Ep. 6 The Surprising Truth About Diets You Need to Know

[00:00:00] So, we're going to start out by defining what dieting is in today's culture. Because I

[00:00:08] talk to so many women, especially women who are around my age in their 30s and 40s

[00:00:14] and some who are younger. And when I talk about dieting, they say, I don't diet, I don't

[00:00:21] diet, they don't believe that what they are doing to promote weight loss is actually

[00:00:26] dieting. Diet in today's culture are now disguised as things like healthy eating and they show

[00:00:34] up as specific meal plans or lifestyles, counting macros, eliminating gluten or dairy, not due to an

[00:00:44] allergy or an intolerance, eliminating sugar, carbs or other foods and food groups, cleanses, detoxes, eating

[00:00:52] food. Y'all, all of these things are diets. They just repackage themselves into pretty paper and

[00:01:00] tell us that it's something different but they all operate with the same MO. They all operate

[00:01:06] under restriction and deprivation. Society is doing its darnness to gaslight us into thinking

[00:01:14] that what we're doing is not dieting. Even though it looks like a diet, smells like a diet and tastes

[00:01:20] right. I want you to know, the bottom line is you do not need to eliminate or restrict what

[00:01:28] or how much of something you eat in order to be healthy. Welcome to the Nourished

[00:01:35] to Bloom podcast where your faith meets your health. I'm your host Kara Trocta, a registered

[00:01:41] dietitian and certified Catholic coach and I'm here to help you cultivate a deeper connection

[00:01:45] with your body, your spirit and the nourishment that sustains them both. In a world filled with noise and

[00:01:52] confusion about food, health and body image, this podcast offers truth and healing from a

[00:01:57] Christ-centered perspective. Together we'll untangle the deep roots of diet culture and discover what it means to truly

[00:02:04] care for ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind, body and soul. We're here to dive into the transformative

[00:02:11] power of intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith. With every

[00:02:16] episode I'll be cheering you on, offering insights, inspiration and practical tools to help you heal your

[00:02:22] relationship with food and embrace the beauty of your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence

[00:02:29] and courage that can only be found in Christ. Join me as we journey together towards a more holistic

[00:02:35] approach to wellness. One that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation, the teachings

[00:02:41] of our faith and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill. You were made to bloom,

[00:02:48] to come into full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with your life. So if

[00:02:54] you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul and bloom into the best version of yourself then

[00:02:59] you're in the right place and I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to nourish to bloom where every day is a sacred

[00:03:06] invitation to thrive.

[00:03:13] Hey y'all, welcome back. Man, I'm I'm feeling a little feisty today. I'm really

[00:03:19] really read up and excited about today's topic. Like I'm going to flip flip some proverbial tables today.

[00:03:25] We know that Jesus flipped the tables in the temple not only because they had turned his father's house into a

[00:03:33] market, but also because the merchants were pretty deceitful. They made people believe that they needed all

[00:03:40] of those things to properly worship God when they really didn't so the proverbial table I'm going to flip

[00:03:46] today is the one on diet culture because diet culture is kind of doing the exact same thing to us.

[00:03:52] You'll diet are deceitful. We're told that we need all of these things.

[00:03:58] We need to diet count calories, eliminate food groups, weight loss drugs, whatever in order to be healthy and it's just not true.

[00:04:09] Today we're going to be digging into principle number one of intuitive eating, which is called ditch the diet mentality.

[00:04:17] So the whole idea behind this principle is to help us uncover the surprising truth. Y'all it's surprising about dieting and weight loss.

[00:04:27] I will tell you for my own personal experience, I felt personally tricked and really angry after I realized the lies that I believed that I needed these weight loss tools

[00:04:42] that I needed my weight or my body to look a certain way. And that these things that I was doing, the calorie counting, the restricting, the overexercising, all of those things were actually

[00:04:55] doing more harm to my body. They were harming me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They were doing more harm than they were doing good in my life.

[00:05:06] So let's kind of go back to the beginning. Where does this term diet come from?

[00:05:11] So before the 1900s, the term diet referred to the total amount of food and drink consumed. But in the early 1900s, the term diet came to mean a restricted food intake to lose weight or change the physical physique of a person.

