Why don't diets work, and what does.

The following is an article I wrote that is soon to be published in Golfer's Digest:

By Heather Rudalavage RD LDN
Heather is a registered dietitian and owner of Intuitive Nutrition. She uses a non-diet approach to teach her clients to become their own nutrition expert so they can achieve their optimal weight.

America’s alarming rate of obesity has been well-documented in the popular press. Here in Pennsylvania, more than 25% of the adult population is considered obese, which is defined as having a BMI >30. Simultaneously, Americans spent over $40 billion on diet books and programs last year. How can a nation that is obsessed with dieting continue to have increased obesity levels? It seems the more we spend on dieting the larger our waistlines grow. But, are diets really the answer? Increasingly we are seeing research studies that show not only is dieting not an answer, it may actually be contributing to our weight gain.

For example, a team of UCLA scientists reviewed 31 long-term studies on dieting and concluded that: 1) dieting is a consistent predictor of weight gain; 2) up to two-thirds of the people regained more weight than they lost; and 3) diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people. [1]

Most, if not all, diets are deprivation diets, forcing us to give up a certain type of food or even an entire food group. Through the years, fat, protein and carbohydrates have all been on the “bad” list. There are three main reasons why deprivation diets tend to fail. First, our brain fights against them. If we consciously deny ourselves something again and again, we are likely to end up craving it more and more. Secondly, our body fights against them. Millions of years of evolution have made our bodies smart. If we drastically cut back our calories, our metabolism slows down and our body becomes more efficient. Thirdly, our environment fights against diets. We are a society built upon instant gratification. There’s a Starbucks on every corner. Remember the “Hot Light” at Krispy Kreme donut shops? Fast food restaurants continually tell us that we can have it “our way” without the wait. Not to mention the constant advertisements on every television, magazine and billboard showing us the warm connection between food and feeling.

What to do? If diets are not the answer, than what does work? In recent years, a non-diet approach to weight control has slowly been gaining popularity. Research shows that allowing ourselves to eat what we want, while tuning into our hunger and satiety cues, which is the basis of a non-diet approach, can lead to success. I know what you are thinking, but keep reading. Most people believe that if they were “allowed” to eat whatever they wanted they would never be able to stop eating; if they take one bite of chocolate they won’t be able to stop. This may be true, in the beginning, but more often than not, just permitting yourself to have a forbidden food (unconditionally), can cause it to lose some of its appeal. In addition, while no food is forbidden (unless it causes you bodily discomfort) you have to be hungry to eat it. This means tuning in to your body and determining if you are hungry before you start eating, and throughout the meal, asking yourself, “Am I still hungry? Does the food still taste good?” You may be surprised, the more you practice this, the better you become at tuning in.

If you have the goal of losing weight in the New Year, don’t just fall into another fad diet trap, and let a book or a program tell you what and when to eat. Start tuning into your own inner wisdom and discover the no willpower way to lose weight. Just like Dorothy from Oz, you had it in you the whole time, you just didn’t realize it.

[1] Mann, T. Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. Am. Psychologist, 2007; 62(3): 220-233.

Halloween Survival Tips

Here is a great article on how to survive all the Halloween treats without feeling guilty. I love her books and site, very helpful to those who are trying to control their weight without dieting.

www.amihungry.com

This was the first year that I actually waited until this week to buy candy for the Trick or Treaters. In the past, I would be in Sam's club in September and get swayed into buying a jumbo bag of candy for the Trick or Treaters and the kids and I would eat half the bag before Halloween night. Also, this year I bought candy that other people in the family like but I don't. This wasn't hard because I am a candy snob and really only like Twix and Milky Way bars. I don't like chocolate and peanuts together so I bought Peanut Butter cups to hand out on Halloween. I like to hand out non-candy items too- individual lip gloss pots leftover from my sister's baby shower, Fast food kids meal toys, bags of chedder Sun Chips, and leftover party favors.

