Experiencing Holiday Food Guilt? Do These 7 Things…
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The holidays are coming up and food is ever present, how has societal pressure and the 'good versus bad' food mentality affected your holiday experiences?
Welcome back to another episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. In today’s episode we will dive into a conversation about the prevalent issue of holiday food guilt, a struggle many women can relate to during the festive season. Tune in to get practical tools to approach holiday food guilt with a gentle perspective, foster a healthier and more enjoyable relationship with food during this festive season.
What I discuss:
Do not try to undo the damage you have done. Just get back to your normal routine. When you do, your body will balance itself out.
Instead of feeling guilty, just learn from the experience. Learn from the guilt so you don’t repeat it.
Remind yourself that you most likely didn’t gain as much weight as you may feel and it’s also not race to try to “lose the weight”.
MOVE ON. Don’t look back. Focus on what you can do right now not what you do yesterday.
Don’t get made at yourself when you enjoy time with friends and family. Sometimes you have to choose memories over macros and that’s okay.
Remind yourself of what you do MOST of the time and not what you do ever once and awhile.
Start macro counting if you’re tired of experiencing food guilt.
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] 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 and issue 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. [00:00:21][21.1]
[00:00:27] And welcome back to another episode on Embrace Your podcast. Today I want to chat all about food guilt. You might be feeling guilty from enjoying all of your favorite holiday foods and drinks, either friends or family in town. You know, you're really enjoying the holiday season to the fullest. And if you're a woman, you know exactly what kind of guilt I'm talking about. I believe that food guilt, though, is not just an individual struggle. We all feel it because of the societal pressures and ideas of what, you know, an ideal body standard is and should be in telling us, you know, how we should live and good versus bad, especially in terms of the food mentality. And so how do we deal with this food guilt? How do we ensure that it doesn't get channeled into more negativity or more damaging thoughts or behaviors or habits? So I have some ideas, and that's why in today's episode I want to share with you seven things that you can do to overcome your feelings of food guilt. But before we dive in, I wanted to share this amazing review. Stick with me. This is seriously brought tears to my eyes. I love it so much. Nicole Penner gave a five star review and said, Seriously? Amazing. This podcast has been such a game changer in my life. I get so excited every time a new episode is out. [00:01:37][69.5]
[00:01:37] I crank it loud and power through cleaning the house. I've had a long battle with depression that led me to struggle with my mental capacity and physical habits before I found the podcast. I tried every fad diet out there only to have wrecked my metabolism and constantly binge. Julia's helped me change my mindset towards my body and food in such a wonderful way. Her episodes are inspirational, applicable, informative, enjoyable and help me push myself to be the best version of me. I share this podcast with everyone I can because I absolutely love it. Thank you, Julie, for following the passion that God plays inside of you and helping others live balanced lives, honor their bodies, and the most and most importantly, embrace their real. I love this so much. Nicole First of all, I just want to say thank you for taking time out of your day. I know that we all have super busy schedules, and so the fact that you took time out of your day to send in this review and write, it was just it's it's very heartfelt. I just want to say thank you. And I'm so grateful for every single part of this review. I mean, this is my why. This is why I keep going week in and week out because of you guys. And I believe that God has given me the platform and the ability to speak based on my experiences and just what I've learned over the past decade plus in this journey. And so my hope and prayer for every episode is that you walk away feeling empowered, encouraged, inspired, educated in some way, shape or form. And so thank you again, Nicole, for this review. If you could scooch over to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating interview, that would mean the absolute world to me. [00:03:07][89.9]
[00:03:07] We are trying to hit a certain number before the end of the year and it just really helps out the show in terms of the reach and who it gets out to. And my hope and prayer is that this podcast can get out to as many years as possible simply because I believe that there is a lot of life changing episodes and information within the episodes for people. And so thank you in advance for doing that. Okay, so let's dive in to the seven things that you can do to overcome your feelings of food guilt, number one. First of all, you don't need to undo the damage that you've gotten. This means do not punish your body for past mistakes. Let me repeat this again. Whatever you do, do not punish your body. I know it's so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to kind of undo damage that you did so quickly so that no one notices. But here's the thing. It's not a race to get back to normal. There is no race. So you need to stop believing that. You need to race back to whatever quote normal is. And again, normal is going to change from season to season based on what someone else says or what you're thinking that day. You can't win that race. No one is counting how many days it takes you. No one cares. So do not rush the process. If it doesn't need to be rushed, which it doesn't, you don't need to eat less or workout more or go on a fad diet to, quote, undo the damage that you did. Right. You don't need to earn your food until you've lost the weight that you've gained. You need. And this is the only thing that you need to do. [00:04:33][85.9]
