Ep. 5: The Solution You Need to End Your Food & Body Obsession

[00:00:00] Are you tired of obsessing over food, your weight and your body? I don't you wish there was an easy and practical way to eat and nourish your body without feeling guilty for eating foods that you enjoy.

[00:00:12] Are you ready to get off the roller coaster of losing weight and then regaining it constantly in search of the next right thing?

[00:00:21] And wouldn't it be great if you're eating in health habits could integrate your faith and be aligned with God's design for the human body?

[00:00:30] Well look no further, I have just the thing you need.

[00:00:38] Welcome to the Nourished to Bloom Podcast where your faith meets your health.

[00:00:42] I'm your host Kara Trochta, a registered dietitian and certified Catholic coach and I'm here to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your body, your spirit, and the nourishment that sustains them both.

[00:00:54] In a world filled with noise and confusion about food, health and body image, the podcast offers truth and healing from a Christ-centered perspective.

[00:01:03] Together we'll untangle the deep roots of diet culture and discover what it means to truly care for ourselves.

[00:01:10] Through joyful nourishment of mind, body and soul.

[00:01:14] We heard a dive into the transformative power of intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith.

[00:01:20] With every episode I'll be cheering you on, offering insights, inspiration and practical tools to help you heal your relationship with food

[00:01:28] and embrace the beauty of your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence and courage that can only be found in Christ.

[00:01:37] Join me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation, the teachings of our faith and the unique purpose you're called to the fill.

[00:01:50] You were made to bloom, to come into full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with your life.

[00:01:58] So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul, and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're in the right place and I'm so happy you're here.

[00:02:07] Welcome to nourish to bloom where every day is a sacred invitation to thrive.

[00:02:19] Hey there, welcome back.

[00:02:21] So over the past few episodes you've learned a little bit about my journey to food and body freedom as well as some of the common struggles that women like you are facing when it comes to navigating the confusing

[00:02:36] and overwhelming information that's out there with regards to our health, dieting and weight loss and body image.

[00:02:44] And I shared with you that ending my struggles with food and my body included following the intuitive eating framework.

[00:02:54] Working on my mindset through Catholic mindset coaching and then the integration of my faith with all of this to help reframe the beliefs and the rules that I had about food and my body and being able to.

[00:03:07] You know hold these beliefs that I had up to divine truth and start to shape my reality and my perspective with like you know putting on the mind of Christ.

[00:03:20] So in today's episode, I want to share a little bit more about what intuitive eating really is and how it was developed and how it aligns with how God created the human body.

[00:03:35] So what exactly is intuitive eating it's maybe a buzzword that you've heard and maybe you've had a little bit of confusion about it or just not quite understanding what it is.

[00:03:45] I will preface this with that when somebody asked me what intuitive eating is there's this tendency for me to want to like word vomit because there's so many facets about intuitive eating and so many tools and resources that come from intuitive eating.

[00:04:04] That can help people with numerous different problems that they have when it comes to nutrition and how they eat in their relationship with food and their body.

[00:04:16] So it's not just solely about eating and it's not just solely about body image. It's a combination of a lot of things that look at your relationship with food, your eating patterns, what are your food beliefs.

[00:04:28] Body image, how you're coping with your emotions, how you're moving your body so it's really like this multifaceted type approach.

[00:04:37] So I will try my best not to word vomit today and try to give you as succinct and concise description of intuitive eating as I possibly can but just know that it's a very complex framework.

[00:04:56] But it's very practical in the application of it and it makes a lot of practical sense when you start to dig into it.

[00:05:03] But really one of the ways I like to describe intuitive eating is that it's a compassionate self care based eating framework that helps you listen to your body and eat in a way that feels good for you.

[00:05:19] It's not like following strict food rules or meal plans or weight loss programs or diets instead it's about relearning how to trust your body and relying on your body knowledge or your internal body wisdom to be able to make choices when it comes to what you're eating, how you're eating what you believe about health and movement that help you make choices.

