Confident Eaters

Help food stress is ruining eating!
===

Georgie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Confident Eaters Podcast, where you get proven methods to end overeating, emotional eating, and stressing about food. We are heading for harmony between your body, food and feelings, hosted by me, Georgie Fear, and my team at Confident Eaters.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the confident eater show. I'm here with Christina Holland. And today our topic is help food. Stress is ruining eating. How are you doing today?

Christina: Christina. I'm doing great. It's a beautiful day and happy to be here with you.

Georgie: Oh, spring is the best. Like those first warm, sunny days.

It's like life is good.

Christina: The flowers are blooming all the things.

Georgie: And we're so close to like when the produce starts getting really good. Oh yeah, exactly. Strawberry heaven. So today we're going to talk about the [00:01:00] very real situation that can happen when stressing over food, what to eat, how much to eat, am I eating the wrong thing, how that can really ruin the eating experience.

And of course we don't want that to happen to you. We want your food to be healthy, but we also want you to feel happy and proud of the things that you're eating so you can eat confidently. So Christina, let's get started on this topic. What did you think when we started brainstorming about food stress?

Christina: it's something that comes up a lot, but it can mean different things, and through working with clients, I realize it's not always what we think it is. sometimes I think there are people who are eating more if they're stressed out, some people eat less and are overthinking, like you just mentioned. So the idea for this episode first came about after we were talking from an Instagram poll that I put on my stories a few weeks ago, asking people if stress has an impact on their eating. And if so, [00:02:00] what is that?

Georgie: Yeah. I remember seeing that. What's your Instagram handle in case people want to follow?

Christina: It is @christinamholland

Georgie: nice. And I am @georgiefear but I remember you asking that poll, you know, do people eat more when they're stressed or less when they're stressed? And it was a landslide toward people saying that they eat more when they're stressed.

Christina: Yes, and part of the reason why I wanted to ask that question is because I have a client I've been working with who is the opposite, who he forgets to eat or doesn't want to eat when he's stressed, so I wondered if there are other people out there in the Instagram universe who also experience that. But in that population of people who voted, it was not the case. But for this particular client, we started talking about his lack of desire to eat. And he was definitely dealing with some stress at home and with his job. And he would just go a really long time without eating, forgetting to eat, or just like pushing it off [00:03:00] because he just wasn't that interested in food. And he knew he wasn't eating enough and it was affecting him, so we started talking about it. He wasn't really recognizing hunger signals, which can happen if your stressed your appetite can be all jacked up.

Georgie: Oh, totally. Yeah. Some people feel like they don't want to eat at all. And then plenty of people, when life stress is high, they turn to food extra.

So, you know, this case is more like life stress was ruining his eating life. But as we'll talk about in a minute, you know, food can also be the source of stress for people. So

Christina: it's convoluted. Exactly. Yeah. And I think that's why we wanted to turn this into an episode because it's has a variety of things going on for people.

And I think for him, He was really struggling with figuring out what to eat because it was like, the stress was so high. It felt like a burden to prepare meals and an interruption to [00:04:00] his day. It's like, oh, that's like the last thing I want to do right now. And he really just didn't have the capacity for it.

It was just easier for him to put it off. But then that was causing other stress, like he couldn't sleep, and his workouts didn't feel great, and he couldn't focus. So, he was underslept and under fueled, and he would every once in a while just get to the point where he would order food from a restaurant.

And he described feeling relieved when he finally did eat a meal that he didn't have to prepare. Because It was just like, my body so needed this, but then he would have some guilt about what he was eating. Cause he's, he likes to cook at home. And so I was like, Oh no, this is restaurant food. And then overthinking that.

So we had to work on a few different things. First, we just talked about the mindset about how convenience food or ordering from a restaurant can sometimes be used to help support us in stressful times. If we don't have the capacity to cook every single meal from home, then it can be a really [00:05:00] useful tool.

And then we talked about making a plan to schedule in his meals, so if he's forgetting to eat or pushing it off, but he knows that that's going to help support him with his work and not contribute to the stress he's already feeling, even in the absence of hunger, he wanted to eat more regular meals to support him throughout his day.

