I’ve been trying to think up some content ideas for Mondays now that write these posts on Friday vs Sunday when I use to share weekend recaps. I really enjoying writing the IE/eating disorder/women’s health posts or Thursdays, but they take a good bit of time to write. I enjoy writing more lighthearted content and it gives my brain a break so I don’t burn out between the blog, counseling clients and hopefully in the near future working clinically as an NP.
I remember Kylie use to write a lot of these “5 Thoughts” posts and I always enjoyed them, so I thought hmmm, maybe I’ll try out that concept as a loose idea and go from there. I still want to weave in bits of my life, but just not full blown weekend recaps every Monday. If you have content ideas for Mondays, leave them in the comments!
This Instagram Post
One of my good friends from nursing school sent me this post after I talked about “elite” self care last week and I lol’d. Because this drawing felt so real and true. All that to say, you don’t to sell your left arm to take care of yourself. Self care has become a trendy word and I want to change it to “taking care of my adult self like an adult” but that seems long and ridiculous. What I’m trying to say is that self care is as simple as saying no to that online purchase because paying off student loan debt is more important to you (this is currently my life) or not scrolling through Instagram at 6:30am and instead opening up a book and reading that as a healthy way to start your day. Often our natural tendency is do things that are more comfortable and distract us from reality. Scrolling through Instagram has the ability to distract us from our own issues and challenges. We can read about other people’s instead. Online shopping gives us instant gratification and makes us temporarily feel good. But what will make us feel satisfied and content from day to day and long term is saving money and decreasing debt. I’m not saying Instagram is always unhealthy and to never online shop, not at all, but I know these are important things for me to consider.
Working Clinically as an NP
After what feels like an eternity with getting my RN and NP license in Massachusetts (which is largely my fault because I didn’t realize how incredibly long this process would be, and apparently MA takes unusually long according to other people) I am finally licensed. Cheers! And there are things in the pot stirring with jobs. Thankfully, the private practice and blog is full time work which has kept me more than busy and I have health insurance through Nick. I recognize this is a total privilege and has luckily allowed me to be patient in looking for an NP job that is aligned with my career path – eating disorders and women’s health. That field of work is narrow when it comes to nursing positions, so I’ve had to be patient. Thankfully, I continually using my nursing knowledge in private practice and coordinate with physicians on the medical side of things when working with clients so I feel like I’m keeping up those skills. All that to say, I’m hopeful and looking forward to what unfolds in the next couple months!
Summer Smoothies
It was super hot last week and we don’t have air conditioning yet because our apartment doesn’t have central air and we haven’t even thought about buying a window AC because it’s only the first week of May in Boston. And it was 40 degrees three days before it was 93 and HOT on Thursday. So for lunch I blended up a fruit smoothie and ate cheese and crackers and I think I’ll be making this smoothie more often. I don’t have a food blog because I’m not good at it. I tried once and then realized I hated coming up with recipes and hated taking photos and hated it all. It was something I felt like I should do and then a long while later realized, “oh I’m not good at this and don’t like it and I’ll let others who are good and do enjoy it do that.” So this is the closest I’ll come to sharing recipes. And this was so easy! I blended about 2 cups (I think?) of frozen blueberries, raspberries and mango, added a big squirt of honey, a spoonful of chia seeds to thicken it up and about a cup of water. Then I blended in a lot of ice. It was so refreshing. And the color was really pretty too. So if it’s hot and you need something cold and sweet, here ya go.
Whole Foods Pizza
We eat pizza at least once a week. Picco is a really good pizza place a few blocks from our apartment. And Eataly has really good pizza too. Better than Picco in my non expert opinion. The crust is doughy and chewy and awesome. Although both Picco and Eataly are really good, sometimes I just need some cheaper pizza that I can pick up whenever I want. Whole Foods has fresh pizza being made all day. That isn’t news to me, I always knew Whole Foods had pizza slices. But what I didn’t know is that you can put six slices in a box for $14.99. I realize that isn’t $5 delivery cheese pizza, but have a box of six different slices of good quality pizza sounds good to me. We had pizza on Thursday when a friend was over for dinner and I picked up three slices of pepperoni, two slices of white pizza and one slice of veggie.
