The Buena Vida Podcast

Kristi Docwra: Hungry for Change? The Path to Intuitive Eating

• Lacy Wolff • Season 4 • Episode 7

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Kristi Docwra shares insights about intuitive eating, a science-backed approach that helps us reject diet mentality and rebuild trust with our bodies to find freedom in how we nourish ourselves.

• Intuitive eating is about connecting with bodily cues and rebuilding interoceptive awareness
• Mindful eating focuses on the eating experience while intuitive eating addresses the diet mentality
• Children are naturally intuitive eaters until external rules override their natural abilities
• Rejecting the diet mentality means challenging temporary, restrictive approaches that don't work long-term
• Honor your hunger by recognizing body signals before reaching extreme hunger
• Use the STOP technique (Stop, Take breaths, Observe, Proceed) to manage emotional eating
• Challenge the "food police" that assign moral value to food choices
• Practice respecting your body for what it can do rather than focusing on appearance
• Intuitive eating helps bring joy back to food experiences instead of making meals just about nutrition

Join Kristi's mindfulness sessions through Work Well Texas to practice techniques that support intuitive eating.

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Kristi Docwra:

When things start to impact the way you're living your life and the way you're interacting and experiencing life. That's where intuitive eating can be very supportive and challenging some of those thoughts and bringing the joy back to your food experiences and not making it just about the food but about the full experience.

Lacy Wolff:

Have you ever found yourself constantly judging your body? Or maybe you've been caught in one of those tug of wars between the so-called good and bad foods, unsure of what to eat, when to eat or even why you're eating in the first place? If any of that hits close to home, today's episode of the Buena Vida podcast might just be the game changer you're looking for. Before we dive in, a quick disclaimer this conversation is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice. Always talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your individual healthcare needs.

Lacy Wolff:

My name is Lacey Wolff. I'm the coordinator for statewide wellbeing initiatives and the host of the Buena Vida podcast. I'm so happy you're joining us today. We are going to be talking all about the world of intuitive eating, which is a science-backed approach to help rebuild trust with your body, to reject the diet mentality and to find freedom in how you nourish yourself. It's not about rules. It's about reconnecting with your internal cues and learning to eat with curiosity, not criticism.

Lacy Wolff:

Joining me for this conversation today is Christy Docwra, who holds a master's of science degree and is a certified health education specialist. Christy is a wellness consultant for the Gulf Coast and South Texas region with our Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas team. She has over 12 years of experience developing well-being programs in both community and workplace settings. She brings a compassionate and practical lens to the conversation. She believes that health is a journey and that building small, sustainable habits can lead to powerful, long-term change. So take a deep breath, grab a glass of water or whatever beverage you like, and or put on your walking shoes and let's dive in. Here's my conversation with Christy. All Kristi, thank you so much for being a guest on the Buena Vida podcast. It's so good to see you.

Kristi Docwra:

Great to be here, Lacy. Thanks so much for the invitation.

Lacy Wolff:

Yeah, I love this topic so much and you and I'm really excited to get this information out to our listeners, and I just think it's such a helpful framework and way to think about nutrition. Before we delve into our topic today of intuitive eating, I would love for you just to talk a little bit about what you do and if you could just tell our listeners how you support our health plan participants.

Kristi Docwra:

Absolutely. I am a wellness consultant that supports the Gulf South region of Texas that incorporates the higher education institutions as well as Texas agencies, and we do a lot of outreach and support. So that can range from delivering health education presentations to helping support strategy and talking about the various programs that are available through your health plan, so really just providing that extension of what all the amazing things Lacy does for the whole state of Texas.

Lacy Wolff:

Well, I'm so happy that you're in this role. I've known you for many years and a lot of people may not know that you also served in the role as a wellness coordinator at a higher education institution before you started with Blue Cross, Blue Shield, and so I just think you have a really great perspective and understanding of the needs of the people that we serve. You have so much knowledge to impart as far as health education. So we're talking about intuitive eating today, and I think for a lot of people maybe this is kind of a new term, or maybe you've heard about it but don't really know exactly what it is so I thought we could just sort of define it. What is intuitive eating?

