Hey there! Welcome back to another episode of Nourished to Bloom! Today’s episode is one you won’t want to miss. We’re diving deep into managing those inevitable cravings for sweets, sugar, and carbs—without the guilt and without cutting them out completely.
Have you ever felt like you just can’t shake that sweet tooth? Trust me, I get it. I discovered my own sugary cravings were a learned behavior influenced by years of diet culture and emotional eating. Thankfully, I found the solution with intuitive eating, which helped me make peace with food and enjoy sweets without guilt. And now, I'm excited to share some foundational skills to help you do the same, all while supporting your health and spiritual well-being.
In this episode, we’re covering five practical steps to manage your sweet cravings and enjoy them guilt-free, all through a Christ-centered approach. Let’s jump in!
Key Take Aways
- Adequate Nourishment and Hydration: Balanced meals with carbs, proteins, fats, fruits, and fiber help maintain energy and hydration, which naturally reduces sugar cravings.
- Attuned to Internal Cues: Learn to listen to your bodily hunger cues, and differentiate between emotional and physical cravings. Trust your body’s wisdom.
- Emotional Awareness and Coping: Recognize what triggers emotional eating and find healthier ways to cope with those emotions.
- Make Peace with Forbidden Foods: Give yourself unconditional permission to enjoy all foods, including the “forbidden” sweets. This reduces their psychological power over you.
- Reframe Beliefs about Food: Shift your perspective on food, viewing it without moral judgments. Focus on your spiritual and moral values detached from diet culture.
By practicing these steps, you’re not just managing cravings; you’re also nurturing your spiritual growth. Practicing temperance and self-control can free your energy to focus more on your spiritual well-being.
Embrace the fullness of life—including sweets—while honoring your health and spirituality. Let’s journey together in finding that joyful nourishment for the mind, body, and soul.
Next Steps:
Join the Faith-Led Food Freedom Coaching Program: A 10-Week Christ-Centered Journey to Heal Your Relationship with Food & Your Body. Learn more and register at https://www.karatrochta.com/foodfreedom
Book your FREE Wellness Audit Session: https://calendly.com/karatrochta/faithledwellness
Join the 7-Day Faith-Led Wellness Challenge: www.challenge.karatrochta.com
Nourished to Bloom Community: https://community.karatrochta.com/spaces/8590323/list
Nourished to Bloom Show Notes: https://nourishedtobloom.com
Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karatrochta/
Remember, beauty held is the seed, beauty shared is the flower. It’s your time to bloom! 🌸 Let’s get started!
Join The Nourished to Bloom Community: www.community.karatrochta.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/karatrochta
The Nourished to Bloom Podcast Show Notes: www.podcast.karatrochta.com/shownotes
00:00:02
If you feel like you have this out of control sweet tooth that
00:00:06
you just wish you could get under control, then listen
00:00:10
up because this episode of the Nourish to Bloom podcast is for
00:00:13
you. In this week's episode, I am diving into
00:00:17
how you can decrease your desire for sugar, carbs and
00:00:21
sweets without completely, completely cutting them
00:00:24
out. Many people and programs out there
00:00:28
claim that they can help you, quote, unquote, cure your sweet tooth,
00:00:32
but I think what many of us actually want is something a little
00:00:36
different. Really, I think what we desire is the ability to
00:00:39
enjoy sweets without feeling out of control
00:00:43
or guilty for enjoying them. Because, let's be
00:00:47
real, it's not realistic to completely eliminate sugar from your
00:00:50
life. As humans, we are naturally drawn to
00:00:54
pleasure, but rather than trying to squash our cravings
00:00:58
entirely, I want to help you build sustainable skills that
00:01:01
allows you to enjoy sweets while also supporting
00:01:05
your overall health and well being. So today I'm digging
00:01:09
into five practical skills that you can build for
00:01:12
being able to enjoy sweets guilt free. Plus, I'm going
00:01:16
to help you understand how this peacemaking process with food
00:01:20
can actually connect to your overall spiritual wellbeing. So
00:01:24
let's jump on in. Welcome to the Nourish to Bloom
00:01:27
podcast where your faith meets your health. I'm your host, Cara
00:01:31
Trachta, a registered dietitian and certified Catholic coach, and I'm here
00:01:35
to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your body, your spirit
00:01:38
and the nourishment that sustains them both. In a world
00:01:42
filled with noise and confusion about food, health and
00:01:46
body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from a Christ centered
00:01:50
perspective. Together, we'll untangle the deep roots of. Diet
00:01:53
culture and discover what it means to truly care for
00:01:57
ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind, body and
00:02:00
soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of intuitive eating
00:02:04
coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith. With every
00:02:08
episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights, inspiration
00:02:12
and practical tools to help you heal your relationship with
00:02:15
food and embrace the beauty of your body as a temple of the
00:02:19
Holy Spirit with confidence and courage that
00:02:23
can. Only be found in Christ. Join me as we journey together
00:02:26
towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one that honors the
00:02:30
wisdom of your body as God's creation, the teachings of our
00:02:34
faith, and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill.
