Ep - 65 Finding Food Freedom with Guest Kim Basler

 In this episode I am joined by my colleague Kim Basler. 

Kim is a Food Freedom & Mindset Coach, Speaker, and co-author of the best-selling book “Owning Your Choices”, stories of courage from inspirational women around the world.

Her global reach has allowed her to support 1000s of women with self-love, finding peace with food & their bodies, and improving their mindset to become the best version of themselves. 

Through her certification in eating psychology & mind body nutrition, fitness certifications and subconscious modalities, NLP and Hypnotherapy, to name just a few, she exists to empower women around the world to go deeper than another diet, learn to love the woman they see in the mirror, and unapologetically show up for their lives

Kim shares a bit about her experience with emotional eating and what she’s done to help ditch diet culture and embrace her body. 

Kim's Info:

Instagram
Facebook
Website
5 Steps to Embrace Self Love is on her website
7 Day Free Trial to Empowered Movement Community  (100+ class on-demand fitness, group coaching, supportive private community, friendly, fun challenges and MORE! ..AntiDiet Space, Inclusive Coaching) 

Transcript

Sabrina Rogers  0:00  
Hi friend. In this episode, I am joined by my colleague Kim Basler. Kim is a food freedom and mindset coach, speaker and co author of the best selling book owning your choices, stories of courage from inspirational women around the world. Her global reach has allowed her to support 1000s of women with self love, finding peace with food and their bodies, and improving their mindset to become the best version of themselves. Through her certification and eating psychology and Mind Body nutrition, fitness certifications and subconscious modalities, NLP and hypnotherapy, to name just a few. She exists to empower women around the world to go deeper than another diet. Learn to love the woman they see in the mirror and unapologetically show up for their lives. In our conversation Kim shares a bit about her experience with emotional eating, how that's rooted how we can help each other find the root cause rather than searching for the symptoms and treating the symptoms with yet another diet. Kim also shares what she's done to help ditch diet culture and embrace her body. So let's get to this conversation. Welcome to the emotional eating therapist Show. I'm your host Sabrina Rogers, a licensed mental health counselor, intuitive eating and body image expert and recovering perfectionist. After healing my own disordered eating and body image issues. I'm helping women let go of the guilt and shame around eating, feel at peace around food and befriend the image they see in the mirror. In this podcast, we chat about all things food, body and mental health so that you can stop dieting, let go of perfectionism. And finally, feel confident in all areas of your life. If you want to connect with me on social media, I'm on Instagram, Facebook and tick tock at Sabrina Rogers lmhc. And if you enjoy listening to this podcast, please leave a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening. This helps other women find and learn about the podcast. So they too can change their relationship with food and body. Let's get ready to stay off the diet roller coaster and live healthily ever after. Welcome to the show. Kim, I am so excited that we were able to connect and get this recorded.

Kim  2:17  
I'm excited to bring it to be here with you. It's gonna be a good conversation. I have no doubt we'll have lots to talk about.

Sabrina Rogers  2:23  
I'm sure we will. I always start the show with having guests just share as much as you're comfortable with your own journey with emotional eating. Because you and I both know everybody has one. What's yours?

Kim  2:36  
Now this is where we were talking off air. And it's like, Well, how long do I have to talk? Like, I'm sure many of your listeners, my journey with food. My relationship with emotional eating definitely started when I was a child. I was one of those children who grew up in a home where there was dieting going on. So right from my childhood, I recognize that that relationship with food, and how it impacts us, our emotions, and so forth. So if I were to think back to myself as a child, there was definitely this place of food giving me comfort. Food was a place that made me feel good food was a place that let me relax, and I didn't know it back then right where children. But I grew up with that knowing now as I reflect back to it, and I was you know what, 12 years old, I went on my first diet, because I perceived there to be something wrong with my body. And that's where my relationship with emotional eating, absolutely changed for the worst was when I started dieting, I can see that now. And if I think back to my brother, he worked at this potato chip factory. And he could bring home like normal sized bags of potato chips for a quarter for 25 cents a bag back then that's a long time ago. I'm aging myself here. And I remember my mother having this large room in our basement and there would easily be 1015 20 bags of chips in that basement. So for me to grab a bag of chips and eat that bag of chips and then hide that bag of chips underneath the couch or in the cushions of the couch in the basement, and then dispose of that bag when nobody was around. It's very easy for me to do. So I noticed very quickly that food was just that place where I could relax. It was that place where I could hide. And then of course back then I was doing a lot of restriction. So you know my parents divorced when I was 14 years old. There was a lot of turmoil in the home. And food was my place it was my place to to be you know away from some of the things I was feeling. Yeah. Where shall I go from here? Let me fast forward okay, because my journey with religion my with food. You know, it's a 30 year long. Oh, let's be real Sabrina. We're all still in it. Like I think it's important for for everyone to know know that we are all human beings, so we're gonna have emotions with our food all the time,

