Episode 70_ Intuitive Eating Community

The idea of community has expanded especially over the time of time of the pandemic. We were told to stay home, but what about community? How do we gather? It became tough to go out and even tougher to find places to go out to. 

We as a society need others, we NEED community to thrive. Extroverts and introverts need to spend some time with others. 

 Join us in this Feed Your Soul with Kim Podcast where we discuss:

• 9 reasons you need community now more than ever.
• 2 places you can find your community
• Tips and tricks to help join in community.  

In this podcast Kim discuss’ Emotional Eating Solutions her signature self-paced course to look at food differently. This course is the way to get into action and make changes in your food AND in your life!

Find out more about Emotional Eating Solutions here:  https://feedyoursoulunlimited.com/emotional-eating-solutions-self-study/

Join us in Community at the Feed Your Soul Community Free Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1172488142887200

Want more information? You can find out more about Kim McLaughlin at www.FeedYourSoulUnlimited.com

Get your Free Quiz…

Are you an Emotional Eater?  

Kim McLaughlin, MA

Kim McLaughlin is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, inspirational coach, speaker, and writer. She helps people who feel frustrated overwhelmed and overloaded, and it shows up in overeating. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Clinical Psychology. Kim is a certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and she assists people to gain peace with food. 

We would love to get your feedback on this show and let us know what you would like to hear in upcoming shows. Email us at info@FeedYourSoulUnlimited.com

