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Amy Conrad | Family Nutritionist + Eating Disorder Specialist

@hctswellness

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Family wellness tips + freebies
📝20+yrs expertise
📔Author🤍Mom🙋‍♀️Educator
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Everything about me in 1 minute.
By a narrator, of course 😉

Would love to get to know you too!

Teen Wellness:
Nutritionist
Eating Disorder Specialist
Teacher
Author
Speaker by @hctswellness

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4 months ago

Orthorexia is the eating disorder hiding behind “healthy” and most parents have never heard of it. It’s an obsession with eating “clean” or “perfectly” that slowly takes over a kid’s life.

Signs to watch for:
-Cutting out more and more foods or whole food groups  -Rigid food rules that keep getting stricter  -Anxiety, guilt, or shame after eating “off plan”  -Distress when they can’t eat their “safe/clean” foods  -Skipping social events involving food  -Judging others (or themselves) by what they eat  -Self-worth increasingly tied to “eating perfectly”  -Health rules shrinking their world, not enriching it

None of this is about willpower. It’s actually anxiety wearing a “healthy” costume. If this feels familiar, please reach out to a professional and I am here for any questions!

Save this + share it with a parent who should know. xo by @hctswellness

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3 months ago

As a nutritionist, eating disorder specialist & mom of 3 daughters, so this one hits my heart & is one of the most confusing areas for parents.

If I had a daughter who was overweight, here’s exactly what I would (and wouldn’t) do:

✅ Things I WOULD do:
1. Start with a blood test. If she hasn’t mentioned her weight, tell her it as something every teenager should do (this is genuinely true!). If she HAS brought it up, tell her this is step one, because the most important thing is knowing how healthy she is on the INSIDE first, & results will help point you both in the right direction. Ask for a comprehensive metabolic panel, a full thyroid panel, and an adrenal panel. Go from there.
2. Become an undercover blood-sugar-balancing baddie. Make sure EVERY meal has protein, fiber, veggies, and low sugar. Don’t announce it, do it for the WHOLE family.
3. Model healthy habits yourself. Going for a walk? Invite her. Making a smoothie? Ask if she wants one. Trust me...she is watching you.
4. Hide the family scale. Do it.
5. Take her shopping. Make sure her clothes are loose enough and that she feels comfortable. Girls’ bodies are changing rapidly. Last year’s clothes shouldn’t still fit, and squeezing into them may be causing her shame.

🚫 Things I WOULDN’T do:
1. Restrict ANY food…even ice cream. Balancing her blood sugar will naturally reduce the snacking. No food is the enemy.
2. Bring it up unless she does. But if she does…please, please do not dismiss her feelings. Promise her you will always protect her health and happiness, and ask her what she would like to do. Start there. (“diets” are off the table- balance blood sugar)
3. Tell her “it’s just your age” or “it’s just genetics.” Her lifestyle factors matter far more than her age or her genes and handing her those excuses teaches her to feel like a victim of her own body forever.
4. Take “she’s fine” as the final word from the pediatrician. Seek out the right support :a therapist, a nutritionist, a trainer, whatever she wants. (I’m also here, and just a DM away. 😉)

Sending you endless love…I know how hard this can be. 🤍 by @hctswellness

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112

4 months ago

And now I am realizing that moms need a code word too 🤣🤣

I said, “Maybe.” like every mom.
Her cute friend was standing right there, thrilled about her chips, and she didn’t deserve to feel judged over a snack. “Maybe” bought me time and I thought she would forget about it, but of course she asked again when we got home.
SO, I pulled up the ingredients on my phone and we read it together.

About ten seconds in, she goes:
“Oh, never mind. I don’t think these will make me feel good, but it is good that some foods are being made without dyes, right?”

I didn’t say that. She did!!!!
And listen, pulling synthetic dyes out of a product people have eaten for forty years is a genuinely HUGE deal. Companies did that because parents & heros pushed. I’m not going to pretend that doesn’t matter.

It also doesn’t make it a health food. Dye-free and nourishing are two different sentences. A chip with better coloring is still a chip and although I am not anti-chips (they are actually MY vice- I am such a chip girl), I’m always going to provide the BEST I can.