[00:05:47] To help you feel healthy and happy.

[00:05:50] And so intuitive eating has really built on this premise that we were all born intuitive eaters.

[00:05:57] So that means that our bodies were created by God to know when we were full and when we're hungry.

[00:06:07] And even to know like what kind of nutrients our bodies need on a cellular level.

[00:06:13] When we have a strong connection with our body and strong body at whom it and we know this through certain cravings that we may experience now all cravings are not the same and that's definitely something that we can dig into another episode but just knowing that our cravings for specific foods can actually be a result of our body.

[00:06:35] Knowing that it needs certain nutrients on a cellular level which is pretty fascinating to think about that detail in that order that our bodies were were created and so.

[00:06:47] It's saying that our bodies were created to be able to internally regulate our eating patterns and so I want you to think about a baby.

[00:06:56] A baby cries when they are hungry.

[00:06:59] Well, how do they know how to do that or how do they know that that's what they need to do to be fed.

[00:07:04] Well, their body is designed to get their needs met and so cascaded messages and sensations happen in the baby's body until they cry alerting us that they need to be fed.

[00:07:17] This also happens like when the baby needs to be changed or is experiencing some sort of distress right but this is all coming from an internal sensation something that the baby is feeling and experiencing in their body.

[00:07:29] And it's causing them to alert us to these things and as our child child gets older they tell us when they're hungry right and so they're understanding their hunger based off of their internal physical sensations and physical cues from their bodies.

[00:07:46] And so we as adults can still experience those same physical sensations that alert us to our hunger.

[00:07:52] But what's happened is that over time and as we've grown up, we've become disconnected from our body and less trusting of our internal body wisdom because of influences from family, from friends and then from diet culture.

[00:08:08] So we've been conditioned to override those cues, believing that external messages and external knowledge about food and eating and taking care of our bodies is more reliable than the cues of our body.

[00:08:22] But the good news is that with practice and learning to tune out that external noise you can start to reestablish this trust in your body.

[00:08:32] And so the cornerstone for learning to trust your body from the intuitive eating framework is a concept called interceptive awareness.

[00:08:42] And so this is the ability for you to perceive physical sensations that arise from within your body.

[00:08:49] So it's something that is experienced and felt in your body in the present moment.

[00:08:54] So these are things like feeling like your bladder is full.

[00:08:58] You know what it feels like when your bladder is full and your body is telling you, hey, I need to go to the bathroom.

[00:09:03] That is a physical sensation that is felt within your body or maybe you know the feelings of like those butterflies in your stomach when you're feeling anxious.

[00:09:16] So that's the other cool thing is that our emotions have a physical manifestation of physical sensation in our body.

[00:09:25] And that alerts us to, hey, something's going on or are you feeling this emotion?

[00:09:30] Let's take a deeper look into it.

[00:09:33] So if we know that like we can feel these sensations of our bladder being full or feeling thirsty or feeling certain emotions in our bodies, then it really shouldn't be too hard to believe that we have these physical sensations that we have these cues in our body that can help us know when we are feeling hungry and full.

[00:09:53] And that we can use to guide us on our eating experiences in our inner food choices.

[00:10:00] So by understanding that God created our bodies to experience these physical sensations, we can start to build this attunement, this connection and this alignment with these cues to be able to get our psychological and biological needs met.

[00:10:21] So intuitive eating has been around a while, almost 30 years and it was designed and created by two dieticians, Evolentribly and Elise Rush.

[00:10:32] And they owned private nutrition practices in California at the time.

[00:10:36] And so they would work with clients who came in wanting to lose weight and they would prescribe meal plans that would promote healthy weight loss for their clients.

[00:10:46] And so they'd send their clients on their way with their meal plan and those clients would have some success in losing weight, maybe keeping it off for a short period of time.

[00:10:56] And so they would have only to call their office back saying, hey, I'm so sorry. I gained all this weight back. I need your help again.

