Heidi Schauster: Nourishing Yourself with Words

Did you think of yourself as a creative kid?

Looking back, I guess I was a creative kid, though I don't know if I ever would have characterized myself this way. I was constantly asking questions, often much to my mother's dismay. I was expressive and had a lot to say, so Mom bought me a small diary at age four. I couldn't write yet, but I could dictate to her daily before bed. Then, over the next year, I started writing in the book myself. I've been journaling or writing almost daily since. In elementary and middle school, I was a prolific writer of poetry. 

When I was in high school, an unfortunate encounter with a creepy English teacher who also highly criticized my writing turned my academic enthusiasm in another direction. I became more of a science geek. I studied nutrition and psychology in college, partly because the subjects interested me and partly because I was trying to do my own healing from a significant eating disorder. The lived experience and passion for this topic moved me toward a career focused on helping others heal from disordered eating and body image concerns. 

How did motherhood change your creative practice?

I gave birth to twin daughters in 2005, right at the time I was feeling completely burned out in my work as an eating disorders specialist and registered dietitian. I took a long maternity leave of several years because taking care of twin babies and toddlers was exhausting; I couldn't imagine being a good clinician and healer when caring for my children was taking all I had. 

Because my brain needed engagement after a few years, I started taking health writing classes at Tufts University. I had my Master's in Nutrition from Tufts, and I was fortunate to be able to take three free graduate-level classes as an alum. My experience in those classes brought me back to my "writer" self. I started writing a column for the Massachusetts Mother of Twins newsletter in the wee hours after my babes finally got to sleep. This later expanded to blogging, which later became my first book, Nourish: How to Heal Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Self, published in 2018. 

When my daughters were little, they received most of my creative energy. We cooked, adventured, and chatted a lot. As they got older and pursued connections other than their mother, I started to write more. I have only written a handful of poems as a mother -- most of them when I was going through a divorce or a new relationship. I kept journaling constantly. 

What does creativity look like for you these days? How much time do you get to work on creative projects?

Writing was always the place where I found two crucial pieces of joy for me: 1) Spaciousness and 2) Truth. I found that the life I live when I'm writing (no matter what I'm writing), is more authentic and more connected to my purpose on the planet. This is the kind of example I want to be for my daughters. We all have our "things." Doing them with passion is something I aspire to inspire. 

My daughters Ava and Kyla have always inspired me. My second book, Nurture: How to Raise Kids Who Love Food, Their Bodies, and Themselves, was written for them and, in part, about the way I intentionally raised them to become young adults who eat freely and embody confidence in themselves and their capabilities. I didn't always get it “right,” and I wrote about my own parenting missteps along with challenges faced by clients and families that I worked with over the last several decades. 

Kyla and Ava are now college students, and I’m happy they still ask me to proofread their papers. ("The grammar of kids today...") I'm in the process of moving toward 50% of my work as writing and 50% as individual/group counseling and teaching. It’s a dream for me to be doing creative work through the written word as a significant part of my income and time. I still free-journal in the morning on most days, but most of my writing is purpose-driven. I’m working on book #3, marketing book #2, and thinking about the possibility of taking a poetry class so that I can flex that very weak creative muscle. 

Though I take great pride in my counseling work and love being a mother more than anything else, there is a soul-connecting fire that I feel when I'm writing. I also feel that fire when I'm near the ocean or dancing (another life-long passion). I'm actively working on stoking those fires now, and this is currently filling my “empty” nest. When my daughters aren’t focusing on college, Ava and Kyla are actively advising me about my next book, a guide for teens and twentysomethings about food and whole-self care. 

Creativity and motherhood have always been entwined for me, ever since my mom gave me my first blank diary. 

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Heidi Schauster, MS, RD, LDN, CEDS-S, SEP is a nutrition and body relationship therapist, Somatic Experiencing (SE)™ practitioner, clinical consultant, and Embodiment Warrior who speaks and writes about whole-self wellness. She has practiced in the Boston area for nearly 30 years and is the author of the award-winning books Nourish: How to Heal Your Relationship with Food, Body and Self and Nurture: How to Raise Kids Who Love Food, Their Bodies, and Themselves. Heidi is a lifelong dancer, plant lady, and proud mama of two outrageous young women, now 19. You can connect with Heidi on Substack at:

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PS—The fastest way to grow as a writer is to book a manuscript critique or a creative coaching session with an expert.

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