Looking for Lovely
I talked about this book on Instagram last week and here I am talking about it again. The simplicity, yet profound message, that Annie shares really resonated with me. Often I move through my days fast, checking off one thing after another and trying to be as efficient as possible. I’m learning two things in this season of life. One, that I need to be effective instead of efficient because who cares how fast you can get things done if you’re not doing the right things. And two, there are many mundane moments that are actually full of so much happy and goodness, but I miss them because I’m moving so fast. In the book, she talks about how she use to be an avid nail biter. And the condition of her nails reflected the condition of her heart and wellbeing. The more bitten, ragged and red her nails were, the worse she was doing that week. So she starting painting her nails a bright color because as she watched them dance across the keyboard when she typed, they reminded her that she was in a healthy place and that was something to celebrate. Now, I’m not a nail biter – but I do think I need to be reminded of the joy and beauty and happiness that can come from the simplest things. I like getting my nails done at the salon, but in an effort to save $$, I’m going every six weeks or so. In the meantime, I’ve got some good cuticle clippers and an assortment of Essie Gel polish. And currently, bright pink nail polish painted on that I’m into.
This Podcast
I have several clients (and friends) with parents and family members who comment on their appearance in a triggering and detrimental way. That’s really hard. I’m a huge fan of the Love, Food podcast. This episode is awesome and I highly recommend listening if the title resonates with you.
![5 Thoughts [What to Do After a Binge]](https://www.thereallife-rd.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_4594-150x150.jpg)
Congrats on the license in MA 🙂 I agree on self care being so trendy, but in the season of life I’m in, it looks like less screen time and a better sleep routine (both soooo hard!!) I really like this type of post for a Monday! I also love when bloggers share links to articles around the web they’ve read lately. Have a great week Robyn!
Oh Julianne I HEAR YOU on less screen time and better sleep. I will share links to around the web too!
I’ve heard several people recommend Looking for Lovely- I’ll have to check it out! <3
Highly recommend!
I so agree with you on self-care being trendy ! I think self-care is more about anticipating what will help you live your life more according to your values, not just relaxing. So, because I value being alert and not-groggy throughout the day, it may mean turning in earlier than other people. I value my faith, so taking an hour and going to church on Sunday is a way of caring for myself. Thank you for reminding me of that message! Also, that smoothie looks really yummy! My favorite thing to add to smoothies is a scoop of peanut butter!
I think self-care is more about anticipating what will help you live your life more according to your values, not just relaxing –> LOVE how you phrased this Caroline!
For Monday content, I was thinking maybe you could do a series of posts on different specific food rules and trends that are commonly involved with disordered eating/eating disorders/diet culture. Each post could consist of why the trend/rule is negative for overall well-being and specific ways/thoughts/behaviors to counteract them in everyday life. For example, one Monday could be about the rule of avoiding bread or pasta, another Monday could be about avoiding sugar (my biggest challenge with my ED), and another could be about avoiding fats. As someone with an eating disorder, I would find these kinds of posts extremely helpful as I try to detach from all of my ED’s rules (not an easy feat). Hopefully this can provide you with inspiration for Monday posts!
*Even if you don’t use this idea, I really hope you can do another post about why sugar isn’t bad and point out the flaws in villainizng sugar (which our culture does) and just overall why sugar is actually good! To me, avoiding sugar is the hottest diet trend at the moment and it doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere so I would really enjoy another post about it as I struggle with it daily. As always, I appreciate your blog infinitely!
Hi Erica! Thanks for your input!! I’ll include some of your ideas in the “meatier” posts that I write on Thursdays around IE/ED recovery etc
In the meantime here is a post I did on the ketogenic/no carb trend
https://www.thereallife-rd.com/2018/03/ketogenic-diet/
And a post on sugar that I wrote a month or so go that I think you will find helpful.
https://www.thereallife-rd.com/2018/03/sugar-addiction/
Related to this, I would love to hear your thoughts about gluten free. I’ve been able to steer clear from the diet craze rationally knowing I do not have celiac disease, however I was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease (Hashimotos). My doctor hasn’t said anything about being gluten free but I’m reading a lot of information online about gut health/autoimmune disease and that you should go gluten free.
Sorry these are a lot of topics! Basically I’m curious about your thoughts on gluten, and especially as it relates to gut health & autoimmune disease. Thanks!
I’ll add this to my list of questions and I also answer this question in the new course!
Self care is a really tired topic at this point – it’s literally everywhere. If you’re looking for content ideas, it would be nice to see posts about IE from obese women. While I respect your posts and ideas, IE and health look different at larger sizes. It’s all well and good to talk about mindful movement when you’re a single-digit pants size, but how about hearing from women who actually may have mobility issues related to their size or who have histories of obesity associated with health problems? That perspective needs more airtime because IE when you’ve never been “overweight” is very different from trying to do IE when you have previously been’, or currently are, very overweight, especially if that comes along with health or mobility problems.