And then there was a lot of reframing that went along with that. So rather than viewing, preparing meals as a burden, or I don't have time to stop, I'm too busy with work, got all this other stuff going on, he wanted to start viewing his meals as a way to support the life that he wanted to live. And hopefully prevent that stress from getting worse.

Georgie: Starvation is stressful. Yeah. Yeah.

Christina: Absolutely. It's like, we can only go so long without doing that. So definitely a lot of overthinking going on, feeling some decision fatigue. So we just tried to simplify it as much as possible. And so he's working on that. Right now

Georgie: simplicity can be such a comfort [00:06:00] when our brain is just over complicating everything and telling us if we make one false step we're going to like plunge off a cliff, which is never actually the case with food but you know I own one of those brains that loves to complicate things and so.

Yeah. Simplifying it, I can agree, is probably a great role for a coach to help out with. This sounds a lot like what you did with that client was, you know, what we call the wise parent approach, because a lot of times people will not be sure what they should do if, let's say I'm not feeling hungry, but I want to lose weight.

So, you know, You know, bonus, maybe I'll have a lower calorie intake day if I'm not hungry. So the way that we usually recommend people use what we call the wise parent approach is imagining if you were your own, like loving, caring, smart parent. So if I was my child and I said, no, I'm not hungry. I don't want to eat a meal. I wouldn't really worry too much. If your child is just like, whatever, I'm not hungry right now. You don't panic missing a meal [00:07:00] is not going to hurt most children, but if it maybe gets to the next mealtime and your kid is still like, nah, I don't want to eat like, Oh honey, maybe it's time to eat something just to get some vitamins and minerals into you and make sure you have enough energy to get through the rest of your day.

So I I usually tell my very adult, very capable client, if your body or mind is like, nah, let's take a meal off. That's not a big deal, but if it gets to the next meal time and you're still feeling like you don't want to eat, you probably want to override that and make sure you eat something nutritious just so you don't start feeling even more problems from starvation.

So one meal, give yourself a pass second meal, hey, why don't we eat something anyway, and then if you're under intense, Emotional or physical strain, and you find your appetite is gone for quite a long period, which can happen, you know, divorce, moving, I see you. Then you may want to use the wise parent approach to say, you know, what would be reasonable?

Three [00:08:00] meals a day, approximately one plate of food at each meal is going to keep you out of a lot of problems. It's going to keep you from grossly under eating or drastically overeating. So we're not eating a teacup of food and we're not eating three plates of food. One plate of food three times a day is like a really nice, simple thing to say you're taking care of yourself. If you need minimal guidance to just make things as simple as possible, eat one plate of food three times a day. That's wise parent approach.

Christina: Great. Love it.

Georgie: So overthinking, definitely. I can understand your client there. Indecisiveness can also be a symptom of disordered eating or an unhealthy relationship with food. And it really sucks. If you're in that person's shoes, I've been there. I can recall walking up and down the pre made foods section in my local grocery store. And I would like pick up one thing, but then put it down.

And then I'd like pick up a sandwich and like look at it and be like, Oh no, no, it has, has mayonnaise. You can't eat that. And I put it down. And I was looking for something to eat. I was hungry. I was aware I was [00:09:00] hungry, but if we have too much nutritional perfectionism going on, then we can feel like, Oh, but that has added sugar.

Oh, that's made with white flour. Oh, that's not nitrate free. And then you walk out of the store, empty handed and still hungry. So. It's just a really terrible spot to be in. I know I've also looked at restaurant menus and have that same stress rise up in my chest. Like there's nothing here that I feel okay eating.

And so in those contexts, when we're stressing about what to order, what to buy, what to cook, what do I bring for lunch? And no one is really enjoying their food. So things feel so much better when we can decrease that food stress. And we can just enjoy the taste and enjoy the experience of eating and enjoy the feeling of being fed.

Christina: Yeah, exactly. I think anytime that we can not overthink it, it's hard. I have one of those brains too, that likes to overthink things, but sometimes it is just like, this is a meal that I'm eating that tastes good and I'm just going to let go [00:10:00] of the rest.