🙌 But what made me the proudest was what she actually said. Not “these are bad.” Not “I’m not allowed.” She said I don’t think these will make me FEEL GOOD. That’s the whole difference between a kid who follows rules and a kid who can read a label, check in with her own body, and decide for herself.

And if I am being totally honest, if she’d read the whole thing and still really wanted them, they’d be in the cart and she would get them occasionally. The win wasn’t the no. The win was that she was the one doing the thinking.

I’m a proud mama and that is how I KNOW that what I teach works. Need help with how to build this in your own home?

💬 Comment “IN” and I’ll send you the information to my program where you will learn exactly how! by @hctswellness

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a day ago

None of these were because I didn’t know better. We’re all just doing our best. 🤍

💬 Comment “IN” to learn more about The Food Confident Collective where we unpack it allll. by @hctswellness

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2 days ago

10 bags of Sweedish candy. Straight into the cart because she’d been planning it since the car. (I’m actually really not kidding 🤣)

I said no.
But then I handed one back to her.

Here’s why I didn’t say no to all 10… The fastest way to make a food the most interesting thing in my kid’s life is to make it the one thing she can’t have. Forbidden isn’t “neutral”.

If sugar is the fight at your house right now, COMMENT “IN” and I’ll send you info on my membership where you learn the actual words to use, and what to do when they’re already deep in a sugar craze. 🍬

AND…here’s what happened with the one bag: this was 6 days ago and we still have most of the bag left! Nobody had to hide it, lie about it, or eat it standing in someone’s kitchen at a sleepover because “we don’t have that at our house.”

Not ten. Not zero. One, but no negotiations 😉

And then…this is the part that actually matters…I just asked if it was yummy when she ate it. Not “don’t eat them all at once.” Not “you deserve it.” Nothing else.

💬 Comment “IN” and I’ll send over the info to join us in The Collective! xo by @hctswellness

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3 days ago

VERY SCIENTIFIC MIDDLE SCHOOL FACTS ✅ & MYTHS 🚫:

MYTH: You are a cool mom.
FACT: You are embarrassing for simply existing. Breathing near their friends is the worst thing you can do. Don’t breathe.

MYTH: They don’t want to talk to you anymore.
FACT: They absolutely do, as long as it’s in the car, or in the dark, and you don’t say a word back. Basically a confessional.

MYTH: They can hold a grudge.
FACT: A middle schooler can go from “You’re ruining my LIFE” to “Can you make me a quesadilla?” in under four seconds.

MYTH: Their backpack holds school supplies.
FACT: It holds a crumpled up quiz, a 3 week old apple, 12 pencils without lead and 3 eyelash curlers (yeah, one of the girl’s prob dropped in your son’s bag too)

MYTH: They can’t memorize.
FACT: They just can’t memorize 15 vocab words, but they can memorize choreography for 300 TikToks. This type of pre-teen selective memory is a sign of intelligence.

MYTH: They didn’t hear you.
FACT: They can hear someone smack talking them in another state but they just can’t hear “put away your clothes” from two feet. I think it’s an underdeveloped ear drum thing.

MYTH: “I’m fine” means they’re fine.
FACT: “I’m fine” is the preview. The full 3-hour drama spill will be at 10 p.m., right after you’ve taken your contacts out.

MYTH: That deodorant you bought in August is being used.
FACT: It’s just aesthetic 🙄. It lives on the counter, unopened, and they stink.

That’s all I got…for now 😏 by @hctswellness

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4 days ago

💬 Comment GUIDE and I’ll send my free eGuide straight to your DMs!

“The talk” isn’t just about periods and condoms anymore! It’s cyber safety, boundaries, identity, AI, and how your kid feels about food and their changing body.

As a health teacher, nutritionist & eating disorder specialist (and mom of 3), I made the guide I wish every parent had: What the Health Is Happening?!

