Latest / Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast / 90. Mastering Intuitive Eating During the Holidays

Transcript

90. Mastering Intuitive Eating During the Holidays · Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast

0:00
If you have been listening to the Eat More Carbs podcast, you
0:02
know that Riley and I are both in our running era.
0:04
To make sure that we're properly fueled for training, we're using
0:07
both carbohydrates and Tuba 4. Tuba 4 is an all natural pre
0:10
workout designed to enhance athletic performance through the
0:13
benefits of New Zealand blackcurrant berries.
0:15
Studies have shown these berries to increase vasodilation and
0:19
prime the body to kick start muscle recovery.
0:21
These antioxidant rich berries have a sweet and tangy flavor
0:24
and will level up your performance and recovery.
0:27
Use code Riley for 20% off 20 packs and multi.
0:30
Please serve packs online at twobefore.com.
0:32
This is the Eat More Carbs podcast.
0:39
Hey girlies, it's Jenna here with Riley.
0:41
And today we're going to be talking all about intuitive
0:44
eating. We're going to be talking with a
0:45
very special guest. Before we get into that though,
0:47
as always, Riley, update me on your week.
0:49
What's going on high and low? So both my high and my low have
0:52
to do with my daughter Charlie. If you're a new listener to Eat
0:55
More Carbs podcast, I have a ten month old daughter named
0:58
Charlie. I share a lot about her on my
1:00
Instagram. You'll always see her
1:01
performance plates, but I share a little bit more behind the
1:04
scenes. I share a little bit about my
1:06
journey as a new mom on this podcast.
1:08
Unfortunately, Charlie girl is sick.
1:11
This is kind of our first bout of sickness.
1:14
I know it's so sad. She's like so congested.
1:16
She has an upper respiratory tract infection.
1:18
I have officially become a snot sucker mom.
1:22
I don't know if you've seen on the Internet, but there's this
1:25
like device. It's absolutely disgusting.
1:27
You literally suck the snot out of of your child's nose but it
1:31
is so effective. I never thought I would be here,
1:34
but I am officially team snot sucker.
1:37
OK, this is so funny that you bring this up.
1:38
The first time that I saw somebody do this, I was in an
1:41
airport and I was like, what in the world is that woman doing to
1:45
her child? But then, you know, watching my
1:47
sister have children and watching you have children, I'm
1:50
like, oh, this is like a very effective way to help a sick
1:53
kiddo. So like Team Snot Sucker, that's
1:56
not so funny to say, but all the way because it can help the kid.
1:59
And that's the end of the day. That's what she got to do.
2:02
She absolutely hates it. It is like I'm fighting her
2:04
every single time I'm doing it. But it is so effective.
2:07
It is very, very disgusting. But hey, it works.
2:10
And you know when she's up at 3:00 AM?
2:12
I'm so desperate. So team snot sucker.
2:15
Being a mom though, isn't all bad.
2:17
And my high also has to do with CC officially, said her first
2:21
word. What did she say?
2:23
What? Do you think she said Guess,
2:24
guess, guess, guess. Oh.
2:25
My gosh, I hope she said mom not yet or she went completely off
2:29
the rails and she said dog we. Were worried that she was going
2:33
to say like a certain four letter bad word first because
2:36
Robbie and I are always saying something bad but we we avoided
2:39
that. Thankfully, her first word is uh
2:42
oh. Oh my gosh, that's so cute.
2:45
It is actually a word too, because she kept saying it and I
2:48
Googled it because I was like, does this count as her first
2:51
word? It's so funny.
2:52
She'll be like pushing her little cart and then she'll
2:54
like, hit the wall and she'll go uh oh.
2:57
I don't think she like, like registers yet, like what it
2:59
means. But you know, she just is all
3:01
over the place and being like, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh.
3:03
I'm like, you're my child because that is your first word.
3:06
Oh my gosh, that's so cute. Do you know what your first word
3:09
was? No, I have no idea.
3:11
Do you know what yours was? Yeah, mine was dog.
3:14
So it was. That's awesome.
3:16
The best part about it too is when I was born, like my family
3:19
didn't have a dog but our neighbors did so.
3:21
That was my next question. I was like, did you have a dog
3:23
but you really wanted one? Always been a dog person, you
3:25
just. You're meant for George.
3:27
Exactly. Which is perfect because Milo
3:29
actually has to deal with George, of course, because
3:31
George is always in my high and low as my furry baby.
3:35
But I'm actually gonna share my high first.
3:37
My husband really likes to plan things out.
3:39
We're both kind of big planners and he bought me a brand new
3:42
planner for 2025. It's the first week of December.
3:45
So I'm like very excited about it.
3:47
It's a lot bigger than my current planner, which I have
3:49
like sitting in front of me. And it's like kind of at the
3:51
point where I'm writing in today's that like aren't the
3:54
exact days because it's a smaller planner and I'm so
3:57
excited about my new planner. So thank you, Nolan for my new
3:59
planner and for helping me organize. 20252025 is hopefully
4:03
going to be a big year for RBSN going to be a big year for us.
4:06
So I'm just really looking forward to like planning a
4:08
little bit more, which I know sounds silly, but such a big
4:10
high, my low. This is like more of like a
4:13
funny story with George and then it is a low but I feel like I
4:15
have to share. So I had to work its way in here
4:17
somehow. So when we lived in Ohio, my
4:20
husband decided that every time he fed George dinner, he was
4:23
going to play Hips Don't Lie by Shakira.
4:26
Why? Why that song?
4:27
I don't know, you could ask Nolan, but he's probably be
4:29
like, because it's fun. So anyway, George got used to
4:32
when he would hear Hips Don't Lie by Shakira.