Georgie: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Christina: And if you're somebody who experiences that decision fatigue one helpful way that I like to think about it as every productivity guru that you hear about or highly successful person will tell you, pre decide as much stuff as possible, to avoid that decision fatigue. So for example, a lot of people such as Steve Jobs and other productivity folks will wear the same outfit every day because it's just not something they want to spend time or energy making a decision about. And capsule wardrobes are very popular for that reason too . It gives you more capacity to make decisions about other things.

And if you're in a particularly stressful time in life, Predeciding can be a helpful way with your meals with when you're eating that can just be a useful tool. So I have clients who will use what we call the balanced plate approach to simplifying and [00:11:00] building their meals and helping them make more of those pre decisions and coming up with things that they enjoy.

But one other way we can pre decide is trying not to do that on the same day that you're trying to cook them. So maybe having a time that you set aside a separate day to think of here's what I have on hand, here are some meals that I can build a balanced plate around, and That way the creating is not happening on the same day as the planning.

I know that can help me a lot.

Georgie: So not leaving it until the actual time when you need to put it together.

Christina: Exactly. sometimes it can be fun to come up with a meal on the spot if you're feeling spontaneous, but if it's a long week or if you're stressed, Like even opening the fridge, you're like, what? I don't even know how to make anything anymore.

Like I've definitely been there. So one way that I can pre decide is by having just a running list of meal ideas that I like or recipes [00:12:00] that I like. And I know I pretty much have those kinds of foods on hand or the components needed to make those meals and even just making a very rough map of what meals I'm going to eat that week can just help not overthink, make life a little bit easier.

And we also mentioned in a recent episode of breaking up with binge eating to schedule in your meals like I did with this client and putting it in the calendar, having those supportive things around the stuff that just has to get done can be a way help yourself. Like, what time are you eating?

Not just what are you eating, but what time are you going to eat?

Georgie: Yeah. We actually also, use the term pre deciding when we were talking about impulse control. And developing this skill of using our willpower to choose healthier options. You know, when you pre decide, we tend to choose more nutritious things.

And if we leave ourselves to the last second, and then it's like, you know, M& Ms for dinner seem reasonable [00:13:00] the last second.

Christina: Yes.

Georgie: So, yeah, I also have meal times in my calendar, which has been a huge, huge benefit for me because. I can easily get sucked into a project or, any activity and just keep delaying and delaying and delaying eating.

And before I know it I'm over full or I haven't left enough time to eat before I have to get to the next thing. So I'm stuffing food in my mouth while trying to do other things and it's not ideal. So putting meal times in my calendar, at least pre deciding the when has been really helpful. I don't often pre decide on exactly what I'm going to eat, but I do think intentionally when I'm buying groceries. And a lot of times I set up sort of what you could consider a DIY salad bar in my fridge. So there's like pre washed greens, variety of vegetables and beans. I do always have pre cooked chicken 90 percent of the time.

And if not, there's tofu for the other 10 percent of the time. And so I just sort of like assemble stuff in a bowl and put salad dressing on it and it's a pretty [00:14:00] good low thought demanding meal.

Christina: Yes.

Georgie: I do find if I'm traveling and away from home. I'm already like default level stress above baseline.

And so in that case I do think , I could fall into the stress ruining eating because I'm just trying to figure out like how long is this car going to be, are we going to stop for lunch on the way? Am I going to be stuck at like a gas station trying to find a meal? Should I bring stuff? So I think pre deciding there and just packing a sandwich and, you know, a bottle of iced tea for the car can make life much better than, stressing over what will be available.

Christina: Yeah. I like what you said too, about when we wait too long, sometimes it's like, I'm just shoveling food in my mouth and that frantic eating is not enjoyable. Even if I'm like so hungry, I'm like, I didn't even taste anything. I was just got to this point of being so hungry that I just shoveled it in.

and I like when you're traveling, a lot of my clients, if they take a road trip or something, they'll bring snacks that they know they'll enjoy because maybe there isn't a place they want to stop on their [00:15:00] way. Maybe it makes more sense to pack a lunch or mapping out your route and seeing if there's a place you want to stop.

I think that's a great idea. another challenge that People who are stressing about their eating comes from our clients who have been dieting for a long time and lifelong dieting has kind of set us up to have a hard time making our own food choices because there's a lot of self doubt that's developed or uncertainty.