I was working full time in the fitness industry, I would use exercise as a place of, of burning calories controlling my weight. And, but I also would overexerted myself in exercise. And I was dealing with a lot of expectations in my life, which I then resorted to using sugar as a place to calm me when I was driving. So I would have, you know, here in Canada, we have what we call swedish berries, these little tiny, chewy candies from the bulk section, and I would easily have a bag of those in my gym bag, I'd have a bag of those in my, in my car, I had my stash, right and I hid it because again, it was all part of my disordered eating, is I hid my food. But it was the place that I calm down when I was in my car, and I could be calming down with food, because I knew that I would have to go home, parent, my children, and do all those things. And I needed to be able to manage myself. The things became my, my journey definitely changed when the expectation that I had been carrying on myself, since I was a little girl, to, quote unquote, be enough. All of that pressure that I carried inside my body started to make me ill, as in probably 2013 2014 is where I started to see the impact of the stress that I was carrying on my body trying to control my weight trying to be perfect. And the pressures that come with that started to manifest in my body of illness. And so I was dealing with body hives for chronically for close to two years, I was dealing with chest pains, my marriage was falling apart, like I'm giving you a very soapbox, very quick, condensed story. But that was the relationship that I had with food, it was the place that I used to calm me down. But it was also the place that I used to punish myself. And it was when my health required me to seek help in 2016. That, because here's the thing about it, I think things are getting much better now. But at that point being an industry of fitness for as long as I was in it, I didn't know that what I was doing was a problem, I didn't understand that there were other people that were struggling with what I was struggling with to my job was to control your body size, do what you have to do to control your body size, and just just do it. Once I like I stepped away from it. Not on purpose, it was not a plan. I literally left my whole career to figure about my stuff. I was gonna I don't know if we can swear on your podcast, I was gonna say, figure out my, my shit. But like it was I was falling apart. And so for me, I had a huge healing journey in front of me, it went beyond food. It went into my sense of self, my sense of worth, and who I was wanting to be moving forward. And it's been a beautiful journey, where I am with food. Now I'll say where I am with food. Now I have a beautiful relationship with food now, do I still seek support in food come to comfort me. Of course I do. What I don't do anymore is punish myself for that. What I do now have is awareness of when I'm doing it. And I also allow myself to acknowledge the feelings that I'm having along that journey. And so as far as I'm concerned, it's a really beautiful space to be in and, and recognizing it has gotten me to this place that I'm in now. So I'm very blessed. I hope that was a little bit of a snapshot.

Sabrina Rogers  8:53  
Yeah. And thank you so much for sharing, because I think your story and everything, not everything, but a lot of like the themes that you've gone through throughout your life. So many other women can relate. Most women start their diets between the age of 10 and 15. With most of us starting in that 1112 13 range. That's also when our body starts to really change because of puberty. Yep. I didn't realize it at the time. Yeah. But I think there's this big connection there. And then all of the turmoil that you went through throughout your teens with your parents separating and divorcing, and yes, food is comforting. So it's no surprise that you reached for the bag of potato chips. Thanks, mother for supplying you. Totally. And it's also nice. I think for these ladies listening to hear that like, yes, you can be in a position where Kim was. You can be in a position where Sabrina was with using food as a punishment using food to cope and you can still you use food to cope. But you don't need to use it to punish yourself. There is hope.

Kim  10:07  
Absolutely. And understanding that sometimes we will use food to cope. And depending on where we are in this journey, like I'm sure some of your listeners are just beginning this journey. And so acknowledging that it is going to be a step by step, relationship with yourself. And the only way for us to be able to find the peace that we're all looking for with food, is by having compassion, because if we berate ourselves and judge ourselves, and do all the crazy things that people do when they have aid in a way that wasn't supporting what they're searching for, it's not going to push us forward, it's actually pushing us backwards. The way through healing is through self compassion and forgiveness, always.

