Dr. Lauren Russell, Naturopathic Doctor

07/31/2026

Had a patient tell me this week she felt guilty noticing that eating lower carb makes her feel better.

Anti-diet culture has its own rulebook now, one that says you’re not allowed to feel good doing something diet culture also happens to recommend.

Food freedom was never about having no opinions about food. It’s about finally having your own.

07/24/2026

The banana didn’t do anything wrong.

This isn’t really a nutrition story. It’s diet culture in a new outfit. Calorie counting, food combining, and now antioxidant math in your blender.

Different decade, same message: there’s a right way to eat and you’re probably getting it wrong.

Eat the banana. Eat the blueberries. Drink the smoothie.

07/07/2026

My jeans got comfortable the day I bought my real size.

Not the size I wished for. The size that fit. Isn’t it wild what a too-tight waistband can do to your self-confidence?

Turns out the problem was never my body.

07/06/2026

Fatphobia in healthcare isn’t always obvious. Sometimes it’s a lab that never got pulled.

This is weight discrimination: bias against larger bodies, showing up as worse care. Less time in the room. Fewer questions. Every symptom filed under “weight” before anything else gets ruled out.

I’ve had patients come in with labs that were never pulled. Just a scale and a suggestion to lose weight.

I once caught months of unexplained fatigue because someone finally ran a ferritin panel. Nobody had looked before me.

“Eat healthy, lose weight” is not a care plan. It’s a shrug.

Your labs are a diagnostic tool. Not a judgement call.

06/23/2026

The vacation-to-vegetables pipeline is real, and it’s not a coincidence. Restriction makes food interesting. Take it away and the craving usually goes with it.

(Also I just learned how to split clips and add effects. Growth, apparently happens in more ways than one 😅)

06/19/2026

And all of that can be SO great. Just also a reminder that none of it is required. Your body doesn’t need the upgrade package to be healthy.

06/12/2026

Intuitive eating and caring about your health are not opposites.

I know that might land weird if you’ve spent years being told that discipline and restriction are what health looks like. But hear me out.

Intuitive eating isn’t permission to ignore your body but the opposite. It’s about getting better at listening to it. Recognising hunger. Noticing fullness. Paying attention to how food actually makes you feel rather than just whether it fits a rule.

That’s not a less rigorous approach to health. For a lot of people it’s a more honest one.

The idea that you have to choose between trusting your body and taking care of it is something I push back on pretty regularly. Your body isn’t your enemy in this.

More on this soon 👇

05/20/2026

Breast tenderness, fatigue, and a descent down Pincushion Mountain (i loved this hike if you’re ever in Kelowna).

Luteal phase. Your body isn’t broken. It’s just mid-cycle. Adjust the intensity, not the adventure
xo 🥐

04/27/2026

I JUST finished climbing to Everest. 29,030 feet 🏔️😱

I never thought I could do hard physical things. Probably because movement was always tied to punishment (or trying to work out to be skinny tbh) and I hated it.

But over the last couple years I started showing up consistently, feeling stronger, feeling better. Working out now to feel like you can climb a mountain. 💪
Biggest fan

04/15/2026