So following a meal plan or list of The foods that you can eat versus not, it might simplify your life temporarily, but it's really not sustainable because what if there are some foods on the not allowed list that you enjoy eating? And then when you do try to reintroduce them, then there's this feeling guilty eating them and some diet told them they weren't supposed to, or it was going to kill them.

And now they feel like they can't trust themselves. And then, I've heard clients sometimes say like, I don't even know what I like to eat anymore because I've just been [00:16:00] following everyone else telling me what to eat this for so long. So that can be tricky.

Georgie: Definitely. It's almost like the rule that a lot of the people that are in our circle have been dieting for the majority of their lives.

So, yeah, we lose touch with what it's like to be hungry, what it's like to be satisfied and what it's like to feel like potatoes instead of rice or rice instead of potatoes. Because our brains just jumped to like, what has the most carbs, right? That is added to each of them. That's how I'll make the decision.

Christina: Yes.

Georgie: I'm getting the taste buds back on the sounding board at mealtime to help us decide. It's a new experience when you're trying to make your meals fit certain macronutrient or calorie targets. Of course, you get really good at figuring things out by macronutrients or calories. And. It does simplify things if you ignore your flavor preferences, but as you mentioned, there's a lot of joy that's lost there.

And thinking about what will taste good may feel confusing [00:17:00] right now. It may feel like, oh, that's just one more criterion to make things complicated, but As people figure that out and they start to enjoy their food and find it pleasant again, it actually makes food less stressful. So as you said, Christina, it can feel like, taking our taste buds into account makes things too complicated, but it actually ends up being less complicated and less stressful down the road.

But I understand that the stress. I think it has to come down first, because if somebody is super stressed. Like just imagine yourself, like really wound up, really agitated. And somebody is like, no, but like, what do you want to eat? You're like, I don't know.

Christina: The last thing I want to answer right now,

Georgie: no preferences right now, except to calm the hell down. So I think the reassuring step is probably a great place to start. If you feel like you're stressing over food so much that you can't enjoy it. Let's start with reassurance, reassure yourself. Healthy eating is really a broad, flexible thing. It's mostly about big picture [00:18:00] concepts. Am I eating a reasonable amount?

Am I stopping when I'm full? But, sometimes we can fall into the trap of feeling like we have to monitor tiny little details, and that can, you know, You know, put us into the realm of where we start feeling stressed about food. So circle back to the big picture. Now, I think sometimes we have to cultivate our media exposure and like what sort of Instagram things we're following, how much time we spend on sites that have advertising, because I find that they have all these headlines and products and Even accounts, food gurus and your favorite food blogger or health blogger or lifestyle blogger is telling you, well, there's this toxin in oats.

So like, you absolutely can't eat oatmeal. And we're like, Oh, well, I didn't know. I thought oatmeal was healthy. And then processed foods are the devil and don't eat this type of vegetable because it has Anti nutrients. And then, like, you scroll down and somebody's like, don't eat red meat, it'll clog your arteries.

And then there's somebody on [00:19:00] YouTube who's like, oh, you'll be fine. You can only eat animal products. You never have to eat a plant. You're like, you'll be great. Don't eat gluten, don't eat dairy, don't eat soy, but make sure you get lots of plant protein, of course. It's so contradictory. When I was writing this paragraph, it just like ran away from me with all the things that I can remember hearing on the internet.

Oh, white pasta has high glycemic carbs and the same with white potatoes. So you're just like poisoning yourself if you eat them. But then if you cook it and chill it, it becomes resistant starch. So that's good for you. So like it just becomes funny at some point how much this goes in circles. So yeah.

Every time I see a chart that's like, don't eat your bananas past this point of ripeness, I'm like, come on,

Christina: I've never heard that one. I'm glad I haven't.

Georgie: Oh yeah. Once your banana has brown spots, it's like a sugar bomb. You're just asking for diabetes. Yeah. I really, I detest the sort of micromanaging you have to worry about these little tiny details and it leads people to stress over things like, should I eat steel cut oats? [00:20:00] Or rolled oats. And I'm like, which one do you like? And they look at me like, I don't know. Nutrition facts. So yeah, if you feel like what you need is some reassurance, I think it's really good to give that to yourself.