Happy Halloween Everyone- save the Milky Ways for me ; )

Americans found to be deficient in Vitamin P

What , you say- you never heard of Vitamin P?? Okay, so it's not a real vitamin, but most of us are deficient in it. It's called Pleasure. I heard this play on terms somewhere and it got me to thinking. Especially when a good friend of mine started to talk about how "the kids" were killing her marriage. "Honey, the Kids are Killing Us"- The Prequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. We both agreed that our marriages were in need of some romance, joy, fun, (you know, like in high school) maybe this lack of pleasure has something to do with the extra weight I am still trying to shed. Could it be that if I went out dancing or if Chuck and I ran around the high school track and then collapsed in a fit of giggles and started making out under the stars, these last few pounds would budge?

It's ironic isn't it, that we Americans have more choices, more income, more food, more house, more car and more STUFF than any other nation on the planet and yet we are not the happiest or the healthiest. Could it be that we have begun to look towards food in an attempt to find pleasure? But, in a sad twist, have effectively taken pleasure out of our food and reduced it to numbers- how many calories does it have, how many fat grams, how many carbs, is it healthy, is it good or bad, should I or shouldn't I. And now, we keep eating more food and still not getting any pleasure from it. Take for instance, wine. When we realized that the French have less heart disease, but eat more "rich" foods and drink more wine than we Americans do, we figured it must be the phyto -chemicals in the wine, if we could just bottle up the those chemicals in the form of a pill, we would have less heart disease too. Right?? Here's the vital piece that may be missing. Maybe it's not the chemicals in the wine, maybe it's the fact that the French linger over their meals, sipping wine, chatting and laughing with friends. Over here, on this side of the pond, we are far too busy to linger over dinner. We rather shovel it in as fast as we can and then take a pill to make up for the rest. We have to take the kids to baseball, soccer, dance, spanish, piano...

What if we began to find more ways to add pleasure to our life, not in the form of accumulating more stuff, but working less and spending more time with our selves, our spouses our families our friends? What if we worked less and had less money to spend on after school lessons, but had more time to play a game of tag in the yard or go for a bike ride. What if we made a date night with our significant other at least once a month? What if we began to say grace and offer gratitude for our abundance? I wonder if these acts of attempting to add more pleasure to our lives would have an affect on our waistlines? I think it would, but even if it didn't effect our waistlines we would still be better off.

Recently, I read about two different families who didn't spend any money (other than necessities, groceries and entertainment) for a year. Both families saved about $10,000. As much as I would like to not see that credit card bill every month, I just don't think I could do it. What about birthdays and Christmas how would I explain to my kids that Santa had to cut them off the list this year due to the recession? But, maybe it doesn't need to be this extreme. Maybe I could find small ways to spend less and add more joy. Remember that friend of mine who said the kids were killing her, I mean, her marriage? She and I decided to swap babysitting services for an overnight. That way, we can each spend a night alone with our hubby's and we don't need to spend a dime, unless we wanted to go to dinner or something. Let the pleasure begin :)

Anyone have any thoughts they want to add? Anyone have any ideas on how to get off the hamster wheel?

Exercise resistance

I am just coming up to catch my breath now as the beginning of the school year is always so crazy for me! Just finished writing my Fall Newsletter. The focus of this newsletter is exercise resistance and I know for most of us we either have it now or had it at some point in our lives. Since I am always most interested in why people do what they do, I decided to focus on ways to overcome your resistance as opposed to stating all of the well known reasons to exercise.

For me, my resistance was in the, "I don't have time and it would be too selfish of me to make the time" category. I was able to finally overcome this attitude by forcing myself to just start exercising. Once I actually started to exercise, I found out that my old perception was outdated and wrong. I found that I had more energy, so getting all the items on my "to do" list wasn't harder, but easier. I had to update my perception and since your body follows your mind- it goes to say that changing how you think will change what your body does.

For some of my clients, pain is what holds them back. The "my doctor says I can't exercise because of my knee pain" is a quote that I have heard a few times. It became so common that I actually discussed this with a physical therapist, do you want to know what he said? He said that working with a physical therapist can be the answer. Physical therapists not only help clients recover from injury, but they can also show clients flexibility and strength moves to prevent injury and pain- Duh!!

