Pressure To Make Diet Choices From Social Media & More

through this. I know that dealing with any kind of eating disorder or disordered eating, or trying to just even start the process of discovering whether or not you know you have some patterns that you would like to switch up or change, it can be difficult to navigate. So thank you for trusting Lisa and I hear without way to just come alongside you once a week every Saturday.

And today I'm gonna be sharing some things that I saw online this week that were an encouragement to me that we're reminders to me that just I thought would be helpful for you to hear as well. Now the first thing came from the Sun. I was doing some research for the Bobby Bones shoe and I stumbled across this article and I thought, huh, okay, I want to talk about this on out Weigh. So the title of the article is more than one in three adults make

diet choices based on social media. That headline right there got my attention because I'm like, oh, no, we do do this and one in three. I just feel like we need to stop sometimes and realize that social media is not necessarily the best place to turn to make diet choices if it is going to be triggering to you, or if it is suggesting any type of restriction or count unting or anything like that. You'll hear later in

this episode. There are many amazing accounts that I follow on social media that have been a huge blessing to me in recovery, uh, and other things that I see online that are great. But it's just training your brain to navigate. Okay, is this something I need to just wipe on through or is this something I need to take in and it is going to be helpful for me? And that's what's difficult to decipher, especially in the early days.

I'll go ahead and read the article to you. More than a third of adults admit to making choices about their diet based on information from social media. Drinking water instead of snacks, setting intake limits, and cutting out all snacking were among the top changes that people have already made to their diet due to social media influence. While more than a quarter of adults have cut out all bread, more than one in five have cut dairy entirely and

skipped breakfast. But of the two thousand adults pulled, only twenty percent checked to see if there were facts to back it up each time. It also found that twenty seven percent of adults now think that cutting animal products from their diet completely is the right thing to do, despite six admitting they would prefer to consume dairy over alternatives. Gen Z was found to be feeling the most pressured into making diet decisions, with fifty five percent using social

media to inform decisions. That's just a snippet of the article again, that was from the Sun. But the things that stood out to me was eight percent checked to see if there were facts to back it up each time. That's not even half of people that are checking for the facts then it also said admitted that they would prefer to consume dairy And I'm right there with you.

There are things that I know because I have gotten to know my body, that if I don't consume them, I do know that I tend to feel a little bit better. But that's been trial and error. I used to listen specifically to what other people told me about their bodies, and I tried to implement it on mine. And what I've realized is I love almond milk, but I enjoy sour cream. I love dairy free ice cream, truly do. I love the coconut whatever that brand is

that's made with coconut milk, soy delicious or something. But I also love a good ice cream sandwich, and so I have found a way where the alternatives are yummy to me still. But I have the freedom to consume the dairy products that I do like because I can my body can tolerate it. Now, if you're lactose intolerance,

totally different issue. But if there's other medical conditions that you're worried about that you have sought out facts on, that you have sought out medical attention with, then that's a little bit different. But I just thought that article was interesting and wanted to share it with you. Now, this is something that showed up in my inbox that I got from Catherine Hansen. You'll know I'm obsessed with her. She's the author of Brain over Binge, host of the

Brain over Binge podcast. But she sends out news etters and I thought, oh, this is good. I want to share this on out way as a reminder. So here's the newsletter that I opened up in my email. If you were attempted to restrict food, consider that you could be trying to prepare for a potential binge. It's not that you want a binge to happen, but because you're worried that it will, you try to limit your calories just in case. But this restrictive behavior sets you up

to binge. Something I like to say is eat like you won't binge later. I'll say it again, eat like you won't binge later, meaning don't try to diet in preparation for a future binge. This mindset helps with eating adequately because you're taking the fear of binge eating out of the equation when you decide what to eat. Then, in turn, eating adequately supports you avoiding a future binge.

Gradually you'll become more confident that you are definitely not going to binge later, and it will help increase your feelings of freedom around food. She suggested in this newsletter too, if you struggle with thought of how you should eat,

you can get more help. In episode eight five dropped the shoods around eating and again her podcast is called Brain over Binge and I read her book that was this was one of the things that jump started my recovery, and it's something she mentions often is that you need to eat adequately fuel your body, don't restrict And I just really loved this newsletter. That was a nice reminder to me, so passing it along to you now. An account that I do love to follow on Instagram for

inspiration is the Nutrition Tea. That's her handle, and she put up this post saying that food is not something that has to be earned, not now or ever. Calories or units of energy that your body needs, you can and should eat because your body needs fuel regardless of your activity level. Not to mention, the last thing we need is to feel guilty about taking rest or recovery days. The no excuses crowd might tell you something different, But

there aren't excuses. There are reasons, and it's okay to have them move your body because it makes you feel good and not because of guilt and feel the need for penance. So I just loved that post from her, and she attached like a little video of her doing some movement, and that's the thing. For me. Exercise used to be this one specific way. If I didn't get it in that way where I knew I was burning all these glories, then it didn't really count in my book.

