If processed sugar seems like a monkey on your back, a habit that has you HOOKED, or a problem that erodes your energy, and leaves you feeling powerless, I assure you:
You are NOT alone.
It’s NOT a personal failing.
It’s not your fault.
You are not experiencing optimal health.
It is possible to get OFF the hook.
You are NOT alone.
A recent study suggests Americans eat far too much sugar. To be specific, approximately 75% of Americans eat excess amounts of sugar — many of whom could be classified as having a sugar addiction.
Research on rats has found that sugar is more addictive than drugs such as cocaine, and that there can be withdrawal symptoms such as depression and behavioral problems when people try cutting out sugar completely.
Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. Your brain also sees sugar as a reward, which makes you keep wanting more of it. If you often eat a lot of sugar, you’re reinforcing that reward, which can make it tough to break the habit.
Since sugar can be addicting, and cause withdrawal symptoms when we try to quit, it may seem like an impossible task to get the sugar monkey off our back. Letting go of habits can be tricky, especially when dopamine is involved. But I’m here to tell you, releasing sugar is not only possible, it’s absolutely liberating!
How is it possible to get relief from sugar cravings, and other unwanted symptoms caused or exacerbated by refined sugars?
By releasing the foods, thoughts, and behaviors that keep us hooked in a habitual loop of swearing off sugar, followed by bingeing on sugar, followed by self loathing, and soothing with sugar.
I specifically designed R&R Playgroup to support women who want to play with releasing sugar for the purpose of improving our health! Participants have created relief from sugar cravings, overeating, excess weight, and other unwanted symptoms.
It is possible to free oneself from processed sugar – and the toxic effects it has on the human body – by combining certain crucial requirements.
Making a plan, and preparing are crucial. During the first phase of R&R Playgroup, we spend three weeks planning what to eat and not to eat, and preparing ourselves mentally and psychologically to release sugar temporarily.
Releasing self-criticism is crucial. This is an ongoing theme throughout R&R Playgroup because I do not believe it is possible to release foods that we enjoy when we are constantly being criticized by anyone.
Temporarily abstaining from sugar is crucial. The second phase of R&R Playgroup is when we experiment with abstaining from sugar for twenty-one days.
Constant Support in community is crucial. Daily support is a consistently proven way to release habitual patterns that are not serving us. During the second phase of R&R Playgroup, we meet daily on Zoom for 21 days.
It is invaluable to be seen and understood by a community who understands the depth of the challenge you face, and celebrates every success and triumph along your journey!
Learning to regulate our emotions is crucial. One of the number one reasons humans turn to sugar and overeating is the desire to soothe uncomfortable emotions. Learning healthy ways to regulate emotions is a major component of R&R Playgroup.
Coaching and time to integrate what’s learned is crucial. Learning something is different than integrating it. Phase three of R&R Playgroup is about integrating the data we collected during our experiment, and using it to create a road map that aligns us with our own healthy intentions as we move forward.
Freeing ourselves from lifelong habits like self-criticism, or daily sugar use is exponentially easier when we have a solid plan, constant support, educational reminders, an encouraging coach, and a community that understands the enormity of our challenge, and supports and celebrates our journey.
If you or someone you know is interested in getting unhooked from sugar, you can find all the information at THIS LINK, or sign up for the next Masterclass to learn MORE at THIS LINK.
Many unwanted symptoms we experience are rooted in the foods we eat. What kind of symptoms? All of these and more:
• compulsive overeating • excess weight • sugar cravings • low energy • poor sleep quality • irregular BM (loose/solid) • gas, bloating, gut issues • trouble with digestion • brain fog • lack of motivation • acne, rashes, rosacea • joint pain & back pain • headaches • phlegm or congestion • acid reflux or heartburn • difficulty losing weight • night sweats
If the foods we eat are causing unwanted symptoms, and we want to get relief from those symptoms, we need to stop eating the food causing the symptoms.
Sounds simple enough, but how do we decide which foods are causing the symptoms?
Elimination diets are a cheap, simple way to experiment with releasing foods or groups of foods that we suspect may be causing symptoms to see how those symptoms change or improve. Then we reintroduce the food to see if the symptoms return. Experience shows that an elimination diet is one of the best tools for identifying food issues, and is very safe, provided a variety of foods are eaten to supply essential nutrients.
Which Foods are Suspect?
I advise starting by releasing foods that you have noticed cause you some adverse symptom, or create a phlegmy response in your body. Does a particular food create a headache, or cause trouble with digestion? Do you always break out after eating a certain nut? Tune in to your own body wisdom and pay attention as you prepare for the release of suspect foods.
Foods that everyone might suspect for a variety of reasons include dairy, wheat, corn, soy, peanuts, eggs and shellfish. These foods have been shown to be highly irritating in large numbers of humans.
Make a list of foods you are ready to release and, so you’re not solely focussed on what you’re giving up, make a list of the abundant foods you plan to INCLUDE as well.
Eat only the foods on the “include” list for a period of two to four weeks. Then reintroduce one food at a time (at least 4 days apart) to see which foods cause the reaction.
Then you are free to create a healthy eating plan that serves your individual needs based on foods to which you are not sensitive.