[00:11:06] And so what Evolent and Elise did was they got really curious about why this was happening.

[00:11:12] Like, why was this happening to their clients? Why were they internalizing themselves as a failure so much when they were experiencing these, then when so many people were experiencing these same patterns.

[00:11:24] And they looked at research that was available at the time and literature that would support this idea that all foods were allowed.

[00:11:33] But not rejecting or excluding their knowledge and the training and beliefs that they had as dietician and as nutrition experts with the regards to that connection of nutrition and health.

[00:11:49] And so from their research and their professional expertise, they developed the intuitive eating process and framework which is designed to free you from the harmful side effects of dietician weight loss while still being able to maintain and promote nutritious eating and healthy living.

[00:12:08] And so it's based off of 10 principles and what we're going to do in upcoming episodes of the podcast is we're going to explore each one of these 10 principles on its own.

[00:12:16] And so today I'm going to keep it like at the 30,000 view like we're just going to stick to the big picture.

[00:12:22] And I just want to know that intuitive eating and in of itself is a secular program. It's not tied to Christianity, I don't even know if Evelyn and Elise are Christians but it doesn't matter because as I started to incorporate this framework into my own eating patterns.

[00:12:42] It really became very evident how much this idea of body attunement and being able to listen to our bodies and to rely on the order and the way that God created our bodies.

[00:12:56] And to be able to make food decisions and to be able to listen to our body, to understand when we're hungry and when we need to eat versus just looking at a clock and saying, oh well it's this time.

[00:13:09] Even if you're not actually feeling hungry.

[00:13:11] So it became very evident that these things were very much aligned and that we could take concept, not concepts. That's not the right word but that we could take teachings and beliefs of our Catholic Christian faith and be able to integrate these things together.

[00:13:29] So I just want to take a minute and share that I've taken these principles of intuitive eating and the and created a unique Christ centered wellness program for women that allows you to follow this internal body wisdom from a Christ perspective.

[00:13:48] To help you determine what you need, what your specific body needs with regards to food movement and being able to care for yourself.

[00:13:56] And so the lessons that I teach are aligned with church beliefs with regards to things like human dignity and and worth and a way that really compliments not fights against God's unique design for human beings.

[00:14:12] And so as I mentor women, I use this faith first approach to freedom from diets weight loss struggles and body shames body shame. So they can really be able to see themselves as the gift that they are an in turn be a gift to others.

[00:14:29] So I just want to take a minute and say like well, even though intuitive eating is not a Catholic or Christian program. There is a lot of complimentary and an alignment between the two things and that's what I've done within my own practice within bloom wellness was really be able to create a program that that integrated these two these two things together to be able to really help women.

[00:14:56] And like I said, integrate their faith into their their wellness programs and plans. So you may find like you're in limbo right now.

[00:15:06] So from these past few episodes, you may be starting to see that there's this logic and hope of adopting an intuitive eating lifestyle.

[00:15:16] And maybe it's something you should try. Maybe it's something that's right for you. But from somewhere like deep inside you, you feel this sense of fear or panic because you're worried about what would what would happen if I don't count calories or what would happen if I don't follow a specific meal plan or

[00:15:35] what if I allowed myself to eat foods that I enjoy or maybe you feel like there's just no way that you could trust your body to tell you when and how much to eat.

[00:15:44] And I want you to know I completely understand that it's a little bit of how I felt when I first heard about it, I told you and I shared in my story that I was just like at my breaking point and I it promised me the freedom from so many things that I felt trapped in that I just took this leap of faith inside.

[00:16:04] You know, I'm going to try this and it's either going to work and it's going to be aligned or it's not and I didn't lose out on anything right like I'm right back where I was.

[00:16:14] But the reality is is that it did work and it did change everything. The problem is is that right now we're you're sitting and what I'm telling you this idea of food freedom this idea of being able to trust your body, this idea of not having to die of not having to restrictive being able to eat the foods that you enjoy seems to go against everything.

