Welcome to The Strong(HER) Way!
Today, we're diving into the juicy topic of quieting that relentless chatter about food in your head. I'm your host, Alisha Carlson, and I'm here to help you kiss dieting goodbye and embrace a more joyful relationship with food.
Let's face it, we all have that little gremlin in our heads telling us what we should or shouldn't eat. But guess what? You hold the power to quiet that noise! We'll explore some fun and effective strategies to tame that food noise monster once and for all.
Sick of the endless cycle of dieting, guilt, and shame?
I hear you, sister! It's time to break free from the diet drama and start making choices that nourish both your body and soul. Get ready to say goodbye to restrictive eating plans and hello to food freedom!
If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Strong(HER) Way on your favorite podcast platform.
And until next time, keep shining bright and nourishing your beautiful soul. See you soon!
Ready to ditch the dieting? Get healthier and lose the weight for good?
You can get started in 3 easy steps:
1. Book a call
2. Get your personalized plan
3. Work with me to stay on track and accountable to your goals
Welcome to The Strong(HER) Way!
Today, we're diving into the juicy topic of quieting that relentless chatter about food in your head. I'm your host, Alisha Carlson, and I'm here to help you kiss dieting goodbye and embrace a more joyful relationship with food.
Let's face it, we all have that little gremlin in our heads telling us what we should or shouldn't eat. But guess what? You hold the power to quiet that noise! We'll explore some fun and effective strategies to tame that food noise monster once and for all.
Sick of the endless cycle of dieting, guilt, and shame?
I hear you, sister! It's time to break free from the diet drama and start making choices that nourish both your body and soul. Get ready to say goodbye to restrictive eating plans and hello to food freedom!
If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review The Strong(HER) Way on your favorite podcast platform.
And until next time, keep shining bright and nourishing your beautiful soul. See you soon!
Ready to ditch the dieting? Get healthier and lose the weight for good?
You can get started in 3 easy steps:
1. Book a call
2. Get your personalized plan
3. Work with me to stay on track and accountable to your goals
Hey friend, welcome back to the Strong Her Way to Eat, Move and Live. Here we talk all things food freedom, fitness and life transformation, helping you heal your relationship to food, exercise your body and yourself. Today we are going to be talking about food noise, and no, I am not talking about the noise that you make specifically when you chew or you eat. However, that could be an episode in and of itself, especially if you have that. I think it's a phobia, whatever that thing is that really drives you nuts when people eat or when you are hearing other people chew. That is definitely something that my daughter has. She gets super irritated when she can hear us all chewing.
Speaker 1:But the food noise that we are going to be talking about today is that constant internal chatter about food. So maybe it's what you're going to eat, what you just ate, what you're wanting to eat and planning on eating. Maybe you constantly find yourself tracking or counting and adding up calories or macros in your head. That is definitely where I found myself. Um, before I kind of embarked on this non-diet approach to nutrition, it just felt like all day long I was constantly counting, you know, the carbs or the fats or the proteins in my head, counting, you know, the carbs or the fats or the proteins in my head and um, that was very distracting and my head was a very noisy place until I learned how to kind of silence a lot of that. So I don't actually think I realized how much I thought about food until I wasn't thinking about food anymore.
Speaker 1:It is crazy how much time and space opens up for us in our minds and in our lives and how much time and energy we can get back when we are not thinking about food, our weight, our body, as much as we're used to, and really just like what opens up for us. What capacity do we have? What else can we be thinking about when we are not just distracted by this all the time? However, for most of us, it just seems like a normal part of life to have food on the mind all the time, maybe to be thinking about your body, the scale, what your body looks like, or even just weight loss, and for many of the women that I work with, this is really kind of where they find themselves In our society, in our world, we have been conditioned or really taught to think that it is completely normal to be so preoccupied with our weight, with our bodies, with food, with what our bodies look like, and it has also become a normal part of life to always be thinking that we need to lose weight or be trying to lose weight.