This is a very simple way to see which foods create symptoms you’d rather not have, but it’s not always easy to release foods we enjoy, or are in the habit of eating regularly. If you want to play with releasing foods in community with other women who are also playing with releasing foods, in an elimination diet playground designed to fully support you as you transform your relationship with food, click THIS LINK for complete details.
Mystery Symptoms
I frequently hear from clients that their set of symptoms have a name, but the doctor has no idea of the cause, or what to do to relieve those symptoms except prescribe drugs with innumerable effects on health.
Elimination diets can often provide evidence of at least part of the problem, because inflammation is one of the first symptoms for which we get relief when we release foods to which we are sensitive or allergic. Inflammation causes many unwanted symptoms, and those it doesn’t cause, it intensifies.
I truly hope that if you are experiencing unwanted symptoms, you will experiment with some form of elimination diet to see if you get rapid RELIEF by simply releasing one or two problem foods.
It may just be the miracle you’ve been looking for!
Grow on!
What foods do you suspect may be causing unwanted symptoms? What processed foods do you crave? Which unwanted symptoms do you experience that might be tied to food?
Suffering with unwanted symptoms, and struggling with compulsive eating SUCKS.
I know this first hand, because I’ve been through it.
I understand what it is to struggle with food, and to loathe myself for what I thought was lack of willpower. When I stopped over drinking, I ran right to sugar and picked up my addictive behaviors all over again. I felt like my appetite was out of control!
I tried fasting, starving, vegetarian, vegan, South Beach, Atkins, high fat, fat-free, high-carb, no carb, anything to try and control my appetite, and lose weight. In between diets I would binge eat sugary sweets, and live on carbs and cheese.
I felt powerful any time I was controlling my weight, and beat the hell out of myself when I ate off plan, or any time I ate too much, which was frequently. My journal was saturated with self-loathing.
Unwanted symptoms baffled my doctors, left me exhausted and in pain. I was tired all the time and couldn’t figure out where my energy went! What I didn’t understand at the time was that inflammation was wreaking havoc with my body.
The inflammation was caused by overeating sugary sweets, and other foods that my body did not process well, but in all the times I was seen for my mysterious symptoms, not one medical doctor ever even asked me what I was eating.
I knew I wasn’t eating healthy foods, but the fact that not one doctor looked at my food intake lead me to believe that food was NOT connected to my symptoms!
I felt like I was spinning out of control, like I was powerless over food, and would never figure it out!
Then I found a naturopath who taught me to identify and release foods, that were depleting my energy. I also hired a coach who helped me identify and release behaviors that were depleting my energy, and guess what?!
I got RELIEF!
I felt better immediately.
My intestinal symptoms disappeared.
The eczema that plagued me went away.
The horrible night sweats vanished.
My energy increased tremendously.
I started sleeping better.
I dropped 50 lb in 5 months without ever going to a gym, or doing a single workout!
THAT’s when I decided that I want to help other women who are struggling with food, and unwanted symptoms the way I have!
Then I went on to study Mind Body Nutrition, and Dynamic Eating Psychology Coaching at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. NOW it is my pleasure, my passion, and my purpose to help other women who are struggling create RELIEF in their lives!
Knowing how awful it feels to struggle with food, and knowing how much shame is attached to constantly seeing myself as a failure with food and health is the reason I coach. I don’t ever want any woman to have to feel that shitty, if it’s possible for me to help her move from exhausted to energized!
When we label a food “bad” and then we choose to eat that food, we see ourselves as bad for having eaten it. For many people, the next step is to beat ourselves up for making a bad choice.
Often if we label a food “good” then we feel that we should include it in our diet. If we choose not to eat the “good” food, we interpret that as being bad, and often beat ourselves up for that choice as well.
Let’s update our labels!
Foods can nourish us, fuel our body, give us vitality and life force energy. Foods can also deplete us, draining our energy by providing few (if any) nutrients, or by producing toxins that require extra energy to move them out of the body.
If we label foods nourishing or depleting, we remind ourselves how they make us feel so we can make an informed choice. I’m allowed to choose depleting foods if I want, knowing that I will likely feel depleted after eating them. If it is my intention to choose more nourishing foods, then the labels clearly point to the choice I will enjoy.
I don’t want to give up pizza!
What if our favorite foods deplete us? Do we have to give them up forever and ever? No! The dose makes the poison. Identifying a depleting food doesn’t mean you never get to eat it again. It may mean we want to give it up for a short time as an experiment to see what happens with any symptoms we have. It probably means we don’t want to eat that food as a regular part of our daily meals. Occasionally allowing ourself the pleasure of enjoying a favorite food that we know depletes us keeps us from feeling deprived, and doesn’t deplete as much as it would if we were choosing it daily.
Replacements or alternatives?
If one of our old foods is no longer serving us, finding new foods we love can be fun! Some foods that are common allergens (think wheat and dairy) now have replacements available in the grocery store. Gluten free breads and pizza crusts are quite common, and many companies produce dairy free cheeses, sour creams, yogurts, and ice cream. I’d like to point out that many of these replacements can contain ingredients just as likely to cause reactions as the originals they imitate, and can actually make us crave the “real thing” that feels forbidden, and enticing. Like all packaged foods, it pays to use caution and read labels thoroughly.