[00:16:33] Everything you've been taught or think that you know about nutrition, eating and health.

[00:16:41] Yeah, I went to school to study nutrition and it goes against everything I learned in school but yeah, it works.

[00:16:50] And so I want to encourage you to be open to the idea of learning to trust your body.

[00:16:55] It's really how so many women that I've worked with and myself included have truly found a deeper connection with the Lord,

[00:17:05] to be able to surrender the this thing that has really plagued us for so long.

[00:17:11] So you may be wondering like okay, if I were to go down this path of an intuitive eating lifestyle what does this look like on a daily basis and so I want to share a few highlights of like what this would look like.

[00:17:24] And yeah, what this would look like.

[00:17:27] So one of the things is you get to be the boss of your body and make food choices by better understanding your body and how God designed it to work.

[00:17:36] So you would learn to listen to your body's natural cues.

[00:17:40] Now your cues may be different from my cues, maybe different from somebody else's but that's the thing is that they are your cues and you learn to start to

[00:17:48] be attuned to those cues. And so you start to honor those internal signals and this helps you promote stability and peace and consistency around eating

[00:18:02] but still allows for the adaptability and flexibility to changing needs and circumstances throughout different seasons of life and being able to foster like an emotional physical balance.

[00:18:15] So the idea is like you're developing consistency because you're able to understand when your body is giving you hunger cues and being able to stop eating because you're feeling full and satisfied.

[00:18:27] But the idea of the adaptability and flexibility is that it's something that can be applied through all stages of life.

[00:18:35] And it's something that can that can be applied to like just even different seasons of life. Right. So for example, like when your kids are in sports and and your

[00:18:46] day is hectic, your weeks are hectic and you're maybe having to eat out a few more times throughout the week than maybe in the off season.

[00:18:54] But you're not having to drastically change anything. You're still understanding those hunger and fullness cues but you're making food decisions based off of that, even if it means having to eat out or adapt to whatever your schedule looks like at the time.

[00:19:09] And so by understanding these internal cues, you know when you're hungry, you know when you're full, you know what foods will satisfy you and what foods feel good in your body.

[00:19:22] There's a common misconception that this means like you just eat whatever you want. And so you're just going to have chocolate and ice cream and hamburgers all day long.

[00:19:30] But what happens is you learn to tap into a variety of sensations and utilize numerous tools and resources that help you incorporate nutrition principles into choosing foods that are good for your body, but that also tastes good.

[00:19:50] And so this comes without restriction that you may find in rigid diet or meal plans.

[00:19:56] And I think this is really cool. This was something that was, I really enjoyed about embracing the intuitive eating lifestyle was just learning to enjoy eating again and like the variety that could come with it was no more just chicken breasts and quinoa and a vegetable right like

[00:20:15] it really allowed variety to come back into our meals and allowed me to enjoy cooking again because you can really start to save your meals and like feel good about what you're eating because you made that decision based on your knowledge and experience of what your body needs.

[00:20:31] And and once in order to feel full nourished energized and satisfied, like you have that permission to enjoy the foods you like without guilt while still staying healthy.

[00:20:43] And this leads like being able to stop overthinking and stressing about what you eat and instead you really start to feel the sense of calm and confidence about those food choices because again they are specific and individualized to you and your preferences.

[00:21:03] Y'all, how many diets do that go very specific and very individualized to you and your preferences like it's amazing to be able to

[00:21:12] take this framework and that it can be applied to an individual because oftentimes our approaches to health care are just these mass recommendations that are not specific to an individual person.

[00:21:29] And I think it's really cool to be able to take this and and and it becomes so individualized and so personal.

[00:21:36] Because it's really into a meeting is not just about food like it's about feeling great in your mind and your heart because your wellness choices are aligned with God's human design and it's built upon your connection with him and the wisdom and the grace and the guidance that you receive from him through this journey.

[00:21:58] And you know, you're growing mindfulness and and build self awareness and this helps you better understand yourself.

