From skwigg's journal:
I just listened to Shameless Mom #18 Jill Coleman - How to Eat Every Damn Day
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was walking while I listened, so I was pleased with the rapid pace of it. Some podcasts are so sleepy and slow with relaxing music that makes me want to hurl. This time everyone sounded fully caffeinated and excited about the topic at hand. Food freedom is exciting! I wasn't bothered by the occasional "cheat" "treat" "gross" food language because I've been there, lived that. They may not be my preferred terms anymore but I can ignore them for the larger message.
Some of my notes and thoughts:
Self-compassion is a compliance tool. We think beating ourselves up has utility but it makes our eating worse.
Jill talks about how her brother has to eat a large movie theater popcorn every time he goes to a theater. A lot of us have experienced similar food triggers where if we get our hands on it, we can't have just a little. The cure is exposure and habituation, eating it every day for awhile, even overeating it, until the novelty wears off and we want less or want something else instead. It's not that we develop strong willpower, we develop indifference.
We can know something intellectually but actually being able to do it is an ongoing practice.
If we feel victimized by food it's because we don't have the tools yet. We look to meal plans and experts, blame outside forces. Instead, take ownership of your choices. Then you're not helpless, you choose.
Navigate the middle between stuffed and deprived by pursuing satisfaction. #SatisfactionFactor means adding bacon, cheese, chocolate, fun, whatever makes the meal something special and enjoyable. Without satisfaction, there will be a compensatory reaction later.
After a bingey, overindulgent episode or weekend, ask some questions about what happened. Get objective and curious about why and how. Pretend someone you care about experienced this and asked for your help and encouragement. What would you tell them? That's how you talk to yourself.
I also like the name of the episode "how to eat every damn day." I was on that cycle of low-cal, clean restrictive days and meals followed by high-cal "cheat" "screw-it" days and meals (usually whole weekends) for so long it's embarrassing. Eating with the same approach every day came very slowly to me. It finally started to click, not when I reined in the weekends but when I "messed up" the week. I still enjoy nutritious, moderate, whole food meals during the week, plus cake and french fries. Or greasy, high-cal, fast food on the weekend, plus kale and blueberries. I had to blur the lines and not feel good about eating clean or bad about eating frosting. I eat all kinds of foods every day. Neutral. If I'm eating to feel good (I always am!), then I'm not going to go for all frosting or all lettuce. It takes a balance of foods to create that feel-good satisfaction.