That having been said, I am a huge fan of plant-based dairy alternatives made at home. You can read about the cream in my coffee at this link. You can make a highly credible parmesan with Brazil nuts, and I love nice-cream made with frozen bananas and oat milk!
Let’s update our tastebuds!
Rather than trying to replace old foods, finding alternative choices can be a revelation, and actually rewires our tastebuds. Taste is an intelligence. When we eat junk food, we dumb down the taste buds. When we introduce nourishing foods that are naturally delicious, our taste buds will actually start to crave something new.
My favorite texture is creamy. My tastebuds used to turn to dairy for sweet, creamy goodness. Now I crave mangoes, fresh blueberries topped with coconut milk, avocados, and cashews. I’m not focussed on what I’m missing, because I enjoy what I’m eating even more!
Grow on!
What new foods would you like to explore? Make a list and explore them! Keep track of the ones you love and buy them again. Which foods are you choosing that deplete your energy? Are you willing to do a little experiment, and let that depleting food go for a week or two?
It’s important to remember that this is NOT forever, it’s simply an experiment to see what happens.
Need help getting ready to release a particular food that depletes you? I help my clients with this sort of thing all the time! Contact me HERE for a short chat to see if I’m the right coach to help with what you’re growing through!
It makes us feel good when we eat it. It elevates our mood more effectively than prescription drugs. Sugar can serve as a symbolic substitute for love or intimacy. Alcoholics getting sober frequently turn to sugar as a replacement habit, and find it gives them a lot of the same benefits as booze. Sugar can numb our feelings, fill our boredom, calm our nerves, or bliss us out. Why wouldn’t we turn to sugar for all this relief?
When we were hunter gatherers and we found sugar in nature – generally in fruits and berries – biology told us to eat ALL of it because it was ripe for a very short time. That was fine for hunter gatherers because gathering sugary foods was limited to harvest season. Sugar helped us pack on a few pounds before winter when food would become scarce, and we would need body fat for fuel. Eating ALL the sugar is driven by our biology, much like bears fattening up for hibernation. We are biologically wired to eat all the sugar!
But these days, the “food” corporations put sugar into every box and package on the shelf. Sugar is everywhere and available 24/7. It’s the first drug children get hooked on, and “food” corporations use it to increase their profits. Sugar is cheaper than both protein and produce, and it HOOKS people into coming back for more by releasing a super dose of dopamine, what we normally think of as the happiness drug.
Millions of people are habituated to the sweet benefits of sugar, without necessarily realizing the long term harmful effects. We want our sugary treats. We don’t want to see sugar as the cause of our symptoms. I get it!
My name is Cyndi and I am a sugar addict. Sugar has been a problem for me on and off and throughout my life. I tried repeatedly to let go of sugar. I suffered for years under the harmful effects of sugar. Some of my sugar-related symptoms included SIBO, diverticulitis, headaches, night sweats, irritability, brain fog, fatigue, extreme pain from slipped discs in my lumbar spine due to inflammation in my intestines, which caused me to be off work for weeks at a time without pay.
I had to connect the dots between my fatigue and the sugar, between my constant symptoms and the constant underlying inflammation induced by sugar.
Long term sugar use can be as powerful a pattern to release as alcohol or tobacco abuse, and it takes awareness to finally let it go.
Sugar causes inflammation.
According to Harvard Health: Too much added sugar can be one of the greatest threats to cardiovascular disease. Consuming too much added sugar can raise blood pressure and increase chronic inflammation. Research has shown that chronic inflammation is associated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Gastroenterologist, Suhirdan Vivekanadarajah says excessive sugar can reduce beneficial bacteria leading to a leaky gut syndrome, and other serious health conditions. Too much sugar may also block the production of a protein associated with being lean.
According to Anthony William, refined sugar is the number one preferred food of viruses and tumors. He also has a GREAT article on how the natural sugars in fruit are different, and not to be avoided. According to Anthony, “Fruit is actually the most important food to eat when healing from disease.”
Am I saying we should not eat sugar?
No. I am absolutely not saying that. Sugar is delicious and pleasurable, and in small amounts can be a wonderful addition to a special meal. I am saying that sugar is a powerful substance and it will benefit the health and wellbeing of many people to bring awareness to how much sugar we are truly consuming.
The dose makes the poison.
We don’t need to avoid refined sugar, but we absolutely want to avoid too much sugar.
Overusing sugar causes chronic inflammation associated with heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Overusing sugar erodes our energy. We may feel an energy boost when the sugar hits our system, but a crash soon follows, and continuous use of sugar overall reduces the amount of energy available to us.
Overusing sugar can raise blood pressure.
Overusing sugar erodes gut health and immunity, making us more vulnerable to all sorts of disease.
Overusing sugar erodes mental clarity. Brain fog is caused by high levels of inflammation.
Overusing sugar erodes our taste buds. Taste is an intelligence, so overusing sugar can dumb down our taste buds, so they are no longer as sensitive to healthy foods.
Overusing sugar can lead to poor digestion, lack of nutrient absorption, and contributes to protein deficiency.
Overusing sugar can lead to sugar cravings!
Overusing sugar leads to weight gain, and inability to release weight.