Other clients allow bad childhood memories to hold them back, and for these clients the act of forgiveness can be the answer. Forgiving the coach who said you were fat, forgiving your parents who forced you to run laps, forgiving the gym teacher who always picked you last for the teams. Forgive them and move on- literally.

Once you begin exercising not to lose weight, but because it makes you feel good and you are having fun doing it, you will have little to no resistance anymore. Try it out for yourself! By the way, if you are already exercising and it isn't any fun, then it's time to find a new routine.

Happy exercising!

Portion size

Portion size tool by Web MD

So, above is a very cool site from Web MD. I found it on another RD's blog and thought it was a great way to help consumers. It gives you a visual of how big or small your portion size should be if you are eating anything from a hamburger to a bagel to an apple. Many of my clients don't realize that a bagel from a bakery, can count as 4-5 servings of grains. That is almost half of the RDA for the day. Since the site has such great visuals, I think you'll have a good chance of remembering what your portion should look like the next time you grab a bite to eat. Since we have become accustomed to huge portions, this is a great tool to use to keep portion sizes in check.

Why I always recommend Yoga to my clients...

Yoga and mindful eating

The above link is why I love to incorporate Yoga into my practice. Yoga is not about how many calories you burn or how much you sweat (although both will happen) it's all about centering yourself and getting into tune with you body. It's also a great way to nourish yourself and do something that is a real treat for your soul. We get so bogged down in our daily routine of taking care of the house and the kids and the spouses, we begin to tune out completely. This is also why I can't stress enough the importance of clients taking "me" time. Even though you love your kids and spouse and house, it's impossible to begin to tune into your inner wisdom until you can take time, quiet your mind and Lord knows you can't quiet your mind with kids running around, or at least, I can't.

Creating a dream board is another great tool to begin to quiet your mind and let your intentions for your life begin to flow. My dream board contains some material things- like that new kitchen I want, but also some other important items like balance in my life, and more time with my spouse.

If you have never tried Yoga, meditation, or setting an intention (as with a dream board), I recommend you pick one and try it, although the 3 together is extremely powerful! I am on my 3rd dream board already because everything I had listed on number 1 and 2 have already manifested- except that darn kitchen...

An answer to "What should I eat"

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/healthiest-foods-nutrition-lifestyle-health-healthiest-foods.html?partner=relatedstoriesbox
Above is a link to the healthiest foods, this is in response to so many of clients who ask me, " what should I eat". Surprisingly, or maybe not to some of you, meat and tea are both mentioned. I thought the above article was a good overview, and worth a look.

I could get used to this self care stuff!

So it's week 2 of my transformation and I feel fine! Better than fine actually, GREAT! Who knew this whole self care stuff could really make me happier? For those of you new to my blog, or those who don't know me that well, here is a quick review of my life. Born the middle child to my parents who were married at 20 and had their first child 3 years later, my mom was the traditional stay-at-home mom, your basic martyr. Dad went to the office all day and spent some time with us on the weekends in between yard work, painting, etc.  I always felt that I would be single, men-who needs them- and I was never interested in having children either. But, I met my soul mate while I was in the 10th grade and we have been together ever since. Married at 24 and had my 1st child 2 years later. Somehow, I ended up in the same role as my mom. Fast forward-3 kids later and I had been home for 7 years and was starting to go a little nuts. I decided to start my own business- I thought it would be something that I would do for myself, it turns out starting your own business isn't really that nourishing, it's a lot of hard work. Because of the type of person I am, read, not patient, I worked like mad to get the business up and running and when I look back I feel pretty proud at how far I have come in the last 9 months, but with all that work on the business- I spent almost no time doing self care. Of course when I was home raising my kids, self care was pretty non-existent as well. Finally, since it's been about 8 years of putting my self on the back burner, I decided it was time to balance my life. I also preach this "balance" to my clients so it was time for me to walk the talk.