00:02:37
You were made to bloom to come into
00:02:41
full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with your
00:02:45
life. So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul
00:02:49
and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're in the right place. And
00:02:52
I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Nourish to
00:02:56
Bloom, where every day is a sacred invitation to
00:02:59
thrive. Hey there. Welcome back to the
00:03:03
Nourish to Bloom podcast. I'm your host, Kara Tracta. And
00:03:07
this week we are wrapping up our series all about enjoying
00:03:10
sweets guilt free. So in our first
00:03:15
episode of the series, we talked all about the truth around sugar and
00:03:18
carbohydrates. And in the last episode we
00:03:22
talked about really why you
00:03:25
find yourself craving sugar. Like five common reasons why you may be
00:03:29
craving sugar. And so today we're really focusing on how
00:03:33
you can really build
00:03:36
skills in an impractical
00:03:40
skills to help you really be able to get your sweet tooth under
00:03:43
control. It's really not about eliminating these
00:03:47
foods from your diet completely, but it's really about being able
00:03:51
to make peace with them, be able to have them be a part of
00:03:54
your lifestyle and eating pattern, but them
00:03:58
not lead to out of control eating,
00:04:01
overindulgence, gluttony, and
00:04:04
guilt. And so it's really funny because for a
00:04:08
long time I really, really always thought of myself as having
00:04:12
a sweet tooth. And what's even funnier is it's often
00:04:15
presented as like this genetic thing. Like how many times do we hear people
00:04:19
say, oh, I got my sweet tooth from my grandmother
00:04:23
or this aunt or this uncle or whatever. And it
00:04:27
really wasn't until I used intuitive eating and the framework
00:04:30
of intuitive eating and really dove into the principle all
00:04:34
around making peace with food. And when I made peace with
00:04:38
sweets using intuitive eating, that I realized that
00:04:42
this craving for sweet is
00:04:45
really truly a learned behavior. Thanks in
00:04:49
part to one how diet culture portrays certain
00:04:53
foods. It really looks as foods as good or bad and categorizes
00:04:57
them that way. And then the second, you know, really is
00:05:01
that development of an emotional eating habit. And
00:05:04
so those things, those two kind of things are what really
00:05:08
like what made me fall into kind of
00:05:11
this behavior of having a sweet tooth. But intuitive
00:05:15
eating helped me realize that this was a learned behavior. And if it was a
00:05:18
learned behavior, I could learn a new behavior. I could
00:05:22
undo this trap around, you know,
00:05:25
a sweet tooth around sugar cravings and really build some
00:05:29
new skills. And I can proudly say that I don't
00:05:32
identify as having a sweet tooth anymore. And
00:05:36
you know, it's, it's a real, I feel like big accomplishment to be able
00:05:40
to have sweets and to have certain foods in my house and it not
00:05:44
lead to me sneaking around eating Them and
00:05:47
not, you know, overeating and indulging in them,
00:05:51
but just being able to really enjoy them
00:05:55
and then move on and not, you know, be this kind of
00:05:59
out of control thing or be this downward spiral for days on end
00:06:03
and then, you know, kind of overwhelming guilt. So I know
00:06:06
that if I could do that and I can, you know, trust myself
00:06:10
to have Halloween candy that stays in
00:06:14
my pantry for months and months and months, that I know that what I'm
00:06:17
about to share with you, these really five steps
00:06:21
that it can help you also really be
00:06:25
able to get your sweet tooth under control. So I
00:06:28
really hope that this brings you some hope and some really practical things for you
00:06:32
to consider that can help you get that sweet tooth under control. Because
00:06:36
I, I really know kind the fallout of that. And so I want this
00:06:40
for you. I really hope that you want this too. So let's get into
00:06:43
these really five steps or these five skills that can
00:06:47
help you get your sweet tooth under control. So the first
00:06:51
one is adequately, adequately nourishing and hydrating
00:06:55
your body throughout the day. One of the most
00:06:58
common reasons that people crave sweets is because they're
00:07:02
not eating enough throughout the day, or they're, they're
00:07:06