Sabrina Rogers  10:51  
Not punishment, beating yourself up, judging yourself, that we've tried that for years, ladies on it hasn't worked. So let's, let's put that on the back shelf, you can always go back to it, if you decide this other way doesn't work. I don't think they will. I don't think they will, either. But that's always out there. You don't have to do what we're saying. You can always go back to the old ways. So in my line of work, your line of work and just in life in general, I hear a lot of people call themselves emotional eaters. I'm curious as to your thoughts on this label? And why people give it to themselves so freely?

Kim  11:34  
Hmm. Well, I mean, again, there's a lot of judgment in the world on being an emotional eater. And there's a lot of people saying that our job is to stop eating emotionally, and that we have to fix it. And if we don't, then, then we have a problem with ourselves. What I want to speak to with this, first of all, and I kind of alluded to it already, is that we will always have emotions with us, they are not something that we can pull out, pull it out of us when we eat. So the more we can understand that, the more again, we'll be able to meet ourselves where we need to meet ourselves. What I do want to highlight on this, this question is that a lot of people when they are eating in the ways that they feel that they shouldn't. So for instance, I shouldn't be eating at night. I shouldn't be eating at night, I just have separate Why am I eating and I feel bad about that. What I've learned that I'm sure you can speak to this, too, is that there's so many people are not eating enough food, they're not eating enough calories, they're not eating foods that bring them pleasure, they're eating the same boring foods over and over again, which often we know are told that we're supposed to eat them. In order for us to achieve these goals that we're supposed to be wanting. What people are doing is they're actually supporting their biological needs to feed their bodies. So I would love for your listeners to think about that next time when they are calling themselves an emotional eater and feeling bad about eating. Really ask yourself, well, am I actually potentially hungry here? Have I given myself enough food throughout the day? Have I stopped and allowed myself to remember the food that I ate? Have I given myself enough self care? And really pick these pieces apart? Because I think we so it's we're eating in ways that we feel we shouldn't we immediately assume that it's due to emotional eating. And I just want to challenge everyone to get curious around those those labels that we have. And unpack that a little bit.

Sabrina Rogers  13:37  
How else can we get a little bit curious? You know, let's say I've eaten dinner. And I have this idea that I shouldn't be hungry before bed. But yet I'm feeling the urge to eat? What questions could I ask myself to kind of get a better understanding of maybe what's going on and what I actually need?

Kim  13:59  
So first thing I always say is, is understanding can you identify hunger in your body because we know that a lot of people who have been chronic dieters can't identify hunger. So do that work first. Because again, we have to, in order for us to heal our relationships with food, we have to give ourselves unconditional permission to eat this is from intuitive eating right? So understand what is my body needing? Am I hungry? And if that's the case, then you have to eat. That's number one. That's the beginning of this. If you know that you're not hungry and you know that it's an emotional hunger that you're trying to support here, asking yourself what it is that you're feeling like this is where emotions are super, super important because we some of us have not been taught how to feel our emotions and identify them. process them. So even for someone listening to go and look at an emotional wheelchair and being able to understand what you're feeling and give yourself permission to feel it. So many of us have been told Oh, well, you shouldn't be angry, you know, it's not right to be angry. But that's a real emotion. Right? So the first thing I would say is identify what it is that you're feeling in your body, label that emotion and see, one of the other great things I would say is what has happened right before that most that time when you're wanting to eat, like, has something just happened to something happened earlier in the day that you have still carried with you all day long. Did your boss speak badly about you? Did your children you know, just, you know, disrespect you after everything that you do for them? Like, I'm just throwing things out here. So give yourself that time. I think the last question I want to state here is the most important one is what am I hoping this food will do for me? What am I hoping this food will do for me to make me feel differently? So am I am I trying to, you know, feel not so alone? Am I trying to push down a feeling that I don't feel safe to express, I think you get my point. When we can understand that, that's when we're able to understand the underlying needs. So our food is here to support us when we don't know how to support ourselves. And so if you can go through that, it's the beginning stages of it. It's it's, yes, it's it's somewhat simple. If I say, I haven't had any time for myself, and I'm feeling really resentful for that. That's where you can say, can I create some space for myself tonight, and go and do something for me, that's gonna make me feel better, right? But if it goes deeper than that, and it's about, you know, needing to have a really important conversation with somebody who has been mistreating you, or someone who has been disrespecting you, well, then you can start that work. But you have to understand that if the food is supporting you on some level, that's where you're able to then take that next step to support yourself. Otherwise, it just keeps coming back. Like these things don't go away. We can push them down with food. I can push, push, push it down with food, but it's going to come back up eventually. 