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, I think this is such a great place to start. For many people this might be a new concept, but it truly is an evidence-based approach and it's the brainchild of registered dietitian Evelyn Tribole and nutrition therapist Elise Resch. And it's truly about connecting back to your body and rebuilding our interoceptive awareness. This is the ability to recognize those internal body signals, and this includes hunger, thirst. So eating intuitively involves truly trusting and honoring your body's wisdom and developing a peaceful relationship with food. So our body sends signals frequently throughout the day. That is essentially your body telling you, hey, it's time to take some action. Your body telling you, hey, it's time to take some action. I mean, when we get that sensation that we need to go to the bathroom, do we wait 30 minutes or an hour Maybe, sometimes, but that's our body telling us it's time to take action.

Kristi Docwra:

So take a moment and think about some of the signs that maybe you have personally experienced and I want you to ask yourself the question did you honor them? I don't know about you, lacey, but I often feel that stomach rumbling. My stomach kind of talks to me when I'm hungry. So what really happens over time is that our interoceptive awareness is kind of bypassed right by, maybe, the specific rules or regulations that we have placed around our eating habits and this ultimately dulls our awareness or sensitivity to these bodily sensations. I know that was a lot to take in, but I think it's so important to really understand that we have kind of lost sight of some of those natural body cues that we get and we really need to try to get back to listening to them and honoring them throughout the day.

Lacy Wolff:

It is so interesting when you start thinking about intuitive awareness and interoception. So often when people are I have air quotes here. You can't see them if you're listening. But dieting you're often trained to. Just don't listen to your hunger, just go for long periods of time without food and that restriction can be really unhealthy. So we hear about intuitive eating and we hear about mindful eating, and there's a difference between those two. Can you share what is mindful eating and is it the same as intuitive eating?

Kristi Docwra:

And that is so true it's often used interchangeably. Mindful eating, intuitive eating While they do have similar foundational principles, I would say there are some differences. So when we think of intuitive eating, a lot of things that you will see or hear when intuitive eating is talked about is kind of rejecting what you were saying, lacey, that diet mentality. There is diet mentality but there's also diet culture. That is, I think, a pretty large part of our society and those rules and judgments that are placed around when and how we eat. So truly intuitive eating is listening to our hunger and fullness cues. So when you think of those aspects, it's more of a mindset-based program.

Kristi Docwra:

Now, when we take mindful eating, it's bringing the full attention to the experience of eating right. Sometimes we lose sight. We're watching TV, we're driving in the car, eating our breakfast really quickly. So mindful eating is about taking in that full experience. So that might be the sensation, the taste, the texture. So when we think of all of these things, it's building those skills to slow down and put the brakes, pump the brakes and really take in that full experience of paying attention and awareness. So what I would like to say about the two is that, again, they're really founded on building better interoceptive awareness, which we were just talking about, but kind of different focuses. And one last thing I want to note about this as well is that both of these styles can be used together or separately. It's truly finding maybe one works better for you than the other, or maybe both work well together for you.

Kristi Docwra:

You know, it's finding what works best for you.

Lacy Wolff:

Yeah, it makes sense to me. So often, I think people are just very busy, we get busy and then we're eating on the run while we're doing all these other things, and so we're not actually paying attention to the fact that we are eating. It's just like I got to cram some food in my mouth and get to the next thing that I have to do, or I'll be eating while I'm sitting at my computer working, so I'm not really paying attention to the fact that I'm full or I'm hungry in that moment, or even tasting the food really, and so I think it's really great to be able to sort of define these and to also recognize that these are skills that we can build over time. Right, this isn't something that you have to master it overnight.

Kristi Docwra:

Absolutely, and they are things that you need to continually practice right. One day you might find, oh, I'm doing really well in this area, and other days you might say, hey, you know, I'm doing the best I can, yeah.

Lacy Wolff:

Well, and it's so interesting you and I have talked about we both have children. They are born intuitive eaters and we often, I think, condition that out of our kids. Clean your plate, finish your food, because you don't want to have to feed them again. So we are teaching them, because kids will naturally eat when they're hungry and they stop when they're full. Would you agree?

Kristi Docwra:

I would totally agree. I think one of my most favorite things to talk about, and really in alignment with intuitive eating, is that toddlers right. I'm remembering back when my daughter was a toddler. They are naturally intuitive eaters, like what you're saying. There might be one day where they're moving their bodies a lot, so maybe they need more snacks, or maybe they're eating more than they typically do. There might be another day where maybe they don't move as much, so they might not eat as much. But we try to set them on a very rigid schedule. We're going to eat breakfast, we're going to eat lunch, we're going to have our mid-afternoon snack, we're going to have dinner. But they truly do kind of recognize I'm not hungry If they ate a lot of snacks before dinner. I remember my daughter saying mommy, I'm not hungry for dinner, but of course me as a parent, I just spent this 30 minutes making you dinner.