dehydrated, they're not getting enough fluids throughout the day. Diet
00:07:09
culture, because it likes to limit, you know, what we are
00:07:13
eating and the amount that we are eating and calories and food
00:07:17
groups and everything, what ends up happening is that we are chronically under
00:07:21
nourishing our body. And when your body is undernourished or
00:07:24
thirsty, it's going to look for quick energy sources, one
00:07:28
of those being sugar. But when you can consistently
00:07:32
eat balanced meals throughout the day and you're staying
00:07:35
adequately hydrated, you prevent that afternoon
00:07:39
energy slump. And it's for a lot of us
00:07:42
that energy slump in the afternoon, which is leading us to seek
00:07:46
out sugary snacks or quick carb
00:07:49
snacks. Because we're looking for this quick pick me up or we're turning to
00:07:53
coffee instead of actually turning to foods that can give us
00:07:57
that energy that we're needing. And when we're adequately
00:08:01
nourishing and hydrating our body throughout the day, that helps promote
00:08:04
balanced blood sugar levels. And what that means is that your energy
00:08:08
is staying steady throughout the day and that helps you
00:08:12
be less likely to crave those sugary
00:08:16
treats and snacks in the first place. And so a good rule of thumb
00:08:20
is to not go more than five waking hours without
00:08:23
eating. And as often as you can when you are
00:08:27
eating, create a balanced meal and snack that includes
00:08:30
carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, a fruit or a
00:08:34
vegetable, and some fiber. And all of these together.
00:08:37
This provides adequate, long lasting nutrition.
00:08:41
So you're less likely to seek out those quick pick me ups.
00:08:45
And when you are looking at creating these balanced meals and snacks,
00:08:49
it's really helping you make more informed nutritional
00:08:53
decisions and thus promoting your overall health and well
00:08:56
being with better nutrition.
00:09:00
Okay, the second step, or the second skill is being
00:09:03
attuned to your internal cues. So you need
00:09:07
to learn to practice being attuned with
00:09:11
your body's internal cues. Being able to listen to your
00:09:14
body's internal cues rather than relying on these
00:09:18
external signals like diet, diet rules or
00:09:22
food labels to dictate your, dictate your choices.
00:09:26
So learning to trust your body means tuning in to
00:09:29
understand why you're craving something specific in the first
00:09:33
place. Are you actually hungry? Are you feeling
00:09:37
those biological cues of hunger?
00:09:40
And if you're not, then what else is going on? If
00:09:44
you're feeling those hunger cues, then yeah, that means go
00:09:48
ahead, nourish your body, make those, those
00:09:51
food choices that you're really wanting to make. But if you're not
00:09:55
feeling those hunger cues and you're finding yourself crazy
00:09:58
craving, you know, the sugary thing or this, the sweet thing, then really
00:10:02
get curious about what's going on. Is it emotionally
00:10:05
driven? Is it, you know, mentally driven? Is it you just
00:10:09
really want to enjoy this sweet treat and like enjoy it
00:10:13
and move on and it's not going to perpetuate into
00:10:17
this, you know, overthinking and really
00:10:20
stealing your mental and emotional energy. But when
00:10:24
you're attuned with your body's internal cues, it just allows you to get
00:10:28
curious and allows you to make the best decision
00:10:32
for your, your body. Because your body knows what it's needing.
00:10:36
And so when you get curious about your cravings, you start
00:10:40
to see that your body has its own internal wisdom and you
00:10:43
start to trust this internal wisdom, this beautiful gift
00:10:47
from God. For example, a sugar craving might
00:10:50
indicate that you need rest, that you're
00:10:54
needing a certain nutrient that can be found
00:10:58
in, in these certain foods. Or maybe it's telling you that you're
00:11:01
seeking comfort instead of reacting to the
00:11:05
craving and just giving in. Pause and ask
00:11:09
yourself what your body is trying to tell you. And I want
00:11:12
you to remember that cravings aren't inherently bad. Like I am not sitting
00:11:16
here telling you that you should give in to every craving that you have, or
00:11:20
that it is okay for you to just say, like
00:11:24
Kara said, what the hell Just eat all the sugar that you want.
