Hi. Wow. I am about to start my blog. Something I would have just kept wondering about how to do for about the next decade or so. Personally, I am still marveling at the invention of the toaster oven, so modern technologies obviously are a little hard for me to adopt. Thankfully, one of my nutrition clients gave me the info I needed to even know where to begin.

Hello Avocado!

Which brings me to the point of one of the issues I think I want to blog about. That above-mentioned client is gifted and funny and talented in so many ways and I would have remained stranded in a blogless universe without her. However, she and many others like her feel worthless because they are trapped in a body that betrays them. Their sense of themselves is molded as much by how they view themselves as to how they believe others perceive them. Whether medically, societally, or personally defined as fat–eating brings a vicious cycle of fear and loathing and momentary comfort and escape.

When I decided to study and become a nutritionist many years ago, I thought I was going to set out to solve problems of world hunger in remote parts of the globe. At that time, aside from that, the other main venue of applied nutrition was in hospital dietetics or in animal husbandry. Essentially, the MO was that we were all mainly basically nourished–or we were severely not. When I headed out on this path, yes, of course, there were overweight people, but their struggles were private and personal, and eating disorders were barely defined let alone described.

My nutrition work has briefly taken me to severely malnourished communities in Peru and Guatemala, but really, I am embarrassed to say, I have not strayed far from home. Society, politics, technology, media and an increasing focus on our individual selves changed the domestic landscape regarding nutrition. The issues intensified and the communal conversation amplified. My jobs kept me on the home front. I had no idea nutrition would become such a huge topic.

We all know how much nutrition information there is out there. New initiatives are good as we struggle to fix the ills that have befallen us in the past few decades. We are now attended to with myriad messages to eat right. I have sat in witness to this frenzy. While it has played out, I have been privileged to have worked with so many individuals and have heard their stories of frustration, pain, confusion, and guilt. What is obvious to me, is that we suffer mainly from being merely human.

The stories I want to relate will hopefully give voice to this humbling human experience regarding eating. I want to give my client who helped me get this started, along with others, tools and understandings that do not necessitate flagellation and deprivation. My wish is to assuage some of the loathing and to soften the edges of this intense dialogue. We will see.

Thank you for listening, sharing, following and supporting my writing. Please subscribe in the sidebar to receive notice of new posts. Comments and greetings always welcome.

In health, Elyn