4:33
That meant it was dinner time. And we probably did that for
4:37
about, I don't know, maybe three or four months.
4:40
But like, this was when we lived in Ohio.
4:41
So like over a year and a half ago when we moved to Arizona, we
4:44
did not carry that tradition forward.
4:46
But my husband on Sunday was making dinner.
4:49
And when he makes dinner, he likes to like play music and
4:51
like have a good time with it. But he just has his like
4:53
playlist on shuffle. And because Spotify is like
4:56
radio plays, like songs that you have frequently listened to or
5:00
songs that you've liked in the past, all of a sudden Shakira's
5:03
Hips Don't Lie comes on and George immediately is like, it's
5:07
dinner time. Like we've Pavlov, our dog into
5:09
knowing that when he hears Shakira's Hips Don't lie, it's
5:12
dinner time. It is nowhere close to like the
5:14
time that George usually has dinner, but he hears the song
5:16
and he's like, this is it Like I go to my spot?
5:18
Like I know that like, I'm getting fed.
5:20
My poor dog has been Pavloved into Shakira's hips.
5:23
Don't lie me, it's dinner time. Such a good boy now.
5:26
I'm always gonna think about George when I hear that song
5:28
now. Yeah, exactly.
5:29
Yeah, you can't hear it and not think of George.
5:31
So what a great connection, Shakira, don't lie in my dog.
5:35
If you're new to the Eat More Carbs podcast, Riley and I are
5:37
both currently training for half marathons.
5:39
My half marathon is in January. Riley's is a little bit later,
5:42
early springtime, but we're giving training updates of where
5:44
we are in our training progress, keeping you guys updated on how
5:47
things are going. So Riley, what's training look
5:49
like for you in this first week of December?
5:51
I don't know how you are planning your training, but in
5:54
the past I have really enjoyed the like Hal Higdon plans.
5:58
I don't know if you've seen those on the Internet.
5:59
They're free plans. He actually has a really amazing
6:02
app. It's a free app.
6:03
Have you seen his app? Yeah, I like live under a rock,
6:05
obviously. But I have now found out that he
6:07
does have an app because before I was, you know, pasting
6:10
everything out, I was writing things down.
6:11
I am old school. I also have a planner, so all of
6:14
my runs were going into my planner.
6:15
But he has an app now. It makes it way easier.
6:17
You can also put in the race that you're training for, the
6:20
time that you're currently running for, and then the time
6:23
that you want to complete your race in.
6:25
So I'm working on preparing for my next 12 week plan through
6:29
that app. So I'm currently just doing like
6:31
a 28 day base training plan and that is starting this week.
6:35
So I'll be running a couple times per week.
6:37
I've shared in the past that I want to get faster so I have
6:40
incorporated a lot more speed training into my workout.
6:42
So we'll do 2 interval runs this week.
6:45
I'll also do like a easy zone to run.
6:47
I'm never in zone 2 but hey I'm trying.
6:49
And then I'll also do a longer run this week, about 8 miles.
6:52
That sounds perfect. Yeah, I'm excited.
6:54
Training can be so fun. It can be so.
6:56
Fun and I think this app makes it like really easy and I have
6:59
had a lot of people like reach out to me asking like what I
7:02
used to train for my last and also like if I have any
7:04
recommendations for them. So if you are new to running or
7:07
if you are just looking for a training plan, I really
7:10
recommend that run with how obviously again, I live under a
7:13
rock. I just figured it out, but now
7:14
you don't have to live under a rock and you can utilize that to
7:17
train for your next half. What about you Jenna?
7:18
Where are you right now when you're training?
7:20
So it's December now, my race is in early mid January so things
7:24
are kind of coming like closer and closer every day which seems
7:27
crazy. I'll run in total about 24 miles
7:29
this week. So 2 shorter runs, a middle
7:32
distance and then a longer one on the weekend, which is usually
7:34
when my long run comes in. That's kind of the plan for
7:37
overall mileage of the week. Obviously things might change as
7:40
far as if I'm going to do four or five or you know, split it,
7:42
something like that just based on how things are going.
7:44
Because I run all of my runs outside.
7:47
I don't like to run in the dark and I always run with someone.
7:49
So that way I'm just like thinking about safety.
7:51
So those are the things that kind of variable for me this
7:53
week. I'm very excited for my race.
7:55
I've shared before it's kind of party pace.
7:56
We're doing it with my brother, running with a group, all good
7:59
things. I cannot believe that it's like
8:01
in six weeks. I can't believe it's just
8:03
December. I can't believe, like you know,
8:04
2025 is coming up so quickly. I know Charlie's one year
8:08
birthday will be right around your race.
8:10
So it is. It is flying by.
8:12
Yes, I'm sure even more so for you as a new mom.
8:15
I feel like people say like some of the days are long but then
8:18
the years are short and I definitely resonate with that
8:21
right now. As we kind of round out the year
8:23
of 2024, we have some holidays towards the end of the month
8:25
here and I know that's really exciting, but it also can be a
8:28
little bit stressful for some people.
8:29
So this week we have Bonnie on she's Diet Culture Rebel on
8:33
Instagram. If you're familiar with her
8:35
account, her account is fantastic, but she's gonna be
8:37
talking today all about intuitive eating.
8:39
She's gonna be talking about diet culture and all those kind
8:41
of things that maybe can help us navigate the holiday season a
8:44
little bit better. We're so excited to have Bonnie
8:46
on and we hope you enjoy this episode.
8:48
Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me.
8:51
I'm super excited to be here today.
8:53
We're so excited to chat with you kind of all things intuitive
8:56
eating, food freedom, all that good stuff today.