Funny how once I made the decision to start taking care of my self things just fell in place. I met a wonderful woman (the sister of one of my sister's best friends) who has horses. I have wanted to take riding lessons since I was a kid. She offered to give me lessons, and even though I offered to pay her she refused to be paid. I have had about 5 or 6 lessons so far and I am having a blast! I also met up with an old friend who is a personal trainer, and he has really been the one to help me "see the light". With his expert guidance, I did a write and burn session about my resistance to exercise (I would be seen as selfish, bad mom, etc) and then he showed me an awesome routine that I can do at home with no equipment. 

Getting back to the original point of my blog, I thought I would feel exhausted and sore and selfish from working out, it turns out I am really beginning to love it because I feel strong and powerful and proud for finally doing something for my self. The fact that I feel more balanced is making me feel happier and feeling happier makes me a better mom. And maybe I am a slow learner, but I realize that even though I am spending time on self care, I get the same amount done for my business because I am more efficient with the time. It's all finally coming together for me- balance with my eating, family, house, business and SELF. It's taken me awhile to get it, but at least I finally did! 

Random thoughts to ponder...

The following is a list of quotes from a book by Dr. Robert Anthony called Think Big. 

• If you don't start, it's certain you won't arrive. 
• The biggest risk in life is not risking. 
• Excuses are your lack of faith in your own power. 
• There are no victims, only volunteers.
• Worry comes from the belief you are powerless.
• Hoping and Wishing are excuses for not Doing.
• The rewards in life go to those who are willing to give up the past.
• If you don't change your beliefs, your life will look like this forever. Is that good news?
• The best way to predict your future is to create it.
• If you want to know what your true beliefs are, take a look at your actions.
• Wishing is a goal without energy behind it.
• It's impossible to be depressed when you take action.
• Consciously or unconsciously, you always get what you expect

I just thought these were all so true and relevant in so many ways to my clients who are trying to get healthier, lose weight or achieve any personal goal. I think as human beings our brains tend to think in the extremes, and I know for myself, I have to keep bringing my brain back to the middle road. For instance, my personal trainer and friend Pete Mattis told me I have to cut out all fried food this week. And even though the goal was this week, my brain started freaking out and I started thinking that I would never be able to have another donut or taco chip or funnel cake for the rest of my life. WAIT!!!! But, on my way home from the gym I started to think about the goal rationally- I know, concept. I realized that by saying no fried foods this week, didn't mean that the next time I am at a carnival, I couldn't share a funnel cake with the kids. So, I am 2/3 of the way through the week and although I did have a few chips and salsa at a BBQ yesterday, that was the only fried food I have had. I began to tell myself, if I can choose a non-fried food item at that meal I will. 

We get so focused on the "how" - how will I ever lose weight, how will I ever reach my goal that we sometimes become too paralyzed to start. Hoping and wishing is like thinking that if you read the latest diet book you will finally lose weight, you have to do more than read the book. Funny how we think we can't predict the future, but we really can by taking action today. This works both ways: If we start creating our goals today we can't possibly be in the same spot tomorrow, and if we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting what we have always gotten.

Feel free to post your own ways of extreme thinking!

I must be doing something right!

Just a quick intuitive eating story involving my 8 year old. On Friday, he went to a birthday party and had pizza for lunch and a slice of birthday cake. The party was from 12-2PM. At 3 he had his piano lesson and every week at the end of the lesson his teacher gives him a piece of chocolate. So, this week Mr Didden says, "what type of chocolate would you like Charlie." And, here is the best part!!! Charlie replied, "nah, I don't want any this week, I just had cake at a birthday party." After I nudged Charlie to say, "No, thank you" I wanted to jump up and down and cheer. The kid gets it! Needless to say, Mr Didden was so shocked by a kid turning down chocolate, he almost didn't believe Charlie, he thought Charlie was joking. I just beamed with pride at that moment.

Even though the dietitian in me cringes whenever Mr. Didden offers chocolate as a reward, I have to have faith in my kid's ability to know when they are full and when they are not. If I never let Charlie have chocolate there is no way in He** he would have turned it down no matter how much birthday cake he had before. Way to go Charlie!!