✔️ Puberty roadmaps for girls AND boys
✔️ Age-by-age scripts for ages 9–16
✔️ How to raise a food-confident kid

You’re not behind. We’re all in this together 😘 by @hctswellness

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5 days ago

The conversations after my book talk were not for signatures 😂

Of everything in Who the Health Are You?, the chapter people came up to talk about was the one on EATING DISORDERS. Not nutrition. Not sleep, not screens, not confidence. That one. It was women wanting to tell me about themselves. About their daughters. About what they went through in their teens and twenties. I loved how fast that room opened up. One person is open and honest, and then everyone is.

BUT, here’s what I haven’t stopped thinking about since:
Eating disorders don’t care about your income or your zip code…but who gets taught about them often does. Socioeconomic disparities are so unfortunate in our country when it comes to healthcare and SO much so when it comes to Eating Disorder Care. Kids and teens in lower income neighborhoods are far less likely to ever get in front of someone who specializes in them.

Which is part of the reason I loved doing this talk at @spreadthewordnv They put gently used books into schools and free books into the hands of families in our community. We donated some books at the event, but here is my ask of YOU…

If you are able, please purchase a copy of Who the Health are You? TODAY and donate it…to your school, your community book drive, a women’s and children’s shelter…anywhere you know that it will land in the hands of someone that it otherwise wouldn’t!

And one more thing! I didn’t plan that event AT ALL. My incredible, amazing friends did. They know I teach full time, I have 3 girls, I’m running a membership program, and I would have said “next month” until it was next year 🤣 So, thank you, @lmslanker & @lainenw for asking me to just show up and talk 😜
Find friends that lift you UP! That celebrate your wins and accomplishments when you don’t have the time yourself….Then go be that for somebody else! 😍

💬 Comment “BOOK” for a direct link to purchase 📖Who the Health Are You?

Read it & pass it to someone who needs it. And lastly, if you want to go the extra step, get your next event banner from @postersforpurpose and @tylee.rogal will donate the proceeds to @projectheal a nonprofit that offers free eating disorder support! by @hctswellness

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6 days ago

Comment “WELLTHY” for links to my fav Amazon purchases that keep my whole family well. These are all worth every cent! You’re WELLcome 💋 by @hctswellness

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7 days ago

Every day I see a sweet kiddo at lunch making sure she’s laughing at the right times. She has a friend group. She sits with them every day. And she’s worried.

I wish all parents knew that these messages could completely protect their child’s self-respect and help them find true, valuable friends:
✨ If you have to prove you belong…not your friend group.
✨ If you replay what you said afterward, wondering how it landed…probably not your friend group.
✨ If you have changed the way you look or dress to fit in…not your friend group.
✨ If they laugh and embarrass you when you mess up…not your friend.
✨ If they tell your secrets or announce your crush…not your friend.
✨ If you were kind to someone and your friends made you feel stupid for it…not your friend group.
✨ If you’re scared to leave because of what they’d say about you…leave.

REAL friends:
✨ Notice when you’re off, and ask.
✨ Check with you first before telling anyone something about you.
✨ Celebrate your win on a day they lost.
✨ Laugh with you. Never at you.

And a few things every kid should hear:
✨ Being kind to everyone doesn’t mean you have to be friends with everyone.
✨ Forgiving someone is brave and it doesn’t have to mean trusting them the same way again.
✨ A little lonely is better than a group that makes you feel less.
✨ It can take years to find your true friends. That isn’t a sign something’s wrong with you. It is a sign of bravery, of knowing your self-worth, and emotional intelligence. Your true friends are there…you may have just not met them yet.

I teach middle & high school, have 3 daughters, and I work with families privately on building kids’ confidence. I see the same friendship issues over and over again. We call it “drama”, but honestly, it is so much more than that. How a child chooses their friends, and who they become in order to keep them, is shaping every relationship they’ll have after this.

❤️ Save this for the next car ride.
🤍 Send it to the mom who’s been worried.
💛 Repost it so that we can help more kids together.

Our kids are faced with so much more than we ever were. It is tough stuff, but we’re all in this together. Sending so much love 😘 by @hctswellness

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9 days ago

For the record, I was right 🤣 but damn these kids are smart!!!

Teacher
Middle School
Health & Wellness
7th Grade Pre-Med by @hctswellness

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19 days ago