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Transcript

Kim McLaughlin: 0:01

Welcome to the feed your soul with Kim podcast. I am Kim McLaughlin your host. Today we talk about nine reasons you need community right now more than ever, to places you can find your community and tips and tricks to help you join in community. We're talking all things gathering and community join us now. Hi, everyone, this is Kim McLaughlin, the host of the feed your soul with Kim podcast. I am a blogger, a podcaster, a coach, and I help people move from feeling overwhelmed and overloaded with food and eating and their body and into a place of peace and freedom with food. Today we are talking in the show about joining in community. And that might not seem to fit with food, but it's gonna fit with food. So just bear with me as we walk through this. As we look at how is community helpful the starting spot, I think, is to go to the dictionary. And that's one of the places I like to go to is just what's the dictionary's definition. And I went to Merriam Webster dictionary, and this is what they said is that community is people with a common interest groups of people with a common characteristic people with a common history, people in a common location. And it's social activity and fellowship. Basically, to me, what this all means is it's people with something in common, who wants to join together for a certain reason. To me, the idea of community has expanded over time, especially during the time of the pandemic. So I think the difference about this podcast and what we're going to talk about today, as opposed to if we were talking three years ago, or maybe even three years from now is that we're coming out of the pandemic. And we were told two years ago to stay home, and basically to not join together and community. What I recall, myself and other people were saying as well. So how do we gather? How do we get together? How do we spend time together, it became really rough to figure out how are we going to be in community with each other and not be face to face, it was a really tough time. And I it made me really think about how we got super creative with how we're going to join in community. And now I think we have to have a different look about getting back together and being with people. And also really embracing what we learned over the time of the pandemic. Truth be told, I probably told you guys a lot. I am an extrovert. And I get my energy from being with people. And I know that there are a lot of you out there that get your energy from being separate and from taking space by yourself. And they're just two different ways of getting energy. None of them better or worse. But I didn't fare too well over the pandemic in the in the part about not being able to join with other people because I really love being around people. I don't have to talk all the time. But I do like being with people and I think you can tell from me being a therapist and a coach. I like having conversations and and being around people and that was particularly tough. I know my friends that are introverts really love the time alone and it was really heaven to them. So I get that we had different perspectives, but I do know that people who were or are introverts really had some struggles with not being able to be around other people. It made me think about how my progression of figuring out that I really needed more people and and how the pandemic was really hard for me is when my gym clothes. I've been a regular gym person for a while now. And there's one gym that I like to go to. So it's really Mike it is my community. And I love the companionship there. And when it was closed down that was so hard for me partly because I don't like doing online workouts so that for me is no fun. I don't get it done and I don't like it because I need somebody to be next to me and it feels more motivating that way. Our coaches got really creative and started doing Park workout. It's an outdoor workout so that we could join together and be distanced. And we could get our workout in and be more in community. And it made me think about how creative it was. My gym actually did a lot of things creatively, to be in community in a safe way that began to help all of us to join together and not feel as afraid. I also found that with my daughter, she was having to go to virtual school. And that was super tough for her, she's not motivated to sit in front of a computer, even if her friends were on the computer. They did kind of a zoom kind of classes, she did not like it and her grades her learning her mental health suffered, she was so excited to go back to school. And she said she will, she would wear masks all day long if she could just go to school and be with their friends. And that was something we've talked about that her need for being in community is so great that it really, really does affect her mental health. And the pandemic was particularly tough for her. I'm just sharing these stories, because these are examples of how it affect how it affected us. And I think it's important to consider how did that time apart affect you? And what did you get out of it? What did you learn, one of the things I did learn is that I do like, more isolated time than I thought. So I have learned now that I do need more time apart to regenerate, but it's, it's not as much as I need time with people. So it became clear that I actually really enjoyed the time apart to a certain degree, right to a certain degree, I enjoyed it. And then I really needed to be back with people. In community, we try and find a couple of different things, we try and find one people with a commonality with us, and two people who will like us. So we want our people who are similar to who are like us and people who like us. And these two things are important in community and I think bring more of a sense of feeling connected, which is a huge part of community. So why do people join in community, there are lots of different reasons, I came up with nine different ideas about why we join in community. So then once you know why you join in community, then you can make sure that you meet that need, right meet that need. So one reason people join in community is to share new ideas, insights, suggestions, and things that they've learned. A second reason is to brainstorm new ideas based on differing information. A third reason why people join in community is to ask and answer questions. I actually did that earlier today with my emotional eating support group, I talked with them and did some question and answers with them to start more joining in community. Another fourth reason that we join in community is to collaborate, interact and have conversations, talk, talk with people. Fifth is to learn from new people, learn from new people in our community, about them and what they know. Learn from other successes and failures. I like that one that helps me a lot to get an answer or get an idea. And lastly, people join in community to feel supported, where we listen to stories about each other, we empathize with each other, and we get to know what's going on with each other in a more intimate way. So do you see that if you figure out what is it I need from my community, then you can go out and get it if my need is to have my community? answer a question for me, I go in one direction and ask the question, but if I have a need for feeling supported on might go and ask in a different way. So if you know what you need from your community, then you know how you're going to approach them. The next idea or thought I had about that is how do we start approaching each other? And what is best? Is it virtual now is the best way to go or is it in person. I think we've all learned that there is really this platform for virtual community. Even more so since we have had the pandemic we have more opportunities for virtual joining and we've had more experience with virtual joining more in the past two years and I think we've done virtually before that where I was over the last few years, there would be more virtual friend gatherings, I did friend gatherings over zoom, we did family gatherings over zoom. So when we would have normally got together in person, we did it virtually. And it actually was very satisfying to be in community with others in that virtual setting, as well as in that in person setting. One of the reasons why the virtual can work really well is that you actually can be more targeted about who you want to join with, like, what I have my feed your soul community group. On Facebook, it's a free platform you can join feed your soul community, Facebook group is open to people who want to talk about intuitive eating and overeating and how they're struggling and how they want to have more self care in their lives and how