Stress and weight loss

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/06/20/12-Compelling-Reasons-to-Ditch-Stress-from-Your-Life.aspx  This is a great short video clip on how and why stress causes us to struggle with our weight. Interesting thoughts especially if you are one of those people who the more you stress about following your diet the less successful you are at losing weight. I know this is or was true for me back when I was trying to diet! Maybe this is part of why we moms have such a hard time losing weight after the baby is born- I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, baby equals increased stress. I would lose a lot of weight in the post-partum period, but then 9 months down the road the weight would start to creep back up, for me, chasing a 9 month old was a little stressful, especially since my babies were active all day and waking up at least once in the middle of the night! Baby's cause stress in other ways too- they cost a lot of money and they leave little time to meditate or exercise or spend time with other loved ones (read, spouse). And the stress doesn't end when they are no longer babies. This is just another example of how eating intuitively and mindfully can be a better way to lose weight.

Orthorexia

http://ow.ly/dPqV Here is a link to an excellent article on Orthorexia or the term used for those who are obsessed with healthy eating. I realize that while healthy eating is important, it shouldn't consume you (pun intended). As dietitians we become a little obsessed with healthy eating- well, at least most dietitians do, I am sort of the worst dietitian on earth in that respect! If you scroll down the article there is a paragraph on how we can pass on these obsessions to our children and they can internalize these messages and literally become afraid to eat. So, how do we get our kids to eat healthy? We show them by example, we provide plenty of healthy choices, we keep our big mouths shut and allow our children to follow their intuition! Again, as I have stated previously, they won't always make the best choices- they are kids remember, but childhood is the time when they should learn from experience, b/c we won't always be there to control them (er, I mean guide them). Awhile back I used to be a volunteer breast feeding counselor and I would cringe, literally cringe when moms would tell me they were going to put their babies on a feeding schedule. Nothing like teaching our children to ignore their intuition right from the start! Just because mom has a bigger stomach and can go 3 hours without feeling hungry doesn't mean that an infant with a golf ball sized stomach can! I apologize if I offended anyone. I just get so darn hyped up when I hear people talking about controlling their child's food and eating habits. Did you know that the more controlling a parent is with their child's eating the more likely that child will be overweight? Just something to think about the next time you catch yourself forcing your child to clean their plate. I used to be one of those moms who would be trying to get my kids to finish their chicken nuggets and french fries and then finally it dawned on me, why would I want them to eat more of a junky food than they want to.

Walmart rocks

Just returned from Walmart after spending $185. Hello! Hubby will probably choke me, but what does he know- the last time he went grocery shopping was probably when he was in college- we were together back then too so I am not really sure he has ever been grocery shopping. Anyway, I love Walmart because I can get all the things I would normally get at Target- flash drive, contact solution, new bike seat and groceries without having to put the kids in the car twice. The only problem is, since they built the local Super Walmart I haven't been to Target at all. I used to go there almost weekly. I can't decide if I am actually saving money- b/c Walmart groceries are definitely cheaper, or if I am spending more b/c I get into that Walmart and see all kinds of stuff I need, or kinda' need, or don't really need but it's for a good price. Hmmm.

The Summer Newsletter

I know it's been a few days since my last blog, but I have an excuse. I have been putting together the Summer Edition of the Intuitive Eating Newsletter- If you would like to be added to my mailing list, drop me a line. Last night, as my husband is proofing it, he gets to the recipe page and says, "Hey, you never made Carefree Flounder for me" Which I then explained to him that in fact I had made it, it was just a little while ago...um...like 8 years ago, before we had kids. Wow, where does the time go! So, I have promised him and myself that I will make it again, who knows maybe the kids will like it too. I guess I just assumed they wouldn't. They do like fish, although usually it is in the fried form, but it is worth a shot! I'll let you know how it goes over with the rug rats.