Kristi Docwra:

You know, and I expect you to sit down and eat it right With us as a family. So we kind of build it around what we think are social norms or try to base it on the schedule that we built out for our kids. So all of that to say yes, lacey, I 100% agree and it's truly getting back to recognizing those cues and not getting distracted by all the things that we have going on on a daily basis.

Lacy Wolff:

Absolutely. So there are 10 principles of intuitive eating. This is supposed to be a 30 minute podcast. Sometimes it goes to 40, 45 minutes because I can go long. I'm saying that because I know we don't have time to get to all 10 principles. I would like to go through just a few of the principles. We'll see how many we can get through. So the first principle is reject the diet mentality. So let's talk about that one. What does that mean? The diet mentality.

Kristi Docwra:

Absolutely, and I think this one really forms the base of intuitive eating. And you know, I think it can get really confusing because we use the term diet in a number of different contexts. Right? So when we look truly at the definition of diet, it's the food that's consumed to nourish our body as a whole, right? So when we look at a true definition of diet, it's those foods you eat day in and day out that nourish your body. But we often hear, you know, in more of a social like context right, like, I'm going on a diet. I'm sure I don't think I'm alone in this, lacey, have you heard that before? Oh yeah, absolutely, I've been on a diet, I know I feel like we all have at some point yeah, that's why this topic is so, so great.

Kristi Docwra:

So, when we hear the term I'm, or I, or the phrase I'm, going on a diet, you know this is often meant as temporary, right? People don't typically stay on a diet long term, or maybe it's to reach a certain goal. Maybe somebody has a weight loss goal, and it's often more restrictive in nature. And what we find, too, is that when somebody goes on a diet, they might even fully cut out certain foods or food groups, right, because they're termed bad or unhealthy. So, ultimately, when we think of diet mentality, it's really referring to the set of beliefs, the thoughts you might have or behaviors that you have that are centered around, you know, weight loss or food restriction. So, you know I think I want to bring it around too is that you know? So often with social media or even just conversations with others, you know, we hear people talking about a diet that maybe has worked well for them, right? I think it's important to remember whenever you see those clips or you hear people talking about something that's worked well for them.

Kristi Docwra:

What I just wanna say here is that we are all unique, right. Our genetic makeup is unique and there are so many different factors that go into your own individual nutritional needs. That's why, when we talk about intuitive eating, it's important to loop back to what is my body trying to tell me? What are those cues that my body's giving me? Now I also think it's important to talk about that overarching diet culture which is all around us and it's more of that broader context, and diet mentality is kind of fostered right based on diet culture. So diet culture is kind of that full system of beliefs and it truly does interact. It truly does influence how we interact and we experience our daily life. You often find that it equates, maybe, thinness with health or moral value or you being successful, and it really ultimately comes at a cost to our physical and mental health. So hopefully that kind of helps kind of structure the two. But I think this is such an important place to start.

Lacy Wolff:

Yes, absolutely, and I think we all. I'm a child of the 80s and grew up you know seeing my mom go on all kinds of diets and diet books and diet VHS tapes and you know this kind of Jane Fonda era of fitness and all of these things and it's all I mean. Remember it would be temporary. I'm going to do this for 30 days, like the 30 day diet or the grapefruit diet or whatever, but they don't work, right? I mean, the research shows that these diets actually don't work in the longterm.

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, and I think it really ties back to those psychological and physical factors that are related to that temporary or quick fix type of mentality, if you will right that idea of, you know, depriving yourself of certain foods and it often leads to right that, obsessing over that forbidden food and it increases our desirability of that food, which ultimately kind of spirals into overeating and possible binging. So you know, I think that's a key component A lot of diets will completely cut out certain foods or certain food groups. You know, and it's really hard, like let's say, you know there's a diet I love cheese. Okay, I'll just, I'll just put it out there, I really do like cheese.

Lacy Wolff:

I'm with you.

Kristi Docwra:

Me too, and so like, let's say, there was a diet that was like you have to completely cut out cheese. That would be extremely hard to maintain long-term to be sustainable, cause. I mean it would be like would that be my last time to eat pizza? I enjoy eating pizza. I don't I don't want to eat it every night, but I do want to enjoy that random pizza night with my family.

