7 Things To Help Improve Your Relationship with Food
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How the HECK do you improve your relationship with food?!
There are so many influencers out there on Instagram advising on how to do this, but none of it feels practical. In theory, it sounds great, but in practice, it’s so hard or you have no idea how to actually do it.
So, in this episode, I want to share 7 things you can do that are actually REALISTIC and PRACTICAL in your daily life. And when you do these 7 things consistently, you will transform the relationship you have with food.
However, I know these seven things are SO MUCH EASIER when you know how much food your body actually needs a day.
If you know you need X amount of protein, X amount of Carbs, and X amount of fats, filling in the blanks with the food that actually sounds good is simple to do. You are eating what you want, while still nourishing your body with the macros it needs and you are still on track for building the body you want.
That's why I have put together a Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy where I give you a step-by-step guide on how to transform your relationship with food through macro counting. I also calculate your macros for you and show you HOW I calculated them so you are empowered to do it on your own.
If you’re ready, head over to macrocountingmadesimple.com, and let’s get started, sister!!
What are you waiting for?!
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Embrace Real Podcast. So how the heck do you improve your relationship with food? There are so many influencers out there on Instagram and TikTok giving advice as to how to do this, but in my opinion, none of it actually feels practical in theory. Yeah, it sounds great. But in practice it's so hard, or you have no idea how to actually do it. So in this episode, I want to share seven things that you can do that are actually realistic and practical so that you can start implementing them into your everyday life. And when you do these things consistently, you will transform your relationship with food.
But before I dive in, I wanted to share this super sweet review. It comes from Be Someone Sunshine. First of all, love the username. They say, "Five stars, five star, five stars. I cannot rate this podcast high enough. Julie always has the most intentional and genuine messages to share. And it's always about something that I need to hear. Thank you for truly being a positive light and radiating so far to reach so many. Your podcast is my jam girl. Love you so much. Now let's get it, let's go." With the, I love you emoji. Oh my goodness. You are my girl. You guys are my people.
Thank you guys so much for leaving a rating interview, it really does help us out in the podcast land of just reaching more women to inspire and empower them to embrace the real and live authentically. So if you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, be sure to do that, because that makes sure that every single episode, when they release is automatically downloaded to your phone. So that way, whether you have phone service or not, you can tune in and not ever miss or skip a beat on this podcast. And if you are listening over on Spotify, you can actually rate the podcast over there now. So all you got to do is type in, Embrace Your Real to the search bar, and you will first be sure you follow the podcast on there, so that it automatically downloads as well over on your Spotify app. And then also you can click that rating button at the top part, and that really does again, just help us out hit the ranks over on Spotify so that we can reach more women. I appreciate you guys so much.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to send in these reviews. They really do help us out and they mean the absolute world to me. Okay. So let's dive into the seven things to help improve your relationship with food. So number one, walk through the grocery aisles and pay attention to how certain foods make you feel. I did this when I first started implementing flexible dieting into my daily intake and just really learning how to fit all of my favorite foods and moderation into my meals and snacks. But first things first, it's really important that we break free from the negative association with foods. And I know that this sounds extremely simple in theory, but in practice it's oftentimes really feels unrealistic.
So one of the things that I used to do is, I used to go to the grocery store and I used to go down the aisles of the foods that I used to limit myself from or tell myself that I couldn't eat it. I would look at the food and I would ask myself, "How am I feeling? Am I feeling stressed? Am I feeling anxious around this food? If so, why am I feeling anxious around it?"
And I personally, I'll just give you a couple examples. So for cereal, for example, for years I told myself I couldn't have cereal. And so what did I do? I went to the cereal aisle, I looked at all the different cereals and really just felt all the things and kept telling myself, I got to overcome this, this negative association with cereal is not healthy. It's not going to serve me long term. And so what I did to first start out is, I would buy the little travel packs of cereal. Because sometimes taking an entire box of something, or taking an entire bag of something that you just don't have a positive relationship with food that might cause you to spiral and binge and overeat on it and then feel even more guilty. But it is really important that you face these foods.
And so what I would do is I would take the little travel packs and I would force myself to fit it somehow into my meals or snacks. And over time I started to look forward to it and I started to realize, oh my gosh, not only am I feeling energized, but I'm feeling happy. I'm reaching my goals. And I'm eating this food that I used to have a negative association with. And so you can do that, even another food that I did that with, when I first started out was peanut butter. So peanut butter used to be a big trigger food for me. It would trigger me to overeat on it, or I would be super anxious around it and think that I couldn't have just one serving of it. And so I just bought the little packets, the Justin's packets of peanut butter, and that's what I started out with.