I totally agree with you that self care is such a trendy topic right now, but I think we can always be thinking about ways we can care for ourself in the basic ways (at least for me, I often forget the importance and need reminders often)
I totally hear you Liz! I have written a couple posts on this topic but will add this as a topic to expand upon. I think it’s something under discussed (myself included) and we can add to the discussion.
https://www.thereallife-rd.com/2017/04/intuitive-eating-and-weight-loss/
https://www.thereallife-rd.com/2017/12/intuitive-eating-and-dieting/
I like to think of self-care as ways to fill your soul up. If it doesn’t nourish your soul, its more likely a distraction from things that are weighing you down. Self-care is choosing things that serve you both in the moment and in the long-term .As for content ideas, I love round-ups of interesting articles and recipes circulating the web because I love new information! Plus it can incorporate things you’ve already discovered throughout your week, so it doesn’t require research.
Yes! “things that serve you in the long term” — that’s a good reminder 🙂
Love the idea of a roundup!
Love the self care talk!! I got the feeling in the begining of my intuitive eating journey that health was a bad word & while it was when it was tied to weight, I now think of self care as the health in intuitive eating. It’s not all manicures & spa days, but more carving out time to exercise & making sure to have foods around that I love, but also that fuel my body well & make me feel my best (: Plus also taking time to read & sleep & do things that bring happiness to my world. Thought this post was great!!
Yes totally agree with your input here Jen!
I love this post and I also really love the nail polish anaolgy. I don’t understand how our society makes us believe that “ we are doing it right” when we are constantly trying to be efficient with everything we do and we have to be taking advantage of every minute of every day. I think of those BS women’s articles that talk about doing lunges while your coffee is brewing and doing squats while you rock your baby to sleep. Like, is it okay if we just breathe and just BE?!
Hi Robyn- I really like your weekly or weekend eats and a day in a life posts. They are helpful and always give me ideas about food choices etc. X
Another wonderful post, Robyn! I just have a general intuitive eating question. I always had a smaller body size growing up like the majority of my family (nothing against larger body sizes, that’s just how my body was from growing up as an intuitive eater). But after going through a traumatic experience, I began the restrict/binge cycle and gained a lot of weight in a short period of time. I was then caught up in the dieting cycle for over 10 years. I read Intuitve Eating and have been working through changing myself. I haven’t felt like myself since I first began changing my eating all those years ago. Before that I was an intuitive eater. Have I permanently raised my baseline weight or can body settle back into what it would have been had I never restricted and binged in the first place? I’m just wondering what the science shows. THanks!
HI Brooke, Thanks for sharing your experience and being so open in the comments. I think this is great discussion and I’m noting this topic for a future post!
I can relate to your story, Brooke!
Yay! Congrats on your license! I know that’s probably been a huge pain in the butt. Getting mine setup definitely was! I love what you’re stating about self-care. I spent last weekend soaking in my tub at home, made myself a wine spritzer, watched Jimmy Fallon on my ipad and the only money I spent was on the bath bomb and the body scrub I bought. It was delightful and I’m definitely going to be repeating every weekend!
Congrats on getting your MA license. I know how time-consuming professional licenses can be when applying for one in new states. Now praying for you to find the nursing job that aligns with your values and interests. Love my NP and I know your patients will say the same.
i’m curious about your journey out of a less plant based eating style to how you eat now for monday content! 🙂 or how you knew you wanted to work in the eating disorder field. have a lovely day robyn!
Will note these topics Alyssa! I think I wrote a post a while back on my journey with food but I can’t seem to find it so I’ll revisit this topic 🙂
Robyn, your posts are and always have been some of my absolute favorite. Your genuine personality and voice are impossible to miss, and your writing is just so natural. Thank you for letting us peek into your life and for all the helpful life tips you share!
You are such an inspiration. 🙂
Aw thanks so much Haley <3 Thank YOU for reading!
OMG that book sounds SO up my alley. Also, I’ve been meaning to ask about this. There’s this blueberry pancake recipe that is no longer available on your website, but it was my mom and my FAVORITE , and now i can’t pull it up bc I never printed it out. I think the post was called Sunday morning pancakes. Any way to procure that? 😉
Congrats on the license!