8:58
Before we do though, can you just share a little bit about
9:00
like your background, how you got into like the space of
9:02
intuitive eating? Yeah, so I'm a registered
9:04
dietitian and I became a dietitian in 2016.
9:10
So it's wild that it's already been that long.
9:13
I became a dietitian. I think similar to how a lot of
9:16
dietitians come across this path, my own struggles with
9:19
food. So I struggled with a lot of
9:21
like disordered eating tendencies.
9:23
And so I think my disordered obsession with food drove me to
9:27
this field at first, but then also my desire to help people
9:31
heal from the same kind of struggles with food.
9:33
And then I had some women in my family who struggled with some
9:36
really similar things. So ultimately, that's what
9:39
brought me here. And then like many other
9:41
dietitians, I got a little lost along the way and I got a little
9:47
seeped back into diet culture. And I hate to say it, but I
9:51
pushed weight loss for a little bit.
9:52
And this is going to go against everything with the name of your
9:54
podcast, but I specifically had a low carb approach.
9:58
It's very hard for me to say that, but it's the truth.
10:01
And I feel like I have to stand up for myself and say I was
10:03
never keto or anything like that.
10:05
It was just low carb. So even though I was pulled in
10:08
the diet culture, I was not that far in.
10:11
Since then, you know, years ago, I've really shifted, changed my
10:15
approach because I realized that what I was doing really wasn't
10:18
helpful. I realized it was harming
10:20
clients and that I didn't want to do this kind of work with
10:23
them. When they came to me with their
10:24
struggles like binge eating, food, obsessive thoughts, like
10:28
what I was doing, I just felt like was making everything
10:29
worse. And I just felt so conflicted
10:32
internally. I came upon the intuitive eating
10:34
book I read. It really resonated with me.
10:36
It's like spoke to my entire life experiences.
10:39
I feel like, and this is, you know, stuff that we aren't
10:41
taught in school. So I furthered my training,
10:44
became a certified intuitive eating counselor, dove deep into
10:47
a lot of other books and resources, sources about
10:49
intuitive eating in an anti diet, weight inclusive approach
10:51
to nutrition, and ultimately pivoted and then built the brand
10:54
that I have today, which I feel really good and epically aligned
10:59
with. And I'm excited to show up every
11:01
single day as a dietitian doing the work that I'm doing now.
11:04
And it just feels so much better to feel this way with work as
11:08
opposed to how I felt years ago. I think it's incredible that
11:12
you're able to come on a podcast like the Eat More Carbs podcast
11:15
and share that because so many dietitians do really go through
11:18
that kind of like turmoil post becoming a dietitian with like,
11:22
is this ethically what I'm aligned with?
11:23
Is this aligned with like my clients, my goals and like
11:26
what's actually right and helpful?
11:27
And most of us don't like to admit that.
11:29
Most of us don't like to admit that we struggled post becoming
11:31
a dietitian. We like to talk about how we
11:33
struggled before becoming a dietitian and then like poof,
11:36
magically, like we were healed too.
11:38
And that's not always the case. So thank you for sharing that
11:40
because I think that's so important to like recognize that
11:43
we still struggle and we still go through like changes of mind,
11:46
changes of heart within and throughout our career.
11:49
So thank you for sharing that. Yeah.
11:50
I think that's so important to highlight.
11:52
I think there's so much growth that we can have as dietitians
11:55
and only experience can really get you there.
11:58
And I think just working with clients teaches you more than a
12:00
textbook ever will. We do hear the terms though,
12:03
like food freedom and intuitive eating a lot right now.
12:06
But what does that really mean? What does that mean to you?
12:09
I think everyone will define food freedom differently, so I
12:13
just want to point that out now. Intuitive eating, there's a
12:15
whole entire framework for intuitive eating.
12:17
So while people will define it different, like it's actually a
12:19
practice, there's a whole book written about it.
12:21
So when you really look into it, you can find that it means
12:24
something. There's like a whole book
12:26
written with principles and practices.
12:28
So as a dietitian and a certified intuitive eating
12:31
counselor, like if I could breakdown what intuitive eating
12:34
means, I would say is a self-care eating framework and
12:37
it considers the emotional, psychological and physical
12:41
aspects of eating and all of those things, how that can
12:44
impact our food choices and relationship with food.
12:47
It helps you build attunement to your body.
12:49
So get in touch with body cues like hunger, fullness, get in
12:53
touch with your preferences. What foods do you actually
12:55
enjoy, not enjoy? And then get rid of obstacles
12:58
that get in the way of that diet rules, people making deity
13:01
comments that might make you second guess what you are eating
13:06
and ultimately get you to a place where you feel confident
13:09
eating. You feel confident being able to
13:11
make choices that leave you feeling pleasant physically,
13:14
mentally and emotionally. So it's a really cool framework
13:19
and I think that it's so much more complex than what most
13:22
people give it credit for. Now, food freedom, like I said,
13:25
I think people can define that all differently.
13:28
If I could think about my definition, how I would define
13:30
it, I think I would say it's having the freedom to consume
13:35
whatever you'd like with knowing what your body needs.
13:39
I think when people think of food freedom, they think it's
13:41
just like eating whatever you want without regard to how you
13:44
feel physically. And as someone who has IBS, for
13:47
example, like I know that there are certain foods that just
13:50
don't sit well with me. So there are some foods that
13:52
maybe I don't eat or I don't eat much of because I know that they
13:54
don't feel good in my body. But food freedom means that I
13:57
have that freedom to be able to make the choice that's best for
14:01
my body without a diet telling me.
