Hello and welcome! We are so excited to have you here. We are Jasmine Hormati, MS, RD, CIEC and Autumn Rauchwerk, MS, RYT, and together we are mendinground nutrition & yoga. We are a NYC-based private practice offering accessible, affordable nutrition counseling and yoga classes for people who want to heal their relationships with food and their bodies. We practice from an Intuitive Eating, Health at Every Size® approach, meaning that we help people listen to their bodies and learn/relearn to trust themselves around food and movement. We also believe that all bodies (of all shapes and sizes) are equally worthy of respect and that we can’t make assumptions about someone’s health just based on their body size.
How mendinground started
We met each other at orientation in graduate school and quickly realized how similar and how different we were: Jasmine the extroverted introvert who can’t touch her toes and Autumn the extroverted extrovert who can do handstands. We became friends fast (some comparing us to an old, loving, flirtatious married couple) bonding over a love of food, dancing, cooking, and dating in NYC. In time, we grew to find many beautiful ways to support each other academically and socially.
Jasmine was new to the city and quickly became part of Autumn’s friend group, while she patiently taught Autumn nutritional biochemistry. She also helped Autumn get more organized, less perfectionistic, and have a better work-life balance. Autumn introduced Jasmine to yoga and rock climbing and also helped her be more spontaneous and adventurous.
Jasmine loves the nitty gritty details – building the website, learning about financial and legal stuff, and Autumn is more of a big picture gal – writing as much as possible, public speaking, and teaching yoga classes. We balance each other really well!
We came up with the initial skeleton of mendinground on a snow day in 2018, when we realized how well we complemented each other and the need for a shift in the nutrition world. We had both initially come into the field believing that there was a specific way everyone should eat – lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, and minimal sweets and processed foods. We couldn’t get over how it seemed that most people knew that stuff already, yet no one was getting any healthier. In fact, the more we all seemed to know about nutrition, the more guilt and shame around food people seemed to develop, the more confused people became, the more diets they felt obligated to try, and the more “unhealthy” our world seemed to get.
It was then that we learned that restriction is actually at the root of our struggles. When new diets or “lifestyle” changes come out, people try to follow them and then have that “out of control” feeling around the foods they’re attempting to restrict/eliminate. Diets seem to work for a short while, and then they fail at least 95% of the time. This usually leads the dieter feeling shame and guilt for “failing” and not having “enough willpower.” In reality, our bodies have natural weight ranges they fight to stay within, and those weight ranges are different for every person. It’s their body fighting to survive that causes the person to break the diet. It’s the diet that fails, not the person. And this is ultimately a good thing. Working with us will help you uncover why.
Over the past few years, through learning from incredible leaders in the world of weight inclusive nutrition and from the founders of Intuitive Eating themselves, we’ve changed our tunes. We now realize how beneficial it can be for people to stop restricting food types and quantities and to give themselves unconditional permission to eat.
By going through this journey ourselves and understanding the research on it, we learned that giving regular access to all foods (to whatever degree works and is accessible for the individual) is the secret to eating in a way that is not stressful and is in touch with our bodies’ cues. It’s the secret to better long-term mental and physical health.
Once foods are no longer “off limits” and we know we can have them again whenever we choose, they lose their power. When we’re eating in alignment with our hunger cues, rather than based on specific times or quantities that are “best,” we no longer regularly get to a place of primal hunger and no longer feel out of control around food. Our bodies truly know what and how much to eat – even when it comes to ice cream or salt & vinegar chips! This doesn’t mean that it’s an easy or linear journey. This doesn’t mean it happens quickly. But it does mean that freedom with food and movement is possible. It does mean that learning how to trust our bodies is the key to so much that life has to offer.
So, what is mendinground doing right now?
Good question! We are building a space for healing and growth, a community of people who are supporting each other through transformation. We are there to help you mend your relationship to food, your body, and movement. Mendinground a dream that two friends had in 2018 where they hoped to cultivate a safe place to help others. And now they are living that dream.
Right now, our services are mostly virtual, meaning we see clients for nutrition counseling over Zoom, have some pre-recorded yoga classes, as well as in-person yoga classes. We have the dream of building community together in a physical gathering space one day, a space rooted in cultivating self-trust and interconnectedness. For now, we’re here to help and happy to chat more about what that might look like for you!
Interested in seeing how you can ditch diet culture?
Get one-on-one support through our virtual nutrition coaching. Schedule a free Connection Call with us to see if we’re the right fit for you!
For more in-depth reading, check out the original Intuitive Eating book by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch or Unapologetic Eating by Alissa Rumsey.