00:11:28
That is not what I am seeing here. I am just saying to
00:11:32
get curious that diet culture and food rules have made
00:11:36
all of these things look really bad and label them
00:11:39
bad. And then that, that we internalize that as we are
00:11:43
bad people for wanting or eating these things.
00:11:47
And I am trying to help you understand that there are really
00:11:51
practical ways for you to understand what it is that your body is telling
00:11:54
you and that you don't have to fall victim to these diet
00:11:58
culture and food rules over and over and over again.
00:12:02
So cravings aren't inherently bad because they are a way
00:12:05
that your body tells you that it's needing something,
00:12:09
but out of control cravings for, you
00:12:13
know, very certain foods that lead you to
00:12:16
overindulgence or binging are really likely the
00:12:20
result of an emotional craving or
00:12:23
backlash from a food or diet rule versus an
00:12:27
actual necessary physical craving that's been initiated
00:12:31
from your body. And when you are attuned with
00:12:35
its internal wisdom, when you are attuned with your body's internal
00:12:38
cues, you will start to be able to distinguish the difference
00:12:42
between the two. And you're not falling into that trap
00:12:45
of, you know, overindulgence and overeating.
00:12:49
You're being able to again, make informed choices.
00:12:53
Remember that God created your body with his internal
00:12:57
wisdom to know what, when, and how much of something that you
00:13:01
need, that you don't need to follow these external food
00:13:04
roles, but that internal wisdom is really what
00:13:08
can become your, your guidance for making informed
00:13:12
nutrition decisions. Okay, Number three,
00:13:15
learning to build emotional awareness and coping
00:13:19
skills. A huge part of craving
00:13:23
sweets comes down to emotional eating.
00:13:26
We often reach for food, especially sweets, to
00:13:30
cope with stress, boredom, or other emotions, right?
00:13:34
Think about the number of times that we tell, you know, our
00:13:37
girlfriends when we were younger in college and we had a broken heart, oh, well,
00:13:41
we'll just like, deal with the heartbreak and the
00:13:44
sadness with cookie dough and ice cream, right? Like, we
00:13:48
have learned to deal with our emotions by turning to
00:13:52
food, especially sweets, but when we can build
00:13:55
emotional awareness, it helps us to create a pause.
00:13:59
And then in that pause is when you can get curious about
00:14:03
why you are seeking that food out in that moment. That pause
00:14:07
allows you to turn to the Lord and ask for his guidance in this
00:14:10
moment, asking yourself, what do
00:14:14
I really need in this moment? What am I
00:14:17
feeling? What am I really seeking?
00:14:21
Because while food may provide a temporary reprieve, it's
00:14:25
not actually going to help you deal with the emotion.
00:14:28
There are other ways to build healthier coping
00:14:32
Skills to deal with our emotions when we can learn
00:14:36
to identify what our emotional needs are. And when we do this,
00:14:40
it decreases that likelihood of using food as a comfort or
00:14:43
distraction. And it also allows us to turn to
00:14:47
the Lord in these moments and allow him to infuse us with the grace and
00:14:51
the mercy and the compassion that we need to deal
00:14:55
with whatever suffering or struggle is going on in that
00:14:59
moment. Okay, number four, learning to make
00:15:02
peace with these quote unquote forbidden foods.
00:15:07
One of the most powerful shifts you can make is in
00:15:11
giving yourself unconditional permission to eat
00:15:15
all foods, including sweets. Y'all. This was
00:15:19
the game changer in my life. When certain
00:15:22
foods are labeled quote, unquote forbidden or quote unquote bad,
00:15:26
they hold extra energy in your mind and it
00:15:30
leads to this increased desire for them. But by allowing
00:15:34
yourself to enjoy sweets when you genuinely want
00:15:37
them, that novelty, that desire,
00:15:41
that specialness that we've given these foods in our mind
00:15:44
naturally decreases over time. And this
00:15:48
doesn't mean that you'll always want sweets, but the urgency to
00:15:52
eat them all in one sitting or get them while you can, because
00:15:56
you don't know when you'll allow yourself to have them again, it fades away.