[00:22:06] And what you need physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually to create that overall sense of well being and gratitude for God's creation.

[00:22:15] And when you can start to better understand yourself, you start to better understand what your vocation is. You start to better understand what gifts and talents God has given you and being able to start to see how he is calling you to utilize those things.

[00:22:31] And then you're also better able to understand and manage your emotions without solely having to rely on food.

[00:22:36] So you can start to build more positive coping mechanisms and start to better regulate your emotions and not feel like you're just a victim to him anymore.

[00:22:47] Okay, so when I kind of give you a scenario to kind of see how this would play out in like before intuitive eating and then after intuitive eating.

[00:22:56] And then you'd imagine that you're going to dinner with friends.

[00:23:00] And so in the past, you would be worried and anxious about what to eat.

[00:23:05] You would experience this internal battle that would ensue between oh I really want a hamburger and fries because that sounds really good.

[00:23:14] But then feeling like well, I quote unquote should just have the solid because that's a healthier option.

[00:23:20] You would worry about what everyone else thinks about what you ordered.

[00:23:27] And so you play it safe. You don't order what you really want and you would probably indulge on the glass of wine because everyone's enjoying a drink but you would just eat your salad and 100% skip the dessert.

[00:23:40] And you would feel great when you left and you tell yourself on the way home how good you were because you chose the salad.

[00:23:47] But then in the back of their mind, there's also just those thoughts of like Hannah cheeseburger sound really good and the french fries still sound really good and so like you start to crave something salty and maybe savory.

[00:24:00] And you get home and you blow it all on chips or ice cream because you were thinking about the dessert that you missed out on.

[00:24:10] And so you were just looking for something to satisfy that craving.

[00:24:14] So you eat this, you probably end up overeating it.

[00:24:18] You go to bed feeling defeated and ashamed and then promise yourself you'll never do that again only to find that you're still stuck in this loop years later.

[00:24:29] Okay, so now I want you to imagine that you're going to dinner with friends. You're excited to catch up with everyone and just be able to enjoy their company.

[00:24:39] And you've been going on about your day.

[00:24:42] And you haven't thought about what you're going to eat at the restaurant and you know that you'll just lean into what sounds good when you get there and what you know will nourish your body.

[00:24:55] Make your body feel good and leave you feeling satisfied.

[00:24:59] So you get to the restaurant and you check out the menu and you decide that a hamburger and french fries sounds pretty good but you're going to pass on that glass of wine or that drink because you know that.

[00:25:11] And then you know that the whole makes you feel sluggish in the morning or you wake up with a headache or it upsets your stomach.

[00:25:18] So you check in with your body and you realize that you know I'm pretty hungry but you're not starving so your meal comes and you take one bite at a time just really being able to like.

[00:25:29] Savor how juicy the hamburger is or like how cheesy it is but the fries are a little soggy and they really don't taste that good and so you don't any eat anymore of them.

[00:25:41] Because they're just not satisfied and they're not like up to the expectations of like the way you want your fries to be.

[00:25:47] So about halfway there eating your burger you realize you're starting to feel full and so you like pause and you church had a little bit more and you give yourself a chance to really see if you want anymore.

[00:25:58] And you find that you're pretty full and satisfied and you know that you can take the rest of the burger home with you and have it later if you end up getting hungry or you can have it for lunch tomorrow.

[00:26:09] Now the dessert sounds really good but you're full so you decide that maybe next time you're out at this restaurant or maybe later in the week if you find yourself really wanting something sweet you'll enjoy a piece of your favorite candy bar and not feel guilty about it.

[00:26:27] And not feel like you know it's going to be a make or break thing.

[00:26:35] So you go home feeling like renewed after a night out with friends like the conversation was so engaging you got to connect like your cup is full because you've made time to foster these relationships.

[00:26:46] You put the burger in the French and you go to bed satisfied.

[00:26:50] Not thinking about what you ate how you ate or having to start over on any sort of plan the next day.

