids is one of those things that sounds hard in theory. In reality, it’s been one of the best things I’ve done for our family’s health. Physical, fiscal and emotional. Here’s what I’ve learned after 18 months of getting my boys into the kitchen. Want help? If you have kids in your life — children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, close family friends — this is for you. Joyful Cooking f...

Wondering how to avoid vacation weight gain without giving up the food you love? You don’t have to miss out on anything. It is possible to enjoy the ice cream, the wine, the local delicacies and feel great when you get home. Without missing out AND without significant weight gain. Want help putting this into practice? Then my  Joyful Weight Loss  course can help! Lose weight with ease. Eating food...

If you’ve been wondering how to stop overeating in social situations, you’re not alone. One of my clients posted in the  Naturally Healthy Club group  this week. She’d been doing brilliantly for three weeks eating at home and her usual restaurant meals. The scale was moving. She felt great. She wasn’t missing out on anything. Then she went to a birthday party. Lunch got delayed. The chips and dips...

If sugar cravings feel impossible to resist in the moment, you’re not alone. And good news: you are more powerful than you think. Here are my two favorite strategies to stop sugar cravings. One works immediately. And takes 10 seconds. Literally. The other reduces how often they happen in the first place. Want help putting this into practice? Then my Joyful Weight Loss Course can help! Lose weight...

Ever wondered if it’s possible to lose weight without counting calories? Well I’ve been helping people do exactly this for years. Spoiler: it’s not only possible, it’s actually more effective than calorie counting for keeping the weight off for the long term. Want Help Putting This Into Practice? I’ve just released a short on-demand course called  Comfortable in Your Clothes . You’ll discover the...

She’d eat well all day. Then evening would come and everything would fall apart. The urge for more snacks. Craving more and more and more. Here’s why we over eat at night during menopause. And what to actually do about it. Before we dive in… By implementing what I’m about to teach you my client went from her night time snacking causing problems with her weight. To feeling good about her evenings a...

If you’ve ever wondered ‘Should I eat if I’m not hungry?’. The conventional answer is NO. Wait until you’re hungry. Don’t touch food unless your stomach tells you to. It sounds logical. And I get why people say it. But that rule can lead to overeating. And worse, missing out on some of the most enjoyable parts of our experiences with food. Personally I eat when I’m not hungry on the regular. It ac...

I’ve always been someone who puts weight on around my middle. When I was younger I automatically assumed that I would be a victim of the classic middle aged spread. Luckily that isn’t what happened. One of the surprising side benefits of learning to listen to my body is that my waistline stopped being the problem it used to be. I actually have a (mostly) flat stomach even thought I’m a 53 1/2 year...

Over the last three years portion sizes had crept up for one of my clients. When she thought about eating less, it felt like punishment. Like going back to those smaller meals from when she was thinner was some kind of deprivation. It’s a common feeling, and it’s also not the full picture. So today I’m sharing my not-so-secret habit that helps you actually eat less without it feeling like punishme...

For years, I avoided weighing myself.  I thought it would make me obsess more. So I didn’t do it.  But here’s the irony: I was obsessing constantly anyway.  Every time my clothes felt tight, every time someone I hadn’t seen in a while asked if I was still running, my brain would spiral. Do they think I’ve gained weight? Have I? Then I read my friend Darya Rose’s book Foodist, where she recommends...

One of my clients was doing brilliantly. Making real progress on the scale. Feeling great about her relationship with food. And then she checked in with me and said something I hear a lot: “It was working, but now it’s kind of losing its magic. Help.” Sound familiar? This is so common it’s practically universal. But luckily I know exactly how to get back on track with your habits. Here’s how. Your...

One of my clients recently hit a fun milestone: she went below her goal weight. When that happens, I always unpack exactly how she got there — because understanding what worked is just as important as the result itself. What she didn’t do: cut out sugar, go on a shake fast, or willpower her way through cravings. What she did do: have a really good cookie most nights. Your Invitation If you’ve been...