00:16:00
And this trust building process helps you grow in peace around these
00:16:03
foods so you're not falling into these out of
00:16:07
control cravings. Okay, number five,
00:16:11
reframing your beliefs about food, weight and
00:16:14
body. Lastly, like it is so essential
00:16:18
to reframe your beliefs about food,
00:16:21
particularly around foods like sugar and carbohydrates that are
00:16:25
often demonized by diet culture. Many of us have
00:16:28
this internalized idea that eating sugar makes us bad, or that
00:16:32
indulging in sweets means we're failing in some way.
00:16:36
Instead of seeing food through this moralistic lens,
00:16:40
that what we eat determines our
00:16:44
moral fiber, our moral character, we need to hold these
00:16:48
beliefs up to God's truth that sugar is not
00:16:51
inherently sinful, that it is a source of
00:16:55
energy and it's a source of enjoyment. And when we
00:16:58
reframe our mindset in this way, it allows us to free up mental
00:17:02
and emotional space so you can really focus on things that
00:17:05
matter, like pursuing God's will for your life. It's
00:17:09
also allowing you to align your life and
00:17:13
your moral character and fiber with what
00:17:17
God judges our moral
00:17:20
fiber and character around. Right when we
00:17:24
are so focused on this good versus bad
00:17:28
around food, it's kind of like distracting and putting
00:17:31
a blanket and
00:17:35
taking our focus off a way off of, you know, where we
00:17:39
truly need to grow in virtue and what
00:17:42
sins we need to really work on not being
00:17:46
tempted into falling in. But too often we've
00:17:50
let something like food, which really again, doesn't have any
00:17:54
sort of moralistic
00:17:58
value on our life, really be
00:18:01
where we concentrate on, on, you know, claiming if we're
00:18:05
good versus bad. Now there is, you know, gluttony that can
00:18:08
come with this overindulgence in food. But when
00:18:12
we can reframe these thoughts and we, you know, have these tools to make peace
00:18:16
with and we're naturally decreasing that desire and
00:18:20
we're, you know, not falling into these out of control cravings, that
00:18:24
glut, that sin of gluttony starts to diminish and we
00:18:27
can, you know, view and see like when we are falling into
00:18:31
that temptation. But some of the common thoughts that pop
00:18:34
around sweets are things that sound like, I shouldn't eat
00:18:38
this or I'm bad for eating sugar. And these
00:18:42
thoughts often lead to feelings of guilt, shame or judgment.
00:18:46
But after practicing permission, uncon additional permission
00:18:49
to eat all foods and mindfulness while you're eating, you
00:18:53
can reframe these thoughts into things like foods containing sugar
00:18:57
can be eaten for energy, pleasure and comfort. And
00:19:01
I have the freedom to choose. And that's really what it's
00:19:05
about. You have the freedom to choose based off of your
00:19:08
own internal wisdom and your own body cues, really
00:19:12
knowing how foods and what foods feel like in your body,
00:19:16
which foods make your body feel good, good, which foods don't make your body
00:19:19
feel good. And you know, that unconditional
00:19:23
permission to, to eat and make the best
00:19:26
choices for your, your body based off of those
00:19:29
preferences, that's really giving you this
00:19:33
control back into
00:19:37
your hands, your control around making food decisions instead of looking
00:19:40
to the outside and trying to follow these external
00:19:44
food roles. So instead of guilt, you can experience
00:19:48
compassion and empowerment and peace. Because food is
00:19:52
no longer going to hold the power to control you because
00:19:55
you've allowed yourself to have it without these
00:19:59
restrictions. And so when you put these skills together, it leads to
00:20:03
what I like to call the peace paradox. And here's really what
00:20:07
the paradox is, is that when you give yourself permission to eat
00:20:10
sweet, you build trust with yourself, which is
00:20:14
very different and very contrasting to what diet culture tells us is
00:20:18
that we are good or when
00:20:22
we do not allow ourselves to eat these, or you are more in
00:20:25
control when you don't have these. But we see that that often
00:20:29
leads us to fall into temptation and these overindulgence. So that
00:20:33
paradox, this peace paradox, is that when you give yourself permission to
00:20:36
eat sweets, you Build trust with yourself, and that trust
00:20:40
leads to freedom and peace around food. You'll no
00:20:44
longer find that when you true, or you'll find that when you
00:20:47
truly satisfy your cravings, you no longer feel the
00:20:51
need to eat the whole thing or to get as much as you can while
00:20:55
you can. And this concept, this peace paradox,
00:20:59
really comes from the concept of habituation. And
00:21:02
habituation means that the more exposure we have to a
00:21:06
food, the less powerful and novel it feels.
