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
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If you feel like you have this out of control sweet tooth that
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you just wish you could get under control, then listen
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up because this episode of the Nourish to Bloom podcast is for
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you. In this week's episode, I am diving into
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how you can decrease your desire for sugar, carbs and
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sweets without completely, completely cutting them
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out. Many people and programs out there
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claim that they can help you, quote, unquote, cure your sweet tooth,
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but I think what many of us actually want is something a little
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different. Really, I think what we desire is the ability to
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enjoy sweets without feeling out of control
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or guilty for enjoying them. Because, let's be
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real, it's not realistic to completely eliminate sugar from your
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life. As humans, we are naturally drawn to
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pleasure, but rather than trying to squash our cravings
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entirely, I want to help you build sustainable skills that
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allows you to enjoy sweets while also supporting
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your overall health and well being. So today I'm digging
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into five practical skills that you can build for
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being able to enjoy sweets guilt free. Plus, I'm going
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to help you understand how this peacemaking process with food
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can actually connect to your overall spiritual wellbeing. So
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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
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to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your body, your spirit
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and the nourishment that sustains them both. In a world
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filled with noise and confusion about food, health and
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body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from a Christ centered
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perspective. Together, we'll untangle the deep roots of. Diet
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culture and discover what it means to truly care for
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ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind, body and
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soul. We're here to dive into the transformative power of intuitive eating
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coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith. With every
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episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights, inspiration
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and practical tools to help you heal your relationship with
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food and embrace the beauty of your body as a temple of the
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Holy Spirit with confidence and courage that
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can. Only be found in Christ. Join me as we journey together
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towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one that honors the
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wisdom of your body as God's creation, the teachings of our
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faith, and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill.
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You were made to bloom to come into
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full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with your
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life. So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul
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and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're in the right place. And
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I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Nourish to
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Bloom, where every day is a sacred invitation to
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thrive. Hey there. Welcome back to the
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Nourish to Bloom podcast. I'm your host, Kara Tracta. And
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this week we are wrapping up our series all about enjoying
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sweets guilt free. So in our first
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episode of the series, we talked all about the truth around sugar and
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carbohydrates. And in the last episode we
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talked about really why you
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find yourself craving sugar. Like five common reasons why you may be
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craving sugar. And so today we're really focusing on how
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you can really build
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skills in an impractical
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skills to help you really be able to get your sweet tooth under
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control. It's really not about eliminating these
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foods from your diet completely, but it's really about being able
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to make peace with them, be able to have them be a part of
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your lifestyle and eating pattern, but them
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not lead to out of control eating,
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overindulgence, gluttony, and
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guilt. And so it's really funny because for a
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long time I really, really always thought of myself as having
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a sweet tooth. And what's even funnier is it's often
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presented as like this genetic thing. Like how many times do we hear people
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say, oh, I got my sweet tooth from my grandmother
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or this aunt or this uncle or whatever. And it
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really wasn't until I used intuitive eating and the framework
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of intuitive eating and really dove into the principle all
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around making peace with food. And when I made peace with
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sweets using intuitive eating, that I realized that
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this craving for sweet is
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really truly a learned behavior. Thanks in
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part to one how diet culture portrays certain
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foods. It really looks as foods as good or bad and categorizes
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them that way. And then the second, you know, really is
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that development of an emotional eating habit. And
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so those things, those two kind of things are what really
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like what made me fall into kind of
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this behavior of having a sweet tooth. But intuitive
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eating helped me realize that this was a learned behavior. And if it was a
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learned behavior, I could learn a new behavior. I could
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undo this trap around, you know,
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a sweet tooth around sugar cravings and really build some
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new skills. And I can proudly say that I don't
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identify as having a sweet tooth anymore. And
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you know, it's, it's a real, I feel like big accomplishment to be able
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to have sweets and to have certain foods in my house and it not
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lead to me sneaking around eating Them and
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not, you know, overeating and indulging in them,
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but just being able to really enjoy them