[00:04:33] You need to just get back to your normal routine. And if your normal routine was all out of whack, then sit down, take some intentional time, you know, ten, 15 minutes and you know what you need to do. The majority of us believe this lie, that we're not smart enough or that we don't know what we're doing. And 95 to 99% of us, we know what we need to do. We're just not doing it. And so we're listening to all these other things, you know, these Instagram or TikTok videos or we're going on this website to learn about this program or whatever it is, and you just intuitively know what you need to do, right? I don't want you to work out more, you know, to kind of undo the damage. Instead, just work out, honor your body, how you normally would. Again, if this is something that you need to sit down and take some intentional time creating a routine or saying, okay, you know, I need to invest in a program so that I can follow this. What's realistic in my season of life is. Three days a week or four days a week. Just go back to honoring your body, moving your body and nourishing your body because your body has a beautiful way of rebalancing itself when it's given the things that it needs to. So again, just get back to your thing or reestablish what you're doing in this season of your life and you will start feeling good again. Number two, instead of feeling guilty, just learn from the experience. So I need you to take note of how you're feeling. Take note of what made you feel this way. Ask yourself if you want to feel this way again and then make a mental note of your answers the next time that you're in this situation again to overindulge. [00:06:02][88.9]
[00:06:03] Pull out your answers from those questions and remind yourself, okay, how did I feel last time? And how you told yourself you didn't want to feel this way again. For example, did you realize that the three slices of pie led you to a really upset stomach? Aw, man, I was just so uncomfortable that night. You know, I was. I was feeling so bloated. I was just feeling so sick, honestly, to my stomach. Register that and remember it so that history doesn't repeat itself. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat any pie, you know, But it's a good time to remind yourself, okay, one piece of pie that's going to make me feel so much better than 3 or 4 slices. I want to reinforce this part because when you're trying to learn a lesson, don't just say to yourself, Oh, I won't eat this much next time. This state isn't really deriving any sort of insight from your past experience. So saying this to yourself is merely just sending this vague declaration out into the world that holds no real meaning. Instead, I want you to reflect on your feelings, understand what triggered them, and then strategize as to how to sidestep that feeling in the future. And again, don't let the solution be deprivation. Find a way to for balance. And in other words, I need you to fight for balance, because at the end of the day, sustainable lifestyle is what's going to last, not deprivation. And there's a huge contrast between savoring the foods that you love and overloading on them. Overeating doesn't elevate your enjoyment. It only leaves you feeling gross sooner. You remember that. Number three, remind yourself that you most likely didn't gain as much weight as you might feel. [00:07:32][89.0]
[00:07:32] So even if this scale says which just to say, I mean, if the scale is triggering to you, please, by all means throw it out. If it's not triggering to you. I would even say, you know, for the holidays, you don't even need to have it around you. If it's something that is just going to lead you down this spiral during that day or whatever. But if the scale says, let's say, for example, you gain 5 pounds, I'm fairly positive that you didn't. And here's why. Because putting on 5 pounds over one weekend of holiday celebrations means that you are consuming an extra 17,500 calories, an extra 17,500 calories, which is an equivalent of overindulging on 6000 calories, extra calories for three consecutive days. Like genuinely, I don't think that you could do that if you tried. But if you are still convinced that you did gain weight from overindulging and you have, you know, food guilt because of what the scale is showing you remember this this uptick on the scale, even if it says 5 pounds, that isn't necessarily fat gain. It's more than likely that it's undigested food. It's water weight and undigested food. Sitting in your stomach can make you feel like you gained weight even if you look like you gained weight, you know, on the scale. In all reality, at the end of the day, it's undigested food and your body is working overtime to digest it. So just get off the scale. It's not fat. It's it's food awaiting digestion. Plus, another thing that I talked about was water weight. Holding on to waterway is super common, especially around the holidays or times that you're eating, you know, foods that you normally don't eat or foods with an increased sodium intake, alcohol consumption or simply just eating more than usual. [00:09:16][103.8]