And I learned how to eat that food in moderation. And so the next time that you are at the grocery store, I want you to walk through the aisles and see, how is this food making me feel? Is this food making me feel anxious? Why is this food making me feel anxious? And how can I combat that and recreate a positive experience around this food, so that I have a positive association with this food instead of a negative one?
Eat more of the thing that you overate. So this goes along with what I just mentioned, but learning how to eat the foods that maybe you used to overeat. So whether it was a negative association and you didn't eat it at all, or maybe it was the opposite and you ate more of it. Another example, I know I just mentioned cereal and peanut butter, but another example is chips.
So chips might be that type of food where you are previously maybe triggered to overeat an entire bag of them. If that's the case, I want you to recreate and have a positive association with that food. So instead, can you get the little one serving packs of chips that you can still implement into your daily allotment, and learning how to properly fuel your body. And giving yourself permission to eat the food regularly. It's no longer a special occasion or you don't need to have some event to eat it, but learning how to fit these foods into your day to day meals and snacks, so that you can start to have a more positive association with this food and not restrict yourself altogether from it. Because that's not going to help you create a healthier relationship with that food.
Number three, this goes along with my faith. You guys, if you've been tuning into this podcast for while, you guys know I am a faith believing Christian. I believe that really being intentional about honoring your body starts with acknowledging that our bodies are gods, and we are here to honor him. And so I remind myself of first Corinthians 10:31, it says God's love must be so permeate. Our motives, that all we do will be for his glory. Keep this as a guiding principle by asking, is this action glorifying God? Or how can I honor God through this action? And I think that this is really important because when I was learning to mend my relationship with food, I couldn't do it on my own. And I think that's really important, that we remember that this journey is not meant to be done all alone.
In fact, if I tried to do all of what I've done in the last 10 years on my own, I would've failed. And every time that I try to do things on my own, and I don't allow God into guiding me and giving me wisdom and giving me the strength and giving me the peace, I fail. I fall on my face. And so I just want to encourage you to really just lean and remind yourself that eating is a gift from God. You have the opportunity to eat. And when you nourish your body, you are celebrating and appreciating and taking care of this beautiful temple that God has given you. You are showing him that you love and respect the most precious thing that he has allowed you to experience life, and AKA this temple, this body. And to respect your body is to respect God. So the next time that you eat, remind yourself that you're doing this so that you can glorify God.
Number four; ask yourself, how will this make me feel afterwards? If you are an emotional eater, it's easy to think about how the food will soothe your feelings in the moment. So I want to challenge you to think ahead. Yes, foods may soothe us for an hour or two, but the over indulgence can actually make us feel lethargic and uncomfortable in our bodies for days. So is the one to two hours of soothing worth the days of discomfort? This is a great question to ask yourself, before you dive into emotional eating. Another thing that you can do, that's super helpful is comparing how you will feel in the morning if you overindulge, versus how you'll feel in the morning if you don't overindulge. Again, if you do overindulge, you'll probably wake up in the morning, feeling groggy, a lot with brain fog and not much energy or motivation, as opposed to waking up in the morning where you didn't overindulge. You'll feel fresh, awake, alive, and ready to go conquer the day.
Oftentimes when you think this through, you realize that overindulging and feeling sooth for a couple of hours, really isn't worth the aftermath. So skipping the indulgence ends up feeling so much more worth it.
Number five, eat three balanced meals a day, just do it. This alone can truly help heal your poor relationship with food. You'll realize that when you are properly nourished, you don't have to have the same hunger and cravings that trigger you to overindulge. When you eat a balanced meal of protein, carbs and fat at every single meal and eat them in portions to what your body needs, AKA knowing the macronutrients that your body needs. You'll actually keep your hunger hormones balanced. And when they're balanced, you won't feel the need to overindulge. Three balance meals every single day, it is truly transformative. If you aren't already doing this, try this out for a week and see the difference how you feel, and make sure you're drinking enough water.
If you again, need a refresher on how much water you should be drinking, it's your body weight and pounds or an estimate body weight and pounds, times 0.67. And that is the minimum ounces of water per day, that you should be drinking. And if you want to divide that up into a few meals, a few snacks, you can do so and figure out how many ounces of water you should be aiming for at each meal and snack.
Number six, eat whatever food you want at every single meal. You need to cut out the thoughts of I shouldn't eat this, or I should eat that. If you want pancakes for breakfast, eat them. If you want a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, eat it. If you want pizza for dinner, go for it. There are two very beautiful things about eating whatever you want; one, if you are counting your macros and you are eating whatever foods you want, you will not overeat. Because you're giving your body the right amount of protein, carbs, and fats that you need to help you build the body that you want.
