Listen "IME 10 Steps to Self-Trust Eating"
Episode Synopsis
Are you ready to have self-trust when it comes to eating? What if you could create a healthy relationship with food? What if you could accept yourself no matter what and also accept that you are worthy of your healthy life? You will be successful when your why will be to build self-trust by committing to loving yourself no matter what. That’s it. I bet you trust yourself in many areas of your life, but when it comes to food and eating it’s a different story. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is all of the marketing, of unhealthy foods, but also the myth that diets work even though we know they don’t. Our society tells us the opposite everyday. Food companies, health systems, all of the diet companies, supplements, are all telling you not to trust yourself to listen to your mind and body and to trust yourself. Building self-trust eating starts with building your relationship with yourself. Step 1: Reject the diet mentality – As of 2018, the weight loss market is worth an estimated $70 billion. This staggering figure is staffed by the 45 million people that take up at least one new diet per year. When everything is taken into account the average adult will try about 126 different diets in their lifetime. Step 2: Recognize your hunger. Often we aren’t used to listening to our body’s hunger cues. Our hunger and appetite are fueled by many different physiologic processes. When we eat when we aren’t hungry, overeat past fullness, or don’t honor our hunger when we are, we are not connecting our minds and bodies. Instead of self-trust, we are creating distrust and putting the power outside of ourselves. How tuned in to your physical hunger do you think you are? Step 3: Make peace with food – One thing I’ve noticed a lot, especially with teens I’ve worked with is the thought of making changes with food creates a lot of anxiety. That’s most likely because food has been the go to comfort in our lives and many of you have gone through and are still going through some really hard times. Creating a healthy relationship with food isn’t restrictive and when you own your choice to eat foods that serve your body, you will be on your way. Step 4: Challenge the food police. Food is food, but not all calories are created equal. While it doesn’t serve us to think of foods as good or bad foods, not all calories are created equal. Sugary and ultra-processed foods often mess with our hunger and appetite cues. So, while it’s not helpful at all to think of good or bad foods, it may be helpful to think of honoring yourself and building self-trust by eating foods that serve and fuel your body. Step 5: Feel your fullness. When you’ve started to build self-trust with your eating, you will notice that you get full faster than before. It does get uncomfortable to eat past fullness. Don’t beat yourself up. You and your body and mind are learning to work together. There will be times you will keep overeating past fullness. We are always practicing and learning, but I can definitely assure you it gets easier. Step 6: Discover the satisfaction factor. Eating real food creates a sense of satiety, also known as fullness. Foods that are healthy fats like cheese, nuts, avocado, especially create a sense of satisfaction and satiety, so you want to make sure you have healthy fats and some protein with each meal and snacks. Step 7: Practice coping with your feelings without using food. Recognize when you have an urge or craving is most likely because you are having a feeling or emotion that you sense is negative and your brain is telling you to eat the sugary food to get the dopamine feel-good zing instead of feeling your "negative" emotion. Just recognize when an urge comes up and create a pause. That's it and will get you far. Step 8: Respect your body. Weight is not health. There’s the body positivity movement. There’s the body neutrality movement. There’s the health at every size movement. In what ways does your body serve you? In what ways do you serve your body? How are you honoring your body? Step 9: Exercise and feel the difference. What are your thoughts and feelings when you think of exercise or achieving a fitness goal? Your body was made to move. Another way to respect your body and create a positive body image is to move your body. All movement counts. Step 10: Honor your health by thinking of your health holistically and practice self-compassion when things don’t go like you want. Fueling our bodies with food is one aspect of our health. Great job! Practice self-compassion as you are making changes and learning to build self-trust eating habits.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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