Speaker 1:Now again, if you have listened to any of these episodes, you know I'm not against weight loss, I'm not against changing our bodies or fat loss or any of those kinds of things, but for so many people that tends to be kind of their sole focus and it's something that really permeates and kind of bleeds into every area of their life and it kind of keeps them distracted or it keeps them from truly showing up and being present, or being the mom or the wife that they want to be, or showing up in their lives as the woman that they want to be. So for me, when I'm thinking about this, it really is about finding that balance of taking care of ourselves, making sure that we're healthy, and also not doing it in a way or living our lives in a way where we're constantly thinking about food, thinking about the scale, thinking about what we're going to eat, what we just ate, and beating ourselves up. It is almost hard actually to even imagine a world without that or where that isn't the norm. But I dare you, I truly believe, as women, that we have so much to offer the world and if we were not distracted by this, by the numbers and the scale and food, that we would be actually changing the world in some pretty powerful ways and that really the heart behind the stronger way is that it's to see women released, it's to see women walking in freedom, really to be living their lives as the women that they were made to be and doing the things that they were made to do and going after those dreams and those desires that have been tucked into their hearts. Because I believe that those are the things that truly make each of us unique and that 1% different than everybody else in the world. And I don't want to see you go another minute not living the full life that you deserve to be living and the life that you really dream of living and see yourself living, being your best self for your family, going after those goals and those dreams with audacity, with boldness and with confidence.
Speaker 1:So what is food noise? Food noise is essentially that internal chatter about food that really can drive cravings. It can even drive the propensity to overeat in some people. The problem is that we can sometimes think that if we just gave into the craving, if we just ate the thing, then the food noise would go away, the chatter would go away, and maybe sometimes it does, but for a lot of us it does not right. It might go away for just a little bit or we think that it's we're better off now, but what usually ends up happening is that we feel guilty, we feel shame, we feel bad, we start beating ourselves up and it just kind of continues to drive that vicious cycle, if you will. Oftentimes afterwards, like I said, there can be those intense feelings of guilt for doing it again. And then we come down, we beat ourselves up, we maybe vow to be even more strict the next time, but then we end up kind of binging and restricting and just riding that roller coaster over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:Thoughts about food can be triggered by different internal cues, so this includes our hormones involved in hunger and appetite, as well as external ones. So maybe smelling those freshly baked cookies or seeing an ad for food, both of those things can contribute to food noise. So it's, it's looking at what's happening internally. So what's going on with me hormonally? What's going on with me mentally, emotionally. But then also looking at the environment outside of us, does smelling something trigger a craving for us? Does seeing an ad trigger a craving for us? So it's just kind of being aware that that food noise can come from a variety of different places and our job is to just kind of be a detective and to look around for that. When we're noticing that chatter getting a little bit louder, where is that coming from? What triggered that? Now, while there are medications on the market right now that can help with food noise or kind of quiet it, it's really not likely that it's going to help in the long run, or it's not going to maybe be the complete and the only solution, which is part of the reason that working on your relationship to food is really such a key part of it. So you can take the medications, you can utilize the medications, and there might still be some additional work to do as well in order to really create those long-term, lasting changes. Really being able to understand your cravings and why you think about food all the time is going to be extremely helpful in helping you turn that noise down.
Speaker 1:I'm a huge believer in getting to know ourselves, becoming more self-aware, really observing our behaviors through kind of this neutral lens, because that takes a lot of guilt, it takes a lot of the shame out of it and we can start to just look at it more objectively and more from kind of that data and figuring out you know specifically what types of things trigger food noise or trigger the different cravings, and then how can we really get in there and start solving that at a root level, at the source, rather than just those symptoms. Not restricting foods or having those like off limit or those no foods is also helpful. So we know that being super restrictive around food tends to just drive a more of a propensity to want to eat those things. Right, it's like that forbidden fruit. The more that we tell ourselves no or we can't have it, it's like the more we think about it, the more that we want to have it. It it's like the more we think about it, the more that we want to have it.
