Effectively changing our eating habits to cultivate new, healthy, and permanent relationships with food starts with listening to the messages we get from our bodies. What does it mean to listen to your body? And if you do listen, how do you use what you learn to make more mindful choices and feel better? And what do you do if your brain is screaming for something your body might not like? I hear these questions all the time.
Listening to your body is all about strengthening connections between your brain and your body. It’s about noticing what your brain wants, and also noticing how your body feels, and reacts. This might seem easier said than done, but it’s possible, and it’s powerful! Examples of messages a person’s body frequently sends are: hunger, fullness, GI distress (acid reflux, gas, bloating etc.), the urge to urinate, lab values at your from your doctor, weight gain, weight loss, sore muscles, achy joints, fatigue, allergic reactions, sweating, changes to heart rate, thirst, etc. The list goes on and on. Sadly, we live in a culture that largely encourages us to ignore many of these messages and get on with life. Learning to notice and honor them with smart decisions can lead to lasting change, increased motivation and better overall health.
Let me give you a real-life example, then we’ll get back to how you can make this happen in your life.
I’m a dietitian, but I’m also human, and like everyone else, I’ve got a food story that shapes the decisions I make today. I like to call these stories "Skeletons in My Kitchen." One of my skeletons is breakfast cereal. When I was growing up money was tight in our household. My mom (a single parent) did her best to put healthy food on the table while adhering to a strict budget. A point of contention between us week after week who got to pick the cereal. Like most kids, I longed for the sugary treats that came in brightly colored packages and had toys in the box! When I saw commercials on TV for Fruity Pebbles, Trix, Cookie Crisp and the like I would beg and plead with her to buy them for me. I lost, every time. The cereals we could afford, and that would feed us both what we needed nutritionally, were the off brand, brown, whole grain/bran stuff boring plastic packages. I specifically remember eating a whole lot of a Grape Nuts knock off called “Nutty Nuggets,” and I was not a happy camper about it. Of course, in hindsight I can see that my mother did her best with on the cereal front, but that didn’t stop me from devouring sugary cereals at friends’ houses whenever I got the chance. It’s stories like this that make us. They inform our food relationships well into adulthood. I still look at Fruity Pebbles, or brand-new cereal concoctions, and get a little excited inside, it’s nostalgia, and I’m a sucker for nostalgia! Sometimes I even buy a box. Are you horrified? Don’t believe me? Well, let me introduce you to what I ate yesterday. Monster Mash!
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| Yup...those are my Halloween spider leggings, I'm sitting on my bat blanket with my cat, Harrison Ford, as he begs to have some Monster Mash. We take Halloween decorating and dressing up pretty seriously where I live! Don't worry, no cats were harmed. He did not get any of my cereal! |
Here’s where we get to the part of listening to our bodies. What if I told you that there is no way in hell I would eat this cereal for breakfast because I know better? That I’ve learned that it belongs somewhere else in my life? It’s true, and I only know it because there have been times in my life that I was willing to try all things, and to pay attention to how I felt when I ate them. I know that if I had this cereal for breakfast my entire day would be shot. It's happened to me before. When I start my day with simple, refined carbs and an inadequate amount of protein for my body's needs, I feel absolutely ill about an hour after eating it and there’s nothing I can do to reverse the curse. I’ve tested this theory time and time again, and have used the feelings I get to decide that I'm not ok with eating things for breakfast that cause that feeling. I just don’t want to feel nauseous, hungry, foggy headed, and hangry ever again if I can avoid it. I can assure you, I knew Monster Mash was not going to be worth that. So, what did I do???
I ate this (below) at 8:30am…1 Slice of high fiber whole wheat toast (Dave’s Killer Powerseed Bread is my favorite) with 1 wedge of The Laughing Cow cheese spread on it, topped with arugula, a few slices of smoked salmon and an egg. Basically my “breakfast of champions.” I know I always feel great if I eat something like this.
Listening to your body means noting, and sometimes even journaling about how you feel when you eat certain foods. To do this, you have to allow yourself to eat those foods, even if part of you is afraid you might overdo it. This is one huge reason why I’m so against diets that exclude or criminalize one food or food group. Unless you have an allergy, or follow a medical diet, no foods should be off limits. With very few exceptions, it’s important to learn to get off of the diet/meal plan/restriction roller coaster so you can learn how you feel when you eat all foods. This is the only true way to understand where they fit for you. And if you do have to exclude some foods for a medical reason, you are already learning how important it is to practice eating foods that make you feel good, rather than those that have negative effects, or don't meet your unique needs. This perspective might help you if you're new to your plan and having a hard time adjusting to your new diagnosis, and the dietary changes that come with it.
Once you know if a food or meal makes you feel good, or not, it’s much easier to choose where that food goes, how often to eat it, and/or whether to eat it at all. If you allow all foods, and consciously decide to eat them only in ways that feel great in your body, your brain will eventually scream for these foods less and less often because you have made them available with enough regularity. Having fun with food, and allowing a little excitement and play tends to make healthy eating patterns more sustainable in the long term.
What foods have you labeled as “bad?” What foods do you crave, but feel should be forbidden? I’ll never tell you that sugary cereals are health food, but I hope you learned today that they can be part of a healthy life! If there’s something in your life that you would like to make fit, but you’re not sure how, a registered dietitian can help you figure it out!
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