Overusing sugar can erode physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing, as well as our self esteem.
If you can’t imagine letting go of your daily habit of sweetness, you are not alone! Is it the taste that brings us back for more? Or is it the slight energy buzz it brings? Maybe it’s the relaxing effect we’re after, that comes post buzz.
The reasons we reach for sugar are myriad, and unique for each of us. Those very same reasons are the key to releasing the overuse of sugar. If we’re using sugar to cover uncomfortable feelings, it may be easier to experience those feelings and grow through them, than to endure the life long health effects of using sugar to cover them up.
Grow on!
Are you choosing sugar as a sweet treat, or as an escape plan? How frequently are you choosing sugary foods? How challenging would you find it to let go of sugar for a week? Two weeks?
Create a list of all the foods you love that do NOT have added sugars.
Practicing this mantra in my power pose helps me say ‘no’ to extra helpings of sugar!
I lead a group called Relief through Releasewhere I help other women let go of negative self-talk & self-criticism, and recreational sugar for 21 days!
Multiple levels allow you to choose to release just sugar – or many foods – depending on your needs and desires!
If you are interested in releasing sugar and self-criticism for a SHORT trial, please CLICK THIS LINK for complete information, and upcoming dates for Relief through Release Playgroup!
As I discussed in my post, Who the Fuck Needs a Life Coach, not everyone is familiar with professional coaching, so it’s sometimes necessary to explain what coaching is, how it works, and who coaching can help. Beyond that, it may be easy to identify what a business coach, nutrition coach, or fitness coach does – and who might hire them – but what the fuck is a Mind Body Eating Coach?
I’m glad you asked!
While an eating coach might sound like someone Joey Chestnut would hire, a Certified Mind Body Eating Coach helps people who struggle with weight, body image, low-energy, digestive issues, or compulsive eating behaviors like stress eating, overeating, and binge eating.
Mind Body Eating Coaching (MBEC) addresses the nutritional aspect of what’s going on for the client, but our sessions also focus on the personal, emotional, and psychological aspects of what may be driving unwanted eating behaviors.
MBEC training is a nine-month course of study focused on Mind Body Nutrition, and Dynamic Eating Psychology. According to the school’s founder, Marc David, “Mind Body Nutrition takes the science of nutrition to a whole new place, and Dynamic Eating Psychology is a positive, results-oriented approach to eating concerns that speaks to heart, mind and soul.”
A Certified Mind Body Eating Coach is not going to offer you a specific eating plan, nor exercise program, though she may help you create one specific to your body. MBE Coaching helps clients get to the root of why we do the things we do, and why we do what we don’t want to do.
This unique approach offers a pathway to finally heal our relationship with food and body that is different from anything I’ve ever experienced, and I’m willing to bet most of my readers have never tried anything like this before either.
So WHO might hire a Mind Body Eating Coach?
Those who will benefit from Mind Body Eating Coaching are those who wish to:
Replace endless dieting with lifelong nourished eating.
Release unwanted, or compulsive eating behaviors.
Find a natural and sustainable way of eating that suits their own body.
Savor life instead of rushing from one moment to the next.
Feel confident in the skin they’re in, instead of feeling worried about what they weigh.
Here’s what my current clients are saying about Mind Body Eating Coaching:
“Even though I have had only 2 coaching sessions with Cyndi, I cannot believe what a difference it has already made with myself as a whole. The week following my first session was amazing. I was able to actually have calm peaceful moments, (which I have not had since my husband passed almost 3 years ago). I am so looking forward to where my next sessions lead me.” ~ ST in Vallejo
“After only two months, my insatiable desire to snack after dinner is almost completely gone. I can’t believe it was this easy. I thought I was eating a healthy low fat diet, and it turns out THAT was why I couldn’t stop snacking! I’m eating more food, and I am starting to release excess weight!” ~ SL in San Francisco
“Cyndi is a great coach- she’s patient with her clients as they learn. She’s funny, insightful, informative and easy to work with. I like how she celebrates the smallest “aha” moments as she guides you in your journey.” ~ PC in Vallejo
“Cyndi has been very helpful in keeping me focused and keeping me grounded and bringing me back to earth when I lose it. She has taught me a lot about enjoying what I’m eating and being mindful when it’s meal time. I derive great enjoyment from our sessions. I find them very useful and Cyndi very uplifting” ~ BK in Pinole
Please forward this blog post to anyone you know who might like to: – Replace endless dieting with lifelong nourished eating. – Release unwanted, or compulsive eating behaviors. – Find a natural and sustainable way of eating that suits their own body. – Savor life instead of rushing from one moment to the next. – Feel confident in the skin they’re in, instead of feeling worried about what they weigh.
What do you have to lose?
Grow on!
If you’re considering hiring a coach, please use THIS LINK to schedule a chat to see if I’m the right coach for you!
There is no one right answer that fits every body. There is no food plan that is perfect for every human, no exercise prescription that suits every life, no one plan that will create the a healthy body/life for every person. That’s why we can’t just read a book, follow all the guidelines, and create our body in whatever image we deem perfection. If there were one right way to transform our body, that “way” would have been discovered and marketed for zillions.