Lacy Wolff:

you know, yeah, yeah, and it's so interesting. We think about how much time, energy and money people spend on diets and we know they don't work and most people actually end up gaining back more weight when they come off of a diet than they weighed before they went on it. And so I yeah, I think that's just. It's great that that's the kind of the first principle, and if you do have a diet mentality if you're listening to the podcast, you do have a diet mentality, you are not alone, Most of us do, and it's kind of hard to. I mean, that's the first step, I think is just really thinking about and addressing it. Number two is to honor our hunger, and I think that's also a super important. You kind of talked a little bit about that in the beginning of our conversation. When you're talking about interoception, what does it mean to connect to your hunger and what does that look like?

Kristi Docwra:

I think what it means when we talk about connecting to your hunger is, you know, and oftentimes with intuitive eating, right, there's a scale of like one to 10, right, and intuitive eating encourages you, right about your, you know, a level four is a good time to start thinking hey, you know this might be a good time to eat. You know I'm feeling hungry, I'm not like starving, but you know I'm mildly hungry and this might be a good time for a light snack, or you know something like that. So, you know, I think it's important to kind of look at it from.

Kristi Docwra:

I need to recognize those bodily cues that you know my body's signaling, giving you waving the white flag, like it's time to eat something, and try not to go too far past that right. So, like, let's say, you're at a level four but you have a meeting right, you have meetings back to back, they're several hours and you know that there's not really going to be that time to satisfy that hunger cue that you're receiving. So what I would encourage you to do is have things close by at your desk, like, if you have long periods of time in between and you get hungry, you might need to reach for that snack in your desk drawer, and that's okay. That way you don't get to the point where you are so hungry that it might lead to overeating. I think that's very common for people as well.

Lacy Wolff:

I love that and because you and I have both gone through the Wonder Health Program and the Wonder Hunger four point scale, which I think is really pretty simple, and you know, just defend your level to eat at a level three and then level four is where you are, Like Dr AAA calls it, primal hungry, where you eat when you're so hungry that you just can't stop eating. And I find that it's not uncommon if you're working all day without a plan to get to that primal hunger. And for me it'll be at the end of the workday when I come home and I'm cooking dinner, and so I'll be eating because I'm cooking and then I'm not hungry for dinner but, like you said, I'm going to sit down and eat it because I cooked it. So that honoring the hunger is a, it's a practice. I think all of these are skills that we can work on and I like that, the fact that it's really not prescriptive Like you have to do this all the time but learning and understanding.

Kristi Docwra:

Absolutely.

Kristi Docwra:

You know, I think, when we go back to, the difference with dieting is diets are very rigid and oftentimes, like you said, prescriptive, like don't eat after 6 pm or make sure you eat breakfast before 8, you know, prescriptive in nature.

Kristi Docwra:

When if we start to listen and tune into our body's signals and meet those where they are, then you're creating a regular habit of I can eat when I'm hungry, I'm not just going to eat something, to eat something I don't really like avocado. I know I'm probably one of the only people listening to this that do not like avocado, but I'm always hearing all this messaging of avocado is so healthy and it is. It has a lot of good attributes to it, a lot of good nutritional components, but the simple truth is I don't like of good attributes to it, a lot of good nutritional components, but the simple truth is I don't like avocado. I don't like the texture, I don't really like the taste. So I think it's important to recognize that we don't have to eat something to just eat something. But it's also about honoring our hunger, but also honoring those things that we enjoy and that also provide ourselves with nutrients to get us through our day.

Lacy Wolff:

Yes, absolutely. Well, that's a good transition to the next principle coping with your emotions with kindness. If we're forcing ourselves to eat something that we don't like, or we're restricting ourselves from eating something that we do like, it can create some pretty negative emotion and then we're kind of forcing it. So what does it look like to cope with our emotions with kindness?

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, I think you brought up something really important here. When we tie our emotions to our eating habits, we're kind of losing that neutrality so we're kind of tagging it onto. Whenever I feel this emotion, it's going to trigger me to eat, right, because I'm like I'm feeling this way. I know I feel maybe a little bit better after I eat. Maybe this food I really really like it can lead to that spiral effect. And I want to say too, I have eaten because I'm stressed. I would say that's probably one of my main things. Whenever I'm emotionally stressed, I tend to eat. But I know that about myself, I know that's kind of a trigger moment for me and I think this is a great segue into the practice of mindfulness, because with intuitive eating, mindfulness is there, right, it's an important aspect of it. And so I want you to think of the next time you're feeling stressed or maybe sad, mad, whatever type of emotion that maybe typically drives you to eat.