14:03
It's like I am using the knowledge and the attunement
14:06
that I've built with myself to guide all of my food choices,
14:10
and that feels really free to me as opposed to just following
14:13
some crazy diet that's telling me exactly what to eat or not
14:17
eat. That's way too restrictive.
14:18
With our clients and something that we always talk about on
14:20
this podcast, as well as the why behind our food choices.
14:24
And I think that you brought up a really good point there with
14:26
intuitive eating. A lot of people assume that they
14:29
can eat whatever they want all the time.
14:31
It kind of goes back to like the decisions behind why you're
14:33
choosing certain foods. So like, why are you choosing a
14:35
certain food? Just like you said with IBS,
14:37
you're not going to always be choosing certain foods if they
14:40
don't make you feel good. And it's not because you're
14:42
following a diet, but because you are in tune and you've
14:45
practiced food freedom so you know how foods feel within your
14:48
body. Exactly.
14:50
And I think that can be sometimes a little bit confusing
14:52
for people to navigate at first if they're really struggling
14:55
with food. And so just what I want to say
14:57
to someone listening who's maybe feeling that way is that I'm
14:59
holding space for you. And sometimes it's a little bit
15:02
of a guessing game before you can kind of sort it all out.
15:06
But the more that you guess, the more that the signals from your
15:08
body are going to start to mean something and the more that
15:10
you're going to be able to differentiate.
15:11
Like I'm making this choice because it's what's going to
15:14
make me feel pleasant as opposed to like disordered eating or
15:17
diet culture is influencing this choice that I'm making.
15:20
That can be really intimidating for somebody who is coming from
15:23
diet culture or who is coming from a role based eating
15:27
approach. So with intuitive eating, if
15:30
somebody is listening and they're like, wow, you know,
15:32
this sounds really great and this is approach that I want to
15:36
practice. What would be a couple steps or
15:38
I guess what would be your first step or recommendation to help
15:41
somebody start this journey? I think it can feel so
15:44
overwhelming when you first get started here because you realize
15:47
how far you have to go and it can just feel so scary.
15:50
And then you don't have all the answers.
15:52
So please know that overwhelm is normal and you don't have to
15:55
have it all figured out right now.
15:57
I think my first tip would just be to learn more about what
15:59
intuitive eating actually is. You can't really dive into it if
16:02
you don't know what you're diving into.
16:04
So follow accounts on social media of people who practice
16:08
intuitive eating, who actually practice it, not just people who
16:10
#intuitive eating and hashtag food freedom, like registered
16:13
dietitians, people who are intuitive eating counselors.
16:16
Because there's a really big difference with someone talking
16:18
about intuitive eating who's trained in it as opposed to
16:20
someone who's just hashtagging it and saying intuitive eating
16:23
for weight loss or something like that.
16:24
Definitely listen to podcasts, you know, like this podcast,
16:28
other intuitive eating podcasts, I have one, it's called Diet
16:31
Culture Rebel podcast. And just give yourself
16:33
permission to learn. Like don't even put pressure on
16:36
yourself to take action steps just yet.
16:38
Like learn about what it is, learn about the principles,
16:40
learn about how you can apply some practices to your life.
16:43
That's gonna help you just gain like a really good foundation of
16:47
knowledge before you get started.
16:49
And then I think what is really helpful, yet a challenging step
16:53
for a lot of people when they also get started is to reflect
16:56
on your lived experience with dieting.
16:58
I think that this is so eye opening, but it can be really
17:00
important for getting buy in with intuitive eating.
17:03
So I get so many people who come to me and they want to jump into
17:06
fixing their struggles immediately.
17:08
Like help me stop eating when I'm full, help me stop binge
17:10
eating. Help me be able to keep candy in
17:12
the house without thinking about it 24/7 and like going bananas
17:15
on it. And while I wish I could share
17:17
one practice to help resolve all of those things in like a day,
17:22
it's virtually just impossible. So we really have to reflect on
17:25
how our experiences with food, with dieting, with even just
17:29
like what might sound like a moderate calorie deficit, like,
17:31
or a sensible calorie deficit, how that's impacted our entire
17:35
relationship with food. Because then it's going to help
17:38
you gain an understanding as to why you struggle.
17:41
So look at your lived experience.
17:42
How many diets have you done, how they impacted you in the
17:44
long run? And by the long run, I mean like
17:46
over the span of two to five plus years.
17:48
So it's quite possible that maybe you did a diet or you
17:51
decided to cut out sugar or do something like that and you were
17:54
able to do that for a short period of time.
17:56
And maybe it felt good and it was exciting.
17:58
But over years, there were several months, over several
18:01
years, like what happened after that?
18:03
That's when most people will say, well, I got cravings.
18:05
I couldn't stick to it ultimately, like I stopped doing
18:09
whatever way of eating or dieting.
18:10
And then I ended up where I am now.
18:12
So your lived experience can show you that, hey, that's the
18:14
diet cycle for you. And if you go on another diet,
18:17
it's probably gonna end up like, chances are from your lived
18:20
experience, it's going to end up the same way.
18:21
So when we have that knowledge, we can say, OK, well, I can't go
18:24
back to that. So now let me try this intuitive
18:28
eating thing. Like we can have more buy in
18:30
with it. So I think that that is another
18:32
really great step. And then thirdly, I would say
18:35
some type of community, if you can get plugged into a community
18:38
somewhere, it's going to be so helpful because it can feel a
18:41
little bit lonely. It can feel a little bit
18:42
isolating when you are doing this work by yourself.
18:45
And I know we're recording this with the holidays coming up upon
18:48
us and I know this is a really challenging time for so many
18:51
people. Going home, seeing family
18:53
members who are steeped in diet culture, who maybe make
18:55
unhelpful comments about what you eat, how much you eat, your
18:58
body size, it can be really activating really hard for so
19:00
many people. And so when you have a community
19:03
of like minded people that you can at least just talk to and
19:06
get support from, it can really help.