If you need a reassuring word from us, reach out. I will reassure you that a lot of food is perfectly fine to eat. And a lot of food patterns can create healthy, happy people.

Christina: Yeah, exactly. I vote that we make food fun again, personally. There's too much food fear out there and even if you weren't stressing about food, like Geordie said, all you have to do is open Instagram and watch people criticize every food choice that you made that same day and the overthinking begins.

So, it's important to remember that everybody has different preferences and we have taste buds for a reason. I think it's because food is meant to be psychologically satisfying as well as physically satisfying, and that's another reason why like [00:21:00] the balanced plate approach, because it can help you build your own meal out of a variety of foods.

And a balanced plate approach would be When you're figuring out what to eat, thinking of checkboxes. So, are you hitting protein, fruit, vegetables? Do you have some kind of carb? Do you have some kind of fat? And then you can ask yourself, what protein do I feel like? What do I have on hand?

What fruits or vegetables will go with this? And what kind of carb do I want right now?

Georgie: Yeah, it's, it's so varied. Like we could all put together a meal that fits those checkboxes and we'll all be eating very, very different foods.

Christina: And don't forget your spices and flavors.

Georgie: Salt, salt. I will not eat a meal that does not have salt on it.

And this goes along with like steering yourself away from, if your mind starts to say, well, what's the perfect thing to eat, what's the best thing to eat? that's not a stress reducing question. The stress reducing question [00:22:00] is recognizing I'll be fine. What do I want to eat? And you really will be fine.

it's not just okay, it's necessary to eat things like carbs. And dare I say vegetables and protein and some fat. So if somebody out there is like, don't eat that ever, it's bad, whatever it is, they're probably overblowing it. So some sugar is not going to kill you. Eating all sugar would certainly not be healthy, but like, we're not talking extremes.

We're talking about all foods fit in, you know, amounts that fit with our activity levels. Wanting variety is also really important. I mean, even if you did pick something that was, you know, Nutritionally, air quotes, perfect. By like the seventh or eighth day of eating it in a row, you'd probably be like, Ah, I'm really sick of this.

It's not fun anymore. And I don't know why, but all of a sudden I'm gravitating toward eating more treats or more chocolate. And I'm like, because you're bored with your food. We need some more variety, so change things up. I happen to eat some meals, like most people, my breakfast tends to be [00:23:00] pretty similar day to day, but I switch up things like one day I'll make my oatmeal with peaches in it, and one day I'll make my oatmeal with strawberries in it, one day I'll make my oatmeal with blueberries in it.

Or if I'm having toast with my eggs, I might have toast with margarine and jam, I might have toast with peanut butter, I might have toast with avocado. You know, changing up little things between what we actually want to have for our proteins, our fruits, veg, our carbs, our fats. I mean, that variety is the spice of life to be very cliche.

Christina: Yeah. And I think the lower stress way of thinking includes experimenting with different colors. Textures, flavors, cultures, cuisines, and you get to be the expert of your body, tuning into your own preferences and how food makes you feel when you eat it is a good way of deciding what you want to keep eating, what you don't.

But like you said, Georgie, the stress, I think does need to come down first in order for us to tune into those preferences. And Hey, you know [00:24:00] what? We have an episode on stress management that we just put out on the Breaking Up with Binge Eating podcast. So we're gonna link that in the show notes if you wanna check that one out.

Georgie: Good call. Good call. Another thing worth considering, if you're finding you're stressing over food in particular, if it comes in a sort of episodic fashion where you weren't stressing about your food hardcore a couple weeks ago, but the last three days, it's, you know, 10 out of 10 level stress, it could be a hint that other things in your life.

are actually the cause of that food obsession or food rumination. For me, I know I can slide into more overthinking about what or how much I'm eating when I'm actually feeling really uncertain about something like a competition that I have the next day, or if I'm really, worried about something that's uncertain, like the results of a medical test, I'll try and clamp down and decrease the uncertainty in my life by becoming a control freak when it comes to dinner time.