Kristi Docwra:

To take a moment, I like to use this stop format. S would be stop what you're doing. It's kind of pressing that pause button on your current thoughts and actions. So that's an important piece, because we got to pause to allow those internal cues for us to be able to recognize them. The second one is to take a few breaths to center yourself, bring yourself into the present moment and recognizing I'm here, I'm feeling this certain way, and then observing truly what is going on in my body, emotions, my mind, and then proceed with whatever you were doing, making a conscious, intentional choice. And what are some positive coping mechanisms that have worked for me in the past? Maybe it's getting outside. There's a lot of great benefits to getting out in nature, going for a walk.

Kristi Docwra:

Maybe, it's listening to a guided meditation, but truly being kind with yourself, nurturing yourself, finding what you need in that moment. Sometimes we get into that habit of I'm really stressed, I'm going to I love Oreos too I'm going to eat the Oreos, and then I'm going to come back Right, and so then I start to build that habit loop for myself. So how do you get yourself out of that? It's finding other positive ways that you can cope with those emotions or that current state.

Lacy Wolff:

Yeah, that makes so much sense and we sort of condition ourselves with emotion in various ways. That can be healthy or unhealthy, but if every time you're sad or frustrated your go-to is ice cream or a cookie, then that makes you feel happy or gives you that chemical in your brain and that just becomes a habit. And so this way of thinking, this intuitive eating, allows us to understand those patterns.

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, I think it's getting to the root of what you truly need, right? Not just masking it by other things, because essentially, sometimes we'll put a bandaid on things and we'll just continue to put that bandaid on it without truly getting to the root of what's going on and what can support you the best in that given moment. So, yeah, I think it's important understanding what your body needs versus just trying to fix something.

Lacy Wolff:

Yes, absolutely. You do such a great job of leading mindfulness sessions through our Work Well Texas calendar. So if our listeners, if you have not been made aware that we have actually fitness and meditation sessions over Zoom that you can attend anytime, we record them. There's also a YouTube channel. Can you talk about that? Your mindfulness sessions?

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, and I truly do love leading those. That's probably one of my favorite parts of the month is doing the tune in Tuesdays twice a month. And what we do each month is we focus on a different style of meditation. What I've learned through practice is that sometimes certain meditation styles work better for certain people and sometimes other meditation styles might fit what you need in that moment a little bit better. So you know, each month we focus on a different meditation style. So we've done mindful breathing.

Kristi Docwra:

Just last month we focused on a progressive muscle relaxation, which is a really great way to kind of work through those different body parts and intentionally relaxing each of those areas, Because I think we don't realize how much tension we tend to hold in our body for various different reasons. And I do want to mention this month specifically because we are working on a self-compassion meditation where we're working through the three basic levels. So we're working through that mindfulness aspect, getting to that space of common humanity of like hey, I'm not the only one out there that's experiencing these types of challenges or things that I'm going through. I'm not alone in this, and then wrapping that in compassion and kindness for yourself is so important. We often extend things so much easier to others before offering it back to ourselves.

Lacy Wolff:

Yes, absolutely, and that's such a great segue another great segue to self-compassion as we move into talking about the next principle, which is respecting your body, and I think that can be so challenging in the culture that we live in, where it feels like so much of our worth is based on what we look like. In our current society and I think it's not just women for everybody it is so hard because we're getting bombarded with these messages all around us. That is the. That is the most important thing. So respecting your body is the next principle. It's really challenging. What are your thoughts on that and how do we do it, even when there's parts of your body that you may not like at certain times?

Kristi Docwra:

It is challenging, lacey, and I will say this has been something I've dealt with throughout my life. I know you've seen me in person, lacey, but I'm almost six foot right, so I'm pretty tall and I want to share just a quick story with you. So my sister and I, we both ran cross country in high school and I can remember this parent telling my mom that we didn't look like a distance runner which what does a distance runner look like? Right, I guess, according to this individual, our body shape was too big and it wasn't that typical lean runner physique, I guess. Lean runner physique, I guess.