Speaker 1:This can feel really backwards for a lot of people because they think that if they don't restrict certain foods, they're not going to be able to trust themselves around a specific food and there might be certain cases. Right, if you struggle with addiction. If you have kind of that addictive propensity with addiction, if you have kind of that addictive propensity, um, maybe, with binge and restrict, then you are still going to want to have moderation and have some parameters around it. But really it's looking at removing that mental and that emotional restriction is going to be a huge part of it as well. The more restricted we are around a specific food, the more we tend to crave it and think about it and eventually like if or when we do allow ourselves to eat it. That's when oftentimes we feel like we just start eating and we can't stop eating it. It's kind of like when somebody tells you not to think about a red elephant, what's the first thing that you think about? You see that red elephant in your mind and this is the same thing that happens with food. So being super restrictive, having all of those off limit or no lip or no foods, can really drive up that food noise. So this is another reason that kind of challenging some of those things, working on that relationship to food, changing your mindset around food, can be huge. So instead of thinking that you can't have a cookie or you can't have the bread or something like that, it can be really helpful to think about why you are choosing not to have that food, at least right in this moment.
Speaker 1:Now. It's not that you can't ever have it again, but really this skill of being able to delay gratification is huge in our success, right? We know that the brain, naturally, is driven for immediate gratification. It wants to avoid feeling pain and it wants to seek out pleasure, right? So it is constantly scanning your world, scanning your environment and looking for things that satisfy one of those three things. It's wanting to save and to conserve energy as well, which is why it's looking for the thing that is the easiest. It's going to give you the most dopamine, the most of that feel good hit, with the least amount of effort required. So we have to intentionally come in, be willing to delay gratification, right, maybe postpone that dopamine hit in the moment for the dopamine hit down the road, and oftentimes it is those behaviors that really will end up serving us the best in the long run. Those are the ones that come through that delayed gratification.
Speaker 1:So it's it's reminding yourself why you're choosing not to have a specific food and setting yourself up for success If you still want to have cookies, if you still want to have bread or go out to eat, that's a hundred percent fine. But practice deciding in advance or deciding ahead of time when you're going to have those specific foods, so that we're not constantly reinforcing that craving loop right Of like we get the craving, we have the thing and then we're onto maybe the next craving or we're onto beating ourselves up. So really learning that skillset of delaying gratification is going to be huge. But it's changing that language. So instead of I can't have this, maybe I'm choosing not to have this, maybe I know that when I eat a certain food, it doesn't agree with me, it doesn't make me feel good. So it's not that I can't have it, it's that I don't want to eat it or I'm choosing not to eat it.
Speaker 1:Working on other areas like stress and sleep can be super powerful as well, and quieting food, food noise, because we know that stress as well as poor sleep impact different things hormonally for us which can drive up hunger or cravings and urges and different things like that. So this is where it's not necessarily just about having willpower and trying not to eat the thing or trying harder to not think about the food, but again, if we can kind of step back, peel back the layers a little bit, we can look at what other things are potentially happening that could be contributing to the food noise. So again, are there those external cues? Is it an internal thing that's happening hormonally? If I'm didn't sleep well last night, I know typically I'm going to have a lot more cravings for carb foods, for those quick carb foods, if I am feeling stressed a lot of times. Again, right, we're kind of driven for those comfort foods to help us to relax. So it's just looking at your life and a whole, you know the whole of it and seeing okay, are there things that I can specifically do? Are there different levers or things like that that I can pull? That will kind of. That will also help to kind of minimize that food noise.
