Body Bloved's One Year Anniversary!
It’s officially our one-year anniversary since we launched Body Bloved! For those who haven’t been following us since the beginning we wanted to give a recap of the blogs you may have missed this past year!
This blog captures our main mission – how to pursue food and body peace through the healing power of Christ. We are all about that John 10:10 life, which assures us Jesus came to give us life and life to its fullest! We believe that this includes the areas of food, fitness and body image. There is more to life than green smoothies and step-counters, praise God!
Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Hop on the Stationary Bike
Here’s an invitation to explore your motivators for exercising and to pursue movement that brings joy. Do you feel like exercise is a burden? Read this blog and discover a whole new way to think about moving your body.
The Struggle is Real: Life as a Dietitian
Ever wonder what it's like as a registered dietitian nutritionist living among diet culture? This will give you some insight on that and maybe even change your opinion of this profession (spoiler alert: we’re not all food polices!)
3 Truths I Learned While Working at a Gym
Have you ever left the gym realizing that you’ve been consumed by the comparison monster? Activity is supposed to help improve our body image, yet so many people leave the gym feeling worse about their bodies then when they came in. Read some profound truths that one BBL team member learned while working at her university gym.
The One “Compliment” to Never Say Again
We all love compliments, but have you ever received a compliment that rubbed you the wrong way? The person that gave you the compliment probably intended it to make you feel good, but what they said struck a chord or triggered you. If you can relate to that then read on, and if you can't relate to it you should still read it to make sure you're not doing it!
This BBL team member takes a closer look at beauty – how the world defines it vs. how God defines it. Let these sweet words from that blog soak in:” Not only does Jesus label us pretty, He labels us as FREE. Free from restrictions, free from rules, free from comparison, free from rigid standards, free to love ourselves the way He loves us.”
The Next Conversation to Have with your Children
Our children go to school each day and face the same thin-obsessed culture that we do. While we’d like to put them in a bubble before we send them to school, the reality is that we can’t. So, we have to do the second-best thing – have honest and open conversations that help them decipher fact from fiction. Read this and you’ll be ready with just the right words when the topic of body size shows up on the playground.
Are you a Competent Eater – Part 1 & So, What is Eating Competence – Part 2
We’ve been clear from the start that the BBL message is that diets don’t work. So you may be wondering, “If I’m not dieting, then how exactly am I supposed to eat?” Eating Competence is the answer. The Satter Eating Competence Model provides a non-diet approach that can bring food peace. Check out this 2-part series that explains what it means to be a competent eater and just how to get there.
The Unlikely Way God Answered my Prayer to be Skinny
Have you ever prayed to be skinny? Read about how this BBL writer prayed for that for years and then God answered her prayers in an unlikely way.
Halloween Candy: Trick? Or Treat?
Do you struggle with how to handle the massive amounts of Halloween candy in your home? You might be surprised what one Christian registered dietitian nutritionist has to say about how to handle it.
5 Tips for Cutting Holiday Eating Stress
Holidays can be stressful enough without food stress thrown into the mix. Before your next holiday party or family gathering, read this blog and show up armed with holiday eating tips unlike any you have heard before. These tips replace food rules with food peace. A low-fat gravy recipe and cauliflower mashed potatoes are not the answer to holiday food stress.
Reclaiming Thanksgiving from Diet Culture
Let’s face it, Thanksgiving has been turned into diet culture’s worst nightmare. But it was never intended to be that way, it’s a day of thankfulness and celebration. Read how we can start to reclaim it.
Cyber Monday Non-Diet Essentials: Consider the Gift that Keeps on Giving
Need a list of some great non-diet books? We got you covered on the Cyber Monday non-diet essentials where we reviewed some of our favorites. But if you are looking for some good reads you can always head over to our resources page where we try to keep all the non-diet resources up to date for you!
Gray is the New Black: Rediscover the Joy of Holiday Eating
Fear the food rules. The “eat this, not that” messaging has got to go! The black-and-white thinking served up by the diet industry isn’t serving us well at all. Instead, try this one on for size - a list of nourishing AND pleasurable foods. Instead of seeing black-and-white when it comes to your food choices, it’s time we see the “gray”. All foods fit when it comes to health and well-being and praise God for that!
What’s on this Dietitians Christmas List? (For Real)
We dished up some holiday gift, or any gift for that matter for the people in your life who like cooking shortcuts, good eats, and food peace!
The Good News of Holiday Eating
The Christmas season is glorious time to remember that Jesus came for you regardless of what you’ve done or haven’t done, what you eat or don’t eat, or what the scale says on January 1st. Jesus came declaring that you are VERY GOOD. Read our list of 4 tips to thriving diet culture’s most hated season but Christianity’s most sacred.