And now movement looks really really different. For me. It might be a bike ride with my son. It might be a twenty minute yoga session, which I used to put myself through grueling ninety minute you know, hundred degree fifty humidity yoga classes. Again, if I didn't do that, then my yoga didn't count. And now I am thankful that on the floor of my bedroom, I can pull up a YouTube yoga class and knock one out and that counts in my book. So hopefully that will be

some encouragement for you. Another thing that I saw posted online, well, actually I was browsing Fine Food Freedom's website, so this is something she had on the website, and I scrolled across compliments that have nothing to do with weight. That's something we have shared often is let's find ways to compliment people without talking about their bodies, their weight, their size, anything like that. So I'm just going to run through a few that you can keep in your back pocket.

Maybe these are things you can tell yourself and you can tell others. You are a good friend. Your laugh is my favorite. You are compassionate. I like your style, your smile is so pretty. You are great at your job. Boom.

Simple compliments that have nothing to do with weight. Now, the next thing I saw online this week that don't want to pass along to y'all is from dietitian Diana, and that is her handle on Instagram, and she said, diet behaviors that start off innocent, holding off breakfast, using only the egg white, weighing food, reading, ingredient lists, keeping your favorite foods out of the house, cauliflower, rice for everything. Then she asked in the caption which one hits home.

Many healthy changes can turn into orthorexia, an obsession with eating clean, preoccupation, concern over food. Sure, these can start off innocent, but at times, holding off breakfast can mean that you're not eating until noon, using coffee as a substitute, and then over eating later, which I've totally been there. Then when it comes to using a few egg whites here there to bump up the protein, but then it turns into stress over the actual yolk and a full

plate of whites with no yolk. Ever, weighing foods to get a good idea of portions could be beneficial to some for a limited period of time. However, if you're weighing spinach, seasonings, supplements, pieces of bread because the food label could be off and you can't eat a meal without the anxiety over the grams or ounces, then that's a red flag. It's gone too far. Reading labels and understanding ingredients is an awesome part of being a dietitian

and helps clients feel empowered around food. Eating a variety of whole, high quality foods is amazing. But if you stress over not being able to pronounce an ingredient or anything you don't understand and can't consume it, chances are it could be an obsession with clean eating and taking up more stress than necessary. That was totally me for sure. A fitness coach told you to never buy peanut butter or cereal because you just can't control yourself around them. Well,

that's not very helpful. If it's your favorite foods and you're wanting to make peace with all foods, work with someone who can help you create that positive relationship with your favorite foods. And then lastly, cauliflower rice is not diet culture. It's just another way to eat cauliflower. But if you swap out oats for a bowl of cauliflower or can't eat actual rice any longer, than it may be an obsession with cutting out carbs. So again, that's

what dietitian Diana put up. Those are six things that start off innocent that start to take control. And I gotta say I've done every single one, and I once legit did when I was twenty four years old, had a trainer tell me that I shouldn't eat cereal anymore, and I cut out cereal for years, and now cereal is so amazing. I love cereal. My favorite cereal is Lucky Charms, which heads up, don't need that right now because apparently that's been causing food poisoning for the last

few weeks. I'm sure they're getting it under control at this point, but most she's one of my favorite news accounts to follow. M O s H e H. If y'all are getting your news from him on Instagram, you're missing out. But he had his followers commenting in on the lucky Charms thing, and one of them said, oh,

my goodness, I eat lucky charms every Saturday. It's like their thing, and they just started to think they were allergic to Saturdays because every Saturday it would get sick, and it never dawned on them that it was anything inside their lucky charms that could be making them sick. So check your box of lucky charms if you happen to have those in your pantry. And then yeah, enjoy a bowl of cereal if you want to, or put peanut butter on all the things if you want to.

It's another thing I cut out because I was like, oh, I gotta have almond butter. I really do enjoy peanut butter, but I also guess what I do like almond butter. And then now in recovery too, I can make choices, like, I know, walnut butter is really good for my brain, and I found a really good walnut cashew butter mix concoction situation. Also, Big Spoon is another brand that makes a carrot cake walnut cash you spread situation and it might be the best thing I've ever put in my mouth,

So shout out Big Spoon. I have already gone through one jar and I'm ordering another. It is so yummy on toast, and I sprinkle sea salt on top, and then if I'm really feeling it, for some extra extra brain power, I squash a few blueberry these fresh blueberries into the toast, like down into the nut butter, and then that's my breakfast. As I'm walking out the door, I make a few slices of that and I'm good to go and I go to work with some some brain fuel instead of just water and coffee like I

used to do. So there you go. Those are some things I saw online this week that I wanted to pass along to y'all as your weekly dose of encouragement. And just know that you're not alone. Lisa and I are here for you, and we hope you download and listen to other episodes if you're new to the podcast, and then you can send us emails hello at Outweighed podcast dot com. All right, see you next Saturday,