Hello lovely humans!

It feels like it’s been a hot minute since we last spoke and there’s a reason for that: pole fitness has temporarily (maybe forever) taken over my life (again). I finally renewed my membership to my local pole gym and now I’m basically too sore to do anything except shallow breathing and whimpering. It’s been fun.

About Last Week

Before we dive in to today’s treat, I want to just give a big thanks to the positive feedback I got from last week’s post. So many of you reached out to me and had such lovely things to say–it really melted my heart. Especially because, after I shared the post on my Instragram, I lost a large chunk of followers. I’m not going to lie–it hurt. I tried to remind myself that people probably follow my Instagram for healthy recipes, not LGBT+ content, but still, it stung. Allie and I had a long chat about it, and here are my thoughts: the wellness space seems specifically geared to white, cis, feminine women, who are straight and are, for the most part, financially well-off. A lot of what I just said there includes me: I’m white, femme, cis, I make above minimum wage. But there are so many people in my life who aren’t included in this conversation. Where are the articles that talk about being healthy and loving your body if you’re trans, or gender fluid. How do we talk about relationships and love advice without assuming everyone is heterosexual and monogamous?

You might think, what does healthy living and mindfulness really have to do with being gay? Actually, a lot. Have a look at some of these statistics from The Canadian Mental Health Association:

half of all trans people live on less than $15,000 a year
LGBT+ people have higher rates of depression, anxiety, OCD, thoughts of suicide and substance abuse
LGBT+ people have higher rates of smoking (36%) compared to their heterosexual counterparts (17%)
Bisexual women have higher rates of sexual abuse, domestic abuse and non-partner violence than straight and lesbian women

So why is this important for a blog that deals with healthy living? Because a lot of these issues come from lack of representation, which leads to homophobia, both internalized and from the general community. When you don’t see yourself, you feel wrong, you feel like you don’t belong. Not seeing yourself represented in health + wellness conversations make it feel like it doesn’t apply to you. Other people can be fit and healthy, but not you.

In the past, I’ve wanted to make this blog inclusive to everyone regardless of their sexual orientation, or gender identity. But in doing that, I think I’ve actually left LGBT+ people out completely, and this site reads like any other healthy recipe blog. And that has to change.

I plan to keep adding queer content to the blog, because it’s a huge part of my identity, and this feels like something so much bigger than myself. I hope you’ll stay tuned! And if you are a cis, white, feminine, straight woman–you are also included in this conversation. You are absolutely welcome here. But you’ll be sharing the space with all the humans that don’t always get offered a seat.

So about this Chocolate Chai Banana Bread…

It’s so fudgy and delicious, with hints of cardamom and cinnamon. It feels ultra decadent, my friends. For me, this is a perfect lazy Sunday breakfast option: spread on some butter (or coconut butter) to a thick slice of banana bread and sip on some coffee. Yum.

The great thing about banana bread is that even when it’s gluten free, and paleo, like this little babes, it’s still moist. No dryness or chalky texture. This is all chocolate-y goodness. And I know I’ve said this a good hundred times, but the reason I love, love, love paleo baked goods (even though I don’t follow a strictly paleo diet) is because it fills you up.

Other baked goods have me reaching for piece after piece until all the cookies/brownies/muffins are gone, and I’m sad, and stuffed, and somehow still hungry. But nut-based baking is super dense and filled with protein and fat, so you eat a piece, and it’s like whoa, I’m full–I’ll stop eating. As someone who struggled with binge eating in her late teens, it never stops blowing my mind.

So for me, that’s why you don’t see a lot of gluten-free baked goods on the blog made with rice flour, or buckwheat or gluten-free blends. It’s not that they’re necessarily unhealthier (although white rice flour and potato flour completely lack fibre and spike your blood sugar) it’s that they don’t fill me up. So then I eat ten pieces and feel bad. And no one wants that.

Alright, I think that’s all she wrote. I would love to get your insight on some of the things I’ve been talking about on the blog lately. Do you feel represented in the wellness community? What kind of content would you like to see? Let me know in the comments or by email at tisha@thenourishedmind.ca

Have Sunday!