There are billions of dollars being made annually by diet systems, workout plans, and nutritional supplements, but have you noticed how different they all are? Some say eat large amounts of protein, some dictate no protein at all. Other diets are non-fat, while still others include healthy fats at every meal. Some are effective for some people. All of them claim to be the magic bean – the one system that works miracles.
While it’s true that many of these methods may be effective for some – at least short term – how do we know which one works for us?
If you feel confused or frustrated around this topic, it’s with good reason!
What should I eat? What exercise should I do?
These questions have been documented and debated to death for decades. It’s no wonder so many people are confused about what works and what is hype!
So how do we do what is best for our health and our body? If I have a goal to transform my body in some way, what is the best approach for me?
There is only one authority on your body and your health: YOUR Body.
If we ask the body what it needs and then listen, our body will clearly tell us what is beneficial and nourishing, and what is not.
This is a super simple technique, but it requires slowing down and being present. In our fast-paced society where time is in short supply, we rarely do that. But if you are telling me that some kind of transformation is your goal, slowing down and being present will allow you to find your way. YOUR way, the way that most benefits you.
The path to the healthy body you desire will not be found in books, but in slowing down and really listening to what your body says. This takes practice, and patience, and time.
Elimination Diet –
The elimination diet is one of the BEST ways to help people find out what is, or is not, working for their health and their body. An elimination diet is NOT a diet meant to sustain us for life. It is meant to be used over a few weeks to discover which foods we eat regularly are not serving our health.
The main thing I want to tell you is that NOTHING IS FOREVER. Many people won’t try the elimination diet because they fear they will find out they are allergic to a food they love, and will have to give it up forever.
Nothing is forever. This is just an experiment to see how different foods nourish or deplete the body. Even if you discover that you are allergic to something, you don’t have to give it up! That’s a choice you get to make. We make better choices when we are informed, so this is simply a way to gather information.
Think of the elimination diet as a playful experiment to uncover valuable treasure. In this case, the treasure is information that allows us to make choices to improve our health and transform our body. There are myriad reasons one may wish to undertake a playful experiment with the elimination diet. Many kinds of digestive complaints are eradicated with an elimination diet. Many people release all kinds of other issues including skin problems, headaches, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, sleep issues, low energy, brain fog, and more! Many people accept these issues as a normal part of life, when they may actually be caused by something we are eating regularly. If you suffer with any of these, wouldn’t it be AWESOME to be able to stop the suffering?
The elimination diet is a very simple basic experiment that anyone can try without paying a dime. Since it’s not profitable, we don’t hear about it. It doesn’t have an advertising budget. The elimination diet provides specific answers right for YOU. Then, armed with body wisdom, you get to choose.
I will briefly discuss each step below, but I attach a PDF HERE from the University of Wisconsin Integrative Medicine that explains the details fully.
Grow on!
Explore which foods enhance your life, and which foods are depleting your energy.
Step 1 – Planning • Decide which foods to avoid, which to include. Ask yourself a few key questions: – What foods do I eat most often? – What foods do I crave? – What foods do I eat to “feel better”? – What foods would I have trouble giving up? – What foods have I noticed symptoms of irritation when I eat them? (Runny nose, burning sinus, upset digestion, low energy, headache, etc.) • Make a list of the foods from your answers above, and any from the list below that your health care practitioner advises: Foods problematic for many people: Dairy Gluten Soy Corn Eggs Peanuts Tree nuts Citrus Shellfish
The list you just made is your list of foods to avoid for 2 weeks. • Now make a list of foods you CAN include!
Step 2 – Avoiding Enjoy eating from the “Eat this” list. Avoid foods on your “avoid this” list • For 2 weeks, avoid the foods that may be causing issues. Many people notice health symptoms improve in the first few days.
Step 3 – Challenging • If your symptoms have not improved in two weeks, stop the diet and talk with your health care practitioner about whether or not to try it again with a different combination of foods.
• If your symptoms improve, start “challenging” your body with the eliminated foods, one food group at a time. As you do this, keep a written record of your symptoms.
To challenge your body, add a new food group every three days. It takes three days to be sure that your symptoms have time to come back if they are going to.
Step 4 – Choosing • Based on your results, choose which foods you want to continue eating, which foods to let go, and which foods you want to eat in smaller amounts.
If you would like further guidance in creating a sustainable way of eating, and a happy relationship with food and body, please, schedule a free 30-minute chat HERE to see if I’m the right Mind Body Eating Coach for you!
Remember last week’s blog post when I talked about stress, the effects of stress on our body, and the difference between life stress and self-chosen stress?
This week I want to talk about one self-chosen stressor in particular. It’s insidious in our culture, and most of us are not even aware that it is a stressor!
Are you a fast eater, a slow eater, or a moderately paced eater?
Ninety percent of people asked this question answered, “fast”. And guess what? Human biology interprets eating fast as being stressed.
Remember, we saw that constant low-level stress causes increased insulin, and increased cortisol which can lead to:
weight gain
inability to lose weight
inability to build muscle
decreased calorie burning
increased fat deposits at midsection
increased inflammation
gut microbiome die off
nutrient wasting
decreased energy
appetite deregulation
desensitivity to pleasure
decreased metabolism
decreased Thyroid function
decreased oxygen uptake
poor sleep
Imagine how this affects us if we have a weight challenge, or body transformation goal! Even if we are not pursuing a food and body goal, none of these optimizes our health. It makes complete sense that we want to reduce stress whenever possible.