[00:05:28] I'm going to put a link in the show notes to kind of to a little article that kind of goes into the history of dieting and different diets that came out. And when they all started in different diet books. So if you want to go check out and learn a little bit more about how diets came into to being and how we kind of got to this place of

[00:05:49] dieting, meaning weight loss and needing to change that physical appearance. You can find that at that link. But I want to start out by really digging into what dieting is how we define it in today's culture because unfortunately I don't think many of us, especially those that are around my age and their 30s and 40s and even younger.

[00:06:11] They don't believe that they're dieting. They call it something else in their heads. They've been tricked into believing that things disguised as like healthy eating and these meal plans and these lifestyles or they're their counting macros or they're illuminating illuminating man having a tough time saying this word today, eliminating gluten or dairy and it's not due to any sort of allergy or intolerance.

[00:06:39] They're eliminating whole food groups. Like how many people do I come across these days are like I'm giving up sugar.

[00:06:45] And and we're starting to see like these these influencers are influencers in the so called health gurus talking about how like we can't even eat fruit anymore because that's too much sugar.

[00:06:57] Right, but things like that and cleanses and detoxes and eating clean like guys they all operate with the same M.O.

[00:07:07] Their goal is to have you restrict and deprive in hopes of helping you lose weight and just diet the diet industry, the weight loss industry just like repackages all these things into new pretty paper telling us it's a different gift.

[00:07:26] But here's the truth. If you are intentionally eliminating or restricting foods or the amount of food aside from what is necessary due to any food allergies or intolerance is, but if you're eliminating or restricting or using some sort of supplement or product or weight loss drug with the goal of losing weight or changing your body appearance then you are dieting.

[00:07:52] Hey, if you're like even if weight loss is not your goal but you're eliminating or restricting foods because you think it's a healthier way to eat you are still dieting.

[00:08:06] Like this is what dieting is so even if you don't believe that you are actually dieting if you are doing any of these things, you are dieting.

[00:08:14] And as for weight loss like I understand you may want or think that you need to lose weight in order to be healthy. You've been told that somewhere along the way maybe from a doctor maybe from a loved one maybe from just comparing your body to somebody else's but it has become the focus of so many of our lives for far too long.

[00:08:36] Research shows that there are several more reliable determinants of health than weight or BMI.

[00:08:44] It is more important for us to focus on building healthy habits that promote your overall well being. And when we do this and we can focus on building these healthy habits and we are focused on gentle nutrition and joyful movement and making peace with food and no longer restricting or eliminating.

[00:09:05] When we are just eating because food is food and it nourishes our body and it's supposed to taste good and we are not hyper focused on trying to control this or change our body here in any way, I promised you.

[00:09:18] Like I will promise you and I will guarantee you that if you were to go down this path of intuitive eating and embracing this intuitive eating lifestyle in this faith led wellness lifestyle your body will settle into its natural healthy weight.

[00:09:33] And your natural healthy weight is where your body is working effectively and efficiently.

[00:09:39] But the hardest part of letting you get into that natural healthy weight is learning to let go of what you think that number on the scale should be.

[00:09:50] And instead learning to trust God's good design of your body to determine what your healthy weight is.

[00:09:57] So you know where did things go wrong like how did we become a society that is so preoccupied with trying to be as skinny as possible.

[00:10:08] So we talked about how the term diet in the early 1900s really shifted to this idea of weight loss and changing that physical appearance.

[00:10:18] But even before that we had this invention of what we now called diet and wellness culture and somewhere along the way, the diet and wellness culture hijacked the terms health and wellness and began to condition us to believe that being healthy meant losing weight that being healthy meant being out of certain BMI or a certain number on the scale.

[00:10:43] And so what really is this diet and weight loss culture and what it is it's a set of beliefs and behaviors that kind of operate under these these four things first it worships thinness and equates it to health beauty and our moral or moral virtue.

[00:11:00] And we'll get into that a little bit more, but it worships than this and it equates health and beauty and your moral virtue with a certain number on the scale or certain BMI.

[00:11:10] It also promotes weight loss as a means of achieving a higher status. What this means is that it's telling you that if you lose weight, you will be happier, you will be richer, you will have a better lifestyle, you will get the big house, the fancy car yada yada yada.

