Interview with Lauren Fowler, RDN + Blogger

Q: From reading your blog, I know you encourage women to break free of the diet-cycle. Can you elaborate on what that means and what you have personally learned from the process? 

I help women find peace with food to create a healthy and happy relationship with food and their bodies. This means breaking free of the cycle of going on diets, rigid meal plans, or detoxes, then ending up a few weeks later bingeing or fearing food. This cycle is associated with a lot of guilt and shame. My aim is to help clients start to eat based on their body’s own cues of hunger, fullness, cravings, and figure out what foods are nourishing for their body. I also focus on enjoying and savoring food! This intuitive eating process is what I went through myself, and it’s something I practice daily. It’s helped me connect to my body, enjoy and savor food, and be able to trust my body to make food decisions without any fear or guilt. 

Q: What role does fitness play in your life? What are your favorite types of exercise? 

 I adore moving my body! Movement is such a transformative way for me to connect to my body and move in a way that feels really good, along with challenging myself and working hard at times, while relaxing at other times. My favorite ways to move are all types of yoga, especially Buti yoga (a combination of tribal dance, yoga, and plyometrics), vinyasa, and yin yoga, and walking and hiking.

Q: What five foods that you always have on hand?

Avocado, greens, dark chocolate, frozen/fresh berries, sweet potatoes (We’d get along just fine!)

Q: If I came to visit you for a weekend what would we do?

Since it’s fall, I’d love to take you to a yoga class in the morning, then check out the farmer’s market. (I’m already sold). I love browsing the farmer’s market for groceries, fun foods like sweet potato curried humus and raw chocolates, and just enjoying the fall air and pretty leaves. We’d also probably take a hike because hiking in the fall is so beautiful in Vermont! We may also have to stop at the Ben & Jerry’s factory after the hike :)

Q: What other blogs or websites do you read regularly and why?

I love Nutrition Stripped’s blog for yummy, nourishing recipes. She’s also a dietitian and has a wonderful nutritional philosophy.

Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot more podcasts than reading blogs. Some of my favorites are Fearless Rebelle Radio with Summer Innanen, who is a body image coach and rock star. Her work around body image is so important and need in this world! I also love The Wellness Wonderland Radio for a range of conversations around physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing – Katie is super fun and playful, making it interesting to listen.

A little bit about Lauren’s blog and career…

Q: What have been your greatest successes and challenges since starting your blog?

The biggest success is being able to help others transform their relationship with food and their body, so they can spend more time living their life instead of obsessing about food! I get so much joy from emails from women who have read my blog and really resonated with it. This came from getting clear about what I wanted to talk about, so I decided to focus on intuitive eating instead of trying to talk about all aspects of nutrition and health.

A challenge is definitely not comparing myself to others. In the beginning of blogging, I would compare myself to others with larger social media presences or more popular blogs, and try to do what they were doing. Yet, when I focused on what I had to offer, then readers connected with my blog, and it’s more fun for me! There’s no joy in comparison, and everyone is at their own stage. (<– YES.)

Q: Did you always want to be a dietitian?

I started out as a nursing major, but we had to take a nutrition class, and I found out that I was really interested in overall wellness and nutrition. I decided to switch to nutrition and never looked back. I love learning about nutrition and geek out about all things nutrition and wellness, and overall love trying new foods and recipes.

Q: One piece of nutrition and/or wellness advice you’d like to give my readers?

Do what feels good to you. You don’t have to do yoga or Crossfit or eat a vegan diet to be healthy – just listen to what feels good to you and your body.

Q: For you, what does it mean to live a healthyish life?

It means listening to my body and my intuition and looking at my health holistically – from physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and mental health. All are important to me, so look beyond only food and exercise as the most important parts of your health. (Completely agree!). It means having fun with your health by moving your body in a way that feels good, eating yummy foods and getting creative in the kitchen, and taking care of yourself. Self-care is hugely important for me, and that means nourishing myself on all levels.

This or that?

Almond butter or peanut butter?
Can I say cashew butter? I’m in love with cashew butter and apples lately! (Yes, you can say cashew butter. In fact, I love all nut butters so I shouldn’t have limited it to two!)

Beach or mountains?
Mountains! While I love the beach and water, hiking or snowboarding in the mountains is my home since I’m from the Green Mountain state. I feel an instant sense of calm while hiking or surrounded by trees and mountains.

Running or yoga?
Yoga!

Winter or summer?
Summer. I can’t stand being cold!

Morning or evening?
Morning. I love peaceful mornings with a good book and cup of tea. 

NYC or California?
California

Rachel or Monica?
My favorite show! Rachel.

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A special thanks again to Lauren for sharing a little about her blog, nutrition practice and life. I encourage you to visit her website and listen to her new (!!!) podcast, WholeYou.

If you are interested in following Lauren on social media here are links to her accounts:
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram