How to Balance the Food You Eat

12/10/20 • 33 min

It’s hard to talk about eating without tying it to ideas about nutrition, so it's helpful to understand what makes up the food we eat and how it affects our bodies. Different foods have different functions in the body. There is no one answer to the question, “What should I eat?” However, there are guidelines to help you balance it out.

In today's episode, I touch on the science of food. I talk about the different food groups and the general rule of thumb when eating. Tune in to the full episode to get the most valuable insights on the nitty-gritty of the food we eat.

I am now offering a virtual 7-week CLASS!

The class is geared toward behavior change. It is for people who struggle with maintaining a stress-free relationship with eating.

The class will include pre-recorded videos, audio recordings, handouts, membership in a Facebook community. Enrollment is ongoing! Register now so that you don't miss out on all the content!

If you would prefer more individualized help, contact me so we can schedule a private virtual session.

To sign up for the class or get private help, you can send me an email at [email protected] or visit my website.

Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full podcast episode:

What is the primary goal of eating?
Learn about the nutritional qualities of the food you eat.
Discover the importance of keeping a low glycemic index.

Resources

Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates

Episode Highlights The Goal of Eating

Balanced, healthy eating correlates with stable blood sugar levels. When you control how you eat so that you don't starve yourself and then overeat in the next meal, the body’s ability to self regulate many biological processes is maximized. Remember: your brain runs your body and relies on glucose or blood sugar to function. Keeping your blood sugar stable is crucial to health and also to decreasing disruptive food cravings.

Incorporating snacks between your meals can help regulate your blood sugar. A good snack would be something that includes protein and fiber. When eating, keep in mind that fun foods that aren’t thought of as “healthy” can be worked into an eating program.

What Makes Up the Food We Eat

The macronutrients that our food contains are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. All foods in the world are either one of these or a combination of them.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are either simple or complex. Complex carbohydrates are generally better because they come packaged with other nutrients such as protein and fiber. Quinoa and brown rice are more complex than white rice and white flour, for example. Because the body was not designed to process excessive amounts of sugar, it can get confused and overreact when eating large amounts of sugar/refined flour/convenience foods. As a result, it can influence the process of the hormones involved in the body's response to knowing when to stop eating.

The Food Groups

The primary food groups include:

Proteins. We can get proteins from both plants and animal products. Some diets may be low protein, like a vegetarian diet, or high protein, like the Keto or paleo diet. You need to investigate what works for you and what feels good in your body.
Dairy. Dairy tends to contain large amounts of calcium and other important nutrients. It can be a wonderful source of protein. Still, some consider dairy to be harmful to the health of the body. The topic is controversial
Fat. Fat serves many functions in the body, including the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and minerals and the lining of all cell membranes. It helps us feel satiated and can prevent overeating.
Grains. Grains such as wheat, rice, oats, and quinoa provide energy as well as a number of important B vitamins and minerals. Grains are carbohydrates that can provide a stabilizing effect on blood sugar.
Vegetables. Vegetables are probably the master food group and the basis of a multitude of scientific research correlating them with reductions in disease risk. It is almost impossible to eat too many vegetables; they often come packaged with protein and they always have an abundance of healing phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Fruits. Fruits, like vegetables, are powerhouses of nutrition. They don’t come packaged with protein but they do contain many of the same healing phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals as vegetables. It is beneficial to include several servings of fruit a day.

...

I am now offering a virtual 7-week CLASS!

The class is geared toward behavior change. It is for people who struggle with maintaining a stress-free relationship with eating.

The class will include pre-recorded videos, audio recordings, handouts, membership in a Facebook community. Enrollment is ongoing! Register now so that you don't miss out on all the content!

If you would prefer more individualized help, contact me so we can schedule a private virtual session.

To sign up for the class or get private help, you can send me an email at [email protected] or visit my website.

Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full podcast episode:

What is the primary goal of eating?
Learn about the nutritional qualities of the food you eat.
Discover the importance of keeping a low glycemic index.

Resources

Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates

Episode Highlights The Goal of Eating

What Makes Up the Food We Eat

The macronutrients that our food contains are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. All foods in the world are either one of these or a combination of them.

Carbohydrates

The Food Groups

The primary food groups include:

Proteins. We can get proteins from both plants and animal products. Some diets may be low protein, like a vegetarian diet, or high protein, like the Keto or paleo diet. You need to investigate what works for you and what feels good in your body.
Dairy. Dairy tends to contain large amounts of calcium and other important nutrients. It can be a wonderful source of protein. Still, some consider dairy to be harmful to the health of the body. The topic is controversial
Fat. Fat serves many functions in the body, including the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and minerals and the lining of all cell membranes. It helps us feel satiated and can prevent overeating.
Grains. Grains such as wheat, rice, oats, and quinoa provide energy as well as a number of important B vitamins and minerals. Grains are carbohydrates that can provide a stabilizing effect on blood sugar.
Vegetables. Vegetables are probably the master food group and the basis of a multitude of scientific research correlating them with reductions in disease risk. It is almost impossible to eat too many vegetables; they often come packaged with protein and they always have an abundance of healing phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Fruits. Fruits, like vegetables, are powerhouses of nutrition. They don’t come packaged with protein but they do contain many of the same healing phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals as vegetables. It is beneficial to include several servings of fruit a day.

...

Previous Episode

Structuring Meals & Managing Intrusive Thoughts About Food

Many people are struggling with losing or maintaining weight. As eating becomes a coping mechanism, you might find yourself turning to food whenever stressed, sad, upset, tired, overwhelmed, angry, or bored. The truth is, you cannot satisfy your emotional hunger with eating because it is a different type of hunger. Even if you strictly follow a diet, you will soon return to your unhealthy eating patterns.

In this episode, I share my knowledge about structured meal plans and the nature of intrusive thoughts. I explain why dieting fails and why eating disorders are an addiction. Finally, I discuss how you can detach from your intrusive thoughts about food.

Tune in if you want to learn how you can stop eating mindlessly.

I am now offering a 10-week virtual class!

The class will include pre-recorded videos, audio recordings, handouts, membership in a Facebook community, and weekly private group sessions.

If you would prefer more individualized help, contact me so we can schedule a private virtual session.

To sign up for the class or to get private help, you can send me an email at [email protected] or visit my website.

Here are the three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:

How do you add structure to your meals to recover from unhealthy eating patterns or behaviors?
How can you reboot your perspective about health and wellness?
How can you overcome challenges to become healthy?

Resources

Dieting: A Dry Drunk by Becky Lou Jackson
Follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Episode Highlights Why Dieting Fails

Many people live their lives on a yo-yo diet - going on a diet, and then leaving it. That's why diets will inevitably fail. They're unsustainable and you will eventually default to old behaviors. The dieting mentality is a thinking pattern that does not work.

Eating Disorder is an Addiction

There can be an addiction to a pattern of cravings showing up in your mind since the cravings are a way to distract from what might seem unmanageable or overwhelming in life. In a related way, there is an addiction to caving in to the craving and addiction to dieting. We can treat an eating disorder like an addiction and create a meal structure to manage it.

Focusing on Nutrition

Some people can eat intuitively all the time, listening to hunger and fullness and eating accordingly. Many people need to stay with structure before they learn to trust the body’s cues. A gentle structure can help some people stay in balance. The structure you create should consider your specific nutritional needs and include 3 to 4 specific eating times a day. Treats and fun foods can be incorporated into this.

There is a biological sequence event happening which relates to insulin spikes, and this can cause cravings. Planning helps you manage these events. It's best to abstain from unplanned eating which can fuel obsessive thinking. Instead, the ideal approach will be learning how to practice intuitive eating in combination with specific planned meals. Intuitive eating is the practice of listening to your body.

Thoughts About Eating Disorders

If you have an eating disorder, it doesn't mean you are flawed as a person. Think of your compulsion with eating not as an addiction, but as a solution to a problem. The real problem is generally the fear of being overwhelmed by trying to manage your emotions.

Tips for Preparing a Meal

Have a structured amount of food each day and try to develop the ability to choose portion sizes that will keep you going until your next meal. In terms of food quality, you need to include protein, healthy fats, and fiber, with at least three food groups per meal. Refined carbohydrates can be triggering for some people, and allowing only a moderate amount of them at meals is ideal.

Becky Lou Jackson, the author of the book Dieting: A Dry Drunk, recommends that you have no snacks between meals, but I would say that you can have one snack per day if you are hungry.

Attachment to Weight Loss

You also need to understand how your brain might trick you. If you're attached to the idea of weight loss, it will create more internal stress, which can lead to food addiction. Emotion plays a pivotal role in food addiction, so learning how to be curious, mindful, and aware will be an essential skill to build.

The Thought Stream of Fear...

Next Episode

Living Without the Brakes On; Learning to Stop Self Sabotage

Are you living your life with one foot on the brakes? So many of us (myself included) often find ourselves sabotaging our efforts to get what we want in life. When we do that it can lead to frustration, anger, and hopelessness. In today's episode, I talk about self-sabotage, empowerment, and how to stop living with one foot on the brakes so we can allow ourselves to have a happier and more fulfilled life.

I am now offering a 10-week virtual class where you will learn a specific process to change your particular self-sabotaging habits.

It will include pre-recorded videos, audio recordings, handouts, membership in a Facebook community, and is packed with content. You will have unlimited access to the material, so you can take the class at your own pace. Enrollment is ongoing. Give yourself the gift of this class so you can start now to manage the foods and the emotions that might derail your efforts during the holidays.

If you would prefer more individualized help, I also offer private virtual sessions. To sign up for the class or to get private help, you can send me an email at [email protected] or visit my website.

Here are three things you can learn from the full podcast episode:

How shame and past mistakes stop you from succeeding with your health goals.
How to use your “negative” qualities to your benefit.
How to better reach your health goals through your flaws.

Resources

Debbie Ford website

Episode Highlights Living Life Too Small

Everybody can make their goals happen. The problem is that sometimes we don’t know how to get there because parts inside of us take us over and sabotage our efforts. WIthout the tools to manage these parts, we can play small in life and we won’t rise to our full potential. We fall into the endless cycle of living life with one foot on the accelerator but with the other foot on the brakes.

Debbie Ford: Accepting and Embracing Our Shadow Side

Debbie Ford, a renowned self-help leader, taught people how to identify the things holding them back. She came from a successful family but fell into drug addiction. Debbie ended up in rehab after rehab, but wasn’t getting better. If that cycle continued, she knew she was going to die. Eventually, she hit on something she called her “shadow side.”

Your shadow side holds the parts of your personality that you don’t like or you’re ashamed of. Debbie realized that these parts of herself were driving her from a very deep inner place. The more they drove her, the more it made her shrink. She couldn’t live her life to the fullest.

Debbie learned she had come clean with herself. But there’s more to it than that — you have to love it, embrace it, and use it. Otherwise, it will use you. My class teaches a protocol to help you do this very thing.

The Beach Ball Analogy

Debbie described living her life as if she was in a swimming pool. She would be in the pool of life, treading water and trying to keep herself afloat. Suddenly someone would come to the pool and throw her a beach ball. The beach ball represents something that she has to hide. Eventually many beach balls would be thrown her way. One ball represented her “bitchiness,” another ball contained her shame over not feeling smart, another the shame over her belief that she was not good looking, and another that she was not very courageous and another that she was not very worthy.

In an effort to pretend that she was perfect, she would push the beach balls under the water. But keeping all these beach balls under water was exhausting. In fact, trying to keep those beach balls under the water was almost impossible, yet she would try to keep them submerged anyway. Most people go through life with not just one thing, but many things about themselves that they’re embarrassed about. These things are held in our shadow side.

Because we all spend our lives trying to keep our shadows submerged we have so little energy left and we can’t live our lives to the fullest. We’re not available to help our friends and family because we’re too busy being self-absorbed with our need to hide from who we are.

What’s the point of living a life that limited?

Finding the Positive amid the Negative

This podcast is a call to action. Rise up. Start owning, laughing, accepting, and embracing your flaws instead of running from them. Betsy acknowledges that since many people CAN’T do this because the sabotaging parts inside are too powerful, the ideas in her podcast often won’t be enough. Getting a private session or two, or taking her class, will be needed to break through.

In this podcast...