Eating Disorders are Way More Frightening than Fun Size Candy
How to Talk about Food with Kids
This week, instead of my usual narrative newsletter, I will do something a little different and feature a few pieces of writing I’ve been involved with lately in other places.
First, I invite you to take a look at an informative article, written by
at More-Love.org. Ginny is a parent coach who interviewed me for this piece entitled “Food Fright: How to Talk About Food with Kids and Teens.” Make sure you check out her fantastic parent resources as a companion to the article.
Kayla Blanton also interviewed me for a piece in Prevention (I remember this periodical on my grandmother’s coffee table in the 1980s) entitled “How Somatic Exercises Work and Moves to Try for Your Mind and Body.” Somatic Experiencing (SE) is something that I specifically use in nutrition and body image therapy sessions to assist with trauma-related nervous system activation, but “somatic” has been quite a buzzword lately. I see it being used by influencers in the diet and fitness industry to sell products and services.
I appreciate how this Prevention article stayed focused on the simplicity and mindfulness of somatically-based movement, contrasting it with the typical messages of the fitness industry to push beyond our inner limits.
My sister, Emily Thomson, Chief Operating Officer of Waterford Country School in Connecticut, advised me on another important article about eating issues related to trauma and attachment for Fostering Families magazine, which goes out to foster care, kinship, and adoptive families. This article was a labor of love and feels so important, as this is an underserved population in the eating disorders treatment space.
In case you missed it in my last newsletter, I shared a link to the entire chapter on movement and physical activity (for free) from my latest book, Nurture: How to Raise Kids Who Love Food, Their Bodies, and Themselves. This topic is so important, as we adults can contribute to unwanted challenges in kids' relationships with movement and fitness. (If you like the chapter, I’d be over the moon if you shared it or purchased the whole book. Yes, I’m biased and care about this topic, but the book has won three awards and been highly praised, as you will see in this professional review.)
Besides being busy writing elsewhere, I’m also truncating this week’s newsletter because I’m fiercely preparing to dance in the first full-length performance of the Encore Dance Ensemble since the pandemic. I’m honored to be a new member of this talented and dedicated dance company, comprised of women aged 40+.
Although our bodies don’t do everything they once did as young dancers, we work together to create original and meaningful art through dance. If you are a local, here is the link for tickets to the production at the Dance Complex in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I hope you’ll join us in expressing the joy, grief, and complexities of being human. I wrote more about dancing with my aging body in a previous post.
I’m wishing you a Happy Halloween filled with joy, fun, and appreciation of the dark side of things — and absolutely no frightening diet-y talk that sensitive impressionable young minds can twist into controlled, compulsive, or downright disordered eating.
With love in this shared life journey,
Heidi
P.S. It would mean a lot to me if you hit the “like” button or shared your thoughts to increase engagement. I have found the Substack reader community to be a friendly and supportive space. Please comment if something resonates with you—or doesn’t. I’m always happy to hear about topics you’d like me to write more about.