00:21:10
And so why, when we have leftovers multiple nights in
00:21:14
a row, by the time we get to the last night, we're like, man, this
00:21:17
just doesn't even sound good. I don't want this. Whereas, like, the first time we
00:21:21
had it, we were, oh, that sounded good. You know, that was pleasurable. And
00:21:25
so this idea of habituation is really powerful
00:21:28
in helping you learn how to make peace with
00:21:33
forbidden foods like sweets. So I want to give
00:21:36
you kind of this, like this blueprint or this step by
00:21:40
step kind of guide to how you can actually
00:21:44
enjoy sweets guilt free, right? So, like, let's say you
00:21:47
have decided that you want to try this
00:21:51
peacemaking process or you're going to, you know, we have
00:21:55
Halloween coming up and we have the holidays coming up. And like, here,
00:21:59
Sorry, I'm going to go off on a little tangent here because I've, like, struggled
00:22:03
with this internally. In the podcasting
00:22:06
world, there are, you know, quote unquote, podcast
00:22:10
experts that tell you, like, everything you put out needs to be evergreen and you
00:22:14
shouldn't have it coincide with any particular holiday or season
00:22:18
or, you know, yada, yada, yada. And so, like, I've been sitting here and I'm
00:22:21
like, well, the whole reason I really want to put this series out around
00:22:24
sugar and making peace with food and being able to enjoy sweets guilt
00:22:28
free is because we're so close to Halloween and then the
00:22:31
holidays. And like, these are really practical things that I know
00:22:35
can change people's lives, especially when we are
00:22:38
bombarded with sweets around Halloween and in the
00:22:42
holidays. And so I just, I've been having this internal struggle as to whether
00:22:46
or not I should mention Halloween or the holidays. So, guys, I'm just going to
00:22:50
go for it. I'm going to break the podcasting rules and
00:22:53
just really help you understand that. What I'm going to
00:22:57
share with you are weight, are things that you can do when
00:23:01
you sit down to enjoy sweets around Halloween are the
00:23:05
holidays. And so first is check in with yourself
00:23:09
before indulging, before, you know,
00:23:12
enjoying this sweet, ask yourself, you know, have
00:23:16
I Been restricting this food before. And if yes,
00:23:20
like get curious, why are you restricting this food? Is there a rule that
00:23:23
you have around this? And then also asking yourself like, do
00:23:27
I actually really want this? And this helps you
00:23:31
make a neutral observation without judgment. It helps you understand like where you are
00:23:35
in this process. Like, are you enjoying this because it's something you genuinely
00:23:39
want or are you, you know, and been restricting this? And so
00:23:43
it's, you're kind of holding this into higher
00:23:46
regard. So just get curious, being able to make observations
00:23:50
without passing judgment. Okay. And number two, choose
00:23:54
your favorite sweet. Allow yourself to have the thing
00:23:57
you're genuinely craving, not something else to fill the
00:24:01
void. So it's like if you really want ice cream, but
00:24:05
your favorite ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough, but you're like, oh, I'm gonna
00:24:08
buy the vanilla. Well, that's not
00:24:11
actually like going to help satisfy that
00:24:15
craving because you're trying to substitute it with something maybe you don't think is
00:24:19
as bad or something that you feel like maybe you could have more control
00:24:22
around. But the mot motivation behind it is to try to avoid this, to
00:24:26
not and versus trying to make peace with it and
00:24:29
allow yourself to, you know, become,
00:24:33
to become habituated to this to decrease
00:24:36
that desire. And so like, for me, I realized like with
00:24:40
Halloween candy that what I really enjoy
00:24:43
is Twix bars. Everything else just doesn't satisfy,
00:24:47
it's just there. And when I learned that, hey, what I really enjoy is
00:24:51
twixt, it naturally meant that the amount of
00:24:55
candy I was going to eat significantly decreased
00:24:58
because I was no longer going to eat it just because it was there or
00:25:02
just because it was, you know,
00:25:06
available. It was, if I'm going to eat a piece of candy,
00:25:09
it's going to be something that I, I genuinely enjoy eating
00:25:13
and that will satisfy kind of that craving. Whereas
00:25:17
if I was going to just eat candy because it was available, trying to satisfy
00:25:21
a craving, I was never actually going to reach that point of satisf affection. Like,
00:25:24
I hope that makes sense. So choose what it is that you really,
00:25:28
really want. And then number three, slow down and savor. Sit
00:25:32
down, take a bite, chew it
00:25:35
completely and enjoy the full experience. Enjoy the flavor.
