Welcome to Beyond Diet Dogma (finally!)...a weekly-ish newsletter for thoughtful humans who are curious about mindset shifts and unlearning, real-life coaching tools, midlife perspectives, mind-body-eating, and the occasional dog wisdom from my rescue pups, Benny and Ramona.
Each issue serves up a mix of musings and tools...things like:
~ Rebuilding trust: with your body, your habits, your voice, your ability to stay grounded in the face of...well, anything.
~ Navigating change without self-abandoning (hello, midlife!)
~ Making peace with food, aging, and other hard stuff
~ Pausing before spiraling (and maybe pet a dog instead)
~ Behind the scenes: the fun, and the challenging.
From perfectionism to procrastination, intuitive eating to GLP-1 support, nervous system grounding to woo-adjacent tools...and the occasional "WTF just happened" moment with food (or life)....you'll find it all here.
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Let's dig in!
🍽 The Main Course: When Things Feel Too Heavy
If you’ve been eating more than usual lately, or circling back to some old habits you thought you’d left behind, I want you to know: same here.
Lately it feels like the world is just… a lot. And when it feels that way, we reach.
For food. For our phones. For distractions. For something to soften the edge.
Maybe it's a way to tell ourselves: "I'm here. I exist.".
Maybe it's a past memory of safety or lightness. Like cake at a birthday party.
Maybe it's just wanting to feel something real...a taste, texture, or some fullness...when everything else feels totally unreal.
Congrats. You’re human.
🌀 Try This
Next time you catch yourself mid-scroll, mid-snack, or mid-"how did I end up standing in front of the fridge again?"....try this:
→ What’s actually feeling too big to hold right now?
→ What kind of connection am I craving?
→ What might feel like self-care instead of self-control?
Then… exhale....because the reaching? That’s not the problem. It’s the self-judgment and shame spiral we launch at ourselves after the reach that does the real damage.
No need to shame-spiral or psychoanalyze it to death. Just notice and stay curious. Maybe put the cookies back. Maybe don’t.
🗣 Table Talk: Truths
This newsletter almost didn’t happen.
Not because I didn’t care, but because I cared too much. And when that perfectionism kicks in? Suddenly my brain tells me I must reorganize my pantry. Alphabetically. NOW.
That’s how I found myself:
→ procrasti-baking (muffins),
→ procrasti-cleaning (baseboards), and
→ procrasti-snacking (all the things I found while alphabetizing the pantry 😜)
All in the name of "waiting for inspiration" (yeah, right).
Eventually, I caught myself, and noticed the spin, the negative energy. I paused. Breathed. Let the dogs distract me with something furry and laughable.
And then instead of chasing perfection, I let myself write from a place of lightness. Joy. Love.
Sometimes we avoid the thing not because it’s hard, or we're lazy, but because it matters.
Next time you catch yourself deep into procrasti-something-ing, maybe check:
What would it take to do this from a place of ease, flow, joy, or fun?
🍰 Just Because: Dessert
Here's where I insert a little joy just for joy's sake. Just like the dessert I eat every night 🍪 It's little something to make you smile.
👆 Benny, mid-zoomie, living his best life.
Moments later: torn dew claw, bandages, and a cone of shame.
Zero regrets!
Joy is worth it, even if it gets a little messy 🐾
💌 Got thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Hit reply to share what resonated, ask a question, or tell me what you’d love to see in future issues. This newsletter is for you. It gets better the more it becomes a conversation.
More dogs, less dogma. Always.
— Carol
