Book Tour Endings and Creative Sparks
Spaciousness and time away from screen nourishes future projects
We’re wrapping up the book tour.
I’m happy to be home, and so is our mascot Agave (they/them pronouns, pictured above), who adopted us at our first stop at Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut.
I had some fun adventures with Pasha (my book tour manager and partner), and I talked to tons of parents and professionals who care about changing the conversations around food and body for the next generation. This truly warmed my heart, even though I know there is still a lot of work to be done.
I hope you'll keep spreading Nourishing Words along with me. If you plan to read my latest book, Nurture: How to Raise Kids Who Love Food, Their Bodies, and Themselves, with a group of parents or professionals as a book club in your area, I'll personally say hello to your group over Zoom. Just reach out and let me know. I’m planning to read Nurture—therapeutic book club style—with a group of parents who have their own recovery histories this fall, so please reach out to me and let me know if you’d like to be part of that virtual book club.
Thank you for visiting with me on the book tour or being there with me in spirit as you followed along with my newsletter.
Now it's time to rest and hit the beach with a good book. I’m sending this newsletter a couple of days earlier than usual because I’m committed to biweekly publication, but I also value unplugging fully and plan to start tomorrow.
A lot of the eating disorders professionals I am honored to supervise are feeling burned out after several seasons of doing challenging but important work. Orienting clients back toward whole-self wellness in the era of Ozempic is no picnic. I’ve experienced burnout a few times over the course of my career, and I notice the signs sooner these days. I know I do my best work when I’m not feeling depleted. Scheduling regular vacations is both a privilege and a necessity for me as I do hard but rewarding work. I hope you have some downtime scheduled this summer, too.
Last week, I had dinner with my two busy college-age daughters and my partner. The rich conversation continued into the car and on a bench outside an ice cream shop. We covered lots of “adult” topics like money, what we’ve learned from past relationships, family, mental health, etc. These moments of connection are priceless to me.
My daughters also suggested that I write a book for their generation since they witness teen and college-age friends falling prey to diet culture and a “self-care” industry that insists they are not okay as they are. I’m still working on putting my newest book for parents out into the world, but I appreciate the richness of creative ideas that rise from auspicious discussions like this one.
The more I’ve talked with colleagues about the idea, the more I like it. I’ve been wanting to create an updated edition of my popular first book, Nourish: How to Heal Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Self. Rewriting it for a teen audience would be a pivot and a challenge, as I’ve not written for young adults before. Luckily, I have lots of resourceful college-age advisors around me for input.
So there. I’ve initiated the next creative project, thanks to a strong suggestion from the young people who I thought I might have “overdone” my emphasis on whole-self wellness and body liberation with when they were growing up. “Mom, I read some of your manuscript when I was, like, in fifth grade,” Ava told me. Now, she’s taking her red pen to the 2018 publication and giving me advice on how to tailor the messages more clearly to teens and twentysomethings.
Today, my “nest” doesn’t feel so empty. The “fullness” of that evening, all the territory we covered, and the creative idea that came from one of those discussions make my heart full. I'm so grateful to be going away for a week of vacation with my daughters; I don’t know how long that will continue as their lives shift and blossom. I’m aware that the “empty” nest transition can be filled with grief and loss, and I think we need to talk more about this part with each other, too, and honor all the feelings.
I hope that you have the opportunity to spend quality time with any people that warm your heart this summer.
Other Nourishing Nuggets:
What’s up with everyone adding protein powder to everything, so much so that there is now a population of “protein girlies?” I highly recommend my colleague
’s post on protein for the real scoop. (Get it?) Personally, I’d rather be a grown woman eating than a “girlie” anything.- wrote an excellent piece on the problem with calling “obesity” a disease and how the pharmaceutical industry profits when we believe this. It’s profiting big time right now.
- produced an informative podcast about the “new Health-at-Every-Size” with Angel Austin and Ani Janzen from the Association for Size Diversity and Health. ASDAH develops Health-at-Every Size curriculums for higher education institutions and medical schools and builds a provider database so we can all find weight-inclusive healthcare providers nearby.
My newest book, Nurture: How to Raise Kids Who Love Food, Their Bodies, and Themselves, won three awards! (My partner and book tour manager says I should toot my horn once in a while, so here I go.) Nurture won a 2024 Indie Reader Award: Second Place in all Nonfiction and a 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Award: First Place in the Parenting/Family category. Both of these awards recognize high-quality, independently published books. However, the most meaningful award to me is the Mom's Choice Gold Award for Excellence in Family-Friendly Media because I wrote Nurture for parents, caregivers, and families.
I'm grateful and honored if some recognition can bring my book to more families who will benefit from changing the conversations around food, bodies, emotions, and whole-self wellness. I also couldn't have written this book without so many helpers and colleagues doing stellar work alongside me in the field. Make sure you look at the resources and references at the end of every chapter and read my acknowledgments so that you get to know all of the tremendous contributors.
Now it’s time to bake some cookies for the beach, put the surfboards in the car, and enjoy some time away from the computer screen. This always gives me perspective and reminds me of my deepest values. I hope you enjoy some screen-free time this summer, too, doing whatever nourishes you most.
Warmly and with love in this shared life journey,
Heidi