Speaker 1:Things like eating more protein can be helpful. So, of course, the less processed uh, oftentimes the better, as sometimes when we eat more processed food, the craving for that food increases as well. So this is kind of twofold. One is thinking about eating more protein throughout the day. That's going to help us feel satisfied, more satiated. But then also looking at what types of foods are we eating? Is our diet rich in higher processed foods. Well, the bad news is is that the more the processed food is, the less our brain actually registers the calories coming in from that, which is why it's so easy to overeat chips or cookies or crackers, because we don't get the same feeling of satiety, so that feeling of fullness we also typically don't get the same satisfaction as if we're eating something with more protein, more fiber, veggies and that sort of thing. So it's really just looking at, you know, am I getting enough protein? That's one thing. And then what am I eating? Am I eating stuff that's just going to continue to drive the cravings right. It's kind of like when people start having more sugar, typically around the holidays, they find that they just crave more sugar. So it's like the more sugar they have, the more they crave the sugar, whereas when they stop eating the sugar, the cravings for that also seem to subside.
Speaker 1:Quite a bit have a variety of ways to decrease and manage your stress. So, kind of going back to the sleep and stress thing, we want to look at having different tools or different ways to manage, to cope, to decrease stress. So this might be where we actually look at cutting certain things out that cause stress, but then the stress that we either can't get rid of or that we don't really want to get rid of. How can we manage that better? How can we deal with that and cope with that better, so that we're not constantly turning to food for that? A lot of times it's really is kind of changing that internal dialogue and the story that you're telling yourself about the thing that is causing you the stress.
Speaker 1:It's important to recognize that we do need a certain level of stress or resistance in our life, because that actually helps us get stronger, it helps us adapt, it helps us get better. I think about this all the time when I'm looking at weight training in the gym. If I have a client that's coming in and we're always only lifting the same amount of weight, their body isn't necessarily going to rise to the occasion, it's not going to have a reason to get stronger and ultimately they're not really getting the most benefit that they could be. It's the same in our life. If we don't have some layer or level of stress, then that actually ends up being damaging to us in the long run. So it's not about getting rid of every stress, but I would say take an honest look and audit your life and figure out are there certain things in my life that are causing me extra stress, that I really don't need, that I can cut out? And then everything else, how do we approach that in a different way so that we don't have the same kind of stress response on our body? Now I do have a whole episode on sleep, but some things that can really help kind of quickly help you start sleeping a little bit better is to think about going to sleep at the same time each night. Now I know we think that we outgrow bedtime routines as adults.
Speaker 1:I hear a lot of times, you know, there is kind of that rebellion. Or for a lot of the women that I work with, after everybody goes to bed, that is maybe the first time all day. They feel like they've had some quiet, they have some time to themselves. So I don't want to take that away from you. I think it is absolutely important for us to have some space, have some time where we can just be ourselves. We're not mom, we're not our wife, we're not, you know, we're not playing wife, we're not whatever role we fulfill in our careers. We just get to be ourselves. We just get to be ourselves. We just get to be quiet.
Speaker 1:And for me, for a long time, when I wasn't doing a better job of giving myself space, giving myself time to rest and recharge without feeling guilty, without beating myself up, without feeling lazy, I oftentimes would find that I ended up in front of the TV with a huge bowl of cereal every single night and that for me was kind of the way that I was giving myself a break, or that I was, in quote unquote, enjoying that quiet time. But really that was just me kind of checking out of my life and once I started to kind of work through some other things that need to snack at night pretty much dissipated. So it's looking at. You know, can I go to bed at the same time every night? Is it possible for me to get everybody else kind of squared away and in bed a little bit earlier? Can I create some time for myself in the morning? That could be another thing. Having a wind down routine, so having some routine that really primes you and gets you ready for sleeping. This could be journaling, it could be some sort of um meditation or visualization activity.
Speaker 1:I personally like to read my Bible and pray before I go to bed. You can also listen to some calming music. Having your room a little bit cooler at night can be helpful darker, so we have blackout curtains and we pretty much keep the window open all the time, even in the winter time, just so that it's a little cooler, it's a little darker. You also want to be aware Are you somebody that is sensitive to blue light or TV? Do you find that watching certain shows kind of spiral your brain and get it wound up? Those again, it's all great information, all good things for you to just take a look at and so that you can make the appropriate changes there. If you find that you are constantly waking up to go pee in the middle of the night, then you might either want to try tapering your water consumption before bed or this is something I've started to do I sprinkle a little bit of an electrolyte packet in my water throughout the day. This helps me feel more hydrated, but also I've noticed that I'm not waking up nearly as often to go pee at night because my body's actually getting hydrated from the water that I'm drinking instead of just flushing it.