19:08
Whether that's just someone that you can vent to, someone you can
19:11
decompress with, someone you can talk to and have them say you've
19:14
got this, like you're doing the right thing, keep going.
19:16
I'm here for you. I hear you.
19:18
I support you. I think that makes a world of a
19:20
difference. And that's what I love about
19:22
social media these days is that in a world that's so isolating,
19:25
when you do this in real life, like you have your social media
19:28
connections where you can get plugged in with people and like
19:32
you can follow people who are doing the same thing as you and
19:35
supporting you and it's really cool.
19:37
So those would be my tips. That third tip is something that
19:41
is so important because one of the hardest things that I've
19:44
seen with the clients that we work with and the athletes that
19:46
we work with is when people are navigating the with intuitive
19:49
eating or food freedom and just fueling your body properly.
19:52
The comments that others are making can sometimes be the most
19:55
challenging. And I have this conversation
19:58
every single week with multiple clients.
20:00
And it can be so disheartening for somebody who is doing this
20:02
really hard work and they, you know, are so proud of what
20:05
they've accomplished and they go home for the holidays.
20:07
Just like you said, somebody's making a comment on how their
20:10
body looks or the food on their plate.
20:12
And when you're surrounded by others, it can be really, really
20:15
beneficial. Yeah, those comments can really
20:17
get to you. They can be so hard.
20:18
I think that's one of the good things that we can take away
20:20
from social media. Like Riley and I talk about all
20:22
the time, we have such a love hate relationship with social
20:25
media, but like you mentioned, but following accounts that
20:28
align with intuitive eating. I love your Instagram page and
20:31
all the things that you talk about as far as from an
20:33
intuitive eating standpoint, especially around the holidays.
20:36
Like if you aren't already following Bonnie, like we'll
20:38
leave all of her information in the show notes.
20:40
So that way you can, because I think it's such a great way to
20:42
like connect and kind of remind and maybe even like center
20:45
yourself around the idea of like what you are going through and
20:47
what you're trying to accomplish.
20:48
Even if you have family members or friends who don't have the
20:52
best things to say, or maybe even with positive intent, it
20:55
doesn't come out the right way with what they're sharing around
20:58
the holidays in regards to what choices you're making.
21:00
Yeah, community is everything. I think that just says people
21:03
were really like social, you know, social connectedness is
21:06
something that's super important to us.
21:07
So like I have my own personal circle of people that I can turn
21:10
to when I need to with this stuff.
21:12
My husband is like one of the best people.
21:13
I swear. He like, loves and hates the
21:15
fact that he is knowledgeable about this now because he can
21:19
spot diet culture anywhere. Like, we'll be talking to people
21:22
and then he'll just kind of give me the look when he hears them
21:24
say something. And he's like, I don't like
21:25
this. I don't want to notice this
21:28
everywhere. Yeah, it's everywhere.
21:31
Once you learn about it, you see it everywhere.
21:33
It's, like, very pervasive in our culture.
21:35
And that's also why community is important because when you start
21:37
to heal your relationship with food, you literally do see diet
21:40
culture everywhere. So maybe you go home for the
21:42
holidays and you find that it's harder than it's been in the
21:44
past because of all the diet culture comments.
21:46
Those comments have always been there.
21:48
Probably you just maybe weren't as aware of them because you
21:51
hadn't done this healing work yourself.
21:53
And so even though it's frustrating to be around this
21:55
stuff, when you notice diet culture more, it's a really
21:58
great sign of all the progress that you've made with healing
22:02
your relationship with food. I love that approach.
22:04
That's a great way to think about it.
22:06
Yeah, it's annoying, but it does show growth.
22:08
Something that you mentioned earlier that I kind of want to
22:10
circle back to, and I've seen this, I feel like we've all kind
22:13
of seen this grow as the intuitive eating space has
22:16
grown, but something that you mentioned earlier is intuitive
22:19
eating for weight loss. We chat a little bit about that.
22:22
Yeah, I don't even know. I think that sometimes, I guess
22:27
coaches who sell weight loss sometimes just use that hashtag.
22:31
I've seen it on social media. I get it in one sense where it's
22:35
like, you know, people want weight loss.
22:36
I completely understand that. So I think as like a marketing
22:39
tactic, people are like, you know what, I'm sick and tired of
22:42
dieting. I don't want to do that anymore,
22:44
and I still want to lose weight. So here's my answer.
22:47
Like here's this person who says they can help me do intuitive
22:49
eating and lose weight and it's complicated because I want to
22:54
acknowledge the fact that desiring weight loss is
22:57
completely normal and I am not anti anyone who wants to lose
23:01
weight. I'm not anti Dieter.
23:03
I am anti diets. I can acknowledge the harm in
23:05
them, but I don't blame anyone for dieting.
23:07
So I am not anti Dieter and most people want to lose weight.
23:11
It's this the reality of the world that we live in.
23:15
I also like to acknowledge my privilege as someone who has
23:17
always lived in a straight sized body.
23:19
You know, I can't tell you what choice I would make if things
23:22
were different, different for me.
23:23
My hope is that I can help everyone make an informed choice
23:26
as to what is best for your body.
23:29
So this conversation is really complicated, but I think
23:32
ultimately at the end of the day, what's important for the
23:35
listener is to reflect on their own relationship with food,
23:37
reflect on their own history with dieting and see how it's
23:40
impacted you. So really we know from the
23:42
research that intentional weight loss attempts don't work long
23:46
term for the vast majority of people.