A Princeton professor lost 80 pounds in eight months by doing this one thing. That literally takes 5 seconds a few times a day… Your Invitation If you’ve been going around in circles with food and weight — trying things, getting somewhere, then ending up back at square one — I want you to know: it’s not a you problem. It’s a clarity problem and a strategy problem. I can fix that in 45 minutes. I’m...

I was raised in a family where you had to finish your plate. Children were starving in Africa, and that meant I had to eat all my peas. Fast-forward 40-odd years, and I was still automatically cleaning my plate every single meal. It wasn’t a conscious decision — it was just what you did. Then, when I started working with a coach and learning how to listen to my body, one of the first things we did...

Back in December, I found myself wondering what it would feel like to lose a little weight. I’d been sitting at the same weight for a while, and I was curious. Not in a punishing, “I need to fix myself” way — more like a genuine experiment. Could I actually lose weight in December, of all months? So I decided to try. My goal was small and specific: lose one kilo (about two pounds). And by the end...

I used to believe the old dieting advice: you shouldn’t eat between meals. But recently I was coaching two different people and suggested they plan in an afternoon snack. For both of them, it made a huge difference to how much they were eating across the whole day — with a knock-on effect on weight. It also reminded me of my own shift from thinking I shouldn’t snack, to actually giving myself perm...

I celebrated my half birthday last week — 53 and a half, (highly recommend celebrating half birthdays by the way). I spent the day baking. A spiced apple cake with brown butter frosting. Cookies for school lunches. The works. And here’s the thing that still blows my mind: I did all of that baking, with all that raw dough and frosting within arm’s reach, and I didn’t end up feeling sick or out of c...

Today sharing the story of Susie, a member of the Naturally Healthy Club who went from her first diet at age 10, through decades of yo-yo dieting, Weight Watchers, restriction-binge cycles, and COVID rock bottom — to arriving at genuine, effortless food freedom at 63.   If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s actually possible to make peace with food after a lifetime of food drama, this episode is fo...

The concept of food controlling you, not the other way around has come up for me a few times this week… First. I got a message from Mary, who’d just finished the Naturally Healthy Club. She said: “The most important battle has been won. I feel relaxed around eating, unworried by weight, and like the control is with me, not the food.” Then I was listening back to an interview with Faith, another Na...

I recently surveyed the members inside the Naturally Healthy Club and asked them: what’s your number one dream outcome from doing this work? More than 53% said the same thing — feeling peace around food and weight. Not eating what they want. Not feeling good in their clothes (though that was up there too). Peace. That stopped me in my tracks, because honestly, I’d forgotten how debilitating that c...

Being intentional with food has transformed my relationship with eating and my waistline. Here’s how this simple strategy helps me make better choices without restriction. The Naturally Healthy Club is Coming Soon!   If you want help being more intentional with your food choices so you become a Naturally Healthy person who eats what they want (but not too much) so you feel peace around food and we...

“It feels like nothing’s really safe to eat anymore. I want to preserve both my health and the environment, but how am I supposed to do that since the experts can’t agree among themselves? I’ve heard about the dangers of lectins and oxalates. What am I supposed to eat to avoid poisoning myself?” This is what one of my clients posted in our Joyful Cooking for Natural Vitality community recently. “I...

Do you want to change but just can’t seem to make it happen? Here’s the truth: You don’t have to believe you can change in order to make the change. I used to be stuck too. Stuck at a weight I didn’t love. Stuck in the wine-drinking identity of a former winemaker who saw herself as “a big booze hound.” I had no idea if I could actually become someone different. But I was so dissatisfied with my cu...

You want to eat healthier so you look good for your age. You want to feel full of vitality and be happy, active, and healthy to a ripe old age. You know that homemade meals packed with protein, veggies, and natural real food will nourish your body and make that happen. But here and now, you keep falling back on unhealthy patterns. Even with great intentions, creating a meal after a long day feels...

We’ve all been told that whole grains are the gold standard of healthy eating, right? Well, today I want to challenge that conventional wisdom, especially if you’re navigating midlife like me. Before you close this tab thinking I’ve lost the plot, hear me out. The more I’ve been diving into gut health research, the more I’m questioning whether those “healthy whole grains” are actually doing us any...