Get To Know Me
How Do You Nourish Your Body and Soul?
Do You Feel At Home In Your Body?
Eating food, connecting with our senses, and caring for our bodies are meant to be pleasurable and life-giving activities. Often things go awry and we find ourselves eating, moving, and generally operating in ways that do not sustain us or make us feel our best. The world that we live in and events in our lives can leave us disconnected from our bodies and how to best take care of them. When we don’t care for ourselves first, it is nearly impossible to care for others well and live out our purpose on the planet.
Beliefs and Values
Nourish
We fuel our bodies with food, movement, and other pursuits to allow them to support us in doing the things we love.
Heal
We heal our relationship with food, body, and self.
Embody
We overcome past trauma and support our nervous system by becoming more embodied—caring for our mind, body, and spirit.
Wholistic
We take a whole-self approach to wellness by uncovering and working through issues related to care, self-esteem, and relationships.
My Story:
Welcome! I am Heidi Schauster, MS, RD, LDN, CEDS-S, SEP of Nourishing Words Nutrition Therapy and Somatic Experiencing™ in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. I am a nutrition and body image therapist with nearly 30 years of experience in the field of disordered eating. I’m an author, educator, clinical supervisor/consultant, proud mama, and embodiment warrior. My first book, Nourish, is an award-winning supportive guide for healing one’s relationships with food, body, and self. My new book, Nurture, is a compassionate guide for parents about raising kids to love food, their bodies, and themselves. I also write the Nourishing Words newsletter on Substack.
My Background:
For the last thirty years, based in the Greater Boston area, I have worked as a nutrition and body image therapist in the field of disordered eating. I’m a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)™ and a certified eating disorders registered dietitian nutritionist (CEDS / CEDRD). These days, I split my time between clinical counseling and writing (books and articles) and providing supervision/consultation for other professionals in the eating disorders field. I’m particularly interested in the intersection between disordered eating, body shame, and trauma.
My training includes nutrition science (M.S. Tufts 1995), psychology, Somatic Experiencing (SE),™ Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based and insight-oriented meditation, and elements of yoga therapeutics, dance, and authentic/improvisational movement. In my work, I feel called to assist clients, readers, and professionals in improving their relationships with food and their bodies. There is so much conflicting information about how to eat and care for ourselves. I work with my clients to sort through it all and to use their own inner wisdom to develop a style of eating, moving, and self-care that works for their unique bodies and lifestyles. We also work on body connection and nervous system regulation, particularly if dysregulation and stress affect their relationship with food or their bodies.
I have also recovered from bulimia, food restriction, and binge eating, which I struggled with in my late teens and early twenties. I was a dancer who was confused about how to feed my active, developing body. With love and some help from others, I worked hard on my recovery, eventually studying nutrition in college because I wanted to help others to be less in the dark about how to feed themselves and (at first) to do the last bit of healing of my own relationship with food.
Life Now:
Now that I am in my 50s and have been eating-disorder-free for decades, I love being in my body and in my life. I am passionate about helping others get past obsessions with food, self-criticism, and negative body image — no matter their size — though I own my thin privilege and the advantages this body type affords me. I enjoy eating, cooking, gardening, and being a nutrition therapist, but even for a born “foodie,” eating is still only one way I nourish myself. Spending time in the natural world is one of the ways I refuel and resource myself. I aim to help my clients find ways to nourish and resource body, mind, and spirit.
I live in the Greater Boston area with my partner and two outrageous young women when they aren’t in college. I am grateful every day for my family, dear friends, and professional community, without whom I couldn’t do this work.
Many clients sometimes ask what my personal eating style is like. I don't follow any particular "way" of eating. I strive to listen to my body and eat according to my own internal wisdom and with flexibility. I find that my eating naturally shifts seasonally and during changes in my body and lifestyle, and I strive to be present and listen. In my book Nourish, I write about how to work towards this way of eating. I most enjoy food that is lovingly and consciously prepared, followed by a dishwashing dance party.
Thank you for being here!
Certifications & Credentials
LDN: Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist
RD: Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
SEP: Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
CEDS-S: Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Supervisor
Self-Care and Embodiment Coach
Master of Science Degree, Tufts University, Boston