And being able to recognize those sort of [00:25:00] patterns can give us a greater understanding of it, a little more compassion for ourselves. And then we can talk about it. We can share it. We can normalize it and reframe it and hopefully help ourselves feel better when we recognize that food stress isn't actually a sign that we need to eat more perfectly. It might be a sign that we need to give ourselves some reassurance somewhere.

Christina: Exactly. And I think one of the things that we talk about with clients a lot is just being more attuned to your needs and that is physical needs, but it's also emotional, psychological, social needs. So yes, I need food to function, but what else is going on here?

Maybe it's not anything to do with the food whatsoever. And it's really a skill to get to know yourself and understand what your body is telling you and just being aware of that line of communication being open and it can especially be helpful in times of stress. And if you're stressing about maybe I'm eating too much, or what if I get hungry in two hours when I'm in [00:26:00] that meeting? Maybe I should eat more so my stomach doesn't growl embarrassingly. Then it might be helpful to just take a moment and see, is there something else going on, and addressing that if needed. So if you find yourself obsessing over food or stressing, just check on yourself, check on what's going on in your life and maybe you might need to make a change or talk about it with a friend or like Georgie has said, like offer yourself that reassurance.

Another example of food stress making eating unenjoyable is something that I hear from clients who have been responsible for cooking meals for their families for decades. And this often applies to empty nesters and this idea of I've cooked for my family for years and now it's just easier to do peanut butter and jelly or cheese and crackers.

For some people, food is not that enjoyable because I just don't care anymore. I did the calculation, if I cooked 21 meals a week for 30 years, that comes out to like 32, [00:27:00] 000 meals, so I could understand why you're not feeling it anymore. That's a lot of meals, and it might just mean that you're in a season of not wanting to put in a lot of effort to make the most unique and delicious food meals and just eating more simply, and that's perfectly fine, but it is still important to fuel your body with nutrients to fulfill the other things that you're excited about in life. Like Georgie said, the one plate three times a day is a great way to simplify that. And one reframe you might use is Right now, eating balanced meals is just about giving my body enough food to do other things that I love. But I definitely think it's normal to have seasons where you're seeking more novel food and some seasons where you're seeking more simpler food. But what do you think, Georgie?

Georgie: I imagine when you say like seasons of seeking more novel food. I imagine like myself walking around the farmers market like what looks good. What do we have here? Like very open. What's this [00:28:00] sort of mindset for other types of years? It's like, Oh, all right. Check the box. Get yourself fed so you can get back to doing the other things that you want to do. So, definitely we're all going to vary, I think. I feel like the drawback of going for like all peanut butter and jelly or cheese and crackers is that it does check the box for being simple, for filling our bellies, and for not creating too many dishes.

Which is nice. But then we do often end up feeling not awesome physically, or if we keep it up for a long time, that's the sort of thing that can lead to increases in weight. Because foods like peanut butter and jelly or cheese and crackers, when we're not pairing them with fresh foods like fruits and vegetables or maybe having, you know, more proteins, we could end up having a higher calorie density diet.

And you've set me loose with a tray of cheese and crackers, I can put away a lot of calories because I love me cheese and crackers.

Christina: Oh yeah.

Georgie: If you might be making the mistake of choosing low nutrition foods because they're so convenient, consider that there's a lot [00:29:00] of healthy and nutritious options that are still really convenient. So rotisserie chickens, we talk about them a lot, but if you don't want to go through the hassle of cooking protein, picking up a rotisserie bird and going, hey, that's four entree servings of protein at least, you're set. Bagged salad is another one that we talk about quite a lot.

You can also get veggie trays in almost every grocery store. And many places now also have pre cut, even pre seasoned things like potatoes or green beans or broccoli in a foil tray that you can just pop in your oven. So there's nothing wrong with letting somebody else cut the ends off the green beans for you if it makes your life a little easier.

There's also things like smoked salmon, whole grain toast, and cream cheese is like a super great Main course in the sense of like, it's got the protein, it's got some fat, you got your carbs, and then I just throw some fruits and vegetables on the plate with it, which could be as simple as a handful of grapes or cutting up a tomato. So think about all of the no cook, minimal cleanup options [00:30:00] that are still quite healthy, and you realize that choosing convenience foods doesn't mean defaulting into things that limit the amount of fiber that you eat or real foods that you eat.

