Episode Summary
In this episode, Marc talks about the psychology of eating, the reasons so many people struggle with weight loss, and how stress affects our relationship with food. He discusses some common traps that people fall into along with some strategies to manage those traps so that you can reduce stress and become a better version of yourself both mentally and physically.
Highlights
- At 5 years old Marc asked his mother to change his diet because he didn’t feel well.
- He began to feel better and that started his relationship with nutritious food.
- Marc realized that he could tell people what to do but without understanding how they thought, he couldn’t help them understand how to do it.
- He then started looking for research on eating psychology and couldn’t find anything. He then started doing the research himself.
- People often look to nutrition to lose weight. But nutrition can’t help with many of the reasons that people make the wrong choices.
- People think of themselves as a single person or mindset when the reality is that we have multiple archetypes. Recognizing who you are when you are choosing what you eat is critical.
- Be sure that the “adult” mind is making mealtime decisions. Don’t let some version of the inner child manage food choices.
- Every eating challenge that you face has a brilliant reason that is rooted inside our psychology, biology, or both.
- Food has been associated with comfort since we were infants. We have all been trained to think, feel bad, get food, feel better.
- Try to use the triggering moment to better understand what you really need.
- If you do make a choice that you regret, you need to give yourself some grace and not be critical or attack yourself.
- Learning to not self-abandon is a powerful lesson.
- Many people think that they need to train their bodies not to eat or to eat less. Most people need to train themselves to learn how to eat in a way that works.
- Long and slow deep breathing is the easiest stress reduction tool. Five to ten long and slow breaths before eating will help regulate stress and create a relaxation response.
- Eating too fast causes a stress response which releases cortisol. Cortisol makes it more difficult for the body to feel satiated since it blocks pleasure.
- Early childhood diets are making it more difficult to manage and lose weight.
- The body has the best chance to become what it’s meant to be when you become the person that you think you will be when you lose the weight. Most people get this backward.
Meet Marc
Marc David, M.A., is the Founder and Primary Teacher of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, an internationally renowned organization reaching millions of people each year. He’s a leading visionary, teacher, and consultant in the novel field of Eating Psychology, and the author of the ground-breaking and bestselling books, Nourishing Wisdom and The Slow Down Diet.
Relevant Links
https://psychologyofeating.com/about/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcdavidboulder/
https://www.amazon.com/Marc-David/e/B001I9RQJ0/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1
All past episodes of the podcast:
https://www.feelingfull.com/