00:25:39
Pick out the different flavors, the different textures that come with this.
00:25:43
And this mindfulness helps enhances your satisfaction
00:25:47
and helps you be satisfied with
00:25:50
less. Okay, so how does this impact our
00:25:54
spiritual well being? So all of this ties back to your spiritual
00:25:58
life because it's helping you learn to practice
00:26:01
temperance, discipline and self control. All virtues
00:26:05
and fruits of the spirit. You're learning and
00:26:09
practicing, moving away from the vices of
00:26:12
gluttony and temptation. And now you're
00:26:16
aligning your choices with God's design for the human body.
00:26:20
And that's bringing you into harmony with your internal wisdom
00:26:24
instead of relying on the external direction from diet
00:26:27
culture. And with this less mental energy spent
00:26:31
worrying about food, you can free up the space to focus
00:26:34
on God's will and, you know,
00:26:38
serving and doing what it is that he is calling you to do, instead
00:26:42
of solely being focused on trying to
00:26:45
avoid, you know, certain foods. Okay, and
00:26:49
so I want to end this episode with some
00:26:53
intuitive eating tips for Halloween. Okay, so as
00:26:56
Halloween is approaching, these are a few quick tips to help
00:27:00
you navigate candy without guilt. And this is really helpful
00:27:04
not only for you, but also for your children and
00:27:08
helping them start to have a healthy relationship with
00:27:12
food. Because you may be
00:27:16
apparent, like, I was in the past who would not
00:27:19
allow my kids to have any candy, or I would try to
00:27:23
control what they were eating, or it was like we'd
00:27:26
have trick or treating, they'd have whatever they wanted
00:27:30
on Halloween, and the rest would be thrown away. But what I found over time
00:27:34
is that that actually, again, builds up that
00:27:37
candy is novel, that candy is special, that candy is important
00:27:42
in their minds. And so when I did that, it was actually
00:27:46
helping to promote that, that sweet and sugar craving
00:27:49
in their mind. And so these tips will help
00:27:53
you build that healthy relationship around sweets
00:27:56
for you and the rest of your family. So specifically
00:28:00
on Halloween day, what I recommend is
00:28:04
eating and drinking normally throughout the day.
00:28:07
So have your normal meals and your normal
00:28:10
snacks throughout the day. Do not restrict to
00:28:14
save up calories for candy
00:28:18
later. Again, we have to go back and realize that when we
00:28:21
are not adequately nourishing our body throughout the day, we are more
00:28:25
inclined to crave those quick sources of
00:28:29
energy from things like candy and other
00:28:32
refined sugar products. So when we're eating and drinking normally
00:28:36
throughout the day, our kids are being adequately nourished,
00:28:39
and they are, you know, able to kind of understand how
00:28:43
hungry they are, how full they are. When it comes to being able to
00:28:47
eat candy later, it's also important to stay hydrated,
00:28:51
making sure that you are getting enough fluids
00:28:54
throughout the day, because, same thing, we don't want to go
00:28:58
into Halloween dehydrated. It's not good for
00:29:02
anybody. But we also want to make sure that we're having adequate fluids to promote
00:29:05
that overall natural
00:29:09
efficiency of how our body is going to work.
00:29:13
Being aware of putting candy on a Pedestal. What are the things that you
00:29:17
are saying to your kids about candy? Are
00:29:20
you promoting a craving for
00:29:24
sugar in candy by restricting it, by limiting it,
00:29:28
by telling them that it's bad or that they shouldn't have it? So
00:29:32
being aware of what it is, the message that you're. You're putting out there,
00:29:36
again, I was guilty of this by putting candy on a pedestal.