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and then move on and not, you know, be this kind of
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out of control thing or be this downward spiral for days on end
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and then, you know, kind of overwhelming guilt. So I know
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that if I could do that and I can, you know, trust myself
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to have Halloween candy that stays in
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my pantry for months and months and months, that I know that what I'm
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about to share with you, these really five steps
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that it can help you also really be
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able to get your sweet tooth under control. So I
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really hope that this brings you some hope and some really practical things for you
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to consider that can help you get that sweet tooth under control. Because
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I, I really know kind the fallout of that. And so I want this
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for you. I really hope that you want this too. So let's get into
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these really five steps or these five skills that can
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help you get your sweet tooth under control. So the first
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one is adequately, adequately nourishing and hydrating
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your body throughout the day. One of the most
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common reasons that people crave sweets is because they're
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not eating enough throughout the day, or they're, they're
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dehydrated, they're not getting enough fluids throughout the day. Diet
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culture, because it likes to limit, you know, what we are
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eating and the amount that we are eating and calories and food
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groups and everything, what ends up happening is that we are chronically under
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nourishing our body. And when your body is undernourished or
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thirsty, it's going to look for quick energy sources, one
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of those being sugar. But when you can consistently
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eat balanced meals throughout the day and you're staying
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adequately hydrated, you prevent that afternoon
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energy slump. And it's for a lot of us
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that energy slump in the afternoon, which is leading us to seek
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out sugary snacks or quick carb
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snacks. Because we're looking for this quick pick me up or we're turning to
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coffee instead of actually turning to foods that can give us
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that energy that we're needing. And when we're adequately
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nourishing and hydrating our body throughout the day, that helps promote
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balanced blood sugar levels. And what that means is that your energy
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is staying steady throughout the day and that helps you
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be less likely to crave those sugary
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treats and snacks in the first place. And so a good rule of thumb
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is to not go more than five waking hours without
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eating. And as often as you can when you are
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eating, create a balanced meal and snack that includes
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carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, a fruit or a
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vegetable, and some fiber. And all of these together.
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This provides adequate, long lasting nutrition.
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So you're less likely to seek out those quick pick me ups.
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And when you are looking at creating these balanced meals and snacks,
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it's really helping you make more informed nutritional
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decisions and thus promoting your overall health and well
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being with better nutrition.
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Okay, the second step, or the second skill is being
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attuned to your internal cues. So you need
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to learn to practice being attuned with
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your body's internal cues. Being able to listen to your
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body's internal cues rather than relying on these
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external signals like diet, diet rules or
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food labels to dictate your, dictate your choices.
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So learning to trust your body means tuning in to
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understand why you're craving something specific in the first
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place. Are you actually hungry? Are you feeling
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those biological cues of hunger?
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And if you're not, then what else is going on? If
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you're feeling those hunger cues, then yeah, that means go
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ahead, nourish your body, make those, those
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food choices that you're really wanting to make. But if you're not
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feeling those hunger cues and you're finding yourself crazy
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craving, you know, the sugary thing or this, the sweet thing, then really
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get curious about what's going on. Is it emotionally
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driven? Is it, you know, mentally driven? Is it you just
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really want to enjoy this sweet treat and like enjoy it
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and move on and it's not going to perpetuate into
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this, you know, overthinking and really
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stealing your mental and emotional energy. But when
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you're attuned with your body's internal cues, it just allows you to get
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curious and allows you to make the best decision
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for your, your body. Because your body knows what it's needing.
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And so when you get curious about your cravings, you start
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to see that your body has its own internal wisdom and you
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start to trust this internal wisdom, this beautiful gift
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from God. For example, a sugar craving might
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indicate that you need rest, that you're
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needing a certain nutrient that can be found
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in, in these certain foods. Or maybe it's telling you that you're
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seeking comfort instead of reacting to the
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craving and just giving in. Pause and ask
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yourself what your body is trying to tell you. And I want
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you to remember that cravings aren't inherently bad. Like I am not sitting
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here telling you that you should give in to every craving that you have, or
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that it is okay for you to just say, like
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Kara said, what the hell Just eat all the sugar that you want.
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That is not what I am seeing here. I am just saying to
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get curious that diet culture and food rules have made
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all of these things look really bad and label them
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bad. And then that, that we internalize that as we are
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bad people for wanting or eating these things.
