Your Ticket to Food Freedom

(upbeat music) Welcome to the Mindful Balance Mini Podcast.

If you are a woman over 40, ready to break free from fad diets and discover the power of balance and confidence in your life, then this podcast is for you and I am so happy that you are here.

I'm your host, I'm Rachel, a nutrition and mindset coach and I'm going to break down everything you need to know into bite-sized pieces of sustainable and realistic tips.

I wanna invite you to join me as we explore practical strategies to stop overeating, nourish your body, and use the potential of your amazing brain to achieve your goals.

If you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode filled with insights nutrition mindset and building healthy habits.

Hey there, I want to talk today about a subject that used to be such a big struggle for me, and that is navigating the emotions and fears around food choices.

This is a personal story that I believe I'm sharing here for the first time in the hope that if you can relate to it, it will give you not only hope, but actually some specific tools to grow out of where you may be right now.

So let's wind back a little bit.

There was a time when if you opened my fridge, you would see pretty much a shrine of clean eating.

I would have lots of protein, leafy greens, eggs, maybe some fruit or low fat cheese, and not even a trace of anything that you would call indulgent or a treat.

If you would see that, you would probably say that I have amazing discipline.

But here's the truth, discipline was actually kind of my prison.

Because walking down a grocery aisle was an internal conflict every single time.

Anytime I saw those cookies or that enticing box of cereal at the grocery store, it was a full-on internal drama.

I would pick up the box looking at the nutritional info like it was some secret code that I had to crack.

Then I would sadly be placing it back on the shelf and if you ask why, it's because deep down I believed that I could not be trusted around those foods.

Yeah, how's that for a mindset, right?

But you know how it goes, the more you restrict, the more you obsess.

I clearly remember leaving the ice cream aisle back then, I used to shop with my little ones, And I was so annoyed and frustrated because they no longer had those single serving containers, you know, those small tiny ice cream containers.

And the big containers were just a big no-no for me.

It was not something that I would bring inside into my house.

It didn't occur to me how messed up it was to have so much anxiety and mistrust.

Almost like this is a fact.

I cannot stop after eating just a normal regular portion.

And that was just the thought that I was walking around with.

I had no control over my desire to eat a lot of certain foods.

Fast forward a few years later and I found my way out of it.

Spoiler, it wasn't by locking away the "forbidden fruit" quote unquote in a cage of willpower.

The key is something that I later learned.

It actually has a name, and that's what we're going to talk about today.

Drum roll, please, because we are going to get to the juicy part and be talking about food habituation.

Food habituation is when you've enjoyed and consumed a food, a certain type of food, long enough that the novelty of it wears off.

that food loses its strong appeal because it is no longer the forbidden fruit.

This shouldn't be confused, by the way, with the act of making yourself sick of this type of food, but more so having the food become neutral to you.

And the reason I chose to discuss this term with you today is because food habituation is literally your golden ticket to freedom.

Think of it as a trust-building exercise with food.

The psychology behind it is simple, yet really super profound.

The more familiar we become with something, the less it overwhelms us.

And I'm sure you can find evidence to that in other areas of life.

You gradually expose yourself to a certain food, taking away its taboo nature and practically normalizing it.

It's like making a new friend.

The more you know them, the less intimidating they become.

Now, I talk a lot about mindful eating because it is the first layer of this journey of food habituation.

Imagine building your dream house.

This is the foundation that you want to start with.

Your meals should be satisfying and filling, but that doesn't mean that you can't have what you actually crave.

It's all about balance.

And I know that I say it over and over again, but I really do believe that because, for example, cereal used to be my kryptonite.

But it's true, it is hardly satisfying on its own.

If you eat a bowl of cereal with milk, you will likely get hungry again 30 minutes later.

At least this is how it is for me.

So I found a way to make it fulfilling and satisfying by adding some yogurt and some fruit to it.

Suddenly a single bowl of cereal was enough and I felt not only satiated and content, I was so much more calm around that food.

And you can do the same.

And I am mentioning it because we start here.

Before we even get into food habituation when I work with my clients, we begin with the golden key - mindful eating.

We can do that by learning to understand the body's signals for hunger and fullness.

And I know we've talked about it.

And I'm going to add one more piece to it.

Something that is often overlooked.

And that is satisfaction.

When you pair that awareness with food habituation, you start to redefine your whole perspective on eating.

This is when a cookie stopped being "dangerous" and became just another food option for me.

And you get to choose to do that without shame or fear.

Once you do that, it adds an abundance mindset into the mix.

So again, for example, I can have ice cream anytime I want and all of a sudden, I scream stop being this mythical creature that you must devour whenever it is in sight.

It helps you dial down that desire because your brain is no longer in this scarcity of eating as much as you can while you can situation.

Let's talk about taking this theory into the kitchen and onto your plate and I want to offer you two ways to achieve it.

Number one is the sandwich technique.

Imagine your food life as a playlist.

You have your classics and you also have your new hits.

The idea is to sandwich your new hit or the food that you are working on habituating between two classic hits or foods you're already comfortable with.

So if you're trying to get comfortable with eating fries, let's say, sandwich those fries between a salad and some protein.

This mental "sandwiching" reduces the anxiety around the new food while making it a seamless part of your meal.

Number 2 is the 3-tier approach.

This is about slow integration.

Let's say that your fear food is chocolate, for example.

In this approach, you start small, maybe a small piece of chocolate after dinner.

The next tier involves including it as part of your main meal, say a chocolate smoothie with bananas and almond milk for breakfast.

And the final tier is making it a central part of a meal.

Chocolate pancakes, let's say, for breakfast maybe.

This gradual integration helps you build trust and familiarity with the food that you are habituating.

So, if you are in the cycle of labeling foods as good and bad, clean or not clean, it's time to try the liberating concept of food neutrality.

Because the big truth is, food is just food.

Some may nourish your body more than others, some may nourish your soul, but all foods really have a place on your plate when approached with mindfulness and trust.

If you've ever thought that what you lack is discipline or willpower, I want to tell you that what you need isn't more control, it's more trust.

Trust in yourself to choose foods from a place of care rather than guilt or restriction.

I invite you to try this approach with food that's been on your no-go list.

And we all have those lists in the back of our minds, probably for way too long.

So add something to it and make it both desirable and nourishing.

I would love to hear your experiences if you take action and try one of these strategies.

So feel free to share them with me.

I have a private Facebook group, it's called the Mindful Balance Society and if you join I would love love love to hear if you try it and how it went for you.

All right that's all for today.

You are more powerful than you think and I want you to remember and I send you love and courage until next time.

Take care, bye.

Thank you for tuning in to the Mindful Balance Podcast today.

I hope you enjoyed our conversation and find inspiration to find your unique balance and confidence.

Remember that the journey continues on Instagram.

You can find me at @rachelemmanutrition.

That is one word where I share daily nuggets of wisdom to help you reach your goals with ease.

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your feedback fuels our mission to empower more women on their mindful balance journey.

Until next time, take care and stay mindful.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to The Mindful Balance.

The Mindful Balance is brought to you by Rachel Emma Nutrition.

Our editing and mixing engineer is Michael Plawner.

Our theme song is Good Feelings by Bo DeLiseans.

The information in this podcast does not substitute for medical or psychological advice and is intended for educational purposes only.

Please consult a qualified health professional regarding health conditions or concerns before starting a new diet or health program.

Rachel Emma Nutrition LLC and accompanying websites and social media platforms are not responsible for for adverse reactions, effects, or consequences resulting from the use of any suggestions herein or procedures undertaken hereafter.

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