If you answered that you are a “fast” or even “moderately paced” eater, then you have now identified a stressor that you can choose to get rid of! Reducing stress always has positive benefits, so why wouldn’t we put some effort into slowing down with our food?
The main reason is because eating fast is a habit.
Generally, until someone asks us this question, we never even consider our eating speed. In fact part of the problem is that many of us never even consider our food!
We may skip breakfast or grab a pastry at the coffee shop, then eat lunch at the desk or running between clients, then grab some take out on the way home for dinner. If any of these behaviors sound familiar, then you have a golden opportunity to release some of the stress that you carry!
(Slowing down with food is also a first step in releasing patterns of bingeing, after-dinner eating, and overeating.)
If you are interested in trying to break the habit of eating fast, you have much to gain! So what do you have to lose (besides stress)?
Here are some other symptoms caused or exacerbated by fast eating which can also diminish or go away completely:
Eating fast is a habit. Eating more slowly requires some effort because we are creating a new habit, and new habits take time. This is NOT about counting bites. This is about relaxing with food and increasing pleasure! This is about enjoying our mealtimes and boosting happiness. This is about being present, becoming aware & listening to our body.
Fast eating is a habit.
Slow eating is a habit worth cultivating.
Grow on!
If you want to release the stress of fast eating, start by coming to your meals in as relaxed a state as you can. Try to eat somewhere quiet when possible, or at the very least not in an environment that feels stressful. Don’t watch the news, and incorporate some music that relaxes you if that appeals to you.
Before you begin to eat, take two or three grounding breaths. Allow your heart rate to calm, then turn your attention to your meal. Be present with your food. Savor the flavor. Explore the textures on your tongue. Really enjoy the relaxed time with your food. Food is meant to be a satisfying pleasure.
If you are eating food you do not enjoy, ask yourself, “why?”. Food is meant to nourish body, mind and spirit, and we absorb far more nourishment from food we enjoy than from food we do not enjoy.
If you generally take 5 minutes for your meal, try to make it last 10 or 15 minutes. If you generally eat in 15 minutes, try to stretch that out to half an hour.
I hear you!
Life is busy. Sometimes, unfortunately, we might actually have only five minutes to eat. We can still approach our meal in a more relaxed and calm manner. If you truly only have a short time, make that time count. Breathe deeply and relax. Taste what you are eating. Be present to the flavor and texture.
Enjoy!
Find lots more information on the benefits of slowing down when we eat in this fabulous book by Marc David, the founder for the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.
The dictionary says stress is a state of mental or emotional tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
The dictionary is wrong. How do I know? Because stress is a feeling – an emotion – and the only place our emotions come from is from the thoughts we think.
Adverse or very demanding circumstances will absolutely cause some people to think thoughts that lead to feeling stressed. Those exact same adverse or very demanding circumstances will cause others to think thoughts that lead to feeling exhilarated.
Since this is absolutely true, we want to select our thoughts with great care and intention.
Self-chosen stress vs normal, natural stress.
What is a “normal” or natural life stress? These are stressors that we cannot control, like aging, health concerns, natural disasters, financial setbacks. Those kinds of stress show up in every life, and Google can offer myriad advice on how to handle them. I want to talk about optional stress – the stress we choose that is completely unnecessary – yet is often MORE damaging to our health and peace of mind than natural stress.
Self-chosen stressors include, but are not limited to:
negative self-talk
self body shaming & body hate
adopting weight loss strategies that are stringent & impossible to maintain
artificially controlling appetite
limiting a needed macronutrient such as protein, fat, or carbohydrates
believing we are unlovable, and will never be loved unless we lose weight or look different
trying to create an impossible-to-have body
unfavorably comparing oneself to others
believing we are alone in this world, or that the universe is against us
The list goes on, and is different for each of us. When we choose these stressors, we live under a constantly higher level of stress than is necessary.
Most of us have plenty of natural stress in life, so why would we choose this type of self-harming thinking? We have been conditioned over a lifetime to choose these stressors. We didn’t make this stuff up. We didn’t invent thinking negative thoughts about ourselves. The world we live in trained that behavior into us, some more than others.
Other than the fact that stress feels crappy, why do we want to begin learning how to let go of these self-chosen stressors? Constant stress causes increased insulin, and increased cortisol which can lead to:
weight gain
inability to lose weight
inability to build muscle
decreased calorie burning
increased fat deposits at midsection
increased inflammation
gut microbiome die off
nutrient wasting
decreased energy
appetite deregulation
desensitivity to pleasure
decreased metabolism
decreased Thyroid function
decreased oxygen uptake
poor sleep
So how do we begin to let go of these self-chosen stressors?
Awareness is always the first step. We cannot change it if we do not see it.
The Grow on! section below includes a way to begin cultivating more awareness around self-chosen stress.
Don’t beat yourself up for thinking stressful thoughts! It’s a conditioned human behavior. Give yourself some grace, practice letting go of self-chosen stressors, and see what happens for yourself!