00:29:40
It was this novel thing, and my kids didn't actually have any sort of
00:29:43
habituation or control around it. So one of the
00:29:47
things that we started to do when we started to embrace this intuitive eating
00:29:51
lifestyle is that we started to offer
00:29:54
this Halloween candy, you know, the days and days of
00:29:58
Halloween candy, offering it with meals and snacks to promote
00:30:01
balance. Right? We're not having this candy
00:30:05
in isolation, so we're not having those kind of weird blood sugar
00:30:09
spikes. But when we're offering candy with our meals and our snacks,
00:30:13
we're able to promote this overall balance. And
00:30:16
we're. We're able to show our kids that all foods can be
00:30:20
enjoyed and that, you know, we don't need to eat our.
00:30:24
Our nourishing foods in order to have candy. Like, that's a reward
00:30:27
for eating nourishing foods. And so what we're
00:30:31
telling him is that, well, these nourishing foods are boring and that you
00:30:35
should be rewarded for just being able to get them down. We really
00:30:39
want to make all foods neutral to where
00:30:43
kids do not have any more emotional attachment to candy than they
00:30:47
do to broccoli. Right? Like, all foods become a level playing
00:30:51
field and, and help them start to understand and have dialogue
00:30:54
around how certain foods feel in their body
00:30:58
and what they want to feel like after they're eating certain
00:31:01
foods. Are they wanting to feel energized or do certain foods make them
00:31:05
crash or feel tired or sluggish? Or do we
00:31:09
notice that certain foods make them, you know,
00:31:13
act in a certain way, like they're, you know, more irritable or
00:31:16
grumpy, right? This is all how we help our children
00:31:20
have this healthy relationship with food. And then remembering
00:31:24
that the more exposure that your kids have to
00:31:27
candy over time, the less it's going
00:31:31
to control them. It's that
00:31:34
peacemaking paradox, right? Exposing it to them on
00:31:38
a regular basis means that they are going to
00:31:42
naturally decrease their desire and
00:31:45
naturally decrease their craving for these foods moods.
00:31:49
So that wraps up today's episode. And just
00:31:53
remember that you can enjoy sweets and still honor your body,
00:31:56
your health, and your faith. So
00:32:00
be sure to share this episode with anyone who, you know, might be
00:32:04
identifying as having an out of control sweet tooth. Or if
00:32:08
you have. If you know other moms
00:32:11
who are kind of in the same boat of sh. Struggling with like, how do
00:32:14
we help our kids manage their sugar intake? Please
00:32:18
share this episode with them. I think it's really helpful
00:32:22
when we start to have these dialogue changes. Start to look at it from this
00:32:26
perspective and it really helps create generational shifts with our
00:32:30
kids to help promote their healthy
00:32:33
relationship with food and help them embrace their natural, intuitive eater
00:32:37
that's inside them. So I will see you back here
00:32:41
next week. I hope you have a beautiful and blessed day.
00:32:44
Remember, beauty held is the seed, beauty shared is the flower. It's
00:32:48
your time to bloom. We'll talk soon. Bye.
Related Episodes
Ep. 40 How Mary's Yes Can Inspire and Shape Your New Year's Resolutions
Hey there, do you ever feel like your New Year's goals fall flat, despite your best intentions? Like, you set these grand resolutions, but somewhere along the way, you lose steam and fall back into old habits? This week on the Nourished to Bloom podcast (episode 40, by the way!), we dive into this exact struggle through the inspiring story of...
Ep. 39: The Gift of Self-Care: Finding Joy and Balance Through Christ-Centered Self-Care; Faith-Led Wellness Holiday Game Plan, Part 4
As we dive headfirst into the holiday🎄 season, it's easy to get overwhelmed by gift shopping, family gatherings, and the never-ending to-do list. But what if this year, we approached the holidays differently—with a sense of peace, purpose, and balance? 🌟 In this episode, we explore Christ-centered self-care and offer practical tips to nouri...
Ep. 37 5 Steps to Not "Stuffing" Down Your Holiday Emotions; Faith-Led Wellness Holiday Game Plan, Part 2
Hey friends! Welcome back to another episode of Nourished to Bloom. Today, we're tackling a topic that's crucial as the holiday season approaches—how not to stuff down your holiday emotions with food. 🦃🎄✨ If the mere thought of holiday gatherings throws your emotions into a whirlwind, you're not alone. Whether it’s joy, stress, or overwhelm...