Kristi Docwra:

And so I want to bring this up because, you know, I think sometimes what happens is that, with all the messaging that we see from various various things, right, the media, social media, different influencers and things like that, it almost ties, like your body shape to your worth, right? And if you don't fit into this specific box, you know you're not healthy or you shouldn't be a runner or things like that. So I share this because I think we've all had an experience where maybe we don't think our body is what it should look like and we get really down and hard on ourselves, but we're, all you know, made to be the way we are. We have genetics that play into this a lot and truly no one size fits all. No one size fits all, and I just want to say that it's truly important to kind of lean into appreciating your body for what it can do and where you are in this moment, and not body shaming yourself or feeling that you don't fit into the typical mold of what people think healthy should look like or feel like.

Lacy Wolff:

Right, and I think, just the aging process. I'm in my mid forties I don't look like I did 10 or 15 years ago, and so you start to sometimes kind of fixate on the things that we don't like about our body. And I like how you said that. Think about the things that your body can do for you, because we're more than a body, we are all of these other things. Right, I'm a mom, I'm an employee, I'm a daughter, I, you know, I have all these other things that, if I focus in on what my body can do and what the amazing aspects of it, that's a. That's a good shift in the mindset, because I've talked to people about this over the years.

Lacy Wolff:

And if you're listening to this, think about how many times a day do you potentially say a negative thing about your body to yourself, and is it multiple times a day? And then what is that doing for us? Is that helping or hurting our health, right? So such an important principle and something we can all certainly work on. The next principle that I would like to talk about here is and this will be the last one we'll talk about for the podcast, just because of time is challenging the food police. Can you talk about the food police, the good versus bad foods, and how does that hurt us?

Kristi Docwra:

the food police, the good versus bad foods, and how does that hurt us? You know I was thinking about this one a lot and I can remember. I've been in the health and wellness industry for 14 plus years now and every role that I've been in I remember walking through the office and it was almost as if people thought I was the food police. They would hide whatever they were eating and they're you know. Have you ever experienced that.

Lacy Wolff:

Oh my gosh, absolutely Just because of my title and my role, if I go to lunch with people or I go, I better have a salad, Exactly.

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, I mean judgment-free zone. That's truly what intuitive eating is all about as well. And when we think about challenging the food police, it ties in our thoughts, our feelings and behaviors, which are often shaped, when we think about it, by our environment, by the people we surround ourselves with, by social media. And I want you to think about this too. We were not born labeling foods as healthy or not healthy or good or bad. That was not part of our vocabulary, right, it's something that we built over time, or a thinking that we built over time, and these perceptions that we have, or the lenses we see things through. So when we talk about the food police, that's truly your inner critic. It's that little voice that is saying, hey, why are you eating that? Or that's not healthy, things like that. So it brings that shame and guilt aspect to the eating equation and it gets you away from honoring your body signals. So it pushes you further from that, because you have those voices telling you.

Kristi Docwra:

So let's, let's talk through a little scenario real quick of that internal tug of war that our minds go through. Let's say you know, you decide. Okay, I'm going to swap yogurt for dessert. Right, I'm going to be good, I want to swap yogurt for dessert and that internal dialogue, that internal voice, is way to go. That was a healthy swap, but what you find is that that didn't really satisfy you and you're still hungry. So next thing you find yourself doing is reaching for that chocolate protein shake. Internal voice again don't drink that, you don't need it. You've already eaten something, but you still don't have that satisfaction. So you finally grab, you walk into the kitchen and you grab that handful of trail mix and that internal voice continuing down that road of you're not hungry, don't eat that. So ultimately, going through that scenario, would it have been better to just take those few bites of dessert versus eating those three different things? I mean, lacey, what do you think?

Lacy Wolff:

Absolutely, because you're just searching for the satisfaction. In the Wonder Health program, one of the things that I took from that kind of early on was and this is part of that interception at mindfulness is like ask yourself do you want something savory, are you looking for something sweet? What texture are you looking for? And for me, a lot of times for breakfast I realized I was forcing myself to actually eat yogurt and fruit because it was good food. But then I'm like actually I learned through going through that program I want eggs, I want savory, I want eggs and tomatoes. It's going to make me more satisfied and I'm going to be less likely to overeat or to come back and try to, like you said, eat another thing because I'm actually getting what I need. So, yeah, that's such a great scenario and I think everybody can probably relate to that feeling of searching for what you're missing.