Speaker 1:When it comes to food noise, you also want to be looking for patterns. So we've been talking about this kind of throughout the episode, but noticing like, when is food noise the loudest for you? When does it seem to be the most problematic? Is it while you're streaming shows and just kind of mindlessly sitting there? Could you watch your show, maybe in a part of your home that's not close to the kitchen? So this is a very practical tip when it comes to habits is kind of creating friction, so making it harder to do the habits that we want to move away from, while removing friction for the habits that we want to create. So if you often find that when you're watching a show you're also wanting to snack and to eat, or that food noise is kicked up, maybe it's disrupting that enough to where you watch your show in a place that's further away from the kitchen, or maybe you even kind of switch up the time of day that you're watching that specific show to see if that disrupts that pattern.
Speaker 1:The goal here is really to kind of change the habit so that you don't evoke or kind of stir up that same hunger and desire to eat. This way we can also look for those triggers right. So as we're looking for patterns, we want to be looking for the triggers and the cues, that sort of drive up that hunger noise or drive up the cravings and the urge to eat, and really just getting again at the root of it and not just trying to use more willpower. Practice being more mindfully mindful when you're eating, rather. So slow down, really minimize those distractions, engage all the different senses, chewing your food thoroughly. Make sure that you are taking the time to savor and appreciate every bite of food, eating until you feel satisfied rather instead of full. So this is a very small distinction, but for many of us we tend to want to eat until we feel the sensation of full, versus eating only until we either just don't feel hungry or we feel satisfied instead. This goes on to say that overall, we want to make sure that our daily nutrition, our food, our diet, whatever you want to call it, is both satiating and it's satisfying.
Speaker 1:I think a big mistake many people make when they embark on a health or a fitness or a weight loss journey is they think that they have to cut out all of their favorite foods. Maybe they feel hungry all the time, they never feel quite satisfied with the foods that they're eating, which that also can kind of ramp up that food noise, drive those cravings and ultimately drive us to eat when we're not necessarily hungry. This is really going to have us thinking about food more often, versus if you are finding ways to eat things that you like and enjoy in a way that really still honors your goals, your body and the lifestyle that you like and enjoy in a way that really still honors your goals, your body and the lifestyle that you want to be living. Truthfully, if you just listen to this episode again, took notes and started to practice these things over and over and over again, it would help tremendously and tamping down and quieting that food noise. But this is really also something that working with a coach trained in this area is incredibly powerful.
Speaker 1:It is one thing to know what to do and what we should be doing. It's another thing to actually do it. I don't believe that it's a lack of information. In fact, I think you could Google just about anything that you needed help with. The problem is, oftentimes we end up getting so many different opinions, so many different ways that we could go with it. It becomes really overwhelming and we tend to kind of shut down and so then we end up not doing anything.
Speaker 1:So my encouragement would be to you is that if this resonated with you and if you really want to take this work deeper in your own life, with the guidance and accountability and support to stay on track with your goals, then I want to encourage you to fill out the form in the show notes to book a free consult to learn more about the holistic, non-diet approach that I use with my clients. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today, for tuning in until we meet again. Have a fantastic week. And also, if you have not yet downloaded the strong her way app, you can do that, which will give you immediate access to the mindful eating project, so as a four week mini course designed to help really get you started on your own mindful and intuitive approach to nutrition. Thanks again for hanging out. You can find that app on your app store, so either Google or Apple. Um again, if you want to book that call, go ahead and head to the connect page at Alicia Carlsoncom. Thanks again for hanging out and until next time, bye.