Here at Healthy Heels, we view food as fuel, nourishment, and something to be enjoyed. We encourage Tar Heels to eat a wide array of foods that are both nourishing and delicious. There are no bad or forbidden foods - it's all about paying attention to your body's needs.

Eat When You're Hungry

Keep your body biologically fed with enough nourishment. This helps avoid the natural response to over-consume food in moments of excessive hunger. Learning to honor your initial biological signal of hunger sets the stage for building trust in yourself and in food.

• Help yourself by bringing yummy, nutrient-dense snacks with you so that when you notice hunger, you have food available.

Enjoy Your Food

Stop Eating When You're Full

Use Gentle Nutrition Strategies

• Zoom out. Focus on the big picture when it comes to nutrition. Individual food choices make very little difference when it comes to health. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or become unhealthy from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It’s what you eat consistently over time that matters. Consider overall patterns in your food intake.
• Add foods, don't subtract. Remember that all foods can be a part of a healthy life and no foods are off-limits. Instead, consider how to add nutrient-filled and diverse foods into your eating patterns.
• Focus on variety. Different foods contain different nutrients, which means that eating a diversity of foods helps to ensure that we are getting adequate nutrients.
• Pay attention to food that feels good. Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making your body feel good.
• Try to include 3 things at each snack and meal: protein, fat, and fiber. This will help keep you full and nourished.
• Create an environment that makes health easier. Your environment is the biggest predictor of your health choices, so consider how you can make shifts to your space to set yourself up for the health behaviors you want.

Join us from noon until 3pm (or any portion that you can!) for expert talks and interactive breakout sessions. This colloquium will center discussion on three topics:

• Practicing Cultural Awareness and Humility, presented by Leah Cox, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer | Discuss how we can increase awareness of and appreciation for cultural diversity to work more effectively across our campus community.
• Trauma-Informed Engagement in the Community, presented by April Parker, Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work | Reflect on the connection between historical trauma, and how and why we engage with communities.
• Mental Health and Identity These sessions — intended for attendees who identify as members of these communities and those who want to support them — will be a safe space for participants to learn, listen and share. Breakout Sessions include:
  • Mental Health in Latinx Communities – Facilitator Theresa Flores, MSW, LCSW 
  • Mental Health in Asian Communities – Facilitator Misha Mohan, Psy.D.
  • Mental Health in Black Communities – Facilitated by Sophia Davis, MSW, LCSW and Faye Hobgood, MSW, LCSW
  • Mental Health in American Indian Communities – Facilitator Alicia Freeman, LCMHC, LCAS-A
  • Mental Health in LGTBIQ Communities – Facilitator Terri Phoenix, PhD
  • Mental Health and People with Disabilities – Facilitator Simon Bloor, MAEd, PGDip, PGCert

Register here to attend all or a portion of this Zoom webinar.

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