Grow on!
How does stress show up in your body? Write a physical description of how it feels when you are STRESSED about something. For some people it will include sweaty palms, or a racing heart. For others it might feel like a twist in the solar plexus or a kick in the gut. Whatever it is for you, take a minute to describe the physical sensations that arise for you when you feel stressed out.
Practice awareness by noticing these physical symptoms each time they show up. As you become aware that you are feeling your symptoms of stress – ask yourself what thought you were thinking that caused the symptoms. Then ask yourself if it is a life stress, or a self-chosen stress.
If it is something you are choosing to think/believe, what will it take to give self permission to let it go?
Reframing thoughts is a superpower that grows with coaching!
If you are ready to let go of some of your self-chosen stress and need some help or guidance, I would love to chat with you! Click THIS LINK to schedule a free conversation to see if I am the right coach for you!
I used to think it was NORMAL to put on 5-10 pounds during the holidays. I told myself it was no big deal, everyone does it, I’ll drop the weight later.
Sometimes I did. More often I gave up. I grew heavier as years passed.
Joy & Cyndi ~ 2005
Two years after I got sober I was using food like a drug and weighed over 220 pounds. I would eat like I could NEVER get full, even when I was full, then restrict my calories ridiculously, and try to lose the weight as fast as possible.
I beat myself up for the extra weight I was carrying, scolding myself, causing increased stress, which caused me to eat more and gain weight, for which I scolded myself. I felt ashamed for being so WEAK that I turned to food for comfort. That caused MORE stress and MORE eating to numb those feelings.
That was my pattern for over a decade.
My chiropractor told me that my debilitating pain was caused by inflammation in my lumbar spine, and that inflammation was caused by inflammatory foods. He did not say what foods were inflammatory, but I cleaned up my act and stopped eating so much sugar, at least for a little while. As soon as my back felt better, I went back to eating whatever I like. Then I woke up one morning with half my face paralyzed. The medical doctors had a name: Bell’s palsy, but no idea what caused it or what to do for it. They told me the symptoms could last for as little as three weeks, or be permanent. They had no way to know.
The palsy symptoms have slowly improved over time, but have never gone away completely. Several months after the onset, I read a book that suggested that palsy symptoms might be due to inflammation. That got me to thinking about inflammatory foods again.
I knew that some of the foods I was eating were damaging my health, and that the medical community was of no help. I decided to start looking for a naturopath hoping that she might be able to help me.
I searched for a naturopath for months before finding one completely by accident. In early October, I was driving home from the beach and pulled over to stretch my legs. When I got out and walked around the sidewalk there was her sign. I should have made an appointment right then, but I took a picture of her sign with her contact information and filed it away.
I really wanted to talk to someone about those lingering palsy symptoms, but I knew without a doubt from the center of my being that she was going to tell me to change the way that I was eating.
I made a conscious decision that I was not willing to give up sugar and treats until after the holidays, so that I could eat whatever I liked and enjoy myself without feeling restricted or left out.
I put it on my agenda to make an appointment with the naturopath early in the new year.
That holiday season I ate like a fiend. Everyone knows if you’ve got a diet coming up you double down on calories, right?
Between Halloween and Christmas that year, I gained 20 lb. When January came I was miserable. My energy was depressed. I wasn’t working out. I had night sweats that soaked my sheets. I was ashamed of the way I looked. I didn’t like the way I felt. I was nauseous most mornings. I was hungry all the time, and I was heavy with shame.
Of course I forgot about calling the naturopath right away, and in early February, I awoke one morning with pain in my intestines that I was certain would kill me. I was really sick. And I was scared. I had a panic attack, and my blood pressure rose off the charts.
I went to the hospital, and got no answers, and no warm fuzzy feeling the answers were coming. Then I remembered that I was going to call that naturopath. So I did.
At our first appointment she told me that she suspected food allergies. She did a blood test, and put me on an Elimination Diet that excluded all the foods known to be troublemakers for two weeks while we waited for the results. I had no problems whatsoever sticking to the eating plan because the pain was an all-too-real indication that there was something seriously wrong with me and I needed to make some changes. Digesting HURT, and I didn’t’t eat anything but produce for nearly two weeks.
When the food allergy test came back, it told me something I had long suspected. Dairy is not my friend. In fact, the food allergy test showed that I am allergic to dairy, sugar, and wheat.
I thought my life was over.
The idea of living without dairy and wheat seemed impossible, restrictive, and heinous. As far as I was concerned the perfect diet was bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, quesadillas for lunch and pizza for dinner. Everyone knows the perfect hiking food is a big hero sandwich loaded with cold cuts and cheese. This is the reason I hadn’t gone to see her in October!
But, I knew that my health was in serious trouble. My body was giving me very clear messages about that. It needed to make changes in what I was eating.
So I stopped eating dairy, wheat and sugar.
And guess what? Not only did I feel better right away, and start to see improvements in the symptoms I had been experiencing within a week, I started to see improvements in things I had not related to food. My skin cleared up. The Eczema on my ankles and elbows went away. The night sweats vanished. My energy level increased tremendously. I started sleeping better, and my libido returned.
