REV. KATIE NORRIS

Kourtney Olsen from Grrrl Clothing has declared Jan. 1 the first International No Weigh Day. At a time of year where the ads for losing weight as a New Years resolution cram our Facebook and Instagram feeds, we need a No Weigh Day because focusing on weight harms people more than it helps. Rather than focusing on what we weigh, lets focus on what we can do. Set goals for yourself that are performance and/or values based. Your weight (your number on a scale) will not show that

Ah, the life of living with chronic illness. When you say “yes” to that one extra hour of something people asked you to do, when you stay up just a few hours later, when you skip that one meal- even though you know you can’t do any of that because then you end up extremely sick. Why do so many of us with chronic illness fall into this trap? Well, first, we want to be able to do all the things. Second, as soon as you tell someone that you have limitations on your time, they te

I do not have a lot of time today to address the two high-profile death from suicides that we have had this past week with Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, but I wanted to address how you can help people who live with mental illness and are reading your Facebook posts, tweets, and Instagram right now: Please do NOT say the following things: She killed herself. He chose to die. They committed suicide. She chose to end her suffering. He had a successful suicide. They completed

Today is World Eating Disorders Day and I want to talk about how important community messaging is in recovery. Binge eating disorder has been such a part of my life (since I was ten years old) that it just seemed normal to me. Normal to sneak food, eat food out of the garbage can, eat sugar out of a bag with a spoon, hide food in my room and car, and drive around at 3am to multiple fast food restaurants eating from every one of them while parked in dark and random parking lot

Three years ago, when I asked my son what he wanted for Christmas, he said: “I would want you not to have mental illness anymore. I mean, I don’t really need anything else in my life, and no thing could make my life better.” I look at that post from three years ago (photo above) with my son's Christmas wish, and I can’t believe where I am now. Last night, a friend called and said she had tickets to an NHL Hockey game for that night, and would my son, Jeffrey, and I like them

Quite a few years ago, I started writing about body positivity. I talked about not focusing on weight, eating disorder recovery, and mindful eating. Deciding that I would never think about my weight again or never consciously eat in a way that might change my body size was just what I needed. I needed to get out of the mindset that weight was a moral issue and that my worth was based on my size. The research that says weight is not related to health was liberating for me and

On December 27, 2016, the world found out that actress and advocate Carrie Fisher died after a heart attack/cardiac event. A few days ago, on June 17, 2017, media reported that coroners found “multiple substances” in Carrie Fisher’s blood when she died. Every report I have seen says that Carrie “may have ingested” different drugs, possibly cocaine, ecstasy, and others. What I find really frustrating is how the media keeps sensationalizing this story and creating headlines suc

Content Warning: Talk of death by suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts or needs help, please call The National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. In the wake of youth binge watching Netflix’s show “13 Reasons Why,” mental health advocates, parents, and schools are worried that teens are getting the wrong messages about death by suicide and that the show glorifies death by suicide. The overall plot of the show is that a teen dies by suicid

For at least the past 5 years, we have not had a Christmas tree, decorated for Christmas, or really done any Christmassey things. That may sound surprising for a minister’s family, however, I am also a person with ADD. Decorating for Christmas, participating in tons of events, and general holiday stuff is not enjoyable to me and only causes stress for our whole family. Many people with ADD have a very hard time functioning when their environment changes, which happens a lot a

(Photo of a Paleo version of chicken and waffles from Mission Heirloom, one of our favorite restaurants in Berkeley, CA.) Chronic illness is one of the main reasons many people have turned to a Paleo diet and lifestyle. The Paleo diet has been effective in treating everything from eczema to multiple sclerosis and, due to such great results, people who live with mental illness are now also using it as part of their treatment plan. Mental illness affects about 61.5% of American