And number two, your body craves what it needs. If you've been depriving yourself of certain foods, it will likely crave those foods. But once you start eating those foods on a regular basis, your body will actually start to crave more nutrient dense foods. Of course, you can still have the other foods in moderation, but giving yourself permission to eat whatever foods you want, it's amazing what happens when you do that. And you start to see how much more balance your daily intake is. I know for me, when I started to actually implement eating pizza on a regular basis or having chocolate chips on a regular basis, or having ice cream on a regular basis, my body also craved salad and nutrient dense foods.
And I just learned this ebb and flow. And through that, of allowing myself to eat whatever the heck I wanted at whatever meal I wanted to eat it at, my body just naturally craved what it needed. And it was no longer these die hard cravings that I had been putting off for weeks and weeks, which led me to a complete crazy overindulgent session. You know what I'm talking about?
Number seven, when you slip up, just go back to your normal way of eating. Do not overcompensate it, forget about it, learn from it, but forget about it. I always say that to people, especially when people come up to me and they'll say, I was doing so good and then X, Y, and Z happened, or my family came into town, or my friend invited me last minute and I just completely blew it. What am I going to do? I feel like I undid all the progress I was making. And I always tell them, stop overcompensating. Stop thinking that you have to make up for something. And the way that one salad is not going to immediately bring you the results that you want overnight.
One overindulgence, one meal one day of you getting off track or having fun or whatever it is, just get right back on track. Get back on track. Learn from it of course, because when we learn from it, we have the opportunity to not make the same mistake again, but then just keep going. Remember that this is a sustainable lifestyle, which means that you're in it for the long haul. So stop thinking that one day or one meal or whatever it is, even if it's one week, you're on vacation and you want a little crazy, it's okay. Guilting yourself is not going to do anything. It's not going to bring you back to any place that's going to be productive in your health and fitness journey. So learn from it, forget about it and move on. Okay, let me recap that.
Number one, walk through the grocery aisles and pay attention to how certain foods make you feel. Number two, eat more of the thing that you overeat. And number three, remind yourself of first Corinthians 10:31, so whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. AKA, honor your body. Number four, ask yourself how will this make me feel afterwards? Number five, eat three balance meals a day and make sure you are also including that water intake. Number six, eat whatever food you want at every meal. And number seven, when you slip up, just go back to your normal way of eating, do not overcompensate, do not feel guilty. Lastly, doing these seven things are so much easier when you know how much your body actually needs. When you know how much protein and carbs and fats that your body needs.
If you know, you need X amount of protein or X amount of carbs or X amount of fats filling in the blanks with foods that actually sound good is simple to do. You are eating what you want while still nourishing your body with the macros that it needs. So if you are ready to build a healthy relationship with food and want to use macro counting as a tool to get there, but you have no idea where to start, please go and download my free ebook. It is a newly revised ebook. We actually just spent the last few weeks putting it together and really updating it and making sure it as valuable as possible for you. It's 40 plus pages. We're going through all things. What are macros? Why are they important? Six benefits to macro counting. And also we're giving you a step by step custom calculation that guides you through how to calculate your macros, for both maintenance and a new update body fat loss.
So you are not going to want to miss it. And also when you opt in for this free ebook, you are going to be getting some trainings from me for five days. So completely free information. My goal and my aim for this is to really just educate you so that you can feel empowered around macro counting. Because I know for me, when I first started out and I learned about it, I was so overwhelmed. There were so many online calculators, there were so many influencers saying this and saying that. And YouTube videos that were all conflicting. And so I wanted to put together almost like a lesson plan for you, so that you can feel comfortable and confident, and you can know exactly what it looks like to properly nourish your body. So if you want to download that free ebook, all you got to do is go to www.julieledbetter.com/free ebook.
Also, that link is in my Instagram bio. So Julie Ledbetter on Instagram, Julie Ledbetter on TikTok. And if you just click that link in bio, you'll see free ebook. You can click that and instantly just type in your name, type in your email and [inaudible 00:16:31] baby, we are going to send that free ebook to you. I hope that it serves you. I hope that you find this valuable overall. I hope that this podcast episode gave you some aha moments, maybe some insight that you can take with you so that you can start developing a healthier relationship with food. If you have a girlfriend or a friend or someone in your life that you feel like would benefit from this specific episode, I just ask that you share out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story or your Facebook story, or your TikTok story.
I can't believe TikTok actually just came out with stories by the way. But I love when you guys share these things, it really means the world to me. And just getting the message of learning how all of us can truly have a better relationship with food really doesn't hurt anybody. It only helps us all. So thank you in advance for doing that. I love you so much and I'll talk to you in the next episode.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, Julie A Ledbetter, yes it's with A in the middle. For that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple podcast, to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real, because you're worth it.