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And I am trying to help you understand that there are really
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practical ways for you to understand what it is that your body is telling
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you and that you don't have to fall victim to these diet
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culture and food rules over and over and over again.
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So cravings aren't inherently bad because they are a way
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that your body tells you that it's needing something,
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but out of control cravings for, you
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know, very certain foods that lead you to
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overindulgence or binging are really likely the
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result of an emotional craving or
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backlash from a food or diet rule versus an
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actual necessary physical craving that's been initiated
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from your body. And when you are attuned with
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its internal wisdom, when you are attuned with your body's internal
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cues, you will start to be able to distinguish the difference
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between the two. And you're not falling into that trap
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of, you know, overindulgence and overeating.
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You're being able to again, make informed choices.
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Remember that God created your body with his internal
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wisdom to know what, when, and how much of something that you
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need, that you don't need to follow these external food
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roles, but that internal wisdom is really what
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can become your, your guidance for making informed
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nutrition decisions. Okay, Number three,
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learning to build emotional awareness and coping
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skills. A huge part of craving
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sweets comes down to emotional eating.
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We often reach for food, especially sweets, to
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cope with stress, boredom, or other emotions, right?
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Think about the number of times that we tell, you know, our
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girlfriends when we were younger in college and we had a broken heart, oh, well,
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we'll just like, deal with the heartbreak and the
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sadness with cookie dough and ice cream, right? Like, we
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have learned to deal with our emotions by turning to
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food, especially sweets, but when we can build
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emotional awareness, it helps us to create a pause.
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And then in that pause is when you can get curious about
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why you are seeking that food out in that moment. That pause
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allows you to turn to the Lord and ask for his guidance in this
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moment, asking yourself, what do
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I really need in this moment? What am I
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feeling? What am I really seeking?
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Because while food may provide a temporary reprieve, it's
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not actually going to help you deal with the emotion.
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There are other ways to build healthier coping
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Skills to deal with our emotions when we can learn
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to identify what our emotional needs are. And when we do this,
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it decreases that likelihood of using food as a comfort or
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distraction. And it also allows us to turn to
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the Lord in these moments and allow him to infuse us with the grace and
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the mercy and the compassion that we need to deal
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with whatever suffering or struggle is going on in that
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moment. Okay, number four, learning to make
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peace with these quote unquote forbidden foods.
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One of the most powerful shifts you can make is in
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giving yourself unconditional permission to eat
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all foods, including sweets. Y'all. This was
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the game changer in my life. When certain
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foods are labeled quote, unquote forbidden or quote unquote bad,
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they hold extra energy in your mind and it
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leads to this increased desire for them. But by allowing
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yourself to enjoy sweets when you genuinely want
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them, that novelty, that desire,
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that specialness that we've given these foods in our mind
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naturally decreases over time. And this
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doesn't mean that you'll always want sweets, but the urgency to
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eat them all in one sitting or get them while you can, because
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you don't know when you'll allow yourself to have them again, it fades away.
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And this trust building process helps you grow in peace around these
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foods so you're not falling into these out of
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control cravings. Okay, number five,
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reframing your beliefs about food, weight and
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body. Lastly, like it is so essential
00:16:18
to reframe your beliefs about food,
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particularly around foods like sugar and carbohydrates that are
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often demonized by diet culture. Many of us have
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this internalized idea that eating sugar makes us bad, or that
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indulging in sweets means we're failing in some way.
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Instead of seeing food through this moralistic lens,
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that what we eat determines our
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moral fiber, our moral character, we need to hold these
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beliefs up to God's truth that sugar is not
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inherently sinful, that it is a source of
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energy and it's a source of enjoyment. And when we
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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
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God judges our moral
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fiber and character around. Right when we
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are so focused on this good versus bad
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around food, it's kind of like distracting and putting
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a blanket and
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taking our focus off a way off of, you know, where we
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truly need to grow in virtue and what
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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
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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
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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
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we're, you know, not falling into these out of control cravings, that
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glut, that sin of gluttony starts to diminish and we
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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
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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.
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