[00:09:17] And the good news is that this waterway will likely vanish quickly if you hydrate, which I know sounds like an oxymoron, I know it sounds like counterintuitive, but when you are and you feel bloated, oftentimes it's because you have this water weight. And one thing that's really going to help dissolve that is ensuring that you're drinking enough water. So hear me out when I say it. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but just try it. Try to aim for at least 100oz of water. Honor your body with some movement. Go on a walk 20, 30 minutes. This is going to help so much with not only waterway but also just your digestion, which is going to help resolve all of these things. Number four, Sister, I need you to move on. If you think that you indulged a bit too much, what is done is done. There is no time machine that will take you back to change it. The extra slices of pie that you had over Thanksgiving, the wine that you over drank, the Christmas cookies, those are all in the past. So let me repeat it. What is done is done. You cannot change the past, so I need you to stop dwelling on it. Why are you continuing to think about it and punishing yourself for it? Continuously scolding yourself over this isn't going to change one thing. All it's going to do is. Drain you of your energy and make you feel worse about yourself. So don't burden yourself with guilt or keep, you know, ruminating over it like, oh my gosh, I just can't believe I did that. Redirect that energy to instead focusing on nourishing your body in this moment, hydrating your body, moving your body instead of punishing yourself for these past choices. [00:10:45][87.9]
[00:10:45] Focus on making better choices from this moment moving forward. It is truly that simple. Number five, Don't get mad at yourself when you enjoy time with friends or family. Spending the holiday season with friends and family and enjoying your favorite traditions together should never be compromised at the expense of wanting to look a certain way, even if those holiday traditions include lots of food and drinks. Let me repeat that again. Spending the holiday season with friends and family and enjoying your favorite traditions together should never be compromised at the expense of wanting to look a certain way, even if those holiday traditions include lots of food and drinks. I really feel that this quality time and memories that are made are never, ever something that you should feel guilty for. So here's kind of my philosophy on the holidays. The memories that we create sometimes hold a much greater importance than the macros that we're trying to count. The food that we share is intertwined with the memories that we're creating. And without it, the essence of the moment wouldn't be the same. So if you created beautiful memories with your friends or family this weekend. Let go of any regrets. If you had a blast with and the food was part of that holiday, Joy, embrace it wholeheartedly. There's always an opportunity to return to your nourishing routine. But you can't go back in time and try to recreate those memories. Just remember how important it is. Number six Remind yourself of what you do most of the time and not what you do every once in a while. Because at the end of the day, it's what you do about 80 to 85% of the time that matters. Heck, even 70% of the time, if you think about it, 70, 30, 80, 21 day or one weekend of overeating overindulging on Thanksgiving on Christmas or the holiday celebrations in between. [00:12:29][104.0]
[00:12:30] This isn't going to damage your progress if it's not what you do 80% of the time. What you do 80% of the time. That's what's going to ultimately dictate your results. Right. And the rest of the 20% give yourself space to enjoy yourself. Life is meant to be lived and use that extra 20% to live your life without guilt. You deserve to eat your favorite holiday treats to enjoy your favorite traditional meals and relax with some holiday beverages if that's what you want to do. You only get so many holiday seasons in your lifetime, especially with loved ones. So I don't want you to waste them. I want you to cherish them. I want you to enjoy them. And I don't want you to take them for granted by feeling guilty over what you ate or what you didn't eat or what you did move or how you moved or how you how you didn't move. All of those things. And lastly, number seven, I want you to start learning how to properly fuel your body. Honestly, this is really the only thing that helped me overcome my food guilt simply because it educated me. It really helped me to find balance so that I really never feel the need to overindulge and then feel guilty about it later. And I learn how to properly feel my body through utilizing the 12 macro counting. If you have tuned in to this podcast for any length of time, you know that I'm a huge believer in macro accounting. And if you have kind of a negative connotation with macro accounting, I want you to know that there are so many different avenues to implement this into your routine, whether this is just being intentional about kind of a balanced approach to your your plate. [00:14:02][91.9]