they want to look at food differently. So there is this group that is a joining of people, a community of people with a common goal and a common idea that join together to get answers to that particular question, you wouldn't come to that group to find out how to use your laptop, right, that would be more for an IT group do you see So, you can get targeted groups virtually that are so vast and and, and also then so neat, niched, you know, in that little niche that you can go into and learn more about something very particular that you want to know about, and then be in community and be in support of in and support with others with that same idea. The other thing about virtual is that you can do it at any time, day or night, there are people that are all over the world. So 24/7, you can have access to people in that virtual communities. So I think that provides the virtual provides a different kind of opportunity than in person in, in community where we are in the same spot. And there's a different kind of energy I know from the two places and definitely a different energy comes out in person that I don't find that I get virtually, I get it in a different way. Let me put it that way, I get it in a different way. Hi, guys, this is Kim. And I want to let you know that the emotional eating solutions, eight week course is open. Now you can find it on my website at feed your soul unlimited.com, go to the work with Kim tab and click on that. This is the time to get peace with food. And I know this course will help you, you also can find the link in the show notes to the emotional eating solutions, eight week self study course. Overall, it's really valuable to join in community for quite a few different reasons. And I think you know them, but I just want to make sure that we're all clear about what the value is to the community, to Benin community. Quite a few reasons, you get to determine your level of commitment. And the more you're committed, the more you get back right that kind of give and take, the more I give out, the more I get back. And that's truly a value of being in community. Also you meet more new friends in communities. So being out there getting to know people get you out of that kind of rut of having the same people around, I know for myself, that I go through points in my life where I'm just interested in meeting new people, I'm interested in hearing something different. And I make it a point to put myself out to try and meet new people to get new ideas and new perspectives. I also will do it around the other another reason why we join in community is to learn new skills. I will do that in terms of getting into a class I'll do an in person class. And now I'm more likely to join in a virtual class which I have found really good. That goes back to the idea we talked a little bit earlier about the value of virtually is that you can target your interests. You can be with people from around the world and it can happen on your timetable not on when it's scheduled. Right when it's scheduled locally. I have to go there at that time. If it's online, I can do it more as I am available. Another reason to join and the value of community is that you get support from a group that is super important and that I think was missed over the time of the pandemic is that people really missed I really miss being in group and being with other people and that you get there is a value from the support that you get from the group especially when you're with like minded people. So the like minded people you get that support. It feels supportive, and I'm not saying that it is is in good to be in community with people that have different ideas, because that's really a different thing that you can get that can actually be another value. A valuable reason for community is that you are exposed to things that are different, that you're exposed to people that have different ideas, and you get to learn something, and you get to learn about others and different cultures are different ideas that can spark your ideas and make you think a little differently and learn more about the world to the other value of being in community is that increases your self esteem, this is that mental health side of being in community where we get to feel better with each other. And that can happen often in community when you're joining with people that support you that feel collaborative, that are really your people. That increases self esteem. And the last reason, then there are a lot more that there's value in being in community is because it can help you in difficult situations. I I know this from personal experience, I just was with a friend yesterday talking about something that was really difficult. And it was really good to talk with somebody out in community, right about a difficult situation because I could get feedback. And she's a person who's in my community. So she understood where I was coming from. And it really helped me look at the difficult situation differently and come up with some more strategies and ideas about what I need to do about this particular situation. There are lots of value in community, when we're looking at community, I want you to consider think about what it would be like to be in community with intuitive eating around overeating, food, peace, peace with your weight, and that there are communities that are not focused on how much weight you're losing, or what foods you've eaten, or what calorie count you've had. But there are people that are focused on intuitive eating and not getting into deprivation and diets. I find that that for me is really supportive to be with those like minded people who talk about food in a similar way where I don't have to hear about the diet or the the calorie count, like I said, or how much weight has been lost. We talk about how we look at food differently, and our emotions, and our mental well being and self love. All those kinds of things are really important. And I think it's important for all of us to look at how are we going to step up and community around like minded people around intuitive eating, and like minded people around food, that's my last thought for you is how can you get support and be in community around food and over eating. And I want to talk to you about a couple of ways that I know that you can do one I mean, if you wanted to, you could go online and google Intuitive Eating support groups or intuitive eating Facebook groups, or you could join or and you could join the feed your soul community facebook group page, where we have like minded people, community of people talking about having freedom with food and freedom with your weight. And looking at food differently. It's a supportive place to come to where there is a community and it's virtual, and you can get those needs met. Another place you can go to is my emotional eating solutions. eight week course, where you learn about emotional eating, you learn about intuitive eating, and you learn how to do things differently. We've just added in that group, a community support component, where we have once a month q&a, where you get to send in questions to me. And I answer them where we get to talk together where you get to talk to other members in the group. And we get to hear and create more solutions for each other because the more we come together and we put our minds together, the more we're going to feel better and have that support that we've been talking about earlier, that community does offer us so I want you to consider getting into community what community could you go to and what community can you go to specifically about ending overeating and emotional eating and and an intuitive eating. I've offered up a couple of ideas. I'll put the links in the show notes, you can go to my website, feed your soul unlimited.com To learn more about emotional eating solutions, and go to Facebook and just put in the search bar feed your soul community and join our community our free Facebook page where you get lots of helpful tips and tricks. So that It is community. And I hope you enjoyed talking about this today. This has been something that's been on my heart recently to talk about in this in this group in this forum because we don't talk a lot about how we can join together and how important it is to join together with that community of like minded people. This is Kim McLaughlin from feed your soul with Kim. I love talking with all of you. I can't wait to talk to you again next week. Bye everyone. Thank you for joining us on the feed your soul with Kim podcast. We come to you every Monday with fresh new ideas to help you end emotional eating and put food in its proper places nourishment. Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and review it and let us know what you think. Thank you for joining us