[00:11:27] I mean guys just go look at commercials and the people that are in the commercials and what these like luxury brands are trying to this image they're trying to portray and look at the people who they have.

[00:11:39] In these commercials right it's saying that if we look a certain way and our bodies are a certain way that we can be this I don't know person who achieves higher status.

[00:11:51] And whatever that looks like, whatever higher status means to you and whatever it's just this picture right of this better life that seems so unattainable to any of us if we don't lose this weight.

[00:12:06] And the culture also demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others and we're going to dig into this one a little bit more and we can kind of see how this is played out over different generations, but it's saying that eating certain foods or eating a certain way is bad.

[00:12:24] If you eat this or eat this or follow this diet then it's good you're okay.

[00:12:31] And then lastly it oppresses people who don't match up to that unrealistic unattainable, unachievable definition of health or beauty.

[00:12:45] So consequently what diet and wellness culture has done in our lives is it's made us spend most of our lives thinking that we're broken or that there's something wrong with us because we can't meet that societal ideal of beauty or health.

[00:13:01] Yeah, we try real hard with every diet and every weight loss thing we tried to go on.

[00:13:07] We are trying to meet the societal ideal of beauty or health and when we can't we feel like a failure, we feel like there's just something wrong with us like am I ever going to figure this out.

[00:13:18] The diet and wellness culture has conditioned us to believe that our worth, our value and our dignity is related to our ability to lose weight or look a certain way.

[00:13:32] Even if we have a really strong faith it still doesn't keep the enemy from making us believe that our body has to look a certain way in order to be successful or in order to do God's will.

[00:13:44] This is evident by the number of times we put things off in life, the number of times we have a dream that we don't go after the number of times that we tell ourselves you know all do that i'll take that vacation all go on that retreat I'll do you know this that are the other thing when I lose this amount of weight or when my body looks this certain way.

[00:14:05] It's always surprising to me when I'm around women that I know have strong such a strong faith and just to be a part of these conversations and to just still hear how hyper focus they are on what they're eating and believing they need to lose weight.

[00:14:25] The way that they speak about themselves like belittling themselves or their abilities to be able to do something solely based on their weight or body appearance i'm not going to lie it really makes me sad and it makes me sad because I was that person before too.

[00:14:42] I did the exact same thing.

[00:14:45] Diating and weight loss caused me to believe so little about myself or what I could offer in this world.

[00:14:55] But this is how the world views you, this is not how God sees me and it's not how God sees you.

[00:15:03] We have to shifter identity away from the standards of the world and learn to tether it to God and his love for us.

[00:15:11] This diet and weight loss culture wreaks havoc on so many areas of our lives especially our emotions.

[00:15:20] It does so much emotional damage food has become like this moral measuring stick that keeps us like so hyper focused on food and it takes up so much of our mental space.

[00:15:35] We start to believe that we're a good person if we eat this food or we're a bad person if we eat that food like if we deserve it man i'm so bad i was so bad today how many times do we walk around saying that like after we've eaten something that doesn't fall within like the.

[00:15:52] Okay approved list of foods from again diet and wellness culture that just kind of makes this stuff up.

[00:15:59] Right how many times have you said, can i was so bad today because I ate this and what happens when when we do not it leaves us feeling guilty or ashamed and it distracts us from the pleasure and satisfaction of eating and the gift that the food we have is.

[00:16:18] We see this right over the last few decades we have seen foods become demons they become so demonized and and how did it as being so bad for us it feels like every week we get a new conflicting message about what we quote unquote should be eating.

[00:16:38] Like right now in today's society sugar is the enemy, but I want you to think back just a few years ago when it was fat that was bad for us.

[00:16:48] Like go back to the 1990s and all like the low fat snack well doubles food cake diet foods that were out there.

[00:16:58] And let's not forget all the drama surrounding eggs.

[00:17:03] Is eating eggs bag for me is it eating eggs good for me like there was just so much drama around eggs but this is what happens with diet and wellness culture it keeps us so confused and jumping from this thing to that thing and worried about am I doing this right like.