[00:14:02] So kind of building your plate. This could also be being, you know, being very intentional about focusing on protein, overall protein, overall calories or just overall protein. There are so many different ways to honor your body with properly feeling your body. And for me, you know, if I do happen to overindulge, I don't feel guilty about it afterwards because I know how to properly feel my body and I know that everything's going to balance itself out again. Right? So for me personally, people ask me this all the time. Do you count your markers around the holidays or, you know, Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday parties? No, I don't. I've been first of all, I've been doing this for over a decade. So I am very well-versed in terms of what it looks like to properly feel my body, what foods like how what the portion size looks like, and also most importantly, how I feel once I do properly feel my body. And that feeling of how I feel when I know that I'm, you know, properly eating the proper amount of protein, carbs and fats for my body based on where I'm at and what my goals are that over anything, it really trumps everything because I know that I feel my best. I know that I feel my most energy. And like I said, you know, there's 1 or 2 days or a week or weekend where I'm overindulging. I know that my body's going to balance itself out because I know that and I don't restrict my food When I go back to being intentional about properly feeling my body. It's not that I'm, you know, going into this clean eating when I'm properly feeling my body and then I'm overindulging on all of these, you know, quote unquote, bad foods. [00:15:34][92.0]
[00:15:35] No, I don't look at foods as good or bad. I eat all foods in moderation. I mean, count me in with chocolate every single day. You can you can count on me having some piece of chocolate at the end of the day, every single day. This is not just a holiday thing. It is every single day. If it's not chocolate, it's ice cream. If it's not ice cream, it's pie. I mean, I'm telling you, I legitimately end my day on a sweet to some sort of sweet meal or snack every single day, because that is what makes me feel my best, both mentally as well as physically, because I've learned how to properly feel my body. And the majority of my day. Yes. Is nutrient dense Whole foods, because that's giving me the energy, that's giving me the macros as well as the micros, which oftentimes people overlook. The micronutrients are so important as well. So if you want to learn how to properly feel your body and really enjoy your holiday season because it's no longer like I look at the holiday season and yes, there are certain foods that, you know, I only see once a year, but the majority of things I could have, you know, on a normal April weekend, in April, you know, or a normal weekend in June that I have on a weekend in December. So just do that overall switch and just learning how to properly feel your body can genuinely change so much. So if you want to learn about how to do that, I do have a program. It's called the Macro Accounting Meet Simple Online Academy. I literally give you everything that you need to get started. I help get your macros counted, give you all the tools that you need to succeed. [00:17:03][88.5]
[00:17:04] So I will be sure to link that in the show notes that you can easily go check that out. But there you have it. That is seven things that you can do to overcome your feelings of food guilt. Let me quickly recap what we talked about in today's episode. Number one, do not try to undo the damage that you've done. Just get back to your normal routine. When you do trust me, when I say that your body will balance itself out. Number two, instead of feeling guilty, just learn from the experience. Learn from the guilt so that you don't have to repeat it. Number three, remind yourself that you most likely didn't gain as much weight as you might feel. And it's also not a race to try to lose the weight. Number four, move on. Don't look back. Focus on what you can do right now, not what you did yesterday. Number five, Don't get mad at yourself when you enjoy time with friends and family, because sometimes you have to choose those memories over macros, and that's okay. Number six Remind yourself of what you do most of the time, not what you do every once in a while. What you do most of the time dictates your overall results. And then number seven, start learning how to properly feel your body, because genuinely that is one of the only things that helps me overcome food guilt and learn how to properly just feel my body through education. One thing that I always talk about is the more you're educated on a specific topic, the more natural confidence you'll get. So for me, when I first started, I was not educated whatsoever when it came to food and as a result, I felt so insecure when it came to eating because I was, you know, I was going with the wind of like, Oh, this magazine said this or this influencer said this. [00:18:40][95.9]
[00:18:40] And it was because I was not educated. I was just so wishy washy and I felt so insecure. And feeling insecure about your nutrition is one of the worst feelings. I felt it for over a decade, and that's why I'm so passionate about teaching women how to properly feel their body, because that is such a huge piece in the puzzle of your overall seeing results and just overall feeling your best in your day to day life. So again, if you want to learn more about my program, head over to macro accounting made simple.com. I seriously tried to make it the easiest thing so that you can learn these things in a comprehensive way, but also the simplest approach because I understand that it can feel overwhelming when you first start out. And so we are there to kind of help guide you through the process. So again, I will link that in the show notes. If you have a friend, a coworker or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode or this podcast in general, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and posted up on your Instagram. We love connect with you. But that is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much. A minute and I'll talk to you next time. [00:19:45][65.2]
[00:19:51] 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 an 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 Podcasts 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. [00:19:51][0.0]