[00:27:00] So these scenarios are just to help you kind of get a glimpse into what it's like to make food and health decisions from an intuitive eating perspective.

[00:27:08] Now there are several several ways that these scenarios could have gone like you could have decided to that you were hungry enough and you ate all the hamburger and you were still hungry and you want to dessert and still not feel guilty.

[00:27:20] But the idea that I'm trying to portray is that in the first scenario all of her decisions were based off of food rules and beliefs adopted from her external environment and societal pressures.

[00:27:33] So the second scenario is based on her relying on her own internal body cues and knowledge.

[00:27:40] And so this is why I believe so much in this process and use it as a foundational piece for my wellness program.

[00:27:48] Like I said, it can be sometimes difficult to explain how intuitive eating works and what the benefits are because it's a solution for so many issues.

[00:27:59] So it's a challenge, managing emotions.

[00:28:05] Eating disorders right how it's used to help eating to help heal eating disorders and so it has so many different benefits to a person physically mentally and emotionally that it can really be hard to capture because each person has a unique experience in this healing journey.

[00:28:25] And it comes to this with a different set of rules and a different set of beliefs and leaves with having a different experience and a different perspective of how they're going to approach their health.

[00:28:37] But the thing is that Christ centered intuitive eaters eat to feel good in their mind body and soul.

[00:28:44] You see all foods as the gift of God and understand that while not all foods are equally nutritious, all foods are morally neutral and what they eat does not make them a good or bad person and it does not make them healthier unhealthy.

[00:29:03] They are a tune and they trust their bodies to communicate what it needs.

[00:29:09] And they take care of their bodies with a focus on nourishment and satisfaction, not so they can shrink their body but so that they are quit, they quit and able to do God's work joyfully.

[00:29:22] You in this process you give the control back to God your creator trusting that he will show you the best way to take care of his creation.

[00:29:31] And so I want to leave you with my favorite part of my favorite line from the Let me a trust prayer that your plan is greater than anything else Jesus I trust in you.

[00:29:43] It's something that I repeat several times throughout the day to remind me that God is always with me and while I don't know the full story he does and that I don't need to be in control and that I can surrender everything to him and that it's going to be.

[00:30:00] It's going to be okay that it's going to be good even what I eat.

[00:30:07] So if you're ready to get started, if you're ready to start making changes to implement small steps to make your wellness more faith integrated then again I invite you to join that seven day faith led wellness challenge.

[00:30:24] It's really a great starting point on this journey to healing your relationship with food and being able to stop that body image obsession that maybe you're struggling with or have struggled with for years.

[00:30:36] And just really practical ways to start integrating your faith on a daily basis when it comes to nutrition, when it comes to movement, when it comes to self care, when it comes to our attitude.

[00:30:49] So please feel free to sign up for that challenge. You can do that at challenge.carotroctor.com and I hope to see you in there.

[00:31:01] Thanks for tuning into the nearest to bloom podcast today.

[00:31:04] I want to take a minute and extend a special invitation to you as a valued and treasured listener.

[00:31:10] If you have questions or insights you want to share or maybe you simply want to connect with other like-minded women who are on this same journey as you, I encourage you to join our podcast community.

[00:31:22] So in our community you have the opportunity to engage with fellow listeners, ask questions, share your experiences and receive support from me.

[00:31:31] It's really easy. All you have to do to join our community and gain access to exclusive content and resources is to visit community.carotroctor.com

[00:31:41] Again, that's community.carotroctor.com and you can find the link below.

[00:31:46] Simply click on it, sign up and start connecting today and be sure to send me a message saying hi when you get all set up.

[00:31:52] I can't wait to hear from you.

[00:31:54] Thanks again for being a part of our nearest to bloom family.

[00:31:57] I can't wait to hang out with you again soon.

[00:31:59] Until then, remember beauty held is the seed. Beauty shared is the flower.

[00:32:04] It's your time to bloom.