[00:17:19] It just becomes so difficult to keep up with and it reeks havoc on us emotionally it wreaks havoc on us physically.

[00:17:30] It gives us this sometimes it can give us this like.

[00:17:36] It kind of causes us to like pin one of us like want each of each of us against each other right it becomes a point of comparison and judgment it can give us this like holier than now complex.

[00:17:47] It makes us believe that we are a better person if we eat a certain way or if we have this willpower to give up certain foods and then in the same moment promotes us judging others for what they're eating and how they look.

[00:18:00] When the truth is that no one food no one nutrient has the power to make you healthy or unhealthy despite all of that nutrition noise that you hear on a daily basis.

[00:18:11] Because the reality is y'all there is no such thing as a picture of health you can't determine a person's health status based on their physical or outward appearance alone.

[00:18:26] But yet we continue to judge ourselves and we judge others based on how their body looks believing that they must be quote unquote sinning in the form of gluttony if they look a certain way.

[00:18:39] Despite this black and white way of thinking that overweight and obesity is presented in our current health care society in our culture.

[00:18:50] Our weight status influence is influenced by numerous factors not just nutrition, not just what is consumed and it cannot be solely correlated to the number of calories consumed.

[00:19:02] And therefore we can't explicitly imply or believe that any person that is overweight or obese is unhealthy just because of their outward physical appearance.

[00:19:16] Just in the same manner that we can't say a skinny person is healthy just because they look skinny.

[00:19:21] You got to go on the inside y'all it's the habits, the mental emotional and spiritual health of a person that is just as important in determining a person's health status.

[00:19:30] So it is an injustice to us all to assume that our physical appearance, our physical health alone.

[00:19:39] Is what we use to typically define and determine our health and well being.

[00:19:47] I just say it kind of reminds me of how lepers reviewed at the time that Christ walked the earth.

[00:19:53] So at that time lepercy was associated with sinning and that this person was being punished by God because of their sins.

[00:20:01] And so people treated them with disdain, they avoided them, they judged them for what wrong they must have done.

[00:20:09] Well, we had the fairies very Pharisees that viewed themselves as righteous and doing everything right.

[00:20:16] And so they believe that they were favored by God and they looked down upon the lepers.

[00:20:21] And y'all as terrible as it is, we are still doing much the same thing with the judgment of other people's physical appearance or what they are or are not eating.

[00:20:33] It's like this classic case of cleaning the outside of the cup but not the inside of the cup.

[00:20:39] I was talking with a friend about this yesterday, just this idea of I was running it by her.

[00:20:45] Like is it too much to say that how we view people's bodies today is kind of like how we tell the lepers were judged by their appearance and whatnot?

[00:20:53] She's like, you know, no not really because it's all about what we have put our moral compass into.

[00:21:01] And when it comes to health and wellness, our current moral compass are these societal standards that promote health and wellness and beauty by weight loss and this physical appearance.

[00:21:18] When the reality is that is a false moral compass, it's a false moral compass in terms of our health.

[00:21:25] We cannot say that those principles, the societal expectations that we're currently currently experiencing with relation to weight and needing to look a certain way, we cannot determine that that is what determines our health.

[00:21:38] We can't keep putting like our hope in that because it's a false it's a false idol. It's a false sense of what makes us good and bad because it doesn't line up.

[00:21:51] It's not holding up to to God's divine truth. Like now we know that Christ came and he turned all those beliefs upside down about the lepers, about the tax collectors, about the sinners.

[00:22:04] So it's time that we turn our beliefs about dieting and weight loss upside down to because things are definitely not what they seem.

[00:22:14] I'm like going to give you a bone here and I'm going to say, okay, yes, diets can work to a certain extent.

[00:22:21] You can follow a diet, you can follow a meal plan, whatever it is that you're doing and you can lose weight.

[00:22:28] But don't forget what happens every single time after that. How many times have you gone on a diet or weight loss plan and you've lost weight, but then you end up regaining that weight back.

[00:22:44] And sometimes your weight ends up settling at a number higher than what it was when you first started dying to feel research shows that 95% of diets fail.

[00:22:56] And they don't work for the long term and the way that like the dieting industry defines long term successes, like if you keep the weight off for two to five years and they consider that success.