Kristi Docwra:

Yeah, even going back to what we talked about earlier, that stop framework, being able to pause and recognizing what do you truly want, right Versus trying to satisfy that specific thing by having multiple things, and I think a lot of times bread carbs, we label them as bad foods and I'm not saying that eating white bread is going to be the best thing for our blood sugar.

Lacy Wolff:

But at the same time, if you look at French people, who have the lowest rates of heart disease, they eat white bread, french bread, you know it's, it's just interesting, but they don't stress out about it, they just eat, and so there's there's not restriction around the diet, and so it is all so fascinating. I was also thinking about Dan Harris. In a podcast I listened to on this topic, he said that his wife had ordered him avocado toast and he couldn't even enjoy it because he was telling himself like you can't eat bread, bread is bad, but he ate it. You shouldn't be eating it. But then how much more damage are we causing in the fact that we're so stressed out because we're eating the bread? So I don't know, it can be complicated, but I think it's really worth having those conversations with ourselves internally asking ourselves why do I think this is good or this is bad?

Kristi Docwra:

Absolutely. I know we've talked about tying that moral code to food, yeah, and why do we feel the need to do that? And how does that kind of spiral and again impact? You know our psyche and how we relate to food. I was thinking the other day you know a lot of times when we restrict foods or you know we're trying to eat a certain way day. You know a lot of times when we restrict foods or you know we're trying to eat a certain way, which you know there are exceptions to the rule, like if you're gluten-free, you have to eat a certain way, if you maybe.

Kristi Docwra:

I was telling you, lacey, that my mom's gout flare up a few years ago. She had to eat anti-inflammatory foods, and so what I want to say, too, is that when is it stopping you from living your life right? When is, like, if you're going out to dinner with your family maybe it's something y'all do every Friday and you're looking at the menu several hours ahead of time, trying to pick what you're going to eat because you're so afraid of eating certain foods, and when you get to the restaurant, you're not fully able to engage in the experience because you're so concerned about the food that you're eating and not having dessert. So when things start to impact the way you're living your life and the way you're interacting and experiencing life, that's where intuitive eating can be very supportive and challenging some of those thoughts and bringing the joy back to your food experiences and not making it just about the food but about the full experience it just about the food, but about the full experience.

Lacy Wolff:

I love that. Well, Christy, I said this was a 30 minute podcast and I get so excited about this topic we have gone over, so I'm going to. I have more questions. I could talk about this all day, but I'm going to go ahead and wrap it up with the question that I like to ask every guest. We talk a lot about Buena Vida that's the name of our wellbeing program, which means good life. What is a good life for you?

Kristi Docwra:

I love this question, Lacey. I think a good life for me is being able to enjoy moments with my family. I have a eight-year-old daughter and I have dogs and a fish as well, so being able to fully be present in those moments. I think sometimes I get so wrapped up in things that I'm doing that I lose sight of that. So I think the good life is really being able to engage in those moments that matter most and those things that matter most each and every day.

Lacy Wolff:

Well, it seems very appropriate that you are teaching mindfulness to all of us, since that is something that you care about so much and staying present. So thank you for all you do to support our health plan participants. You and Valerie and Liz are all just incredible resources. We're so lucky to have you, and if you're listening to this podcast and you have not been acquainted with our Blue Cross, blue Shield wellness team, they are out at events, they are featured on our webinars, they have all kinds of ways to stay connected and I'll have all of that in our show notes. If you want to join a webinar or a fitness or nutrition community, call or learn more about your benefits. So, thank you, christy. You are amazing, really, really appreciate your time. Thank you, lacey. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode.

Lacy Wolff:

This is a topic that is personally very important to me, something that I'm working on myself.

Lacy Wolff:

I think we've really only scratched the surface in this conversation as to what intuitive eating is and how it can transform your relationship with food and with yourself, and I know you probably have a lot more questions on the topic. If this sparked something in you, I really encourage you to keep exploring in our show notes something in you, and I really encourage you to keep exploring. In our show notes, you'll find some helpful resources that can guide you in your next steps, including a fillable handout to help you reflect on your own eating patterns, a link to Christie's guided meditation sessions, which pair beautifully with this approach, and recommendations for both the intuitive eating book and workbook. If you want to dig deeper, as always, I'd love to hear what resonated with you, your takeaways, your questions, your aha moments. You can find me at the email provided in the show notes. Thanks again for joining us today, and here's to nourishing yourself with more curiosity, kindness and trust. Thanks so much, and have a Buena Vida day.