Choose a Revolution not a Resolution
We jumped into 2018 with a reframe of New Year’s Resolution season. In replacing RESOLUTION with REVOLUTION, we presented a complete overhaul in how we think about behavior changes and our bodies to invite people to do things differently this time around.
The Not so Unfortunate Story of a Large Bodied Athlete
Have you ever been the victim of a microagression? Verbal and nonverbal insults tied to things like race, gender, ability, and body size are seriously hurtful. They are horrific, painful, and not what God intended for His people. However, He can turn anything that was meant to be bad into good. Read how this writer discovered her ability to love and accept herself despite being on the receiving end of hurtful stereotypes.
Wishing you were in someone else’s body today? Maybe it isn’t your body that’s the problem. Maybe it’s society that makes you think your body is the problem. Learn God’s-eye view of beauty and health as we seek to love and accept the body He gave us.
If you’re a parent, then you know all too well the food fights that can turn a seemingly pleasant family meal right on its head. If you’re tired of the “eat one more bite of broccoli” power struggle, then this one’s for you. Raising a glass to all you tired parents out there. The struggle is real. Let us help.
Body and food concerns are on the rise, so it's no wonder that eating disorders are too. This mental illness is the deadliest one of them all, and often gets overlooked. That's because eating disorders don't "look" a certain way. In honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we brought you this important blog that reminds us about the power of our words in the prevention of eating disorders.
Where to Begin Without Dieting? Start Here!
In March BBL hit another important milestone – we started a nutrition counseling service. We know for some of our readers, reading a few blogs just isn’t going to be enough to start the journey towards food and body peace. We now have experts to walk alongside you in your journey towards body respect and food peace. Learn about our faith-based nutrition counseling program here.
6 Ways you Might be Weight Shaming Without Realizing it
This world needs a whole lot more love and acceptance and a whole lot less judgment. Jesus was phenomenal at sticking up for the mistreated and judged. Check this list of common weight-shaming blunders and help put an end to weight stigma and discrimination – one loving act at a time.
It’s no mistake that the first three letters in DIET are DIE. Anyone who has ever dieted can tell you that it’s no way to live. During the Easter season we reminded our readers that Jesus did all the dying for us. No need to put ourselves through it all over again. If you haven’t already, just go ahead and lay that diet right on down at the feet of Jesus. He suffered so that we don’t have to.
Gluttony: What it is and What it isn’t
Does eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's make me gluttonous? In this blog we explore the muddy waters of gluttony. Here, we addressed some common misunderstandings about this infamous "deadly" sin.
Why I’m Wearing White Jeans and Why you Should too
Guest blogger Tracy Vazquez of LuLaRoe shared an inspirational blog on helping women find confidence through clothing. She shared why you shouldn't be afraid to wear the dreaded white jeans or any piece of clothing for that matter!
Fixing it with Food Part 1: It’s Complicated & Part 2: 5 Steps to Exploring Food and Feelings
If food is your go-to comforter then this 2-part series on emotional eating is for you. Read part 1 and then part 2 on the topic of emotional eating.
Our Journey with Food is like our Journey with God
Wishing you could just snap your fingers and wake up one day totally loving your body? It usually doesn’t happen like that. Just like our faith journey – it’s a process. Praying this blog brings about the patience you’re looking for on your journey towards food and body peace.
The Truth About Bathing Suit Season
We kicked off the summer taking a good hard look at swimsuit season. Crank up the grill, dust off the flip-flops, lather on the sunscreen. Ain’t no swimsuit season gonna hold us back from being our authentic amazing selves this summer.
6 Solutions for Surviving Social Media
For our final blog post of our inaugural year, we looked at the blessing and curse that is social media. In the season of posts about amazing vacations, wedding love bliss, and skimpy shorts, it’s hard to keep our eyes fixed on our own lane, running our own race. Here’s 6 tips to surviving summertime social media.
Thank you so much for following along this past year! We hope you’ve enjoyed things so far! It’s our hope to continue to bring you truth though encouraging blogs and hopefully other ways too!
Nicole resides in the East Bay Area where she works in private practice as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She is a Mom of two and serves alongside her beloved husband in their local church. Most recently she's devoted her time to cleft and craniofacial awareness, education and interventions when her second daughter was unexpectedly diagnosed with a cleft palate at one week old. She completed both her bachelor's degree and her dietetic internship at California State University, Chico, where she was also a NCAA cross country and track athlete. Through those experiences, God prompted her to help people of all shapes and sizes discover health, body peace and acceptance through the unconditional love of Jesus. Nicole most enjoys spending time around a table and eating delicious food with the people she loves.