[00:23:07] But what ends up happening and what happened what happens like two thirds of the time is that people end up gaining all the weight back that they lost and then some they end up at a higher weight than where they started.

[00:23:20] But when we are experiencing this, what happens is we end up blaming ourselves for that weight that weight gain that weight regain.

[00:23:29] You tell yourself that you didn't have the willpower or the discipline to stick with it, but the truth is is that your body was not created for dieting.

[00:23:39] And we'll get more into that into the next episode when we talk about principle to honoring your hunger, but God did not design your body to diet the way diet and wellness culture is making us believe that it is like our bodies do not handle restriction very well.

[00:23:59] Our biology takes over and it is not you that is the failure, it is not your lack of willpower does not a lack of discipline. It was the system because diets are not sustainable.

[00:24:14] The average diet lasts about four weeks for women and six weeks for men and it only provides short term success with no long term benefits.

[00:24:24] Research shows that no one can sustain that intentional weight loss for more than just a few years.

[00:24:33] And so what happens is that we believe that we did something wrong like we went on this diet, we lost some weight, we regained it and we're like, okay I got to start over again.

[00:24:43] I got to do something different. I didn't do this right and so we end up getting stuck on this weight cycling loop.

[00:24:49] And we're going round and round it's like a terrible carnival ride, you're doing the same thing over and over again and it all starts with desire to lose weight.

[00:24:59] So you find the next diet you find the next meal plan like whatever you're calling it these days and at first you have some success things are going well.

[00:25:08] But then that restriction becomes so severe, the deprivation kicks in and then your biology takes over.

[00:25:16] You experience increased cravings and so then your self control starts to go out the window and you wind up giving in.

[00:25:25] Remember not because of lack of willpower because your body needs the calories, it needs that energy in order to survive in order to function in order to keep you alive.

[00:25:36] But when our biology takes over we can get to this point where we lose control and we likely end up overeating because there's also a mental component of deprivation and restriction that we will definitely get into.

[00:25:51] But because you're approaching eating as an all or nothing, you wind up regaining any of that weight you lost your mad at yourself.

[00:25:59] You're disappointed that you just can't seem to figure this out you're ashamed of your body you just want to lose weight and the cycle starts all over again with some new plan.

[00:26:11] So when you hear it this way right that this cycle that just keeps going over and over and over.

[00:26:16] Can we agree that this seems pretty futile?

[00:26:20] To just keep doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same results all of these diet and weight loss plans operate the same way with unsustainable restriction and deprivation again they're just repackaged in pretty paper and they call themselves something different.

[00:26:40] We get our hopes up we think this will be the thing.

[00:26:45] But it doesn't work in the long run and it's a system that's broken it's not you.

[00:26:53] So then why do we keep coming back? Why do we keep seeking the next diet seeking the next weight loss plan?

[00:27:04] Especially if we can reasonably see that we've been a victim to this weight cycling over and over again.

[00:27:09] Like why do we continue to jump on board with every new program that comes across our feed?

[00:27:16] And here's the thing I think deep down our desires and our reasons for wanting to lose weight really come from a good place.

[00:27:29] We want to be healthy. We want to feel confident we want to be accepted and loved.

[00:27:39] But we're placing these hopes enough false idol provided by made up constantly changing societal standards.

[00:27:49] The way that we approach these desires and what we think will help us achieve them is what is the disordered part.

[00:27:58] It's causes to become overly focused on our weight or physical appearance and obsessing about what we eat.

[00:28:05] When none of that is really necessary to achieve true authentic health because true authentic health doesn't have a vanity metric.

[00:28:17] What defines our health status is way more than weight BMI and physical appearance.

[00:28:22] As far as physical health goes blood work, lab work and biomarkers give a much better indication of health status because of understanding what's going on inside the body despite what the outside of the body looks like.

[00:28:35] But more than that it's the combination of your behaviors your habits your attitudes your emotions and how we're caring for ourselves in all areas of our wellness.

[00:28:47] And what's happening on the inside is way more important than anything on the outside says.

[00:28:57] So how do we start to ditch this diet culture mentality?

[00:29:02] I'm going to share with you five ways, five things that you can start to do to break free from the whole that diet culture and weightless culture has on you.

