The other day I was chatting with my Filipina colleagues, and we were discussing the increased levels of anxiety during the holiday season. Body shaming in the Filipinx culture has become normalized that we anticipate it in family gatherings. When we ask our elders why does our culture body shame, they respond with, “That’s just […]

As a nutritionist, joining a counseling practice to work with therapists, means bringing a team of people to help individuals meet their personal goals. We are complex human beings. And addressing only one part of an issue can feel disconnected. I am excited to announce that I have joined Mente Counseling as a Nutritionist staff […]

“At the core of perfectionism lies a view of self as weak, flawed, and easily rejected ” (Overholser & Dimaggio, 2020). Ooof, reading this sentence was a punch to my stomach but a great reminder in my journey to overcome perfectionism. Unfortunately, the diet culture created unobtainable standards of perfectionism. For many of us, this […]

I didn’t know I needed to make peace with my body. In my college years, I was determined to be a certain weight and wear a certain size. I was living in the greater Long Beach area in Southern California, and the ideal body image was to be thin. When people would compliment my thinness, […]

Here is my story about diet culture and the effects of fad dieting. I remember moving away from home to attend college in Long Beach, California. I was young and so excited to be in close distance to some of southern California’s most famous beaches and party life. But navigating new experiences and adjusting to […]

I’m ashamed that I use to feel embarrassed that I am part Asian. I hid that beautiful part of me. And when I think back on the reasons, as a kid I was racially bullied. I distinctly remembered a neighborhood kid saying he thought it was gross that I am part Filipino. In my freshman […]