The traditional guidance to raise a healthy family drives us all to emotionally eat.
It is overwhelming to consider all the input, rules and guidance and instead of making our families healthier and more connected, we just wind up FIGHTING over habits. We're going to cut through it and dive right into:
- The stress parents experience in raising a healthy modern family
- The 3 overlooked steps to completely change your family's health with calm, confidence and a PLAN
- How to create healthy relationships with food, self and - most importantly - each other
- Best of all, it's weight-inclusive meaning: NO DIETS!
- Actionable steps you will be invited to take RIGHT AWAY
Hi, I'm Wendy: I'm a little different
I’m a board-certified pediatrician, lifestyle physician, emotional health educator—and a recovering fixer.
For 20 years, I practiced traditional medicine in military and civilian settings. I followed the guidelines. I tracked the growth charts. I offered the same advice parents have heard for decades: eat better, move more, and everything will fall into place.
Except it didn’t.
I started to notice a pattern: families were stressed, overwhelmed, and scared—especially when it came to their children’s weight. Kids were struggling with emotional eating, anxiety, and body image. And the more we focused on control (portions, numbers, outcomes), the more disconnected everyone became—from their bodies, from each other, and from themselves.
So I stopped following the script.
Through my own continued training—as a trauma-informed professional, emotional health educator, and certified well-being specialist—I began asking different questions:
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What if “health” isn’t about weight at all?
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What if the root of so many family health concerns is emotional disconnection?
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What if the answer isn’t control, but connection?
That’s where Family in Focus® was born.
Family in Focus® is the space I created for parents who want a new way forward—where emotional health is at the center of family health. Where kids are not pathologized or pressured, and parents don’t have to feel like they’re failing if their child grows outside the “normal” curve.
We talk about emotional eating—but we start with the emotions.
We build healthy habits—but we ditch the shame.
We raise healthy families—but we don’t follow the food rules that broke us.
This is weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, connection-based, eating disorder–preventive family health.
And yes, I bring humor with me. Improv and stand-up comedy have taught me how to meet people where they are—with curiosity, creativity, and the occasional mic drop. Because nothing changes if we’re too scared to talk about it—and I believe healing can be both brave and lighthearted.
If you're a parent, a physician, or a person who knows the system isn't working, let's talk. I’m building a community of families, professionals, and institutions ready to center emotional health and connection—because that’s what creates real, sustainable well-being.
Let’s raise healthy families, from the inside out.
