Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating: we all do it. In fact, our emotions play a big role in what we eat, why we eat, and how much we eat. Take a few minutes right now to answer this question: What emotions do you associate with eating? Are they positive or negative? Are they both and if they are, are they more positive than negative or vice versa? I associate eating with enjoyment, happiness, comfort, sadness, boredom, guilt, anger, and habit. I am not here to tell you that emotional eating is something that we can solve, because the reality is emotions are what can give food purpose and memory, not just food is fuel. What we can work on is becoming more present to our emotions and our choice of food. Having the donut because you enjoy donuts and having a donut because you are feeling a negative emotion and need some serotonin and will later have feelings of regret against the donut are two different experiences and we want to minimize the latter. Although sometimes we cannot control what we feel (especially the negative emotions), we do have control over our reactions. Remember eating is a part of everyday life and we should enjoy it. When we do this our food becomes so much more satisfying.

Eating Around Workouts

 Pre-workout: easily digestible foods

-4 or more hours before: protein and a carb

Eggs, chicken, veggies, fruit, PB, toast

-2 hours before: quick carb and protein 

Smoothie, protein shake, nuts and seeds, oats

-30-1 hour before: quick carb

Banana, dried fruit

***Remember the closer it is to your workout time the less you want to eat so food is not sitting in your stomach*** You do not need a ton of food to fuel you right before a workout, just something easily digested.

Post-workout: higher protein and carb to refuel

-yogurt and fruit

-PB

-turkey, rice, veggies

-pretzels

***Timing doesn’t actually matter, as long as it is within 2 hours after, does not need to be immediately after but follow your hunger cues***

Also just a general reminder for everyone: post workout bloat is a real thing! It does go away, just the blood flow going back to your organs from your arms and legs that needed them more during your workout.

How to not feel hungry throughout the day:

Ask yourself this question first…...are you hungry or are you dehydrated? Do you follow your hunger cues or do you ignore them? Do you recognize them when they happen? Are you able to eat when they happen (possible work constraints)? How long have you been in a calorie deficit? Might be time to “reverse diet”. This is where we start!! Every single body is different so we all need to be consuming different foods, food timing, and portion sizes. You have to put in the work to figure out what your body likes. It takes time and I know that is not what you all want to hear but it is the cold hard truth. Some people need 3 meals a day and 2 snacks, others only eat snacks every 1-2 hours throughout the entire day. Your body will tell you what it wants, likes, and needs. You just have to pay attention and listen to it!

Struggling When Dining Out?

We’ve all experienced it, you’re on your healthy eating journey and you get invited out to dinner and that dinner causes a week long binge. Eating out can and should be something enjoyable. We don't want to get stuck in the cycle of eating healthy and binging. If you do find yourself in that cycle that could mean one of two things are happening: 1. You are restricting too much or 2. Your total calories are too low and you need to reverse diet. When you are dining out it should not feel like a treat and should feel like nothing more than enjoying delicious food. To accomplish this first we need to take the value we hold on food away. Food is just food. Once we do that you want to eat what you normally do on a daily basis when you are out to eat especially if you are dining out for half your meals. When I look at a menu I pick something based on if I can make it at home or not. Usually if I cannot recreate it then that is the item I will pick as long as it is close to what I normally eat. You can also choose your menu item based on how you are feeling and what you are craving as long as you have gotten to the point of food is food and holds no value. Something else to touch on while dining out is overeating and overindulging. I don’t know about you but I am a big fan of the doggy bag. Huge portions are normally used when dining out so that by the time you finish (if you finish) your whole meal you are ready for the deepest sleep of your life because you are so stuffed. Remember, you want to stop eating once you are not hungry anymore aka content not full. Now overindulging would be when you order the app, the entree, and the dessert and then decide to eat it all even though you were full after the app. Now ordering all that food is more than okay as long as you are listening to your hunger and satiety cues. Take home that doggy bag!

The Number One Nutrition Question

The number one question I always get asked when it comes to food is “how do I get to the point where I’m not constantly thinking about food and getting rid of the good/bad title that comes with diet culture?”. The answer is that it can take awhile to get to this point and can be a complicated process. We need to ask ourselves why we make food choices. When it comes to giving food a “good” or “bad” title we want instead to switch the language to eat more of and eat less of. Never ever restrict! Don’t think of subtracting things from your diet, but instead think of adding in more healthy options. We’re talking about loading up those plates with fruits and veggies. That way when you get to the eat less category you are less likely to binge on those items since you will be more full from the eat more category.

We are conditioned by friends, family, and society as a whole to constantly think we need to restrict ourselves to be able to achieve our health goals. Restriction will always lead to binging. I’m going to tell you now that it is not easy to get to the point of trusting yourself that it is okay to eat the donut and not feel bad that you did. This feeling can also come from our past and how we were raised. As women we have always had to fight for ourselves because we are used to fuel patriarchal capitalism and that’s all we are seen as from a society view point. In short, make babies for the workforce.

Almost everything we do is based on what society tells us to do and not how we actually feel. Most of the time our emotions are invalidated by something or someone when they should not be. We are told often to lose weight, have a big butt and a small waist, don’t weigh over this specific amount or you are deemed worth less than others.

Even the medical system is against anyone who is deemed overweight/obese by BMI and those people have to fight a lot harder for proper healthcare. So then we get into the conversation of why? What is the reason you want to fix your nutrition? What is the reason why you want to lose weight? Because I promise you it is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I have seen so many people lose weight and they are miserable, they have body dysmorphia, losing weight didn't fix any of their problems like they thought it would, and they were unhappy.

We have to find the happy medium. Your body will find its homeostasis, the weight it likes to be at where you can run all your systems properly and you can do all the things you want to do in life with no issues. We have to remember that bodies are just skin suits for our brains and we are much more than our skin suits.

The entire fitness and nutrition industry that is presented to the public is filled with toxic manipulation and based solely on people's insecurities instead of being based on longevity and living a lifestyle, where your only goal is to do all the things you want to accomplish in your life.

Back when I was living in NY and I was trying to lose weight I could never do it because I was hyper focused on it and eating the “right” things and working out 3-5 days a week and it didn't work because I was so obsessive about it. As soon as I stopped trying and focused on what foods I enjoy eating and what are the foods and activities that make me happy that's when I saw the weight come off, only after I reset my mentality toward food and the industry did I make long term progress.

We also have to remember, circling back up to our skin suits, that we will never be the same or have the same body that we had when we were younger. Our bodies and our minds are meant to grow and change based on our lives and that's okay. But trying to get back to what we looked like in college or even 10 years ago is an unrealistic expectation that will set you up for failure.

Enjoy life, enjoy the things that your body is able to do for you right now and the things your body has done for example created human life. We don’t thank our bodies enough for that.