Let's talk about 2 year olds

Ahhh to be 2. I tell people that my daughter is in full glory 2 year old world. She is either incredibly cute and adorable and so lovable you just want to eat her up! Or, she is being such a total mess that I can only assume she has been possessed! Case in point, Sunday we went to a princess party at a salon for girls- yeah I know what you are thinking, anyway, she was sooo cute at the party having a grand time playing dress up and having glitter sprayed in her hair and just having a blast! Then yesterday, I had to get her in the car to take my middle child to the little gym, and she was a nightmare! I ended up throwing her in the car (almost literally), strapping her in and fuming the whole way to the gym while she thrashed around, screamed and wailed. Let me add she was wearing only a pull up as she refused to get dressed! Thank goodness I was not pulled over b/c I was thinking I could just see that scene! So, there you have it- day 1 of summer vacation, 99 to go! 

Attraction

For those of you who have been under a rock for the past few years and have not heard of the power of intention, I'll fill you in on a little "secret", it works and is a little frightening when it does. Basically the power of intention or attraction follows the belief that since your mind can not understand anything in the negative, the more you focus on "I don't want to be fat" for example, your mind only hears "I want fat" and Viola your body attracts fat. Or, I don't want to be poor, I don't want to be sick, etc. You get the picture. The law of attraction basically says what you put out to the universe in the form of thoughts will be returned to you. If you say I want to be thin, you are really saying I don't want to be fat. So, how do you make the power of attraction work for you? You start saying, " I am thin" or "I am healthy", even if you don't believe it at first, keep repeating it to yourself and picture yourself how you want to be while saying it. I have used this "Secret" to attract many things in my life and sometimes I don't even realize it. For example, for the past few months I have been stressing over my lack of clients- typical daily thoughts for me included "I don't have enough clients" "how am I ever going to get clients" "I need more clients", etc. Finally, last week while meditating, I said to myself, "I am going to let the client thing go, it's summer and I don't have as much time for clients so I am just going to focus on my kids and not worry about clients". Guess what happened, I have had 10 potential clients contact me in the last week! Amazing! So, I guess the moral of the blog is focus on the positive, add in some gratitude, imagine how you want your life to be instead of wishing it were different, and then stop stressing about the "how" and trust that the universe will deliver. It will, it always does! Try it yourself, start with a baby steps, like when I go to the store my favorite items will be on sale. It's a skill, but once you learn how to do it, your life will begin to change.

Dove Campaign for Beauty

I stumbled upon the Dove campaign for real beauty yesterday. I thought the videos Evolution and the others involving younger girls were very powerful. I got chills watching! We so owe it to our girls to tell them how beautiful they are. If all we talk about is how fat our thighs are and how this is a bad food or if you eat chocolate you'll get fat, what message are we giving our kids. At a minimum we make them feel guilty for wanting something sweet, or salty. There should be no guilt in wanting something sweet-ever try formula or breast milk? It's sweet and it is our very first taste. We are born, we cry, we get something sweet. If we continue to be dictators of our child's diet and enforce food rules, we are only increasing a risk for our kids developing an eating disorder- yup, boys are starting to obsess about their weight too! Babies have the ability to listen to their hunger and satiety cues- ever try to force more milk into an infant when they were no longer hungry? It doesn't go very well! As children grow, they can and do continue to honor their hunger. If they sometimes make a poor choice, well, that is all in the learning curve. It is better for them to learn to listen to their intuition now. If they learn to ignore their intuition by well meaning parents, it can and often does lead to trouble later in life.

Just in case you were wondering, that's what I do for my clients. I help them to get back to eating intuitively, we have to cut through the layers of parents, society, spouses, etc. It's not easy, but once they work through it they feel tremendous RELIEF! Ahhhh!

Evolution

A video all women should watch! It's part of Dove's Real Beauty campagin.
Click the link below to see it.
http://www.dove.us/?dl=/features/videos/default.aspx%7Ccp-documentid=7049579&source=shareBlogger

I caved!