23:48
When you go through the whole entire intuitive eating training
23:51
by, like the creators, the authors of Intuitive Eating,
23:54
they clearly state that using intuitive eating specifically
23:58
for intentional weight loss is not part of the approach.
24:00
Like that's not how you ethically practice intuitive
24:02
eating. So to really be trained in it,
24:04
you have to acknowledge that that's not what it's for.
24:07
It's also important to look at how intentional weight loss
24:10
efforts can impact your ability to incorporate intuitive eating
24:14
practices. So intuitive eating is all about
24:16
building attunement to your body, paying attention to the
24:18
direct messages of your body and allowing that to guide what and
24:21
how much you eat, like hunger cues, fullness cues, your
24:23
preferences, how it makes your body feel.
24:25
And The thing is, when we focus on just the weight loss, we kind
24:29
of lose sight of being able to completely listen to our body
24:32
because we might let the scale impact what we choose to eat,
24:36
what we choose to not eat. You see the number is higher.
24:39
You feel bad, you were strict. Sometimes people see the numbers
24:41
higher than they want it to be and then they're like, well,
24:43
screw it, I'm going to aspire, I'm going to lose control.
24:44
Sometimes people see the number is lower and they're like, OK,
24:47
now it's like I've earned food. Or sometimes people see the
24:49
number is lower and they think, wow, OK, I've already done this.
24:52
It's not enough. Let me try for more.
24:53
So the scale and focusing on just weight loss ultimately can
24:57
impact negatively your ability to be an intuitive eater.
25:00
So it's a really complicated conversation.
25:03
We just have to acknowledge what's in your best interest.
25:06
And I'm really big on autonomy and that's why I like to share
25:09
with everyone. Like, what are the consequences
25:11
of dieting? How has dieting negatively
25:13
impacted you and your relationship with food?
25:15
Has it led to weight cycling? The weight loss and gain over
25:17
and over and over and over again?
25:18
Has it led to food guilt, disordered eating, binge eating,
25:21
inability to sense your body cues like like hunger and
25:23
fullness cues? So if we go back to another
25:26
diet, how is that going to help you in the long term?
25:28
And when you look at your lived experience and you can say, I
25:31
see that actually with weight and I hate focusing on weight
25:34
completely. But I think by looking at your
25:35
lived experience with has dieting ever helped you lose
25:38
weight long term past two to five plus years when you can see
25:41
that it hasn't because it doesn't work for the vast
25:44
majority of people without some seriously disordered eating or
25:46
eating disorder behaviors, then you can say, OK, well, it
25:50
doesn't work long term. So the answer isn't for me to do
25:52
another diet, Like even though I have these weight loss desires,
25:55
if I go on another diet, it's not even gonna produce the
25:58
intended results that it's supposed to.
26:00
So it can be really hard to sit with that.
26:02
And to sit with that discomfort is extremely challenging because
26:06
a lot of times when we have those desires for weight loss,
26:08
we hop on a diet and it just kind of makes us feel better in
26:12
the moment. But it usually doesn't make us
26:13
feel better long term. Like it makes us feel like we're
26:15
doing something in the moment, but in the long term, we know
26:17
for most people, it's not sustainable.
26:19
It makes you more guilt or and more obsessed, more out of
26:22
control with food weight cycling again.
26:23
So right, feels good in the moment, harming you in the long
26:26
run. So we really need to look at the
26:27
big picture here. Like where do you want to be in
26:30
the long run? So it's not that us intuitive
26:32
eating dietitians are like, Oh my gosh, intentional weight
26:34
loss. I would never push that I'm
26:35
gatekeeping something. It's that the training and what
26:38
we've learned over the years to ethically practice it doesn't
26:41
align. I think that that bringing up a
26:43
lot of these like myths and misconceptions that there are
26:46
existing around the world of intuitive eating is so
26:48
important, Especially because like if you are in the space or
26:51
understand or see even other creators like talking about
26:54
intuitive eating, a lot of people will misinterpret that
26:57
potentially as like you can just eat cookies and ice cream all
27:00
day long and that's not really what intuitive eating is.
27:02
So can you talk a little bit about like the common myths and
27:05
like misconceptions there are that exist around intuitive
27:08
eating? Yeah, I think that that's
27:09
probably the biggest one, that intuitive eating is just a free
27:12
for all without regard to how you feel physically, mentally or
27:15
emotionally. The number of times I get people
27:17
like sending me a DM and saying I don't think I can do intuitive
27:20
eating because I have insert condition.
27:23
I just want to tell everyone it's possible you can do this.
27:26
Like we pay attention to all of these things.
27:28
We're dietitians who help you get there.
27:30
We're not like anti science based and not wanting to
27:35
incorporate nutrition interventions to manage medical
27:37
conditions and all this stuff. We care about nutrition.
27:40
We care about your overall health and well-being, which is
27:42
why we do this. So I think that's probably the
27:44
biggest myth is that it's just like cookies and Donuts and
27:47
pizza and cake. The unconditional permission
27:50
piece is really important for a lot of parts of intuitive eating
27:54
to come together and for you to truly make peace with food and
27:57
be able to like trust yourself around a lot of foods.
28:00
But when you look at the whole entire framework, you can see
28:02
that making peace with food, which is like, you know, giving
28:05
yourself permission to eat all these foods is one of so many
28:08
principles of intuitive eating. And there's an intuitive eating
28:10
scale. We always use this with our
28:12
clients like a validated assessment scale, meaning this
28:14
is backed by science, backed by research, and it looks at four
28:17
parts of your relationship with food.
28:19
So it looks at various parts of your ability to have
28:22
unconditional permission to eat, like giving yourself permission
28:25
to eat whatever you'd like, not restricting any food groups.
