Out with the old, in with the new.

Welcome to Btwn Meals

Jan 03, 2025

HAPPY 2025!! Wow, hello, here we go friends!!

For many, a new year comes with a new desire to lose weight. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve got a lot of thoughts on this (keep reading), but first I want to re-introduce you to this newsletter which got a little face lift over the holiday break:

When I started this Substack in the later days of 2023, it didn’t even dawn on me to give it a catchy name, much less a logo (!), but as this community has grown and I’ve frankly come to understand this platform better, I’ve decide it to give this space it’s own identity and a little more purpose—welcome to Btwn Meals.

Btwn Meals is first and foremost here to provide you with practical nutrition info along with easy and exciting recipes to nourish yourself and your family. But it also understands that you have a life between meals—a real life that is busy, joy-filled, creative, and even a little chaotic. A life—like mine.

If you’re new here or forgot why you subscribed to this newsletter, hi, I’m Mia. As a Los Angeles-based Board-Certified Nutritionist, classically trained chef, and the author of two books, The Well Journal and Foodwise, I love and know food. I firmly believe that one of the best things you can do for your health is eat more home-cooked meals. But, as a mother of two who runs a business I also know how hard it can be to get dinner on the table—so I’m on a mission to make it easier and more enjoyable. Btwn Meals is here to take the confusion, fear, and restriction out of nutrition while also reminding us that the real reason to eat feel-good food is to feel good!

My goal with Btwn Meals was to create a Substack that’s centered around community and practical, science-based nutrition—and honestly, I feel like we’re really building that together. All of this is to say: whether you’re new or have been here since day one, I’m so happy that you’ve found your way here!

Happy New Year!! Now what?

Is 2025 the year we stop trying to “lose weight?”

Weight loss and dietary changes always seem to rank right at the top of popular New Years resolutions, so let’s talk about it. I recently came across an interesting report from Hims & Hers on Americans attitudes toward their weight. Here are some stats that stood out to me:

85% of Americans believe at least one major aspect of their life would improve if they lost weight
70% would rather lose 10 pounds than gain 100 friends
54% say their mood fluctuates with the number on their scale

Januarys past have been filled with restrictive crash diets, juice cleanses, and more in the name of weight loss. We then got so sick of dieting that the pendulum swung in the completely opposite direction: eat whatever the heck you feel like eating whenever the heck you feel like eating it. Turns out, that didn’t feel great either.

After a decade of nutrition coaching, I’ve learned that people get the best results when they can weave nutrition into their lives in a way that feels effortless, meaningful, and enjoyable. So, in the spirit of “out with the old, in the new” here’s what in and what’s out for your health in 2025:

OUT: Quick crash diets
IN: Longterm healthy diets
OUT: Focusing on the scale
IN: Focusing on body composition (fat loss, muscle gain, increased bone density)

We are in the midst of an exciting nutrition shift from a focus on weight loss to optimizing body composition. To me, this evolution makes perfect sense. Many of you who don’t do this for a living are getting more and more health savvy and realizing that the number on the scale only tells you one part of the equation: the sum. We want to be healthy and vibrant today and set ourselves up well for the future, and that requires strong muscles and bones. So, we’re doing things differently: we’re eating more protein, wearing weighted vests on our walks, putting creatine in our water bottles, and picking up heavier dumbbells at the gym.

I’ve spoken ad nauseam about the importance of muscle health, and I genuinely love seeing this culture shift because:

It’s healthier—both for current and long term health.
It’s more about nourishment than restriction.

All those diets of Januarys past probably included a good deal of muscle loss as the number on the scale went down. And the worst part of that is that as that number almost inevitably creeped up again it was probably mainly fat, not muscle—meaning, the end result of the diet likely resulted in more fat and less muscle even if you settled back at the same weight.

A focus on body composition lets us get more precise. If the goal is to be healthy and feel good longterm, we want to build strong muscles and bones while losing fat, not just lose weight. This will also help if you want your clothes to fit better or feel more confident in a bathing suit—I get it, that matters too.

And guess what? Literally anyone looking to improve their health will benefit from this. Maybe you don’t want to lose weight but want to work on your energy and mental health. Building healthy muscle mass will help with that. Maybe you are starting a weight loss drug and want to preserve muscle mass as you lose weight. Nutrition and exercise will help with that. Maybe you just had a baby and want to get your body back while keeping your milk supply up, or are in the throws of perimenopause and feel like your body is changing. Yes, that too. Literally all of it.

Body composition is easy to measure too—get a DEXA scan (if you’re on the westside of LA, go see my friend Jeff at BOD and use the code BOD50 for a discount). This will give you pretty accurate measurements of your lean body mass (muscle, bones, organs, water) versus fat mass (including visceral fat—that’s the dangerous kind that surrounds your organs). If you’re starting a new health and wellness journey this is a great way to track fat loss and muscle gain—something even the most sophisticated bathroom scale could never do as accurately. All you need to do is lay down for 6 minutes. You can do that!

While we can find a lot of debate and nuance online, the science is actually quite clear: Most of us will experience significant benefits from mastering the basics (nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, reducing toxin exposure) and being consistent—not perfect, but consistent. Once we have that down we can start to optimize.

Sure we each have our own unique physiologies, but the main differentiating factor is not in what we do but how we do it. Your preferences, goals, schedules and other factors impact your food and lifestyle choices more than anything else—it’s why so many people have said to me: I know what to do I’m just not doing it. You have to figure out how to make it work for you.

So, I’m here to help you cut through the noise and gain clarity on the science, while finding practical and enjoyable ways to incorporate these principles into your busy, dynamic, wonderful life. Because when you like it, you’ll do it.

There are already a ton of resources already on this Substack for you to reference and return to (read about protein, fiber, timing of meals, breakfast options, and more) and you can expect us to build upon this massively this year. Plus, we have an active chat going where I will answer any questions you throw out there.

If this resonates and you want to take it to the next level, here are a few additional ways you to empower your nutrition this year:

Beyond the Plate: The Program—A group nutrition coaching program designed to empower you with lifelong habits for sustainable wellness and tangible results. We have an epic group of women signed up and few more spots available if you want to join us! We’re starting on January 15th.
Work with me 1:1—I have a limited number of 1:1 spots available to go deeper into your nutrition journey, complete with personalized meal plans, hormone and micronutrient testing, and a direct line to moi for questions, accountability, and more.
Sunday Meal Prep—Five dinner recipes and a shopping list every week! Cook with us. You won’t regret it. Upgrade your subscription for access.

Got questions? Please feel free to drop them in the comments. I’m still out of town, but will be answering all of them this weekend from the ever cold but ever beautiful English countryside.

Okay, that’s all. I’ll see you Sunday for our first meal prep of the year featuring a Greek soup that will warm your winter tooshies and transport you to the Med, which is where we’d all like to be right now—eating protein and walking along the beach with our weighted vests.

Mia