Christina: There's so many convenient options. I know you're like a plethora of knowledge with all those ideas.

And there's even like a place near me. I'm sure there are places all over. It's like a restaurant that does just like local catering and they roast chicken. And huge trays of veggies and then it's even cooked for me. So I'm like, it doesn't get simpler than that. Like if I really needed something in a pinch, that's a great option.

Georgie: Some of my clients have gotten like trays of already cooked proteins from Chipotle. Like you can just apparently like buy like some of the barbacoa or some of the shredded cooked chicken. And yeah, if you've already got the protein taken care of, it's so easy to be like, hey, let's throw some lettuce and beans and salsa on this and maybe some instant rice. It's a meal.

Christina: That sounds fun. I'm going to have to try that with Chipotle. So [00:31:00] one more thing I want to mention is for our clients who have used food as their main source of entertainment, if you're seeking more simple meals or you're just not as interested in food as much, this could actually be a sign of progress for you because I know a lot of our clients It's struggle with food always being on the mind and it's a preoccupation.

But if it's starting to feel less important, this might not be a bad thing. It might be a sign of progress. So keep that in mind as well.

Georgie: Yeah. I'm so glad you, you pointed that out. there's such a blurry line. if there even is a line between food stress and rumination that comes from more the obsessive side of things, where it's an anxiety response versus food enjoyment and food planning, because it's so wonderful that we really like the more complicated process of like daydreaming about what we're going to cook and what side we're going to have with that.

So, you know, just because you're [00:32:00] thinking about food a lot. Is neither good or bad. And just because you're thinking about food, very little is neither good or bad. Both of those angles can lead to healthy meals. I think mostly what we want to do is ensure that people are enjoying food and that they're not thinking about it more than they would like to.

So it feels like it's crowding out other things from their life and that they're not thinking about it in the sense of dread or stress or pressure, but actually more like I've got so many options here. This is great. What do I want to select today?

Christina: So. Just to summarize what we've talked about, because we've given a lot of suggestions.

Georgie: It's been a lot. A lot on this one.

Lots of things

Christina: you can work on, and of course it depends on the person and where your stress lies, or where your food unenjoyment lies, if I can say that. We've talked about some reasons that you might be experiencing food stress in the first place. We talked about how you can use convenience foods or restaurant foods as a way to support you in times of stress when you're not able to make all your [00:33:00] meals from home. We talked about making a plan to schedule your meals in the calendar and make your day around that.

We talked about how to reframe if you have a mindset that is very stressed about eating and just the importance of viewing your meals as not an interruption in your day or a burden, but a way to support your energy and the other activities in your life. We talked about pre deciding things as much as possible, and if you're going to travel, for example, thinking about if you might pack a lunch or what restaurant you might stop at.

We talked about keeping a running list of meal ideas and recipes that you like to help you from experiencing decision fatigue when it's time to make a meal. We talked about rather than trying to stress over having the quote unquote perfect meal to prepare, to instead use a balanced plate approach to include your protein, a carb, fruits and vegetables, and the healthy fat, [00:34:00] as well as a variety of spices, textures, and flavors.

And just using what you have on hand to do the best you can. And finally. While it might not be about the food or the act of eating, where your stress is coming from, if you find yourself stressing or obsessing about food, just take a moment to see if there's something else going on in your life that's upsetting you, or whether you might be able to make a change, talk to a friend, Or offer yourself some reassurance.

Georgie: That was an excellent summary, Christina. So if you've been listening, I just want to say thank you from all of us here at Confident Eaters. We're really glad that you make time to include us in your podcast rotation. And we really get it that food is something that we want to enjoy and bring happiness into our lives.

And as much as we want healthy bodies and long lives and active lives, we also want to keep that low stress. It's not worth being healthy and slim if you're [00:35:00] miserable and the coaches on my staff are all incredible people. They're empathetic, they're compassionate, and we're here to help you out and meet you where you are. If there's anything you need to help take your food journey one step more confident, one step happier, I'd love to hear from you. So you can drop us a line at confident eaters. com. And we will see you in the next episode.