So, here it is 9:30 in the morning and I just served my 2 yo Pirates Booty for a snack, organic, but non the less Junk Food, by definition. Blame it on exhaustion or the fact that it's Monday or maybe it's me allowing my daughter to eat intuitively. I try to let my kids eat intuitively, within reason, usually. I promote intuitive eating to my clients and proclaim that there are no good foods or bad foods and that all foods provide something, and yet when it comes to my kids, it's more of a challenge. Won't they want ice cream every day? Here is the answer, as if on cue, my daughter just returned the empty bowl of Pirate's Booty and now is looking in the fridge for strawberries- which we just picked as a family on Saturday. So, it appears the proof is in the pudding, as they say. 

Nourish Yourself!

I met with a fabulous friend and personal trainer last night over dinner at Zahav, a yummy new Israeli restaurant in center city. We spoke about how it is so important to get clients to nourish themselves. I gotta be honest when he asked me what I am doing for myself these days, I stumbled and blushed and said whheeeelll... It's so easy to get wrapped up in kids and husbands and schedules and work. No wonder we begin to turn to food to seek comfort. I know food isn't the answer, but it is so darn available. I realized I have to begin to do something for myself, really on a selfish level. My friend Pete has a class called releasing your inner athlete, sounds good to me! Maybe I am athletic, it's just buried under layers of pudge. I'll keep you posted! Check out Pete's site at www.petemattis.com.

Services

I provide personalized nutrition counseling and wellness plans for these common concerns.

• Are you tired of yo-yo dieting? Do you hate losing weight and gaining it all back?
• Do you hate constantly trying a new fad diet or making special meals for yourself? Hate exercising?
• Are you pregnant or nursing? Trying to conceive?
• Got a picky toddler? Does your child only eat certain foods?
• Does your child eat too much and suffer from inactivity?
• Does your teen think s/he needs to diet, even though s/he is at a healthy weight?
• Do you or your teen want to learn to love eating healthy? Improve body image?
• Do you have a college student who suffers from the "Freshman Fifteen?"

WE CAN HELP!

See our web site at http://www.intuitive-nutrition.com!

Contact

I can always be contacted at heather@intuitive-nutrition.com.

For my information, including how to receive a free phone consultation, visit my web site at http://www.intuitive-nutrition.com/.

Or become a fan of our facebook page here.

About Heather

My name is Heather Rudalavage.

I am a licensed, registered dietitian who has been working in the nutrition field for the last 10 years. After graduating from The Pennsylvania State University with a BS in Nutrition, I completed a year long dietetic internship. Once I completed my internship, I began working as a clinical dietitian in acute care settings.

When my first child was born, I stopped working full time and started working a little closer to home, (OK, in the home is more like it). I now have 3 beautiful children, and I have been through the whole process of pregnancy, breastfeeding, feeding toddlers and children. I know how hard it is to manage a household with young children and not lose your self in the process!

I believe in a non-diet approach to wellness and weight loss. Diets don't work, and it is not because of will power! Diets take the pleasure away from eating. Diets increase cravings and actually slow your metabolism.

For more information or a free phone consultation, please visit our web site at http://www.intuitive-nutrition.com/.

What is Intuitive Nutrition?

Intuitive Nutrition is a healthy, holistic approach to wellness. I will show you how to take charge of your health and your weight in a doable and realistic way.

If you have tried every diet out there, can't stand the thought of another diet, but you, "don't know what else to do", you have come to the right place!

Intuitive Nutrition can help you:

• Learn to take charge of your weight and health. You will become your own "nutrition expert."
• Learn to identify your personal triggers for mindless eating.
• Begin to value quality not quantity.
• Begin to appreciate food- smell, taste, texture, presentation.
• Lose weight in a natural, healthy way - No pills or potions involved.

Then work with a Registered Dietitian to increase your chances of successful weight loss! Visit our web site at http://www.intuitive-nutrition.com/ for more information.

Welcome!

So, here it goes, my first attempt at a blog. I don't really know how to do this, but I am passionate about being a mom and also about intuitive eating. (IE) For those of you who have not yet heard of IE, I hope to spread the word of this amazing non-diet approach to weight loss and a better relationship with food in general.