Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Mathis.
Andrea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As long as I can remember, I have always loved food! I love the way it looks, it smells, and most of all, how it tastes! In the past, food and I have often had a love/hate relationship. Before becoming a Registered Dietitian, I tried every diet imaginable! I tried the Cabbage Soup diet, the Egg Diet (yes, there is such thing as an egg diet!), and many more. Each one of those diets would give me the same results; quick weight loss, followed by quick weight gain. I had zero knowledge about how to feed my body a healthful diet and I didn’t know how to appreciate and love my body.
That sparked my interest towards becoming a Registered Dietitian. I wanted to approach nutrition through a realistic approach and teach others that achieving optimal health and enjoying food is possible! Even though I was equipped with this nutritional knowledge, I often struggled with maintaining a healthy lifestyle (yes, some dietitians struggle with making healthy food choices too! *Gasp!) Tired of this vicious cycle, I decided to make some major lifestyle changes! I wanted to become a better me for my family and for myself! Along my journey to become a better me, I began developing some very tasty recipes that were too good NOT to share! There are a few indulgent recipes in the mix, but that’s okay as long as we eat them in moderation! I hope to inspire someone along the way and show that not all Registered Dietitians are obsessive calorie-counting, kale-obsessed individuals! Some of us are fun, curvaceous, and a little quirky…like me!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I absolutely LOVE being a Registered Dietitian, but I have to be completely honest and tell you that my journey towards becoming a Registered Dietitian was not easy! When I finally started practicing in my field, a harsh slap of reality hit me in the face and I realized that there were no dietitians that looked like me…I was a size 16, Black dietitian that stuck out like a sore thumb!
Every meeting that I went to, most of the dietitians looked the same…White, thin, and had a very no-nonsense approach about nutrition…which was the complete opposite of me! Sure, I knew that there was a plethora of dietitians with a wide variety of nutritional approaches, but where were they?? At that moment, I felt alone. I also felt intimidated because I felt that I didn’t fit the “typical look” of a dietitian.
This was totally unexpected and made me doubt myself about continuing to be a dietitian. It made me doubt my ability to do my job and made me question my skills as a dietitian. It also made me shy away from trying to make a name for myself in my community and make my story known to possibly help someone else like me. I know, I know…I shouldn’t have let the opinions of others affect me, but it did.
It took a lot of prayer, but things finally changed a few years ago when I learned to accept myself for who I was. I learned to accept my curves, my nasally voice…and I learned to be confident in myself and my ability to be a darn good dietitian! I learned to be my fabulous self and wear every color of the rainbow and to stop hiding in black clothing! I learned to LOVE ME and accept the body that God gave me!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and owner of the healthy food blogs Beautiful Eats & Things and Little Eats & Things. I am also the author of The Complete Book of Smoothies: 115 Healthy Recipes to Nourish, Heal, and Energize.
In addition to posting recipes and other fun content to my blogs, I also work with brands such as Naturemade and the Blueberry Council to create recipes and social media content featuring their products. I also contribute to and have been featured in publications such as EatingWell, Shape, Well + Good, Huff Post, MSN, and Good Morning America.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Not sure that I would call it luck, but I definitely have been blessed to receive some amazing business opportunities just for being my authentic self.
Contact Info:
- Email: andrea@beautifuleatsandthings.com
- Website: Beautiful Eats & Things – https://www.beautifuleatsandthings.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beautifuleatsandthings/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautifuleatsandthings/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeautifulEandT
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@beautifuleatsandthings/
- My book: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Smoothies-Healthy-Energize/dp/1648766994/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
