Food Freedom Q&A Series: Lex Daddio of Restoring Radiance
Getting to know Lex has been such an immense pleasure after following her for some time on Instagram. She is such a ray of light and you can feel her radiating warmth and her kind soul that comes through with each of her posts. She is opening up on her story, her food freedom journey and raising (almost) two littles to make their own choices with food (hello future intuitive eaters!). I know you are going to enjoy this week’s Q&A with Lex as much as I did!
Hey Lex, so for those who haven’t met you just yet can you tell us what it is that you do and one thing about yourself that may surprise people?
Hi, I’m Lex! I live in Richmond, VA with my husband, almost 2 year old boy and I’m pregnant with our 2nd boy. I’m the one behind the IG @restoring_radiance and I’ve actually been doing it for almost 7 years now! I started my account as a private account back in the day when I was struggling with a binge eating disorder! It was more of a personal/ food and exercise journal. It’s changed a lot through the years, but through my healing and recovery I’ve become passionate about sharing that light with others. To encourage others struggling that they aren’t alone in their struggle. That life can come after an eating disorder, and that if I can be healed I believe anyone can. I hope to inspire others to have a healthy relationship with food and to not let it control their life, because this life is so much more than the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and our bodies.
A fun fact about me: I lived in Barcelona, Spain for 2 months after college and almost moved there. If it wasn’t for my now husband that started pursuing me back home at the time, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have left!
Take us through a day in the life for you!
A day in my life these days looks a lot different than it used to with a toddler and a baby in my belly. I used to wake up at 5am and take on the day. I go to bed early though haha! Now, I’ve been needing more sleep in this pregnancy so I typically wake up around 6am. I drink a big glass of water and have my coffee while I read my Bible and pray. Then, if I can I’ll do a little movement of some sort (so either an at home workout video, a walk outside, or Pure Barre if I have time which I haven’t recently. I typically do house chores like unload the dishwasher, start the laundry, make the bed, and get breakfast ready for my son. If I can squeeze it in, I’ll do an email check in or IG check in to answer some comments and messages!
My son gets up around 7:30am and we have breakfast! I try to reserve my time with him off screens if possible. So in the morning, we play, sometimes run errands or go outside, do other fun things. My husband works from home too so if I’m able to squeeze in lie 20-30 minutes of IG and prepping my content for the day, working on a blog, or answering emails, etc then I’ll do that!
We have lunch around 11:30/12pm and then my son goes down for a nap. It’s usually 2-2.5 hours! This is when I literally get all my work done. Content planning/ shooting, recipe creation in the kitchen, cleaning, emails, DM’s, comments, catching up on social, etc. It’s usually a crazy race to try to get done as much as I can before he wakes up!
He’ll wake around 2:30/3pm and I try to do something outside in the afternoon if it’s nice. We usually have a snack and then go play. Again, I try to be off my phone as much as possible when I’m with him! Then, we start making dinner and usually eat around 5:30/6pm. We play, clean the kitchen, start the dishwasher, prep the coffee for the next day, pick up the toys, then give T a bath, do our bedtime routine, get T down.
Once he’s down, I try to do a quick 10-20 min check in with anything I didn’t get done for the day. Then, I wash my face, get ready for bed, and my husband and I usually hang together. We talk or read (trying not to watch TV right now) and hangout until we go to bed. Usually around 9:30pm and then we go to sleep and do it all over again. It’s a lot of the same thing everyday. Of me trying to balance mom/ work life which can be so hard. Everyday doesn’t look the exact same but that’s our general day! It’s not always exciting, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! Of course that’s our day-to-day now, but once we have baby number 2 within the next month, I’m sure everything will change and we’ll find a new day-to-day!
How did you discover Intuitive Eating and how do you practice it in your daily life?