[00:29:14] These are the five things that really helped me when I was getting started on this journey.

[00:29:19] It takes some time, it takes some practice, but you all remember it's a journey we're not here for the quick fix we're here for that long term sustainable commitment.

[00:29:27] So number one place your identity and worth in God, not external societal standards and ideas.

[00:29:34] So you do this by taking some time to evaluate what standards you are using to measure your worth and identity.

[00:29:41] Are you more concerned with vanity metrics?

[00:29:45] I will admit, I was for a good part of my life.

[00:29:48] I worried about how I looked what people said about my body the number or the size of the clothes that I was buying.

[00:29:56] But I'm here to tell you these are fleeting and ever changing. I really believe that close manufacturers like change the size of things and what they fit because it seems like every few years, it's like I have to go up a size and close and then the next few years I have to go down a size of clothes and I can say the all like I achieved that healthy normalize weight where my body isn't changing all the time.

[00:30:22] So to me guys the closer changing it's a way that the clothing industry keeps us coming back for more and taking more of our money.

[00:30:30] Again, my beliefs but they're fleeting and they'll only bring you disappointment in the long run because they become unsustainable.

[00:30:39] But when you place your identity and your worth in God, God does not change and he doesn't constantly change the standards on you.

[00:30:48] He doesn't say well now you need to do this in order to be loved by me or now you need to do this in order to be accepted. He doesn't change, he does not change the standards.

[00:30:58] Number two, you need to recognize the damage that dieting and weight loss efforts have caused in your life.

[00:31:05] How is it harmed you physically, mentally, emotionally?

[00:31:11] What has dieting held you back from? What have you put on hold in your life waiting until you lost the weight?

[00:31:21] What memory is and life experiences has it tainted because you didn't like your body or you didn't achieve the weight loss before that big event?

[00:31:31] How does it affect the way you see yourself?

[00:31:36] How does it affect your daily life? Are you preoccupied and so concerned about how you look, what your body looks like, what the number on the scale says, what you're going to eat that is distracting you from the really important things in life?

[00:31:55] Number three, identify your diet culture beliefs and how they compare to God's divine truth.

[00:32:03] He cares more about the state of your soul than the number on the scale or what your physical body looks like.

[00:32:11] And in my own experience, many of those diet culture beliefs I was living my life by were nothing more than lies from the enemy that were keeping me away from God, that were keeping me from believing that I wasn't worthy enough to do his will.

[00:32:28] Are you experiencing the same thing?

[00:32:32] Number four, increase your self awareness and self knowledge. Become a student of your mind and your body to increase your dependence on your God given internal wisdom.

[00:32:43] The language of your body, understanding your thoughts are they Christ centered? Are you being able to connect and listen to the Holy Spirit versus the external knowledge and influence by all of the outside noise?

[00:32:57] God designed your body and he designed it to know what it means, but our reliance on external knowledge has distorted our ability to respond to those inner signals that alert us to our physical and emotional needs.

[00:33:13] Number five, this is a big one, y'all. Treat yourself with grace and compassion just as Christ would.

[00:33:20] This is a journey of healing and practice. You will make mistakes, you will want to try the next new diet I promise you it'll come back up there will be challenges but I want you to remember that God is with you.

[00:33:35] And one of the scariest things you can do is surrender your health to God.

[00:33:42] Trust me, I know that you're at this place where you're curious about intuitive eating. You're curious can you leave the diet behind your curious.

[00:33:52] Can I healed my relationship with food in my body?

[00:33:58] But you're also worried about what will happen if you don't follow a diet ever again, if you don't count every calorie or workout every day.

[00:34:08] I know that you're worried that you won't be able to stop eating. You think that gosh, if I give myself permission to eat the foods that I want, I'll never be able to stop and that you'll gain a crazy amount of weight.

[00:34:22] But you have to be kind to yourself and let go of that control anxiety and worry because it's coming up right now from spending most of your life beating yourself up blaming yourself for failing at weight loss.

[00:34:36] And it was really the system that was broken, not you or your body.

[00:34:41] And I can promise you that if you learn to embrace an intuitive eating approach, your body will normalize out of weight that's healthy for you.