28:28
And then it looks at your reliance on body cues, like
28:31
hunger cues, fullness cues. It looks at your behaviors
28:35
around emotional eating. Are you turning to food a lot
28:37
out of various different emotions?
28:38
Do you feel like you have a lot of coping tools aside from just
28:41
food? And then it also looks at your
28:43
ability to choose like nutrient dense foods for the most part
28:47
that leave you feeling pleasant. And there's a lot of questions
28:49
in each of those categories. We always have our clients fill
28:52
out that whole assessment and then when they're done working
28:54
with us, they fill it out again. And we can see like all of these
28:57
parts of their relationship with food that have improved.
29:00
And all that to say is that there is so much more to
29:04
intuitive eating than just unconditional permission to eat.
29:06
Like I wouldn't have a job as a dietitian doing this if, you
29:09
know, I was just getting clients that come to me and I'm like,
29:12
here, go and eat whatever you want.
29:14
That would be so distressing and so overwhelming for people.
29:17
Like think about your distress level.
29:18
Like whoever is listening to this right now, I want you to
29:20
think about like a food that you just don't trust yourself with
29:24
right now. Like on a scale of one to 10
29:26
with one being not distressing, 10 being highly distressing, how
29:29
distressing would it be for you if you just had like a boatload
29:31
of it in your house right now at all times?
29:34
Most people would probably answer and say that is like
29:37
extremely distressing. I don't even want to go near
29:39
that. So when people think of
29:41
intuitive eating and they think of eating whatever you want,
29:43
like they often think like, Oh my gosh, I need to bring in all
29:45
the foods right now. And that's terrifying.
29:47
That is way too distressing. That's like jumping into the
29:49
deep end of a pool before you know how to swim.
29:51
So I always like to say we don't want to start there.
29:54
We have so many other places we can start to.
29:56
We want to monitor distress. We want to be in touch with
29:58
these signals from our body. Like if this is too terrifying
30:01
for us, we're not there yet. Ultimately, we want to get to
30:03
the place where we do have this true unconditional permission
30:06
with all foods, but we have to slowly work our way up to
30:08
getting there. So I know that was a really long
30:10
winded answer to what you asked me, but big misconception.
30:12
And also, I just feel like I had to talk about the misconception
30:15
that it's like we're just here telling people to go and eat
30:17
every single thing at once. That would be just not a good
30:21
practice at all. There's just so many layers to
30:24
this with intuitive eating. We see it all the time too,
30:27
where somebody can see a snapshot of something that we're
30:29
recommending on social and then they think like, that's the only
30:32
thing, right? Like something that I'm always
30:34
talking about on social is like Gatorade.
30:36
And like how Gatorade is actually something that acid
30:38
should drink. And what happens is I think
30:40
people like take a little piece of that and then they just run
30:43
with it where it's like, oh, she said that I should drink
30:45
Gatorade. Like she wants me to drink
30:46
Gatorade with every single meal. And it's like, no, no, no, no,
30:49
like baby steps, like maybe here, like different things like
30:52
that, but there's just so many layers to all of this.
30:55
It's so funny. I have to remind myself that
30:58
that stuff just happened. So I don't take things
31:00
personally because then I can be like, did I say this somewhere?
31:02
Like did I ever say someone should drink Gatorade 24/7 or
31:06
replace all their water with it? You know, I'm like, did I ever
31:09
make my message come across that way?
31:10
It's just wild, like on social because, you know, I checked my
31:13
stuff. I'm like, oh, it's gonna come
31:14
out this way and then somebody takes it completely different
31:17
and hey, you can't please everybody.
31:19
Yep, exactly, and we just can't control how things land with
31:23
anyone. And we all have our own like
31:25
paradigm that we live in with food, which is just like our
31:27
belief system, right. When you think about like how
31:29
you grew up, everything you heard about food, what your
31:32
parents said, teachers, TV shows you watched, all of that was
31:36
inputs and that shaped your view around food coming into
31:40
adulthood. So when you take in messages
31:42
like this podcast or things that you see on social media, like
31:45
everyone interprets it completely differently.
31:48
And I think that goes for the conversation of health to like
31:50
everyone has a different definition of health.
31:52
And that's a big thing that we do with all of our clients is
31:54
help them like redefine what health and healthy eating even
31:57
means to them. Because everyone has a different
31:59
definition of it. And it's all just based on
32:02
whatever paradigm they're living in with food.
32:04
It sounds like a lot of the work that you do also involves like
32:07
breaking down things that maybe have happened like throughout
32:09
our life and how that kind of accumulates to like our food
32:12
beliefs now. Yeah, totally.
32:15
I think just, it just helps you be able to make sense of things
32:17
and be able to like challenge certain belief systems around
32:19
food. And we like to replace them
32:21
with, you know, like actual factors, nutrition information.
32:24
And I want to make it clear that I'm not like a therapist or
32:27
anything. So I'm not like, oh, let's go
32:28
back to your childhood and talk about this experience with food
32:31
that you had with your mom when you were like five years old.
32:33
We don't do that because that's completely out of our scope of
32:36
practice. And I'm all about staying within
32:38
your scope of practice. But sometimes when we can, like
32:41
make the connections of, OK, This is why I feel this way
32:43
around food or like this person growing up told me that carbs
32:46
were the worst. And I'm learning today that
32:49
like, they benefit my body. All these things like do I want
32:52
to believe this person who told me this years ago, or can I
32:54
accept new information? So that's a lot of what we do
32:57
with our clients. On the topic of carbohydrates,
33:00
we do have a couple ending questions for you, one of them
33:03
being what is your favorite carbohydrate?