By the time my birthday arrived in June, I had dropped 50 lb without doing a single workout. The only change I made was to lose the dairy, wheat, and sugar. It was like a miracle. I had been trying to drop excess weight my entire life.
Sugar In The Wound
Despite my triumph, when stress began to increase, or I was pressed for time, I headed back down that well worn path to the comfort of food, and the ease of wheat and dairy foods.
I mean salads, REALLY, who has time for all that chopping?! Am I right?
Just two weeks before my first vacation to Europe, I was SICK again. I put myself on the elimination diet and called my naturopath. This time I got a diagnosis of SIBO. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is no joke. I was sick at least part of nearly every day of my European vacation. I lost 10 pounds the first 5 days we were there. Horrible, miserable intestinal symptoms. We still had a fabulous time, we simply had a lot of challenges along with the fun.
It was after that trip that I realized that dairy and sugar had become my new booze. At the time, I actually had many thoughts about being powerless over sugar. I told myself things like: “I can’t pass up Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I can’t resist free candy, Halloween is my favorite holiday, I can’t leave any cookies for later, If it’s in the house I have to eat it.” And I knew with every cell in my body I didn’t have the power to pass up cheese on a buffet table.
That kind of conviction will override healthy intentions every time! I had these mantras in my head that blocked my success despite my overwhelming desire to regain my health. I felt like I must be crazy!
Even though I lived through evidence in my own life that proved this eating pattern makes me sick, miserable, and unable to enjoy my life, I returned to it again and again when I was feeling stressed or lonely!
Even though I suspected long before my naturopath told me that I was allergic to cheese because of the way I craved it – just like alcohol – I returned to it whenever I was upset, AND whenever I felt like celebrating. It was truly a deadly double edged sword.
Even though I had experienced hangovers from overeating just like I did from over drinking, if I was stressed or upset when I walked into an event with free food, I was almost guaranteed to overeat even when I told myself I wasn’t going to do it.
But after Europe, I was finally ready to admit that I needed to make changes. I wanted to feel energized and healthy.
I knew I had to make changes, but in my experience, I could not eat a little or I would end up eating a lot. I had learned that with my addictive foods, it was ALL of it, or none of it, so I restricted myself completely. That year at Christmas, I ate ZERO goodies. I avoided parties and gatherings as much as possible so I wouldn’t screw up. I didn’t make my usual holiday candies or cheeseballs. The entire family complained. I didn’t buy candy to put into stockings. I shot resentful looks at people enjoying holiday goodies. I was miserable, resentful and I felt left out, but by golly, I had my food addiction under control.
How many of you think that lasted? By Halloween that year, I was sick again.
Turned out that being aware that I needed to change was a great start, but I still didn’t have the whole picture. I was trying to resist the food cravings with willpower alone, and my willpower eventually ran out.
I was so tired of the weight roller coaster, the night sweats, the inflammation, the achey joints, that powerless feeling I got around chocolate. I was sick of it all.
Worse than that, I was tired of letting myself down! I felt trapped in an vicious cycle of wanting healthy change, planning to make those changes, and then not following through. It left me full of self-doubt and lacking self-confidence!
I felt like I was spinning out of control, like I was powerless over food, like I would never figure it out. And right in the middle of my turmoil, my normally helpful and supportive partner brought home a couple of bricks of cheese from the grocery store.
Rage.
Why would he do this? He knows I can’t eat dairy! He knows I am sick! He obviously knows I can’t resist it. He knows this will end up on my burger and he doesn’t care! I wanted to eat ALL of it because – who cares?
I care.
I clearly heard the voice in my head say, “I care.” Who cares what he brings home? He’s not forcing me to eat it.
And like a ton of bricks it hit me.
Esther Hicks and Abraham tell a wonderful story about getting tabasco in your pie. Just because the tabasco is in the kitchen does NOT mean it will get in your pie. The only way the tabasco gets in your pie is if YOU put it in your pie.
SAME with the cheese, Cyndi! The only way the cheese gets in your pie hole is if you put the cheese in your pie hole!
I had NOT been taking responsibility for what I was eating.
I had been refusing to take responsibility for what I was eating by pretending to be powerless over certain foods. I was giving away my power by clinging to the belief that if certain foods were available, I HAD to eat them. I was pretending that I could not control myself around sugar and dairy, when in fact, I am the ONLY one who can choose my actions. I was simply choosing to give in to temptation and pretend it wasn’t my fault, that it wasn’t my choice, that in fact – I was powerless to change the foods I was eating.
EVERYTHING changed for me with that simple realization.
I took the steps I needed to take to STOP overeating, and stop eating foods I am allergic to, foods that cause harm, inflammation, and all kinds of health problems.
I’ve learned to navigate the holidays without spiraling into stress and overeating, and I’ve developed a process to help clients do the same!
Grow on!
Is your body ready for some healthy changes?
Join me for my first masterclass to explore these key questions:
● Why do I overindulge even when I tell myself I won’t? ● What’s kept me from achieving my health goals in the past? ● Why do I backslide into old behaviors when I’m stressed? ● How can I reduce holiday stress that leads to stress eating? ● Is it possible for me to avoid weight gain during the holidays? ● How can I stay motivated during the holidays? ● BONUS – How can I indulge a little bit without overindulging?