[00:34:51] The weight that your body designed by Christ is supposed to be at.

[00:34:57] I promise you that you will be able to stop eating the foods that you don't think you can trust yourself around.

[00:35:05] You'll be able to keep the Oreos or whatever in the pantry without like needing to sneak them and they'll sit there for months, which has probably never happened before in your life.

[00:35:14] That was pretty awesome when it happened for me.

[00:35:19] It's a profoundly different approach to eating.

[00:35:23] It's one that still very much emphasizes and embraces the importance of nutrition.

[00:35:27] It's not saying like go eat burgers and fries and shakes and cookies and ice cream and yada yada all day.

[00:35:34] Like in fact, I just want to point that out because I saw this on my Instagram feed the other day and it was like,

[00:35:39] like a weight watchers dessert and it was supposed to be like cherry cheese cake. And so I was telling you how to make this like weight watcher approved cherry cheese cake.

[00:35:46] And then you put them in these individual cups, you have them at night.

[00:35:49] When I was in the throws of dieting and weight loss,

[00:35:54] I had some sort of dessert every single night, some sort of diet approved dessert every single night because that was like what I had permission to have.

[00:36:03] Now that I don't follow any particular diet that I have embraced this intuitive eating lifestyle,

[00:36:10] I go weeks, months, not months, probably not months, but I can go weeks several days in a row without having any sort of sweet or dessert.

[00:36:23] And I'm not interested in that.

[00:36:25] I want you to think about that because I find it really interesting that when I was actually dieting it actually promoted me eating more of desserts and things like that versus now,

[00:36:35] when I don't follow that really strict diet that I'm not eating those things, I find it interesting.

[00:36:41] Right? But that's the whole point of intuitive eating.

[00:36:43] It gives you the freedom and the power to determine what win and how you eat based on your individual preferences and how your body responds to food.

[00:36:52] It's a highly individualized process, which looks different for each person.

[00:36:57] But the bottom line is that intuitive eating coupled with our faith based wellness,

[00:37:03] it can promote your total well being through the healing of your mind, body and soul.

[00:37:10] I want that for you so, so much. And so I hope that you're finding the things that we're talking about here in the podcast really helpful to at least start to help you think about things from a different way,

[00:37:21] a different perspective start to get curious and start to maybe understand some of these surprising truth like I told you it was very surprising for me,

[00:37:29] especially because I went to school the study nutrition and this was never part of our curriculum.

[00:37:34] I went to school to teach people how to be on calorie prescriptions. And then I found intuitive eating and I was like, whoa, nobody ever told me that there was another option out there.

[00:37:43] So, you know, I just want to say I'm having so much fun doing it. It's been so fun, you know, with these first five episodes and now getting this one out there,

[00:37:51] the kids have my kids have had so much fun with it. It's fun because I'm picking them up from school and they know about I've launched a podcast and we've talked about it.

[00:37:59] And so I pick them up from school and my youngest is like, mom are you famous now? It's like, well no, I'm not famous. And I was like, why do you want me to be famous?

[00:38:07] Just like because then you'll be cool. So it's like, okay, well, I guess I'm not cool. But then we had to have a whole conversation about you don't have to be famous to be cool.

[00:38:16] So good teaching them what's going on there. And then my middle one, he's so cute. He was like, mom, so how many lovers do you have on your podcast?

[00:38:25] And so, you know, like when you can follow or you can like heart and like things, he called them lovers. So guys, I would love to become a lover of my podcast.

[00:38:34] Please go follow, please go subscribe so I can tell my middle one like, I have this many lovers for my podcast but guys it's been so much fun.

[00:38:42] I'm really having a great time being here with you and just sharing this message. And so I've gotten great feedback from some of you talking about how even just a 30 minute episode has really changed your perspective.

[00:38:55] And that's what this is all about. It's about sharing this message, about getting this word out because I am so passionate about it. And I think that it can really be a message of hope for so many women who have struggled, especially being one of those women who struggled myself for so long.

[00:39:10] So I just want to say that I'm so grateful for each of one of you who tunes in and would love for you to share it with other women who you know could benefit from this message.

[00:39:21] So thanks for spending this time with me. I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you back here on the next episode. Take care.