33:06
Oh my gosh, I don't know if I've ever been asked this question
33:09
before. Wow.
33:11
I think I will would have to say potatoes.
33:16
I love potatoes in all different forms.
33:20
So French fries, especially regular French fries, sweet
33:23
potato fries, waffle fries, sweet potato waffle fries.
33:27
I like scalloped potatoes, I like baked potatoes, I like
33:31
chips, I like hash Browns. I feel like potatoes are just so
33:36
versatile and they can go with so many different things.
33:40
I also really like ketchup and I feel like all potatoes go really
33:43
well with ketchup. And we have, which is so many of
33:47
our meals that we eat at home are like potato based.
33:50
And my toddler can eat up some sweet potatoes.
33:53
Like I kid you not, he can put some sweet potatoes down
33:56
depending on his mood. He's going through a little bit
33:58
of a picky eating phase. But the recent times that I've
34:01
made like sweet potato fries, I just take a sweet potato and I
34:04
cut it into fry shapes and put like oil on it and salt and
34:06
pepper and roast it. He will just like eat them all.
34:09
It's so cute so. You're a potato girly.
34:12
My sister and I joke about this because I'm not a potato girly
34:16
but like my husband is like into potatoes and like my daughter
34:19
now is like into potatoes. So Jenna, are you a potato
34:22
girly? Because like I can, I can like
34:25
pound some bread, some pasta, like that is actually like my
34:28
kind of scope. But I think it's just
34:30
interesting. Like I feel like you're either a
34:31
potato girly or or you're not, but I don't know.
34:33
I love potatoes, but I also love pasta.
34:36
Like I love all carbs for sure, but like I'm down for potatoes.
34:39
I will say I'm kind of picky with like type of potato because
34:42
like with the holidays coming up, we have like sweet, sweet
34:45
potato dishes and I don't like those.
34:46
I like the savory kind of potatoes.
34:48
So maybe I'm a little bit like picky with the type, but I like
34:51
potatoes. Potatoes are the best.
34:53
Bonnie, what is your favorite pre workout fuel?
34:56
Oh wow, something else I haven't really been asked for a while.
35:01
You know what, I know you 2 are are sports detentions and I
35:07
don't always consider sports nutrition before I'm working
35:11
out. But if I feel like I really need
35:12
like a pick me up, I will just have a be like a piece of candy
35:16
because I feel like that just gives me really quick fuel.
35:19
And right now when I think about things that I eat before I have
35:22
a workout, we just still have a really big bowl of candy or
35:26
Reese's or something, and then that's probably what I will
35:30
have. I thought you were going to say
35:31
nothing and then we were going to have to kick you off the
35:33
puck. No, no.
35:37
Just kidding, but candy actually is.
35:40
It's a great pre workout fuel so I love that.
35:42
When I can work out, I mean, you know, my kids often have other
35:46
plans for me and I have to, the only time I can work out is that
35:49
just the crack of dawn really early.
35:52
And then that's if if they don't also wake up at the crack of
35:56
dawn. I hate to do this to you because
35:58
we've actually 2 hard questions but we have another one.
36:00
This one might also be challenging, but what is your
36:02
favorite post workout fuel? Wow OK well I usually do if I'm
36:09
working out it's just in the morning.
36:11
So I end up just eating breakfast shortly after.
36:14
Like I'll take a shower and get ready for the day, get the kids
36:17
up and then I eat breakfast. So I would say my post workout
36:20
fuel is just like a normal breakfast, which varies for me
36:23
from day-to-day. Sometimes it's oatmeal,
36:25
sometimes it's like toast and eggs.
36:27
It's it's all over the place now.
36:29
Old me when I used to have more flexibility to workout, like
36:33
whenever before I had kids, then if I was working out like in the
36:36
after afternoon, then I would probably have more like a snack
36:38
type thing after a workout, whether that's like a bar or
36:42
like a a piece of toast and peanut butter or something like
36:45
that. But now it's really just
36:46
straight up breakfast. Love that this question might be
36:48
a little bit easier. It might also be harder, but
36:51
don't worry, it has nothing related to fueling or
36:53
carbohydrate. OK it is.
36:55
What is your favorite pair of like shoes or your favorite pair
36:58
of kicks? Oh Oh my, my favorite shoes.
37:02
Let's see, I really like my tennis shoes that are Ortho feet
37:06
brand like for working out because they're supposed to be,
37:10
I don't know, good if you have a history of plantar fasciitis,
37:12
which I do. Aside from that, I just like
37:15
anything that makes me taller. I like a lot of wedges, not a
37:17
specific brand, just like any wedges.
37:19
You know, I'm 5 feet tall, so if I can just get a couple inches
37:22
on me, I'm happy. That might be one of the best
37:25
answers that we've ever gotten, so thank.
37:28
You. You're welcome.
37:29
This has been great. Bonnie, thank you so much for
37:31
being on this episode of the Eat More Carbs podcast.
37:33
We so appreciate your insight into intuitive eating, food
37:36
freedom, and kind of answering even our questions, especially
37:38
this time of year. For people who don't already
37:41
follow you or would like to follow you, reach out to you,
37:43
find you on social media, what is the best way for them to do
37:45
that? Instagram is the best spot and
37:48
Diet dot culture dot rebel is where you can find me.
37:51
You can also check out my website dietculturerebel.com.
37:54
We're going to leave all of Bonnie's information in the
37:57
podcast show notes. That way you can easily find
37:59
her. Thank you.
37:59
So much for listening to this episode of the Eat More Carbs
38:01
podcast. Please make sure you rate,
38:03
subscribe, and review. And as always, remember to eat
38:05
more carbs.