I ended up discovering intuitive eating about 3 years ago! I think I learned more about it from Robyn at @thereallife_rd. She was so free from food rules, but yet a dietitian and it intrigued me. I was mostly recovered from my eating disorder, but still didn’t have a very healthy relationship with food overall. The more I learned from her, the more curious I became, and ended up reading the original Intuitive Eating book! It was so helpful for me and I found the more freedom I gave myself, the less crazy I felt around food. I started to really enjoy it and had a completely different perspective around it. It was amazing and so freeing! I practice it daily still, and I don’t always get it perfect. We aren’t supposed to! I’m able to actually listen to my body and what it needs and recognize that rather than give it what the world tells me it needs. I’ve found it’s helped my digestion and mind so much!
What is your
definition of Food Freedom?
Food freedom to me is being able to enjoy food without stressing about it. To eat with a grateful heart rather than stress or restriction. It’s being able to enjoy a family pizza night with no regrets and just beautiful memories with my family. It’s eating all the foods my son eats too without him wondering why mommy never eats what I eat. It’s enjoyment, it’s fellowship, it’s community, it’s joy. It’s not always getting it right, but instead enjoying the journey and having a good relationship with food again.
What advice would you give someone on where to start with healing their
relationship with food/finding food freedom?
Everyone’s journey is going to look different and that’s normal. No one will have the exact same experience and your healing journey usually depends a lot of your current relationship with food. That being said, something that really helped me with finding a more balanced life with food was being around other people that had a pretty normal relationship with food. Being with people that didn’t constantly talk about diets, or good/ bad foods, their body, etc. Not that we can’t still love those people, we’re all allowed to have our own opinions, etc, but more just because it was really triggering during that time for me. So that’s one thing, another is to seek help or read some books/ blogs about it. I love all the content from @thereallife_rd, @simibotic, & @nourishingmindsnutrition. I truly talk about those three all the time, but they have been incredibly helpful on my journey! Their blogs have a ton of free information and they all offer coaching as well. I think having someone help guide you through it whether 1 on 1 or through their blog advice is really helpful. I remember I couldn’t get enough of the info they shared. Also, to find food freedom, you really truly have to let go of food rules. Not just kind of, but you really do. It’s hard but practice everyday. Every time you have a negative thought with food or your body, shift your mindset and turn it positive. You won’t always have to do this because eventually it’ll be more second nature but changing your perspective is a huge starting point!
What advice can you give on raising kids as intuitive eaters? What has been difficult in this process?
One of my biggest hopes with my son was trying to let him lead the way and be an intuitive eater. It’s actually been so interesting to watch and honestly such a joy. To see his food preferences, what he likes and doesn’t like, how he eats and how much. His days all look different, some days he’ll eat a huge breakfast and some days he won’t eat that much. I don’t stress about it, because I know it’ll all even out. Some days he’ll devour vegetables and others he won’t eat one. That’s part of the beauty of it all, because no one meal or day makes your overall health. Also, our bodies are incredibly smart and that has proven true with kids! When T is sick, he typically barely eats or literally just wants fruit and he’s typically a pretty big eater. This is always so interesting to me because it’s his body truly knowing what it needs!
As far as letting him be an intuitive eater, I really try to let him guide most of the way. If he’s all done and barely eats it could be because so many factors: he hasn’t gone to the bathroom yet, he’s distracted from what’s going on, he’s just not hungry, he doesn’t like what’s being served, etc. I don’t ever not give him more if he asks for more. He’s so smart and always stops when he’s full. I don’t worry about that even if it’s more than I eat sometimes haha. He’s super active and needs fuel and his body knows that!
I think one of the more difficult things has been when he’s hungrier for a bigger snack and doesn’t want to eat dinner with us. I do try to always sit down and eat a family dinner each night so it’s hard if he had a bigger or later snack and isn’t hungry at that time. I try not to stress, but I also don’t like spoiling his appetite for meals. So my biggest challenge is letting him have snacks but not overdoing it so that he won’t eat his meal!