This week's podcast and video is me interviewing me about how to get into acceptance and care. No matter what. For myself, my family, my country, my world. Even when things break, I and all of us can move towards the spiral, the answers, the path. 

This week's podcast is me interviewing me about the idea of reparenting your self and treating your body, mind and soul as a precious and wanted child. 

This show is about trust, love, acceptance and most of all gratitude. In all ways. 
Emily Ireland Cox is an event planner, uplifter and community builder in Sacramento, CA. She has over fifteen years of binge-eating disorder recovery.

Instagram: @luckybombshell

Facebook group: Fat Positive Sacramento

This podcast is last year’s peer educators talking about the 3-prong principle of prevention and recovery of an eating disorder and body hatred so many of their age group suffer from. 

How do I know what my natural weight is? 

On this show I talk about the first principle of Beyond Hunger: Accepting your body as it is. Right now. 

Allowing yourself to be your natural weight. Right now. 

And 

Taking care of the body you have. Right now. 

Recovery from body hatred and disordered eating provides many layers of learning that unfold uniquely and spontaneously. “Trusting the process” means we all work through these experiences at our own pace and in our own way. We can trust our process is exactly right for us and we don’t have to waste precious time comparing ourselves to others.

About Christina Lowe
As a Registered Dietitian, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and IAEDP (International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals) Approved Consultant. Christina has 8 years of experience working with eating disorders with a variety of populations and at different leve. Christina Lowe, RDN, CEDS
As a Registered Dietitian, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and IAEDP (International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals) Approved Consultant. Christina has 8 years of experience working with eating disorders with a variety of populations and at different levels of care. Eating disorders are a symptom of pain and she wants to help clients connect and understand to the deeper reasonings. She is passionate and dedicated to working in this specialty because she believe s everyone should feel freedom with their food choices, love within their body and control over their mental health.  and dedicated to working in this specialty because she believe s everyone should feel freedom with their food choices, love within their body
Christina [email protected]

Truth is our own internal wisdom that defines who we are. Finding our own truth means figuring out the difference between what we’ve been told we should be, verses who we really are. Often time in the past our true feelings, passions, opinions, and experiences were ignored, rejected, or just not encouraged. When we can relearn to identify what our own truth is, we are able to put into action what our heart and soul desires. 

Dr. Daganzo is an Internal Medicine physician with over 15 years of experience. She holds an MA in Physics from UC Berkeley and an MD from UCSF, bringing a uniquely analytical and integrative approach to patient care. Her advanced training in psychiatry and functional medicine allows her to address health challenges at the intersection of mind and body.

Based in Marin County, Dr. Daganzo’s clinic specializes in treating complex chronic conditions, eating disorders, and hard-to-diagnose symptoms. She prioritizes identifying root causes over simply treating symptoms—rejecting the "pill for every ill" mindset in favor of promoting long-term vitality and health span.

Committed to science-driven, innovative care, Dr. Daganzo utilizes cutting-edge diagnostics and personalized interventions to empower her patients in achieving optimal wellness. She is known for her deep intellect, logical rigor, and genuine curiosity, balanced by compassion and a relentless dedication to her patients. As a tireless advocate, she ensures each patient receives the specialized, comprehensive care they need to reach their health goals.

Expressing ourselves is a way to live our truth in our bodies, minds and souls. Many times we’ve been taught that to express our feelings, to put up boundaries, to be honest, and to just allow ourselves to be ourselves it might be upsetting to others. The real truth is, if we let ourselves show our “whole self”, it is beneficial for everyone.

"Expressing Yourself” read by Carol Normandi, page 158.
“It's Not About Food” by Carol Normandi and Laurelee Roark.

Carol Normandi is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice since 1992. She is a co-founder of Beyond Hunger, Inc. and co-author with Laurelee Roark of two books developing Beyond Hunger’s approach: It’s Not About Food: Ending Your Obsession with Food and Weight (Putnam 1998), and Over It: A Teen’s Guide To Getting Beyond Food and Weight (New World Library 2001). Carol works with adults, children, couples and families, specializing in eating disorders and body image disturbances. She has facilitated support groups, led workshops, and lectured about eating disorders for more than twenty years. Carol provides clinical consultation for Beyond Hunger. She is also the Executive of Amrita Eating Disorder Treatment.

If you know the word divine means holy or sacred, then you have a clue to the meaning of divinity, which can be a god or other religious being. Anything very holy is full of divinity. Divinity is also the subject of religion itself: divinity students are studying theology. But if you're not into religion, don't worry — you can still enjoy divinity, a type of white, creamy fudge made with egg whites that probably goes well with angel food cake.

The definition above was something I could totally get behind. I  found it by googling divinity on the website, “vocabulary.com.” Loved it. Especially because there are other god-like-angelic things that are divine could also taste good…like…
Yummmmmy white creamy fudge and Angel food cake. Yes please. 

When I was able to recover from my addictions, my disorders and my need to control everything frigging thing in my life, but also let go of the idea that being divine was something outside myself, I was able to truly step into who I really was.  What I learned was all parts of me and every thing else in the universe was already divine. We all are body, mind and spirit. We may forget that fact but there it is. No matter who, what or where we are on our journey we are the essence of love, acceptance, peace and joy. 

Of course we can choose to deny our divinity and go towards a much darker place but we will never really be happy or successful because it’s not our true self. 
As I’ve been writing about some of the profound things my brother and I talked about as he lay dying was the idea of grace and being pure love as a much easier way to live our lives. 
One night as I sat with him we talked about how hard our childhood had been. 
We’d been abused, abandoned, and hurt by the grown ups in our lives. And the pain of it was, for no other reason, than it was probably the way they had been treated by their caretakers. So it was generational, and we eventually we had the power to stop that cycle of suffering ourselves as did they, even though they did not. 
So the discussion was why? 
My brother said with tears rolling down his cheeks,” It was so easy to do the right thing. Much much easier than the hard thing which is the wrong thing.”
Now I have to say he said this as he was dying of Alzheimer’s, as he had not eaten in days and as he was so very sick. If this is not the definition of being in the divine, of experiencing divinity, of being in the state of grace, I don’t have any idea what would be. 
My takeaway is we all have a choice. To realize all parts of us are divine because we are pure divinity just by existing. Or, of course, we can step aside our true nature and force ourselves to not be divine. 
But where’s the fun in that? No where. That’s where. 

Here is a wonderful article and obituary about my wonderful brother Keith St Clare from Cynthia Laird of the Bay Area Reporter Newspaper. So grateful to the LBGT community for their support and dedication to the truth. 
Kelsy Keenan, NDTR
Director of Outreach, Nutrition Counselor
Willa Wellness Center
Direct: 707-755-1174
Office: 707-780-5323
Fax: 707-780-5322