Sabrina Rogers  17:10  
And it always does. And sometimes when we least expect it. Yeah, exactly. So just to recap, the first first question to ask if you're feeling hungry, and you feel like you shouldn't be is, Am I really hungry? Is this physical hunger? Does my body really need nourishment? If yes, obviously eat? If you're like, Man, I don't really know. Okay, let's check in. What are you feeling emotionally? What are you hoping to get out of this food experience? And can that need to be better met with something else?

Kim  17:46  
Yeah, and that's, that's a beautiful summary for that. And I want to then highlight and say, if you go and do things, you may go and do things to try and support that need, or you may not. But if you do still end up going to the food. Just know that doing some of that initial curiosity is a really great step in moving you forward. If you still do eat. Well, there's obviously that's a whole nother conversation on how you can support yourself through that time. But again, going back to the last question, kindness and compassion for yourself along the way.

Sabrina Rogers  18:22  
I think this ties in beautifully to this idea that there's this gift within emotional eating. Can we talk more about that? Like, what are your thoughts on it?

Kim  18:35  
So yes, I again, this is really difficult for people because when there is a lot of emotional eating happening, the only thing that people want is for it to go away. Just tell me how to fix it. So I have a lot of compassion for that. But again, I believe in this bigger picture of healing, this is what this is about for me. And the work that I do. Is is healing on an emotional, spiritual mental level. And so I would say and I've done this with myself, if my emotional eating has been somewhat stable, it has been somewhat quote unquote, normal. And all of a sudden, I'm doing more of it again. I am hiding food in my car. I am sneaking food out of the pantry. This is an opportunity for you to recognize that there's something going on in your life right now that you need to get curious around. If I judge it, it's not helping me it is the wisdom again, I said this earlier is that the the emotional eating is happening because you're trying to meet a need. So if you can you recognize that when your emotional eating is happening, there is wisdom there. So I want everyone to picture that you're literally taking you're taking the top off of a pot or you're opening up box. And that is where we're lifting off that layer of emotional eating and saying what's going on in my physical body right now, that needs my attention. Because if we just continue to try and use food, and control food and and only stop at food, and we don't, we're not willing to go deeper, we're missing this bigger picture of ultimate healing that we all deserve is to come back to that. And that's when I really feel this is where we get into healing or subconscious wounds. This is where we get into inner child healing. This is this is the wisdom here, that that can support us. So unlike someone else, who I mean, there's so many I am using for the listeners. Right now I'm using the word food as an addiction and quotations. That's a whole nother conversation. But understanding that you're seeking comfort in food right now. And you're doing the best that you can to support your body and what it's feeling on a nervous system level. But you now have a you have a physical sign you have found yourself hiding, you have found yourself eating very, very quickly. So there's something there, and you now have that opportunity. It's like the water boiling, the water's boiling, and the information is right there for you. And if you can compassionately Sit, sit with yourself and say what's going on, allow yourself to feel what's going on true healings there for you, for sure. Or it's available for you. If

Sabrina Rogers  21:29  
you take it Yeah, it's available for you to get curious about it and dive into it. And I think this is where most things in the past have really failed us is that everything, especially from like the 80s 90s 2000s has been focused on eat less, move more, this idea that if we, we just need to focus on what we're putting in our body, focusing solely on the food, eat this, don't eat this. But when it comes to emotional eating, when it comes to that, like really soul healing. Focusing on the food just doesn't get us there.

Kim  22:10  
No, it's such surface level work, right? It's not addressing the root. Right. It's addressing what we deem as the problem. We know you and I know that the problem is the symptom. It is not the problem. Yeah.

Sabrina Rogers  22:26  
Yeah. So what is the root cause?

Kim  22:29  
Well, the root is different for us. All right, I can speak to myself, because I'm very transparent about my journey. For me, the root is this, this feeling of I'm not enough, you know, I look back to the relationship with that I had with my father, that there wasn't love there. I can see that I was a people pleaser. I was a person who gave and gave and gave to everyone else and forgot about myself. I was caught up in comparison, I was caught up in judgment. And so for me the route was is going back to my healing and recognizing that I am exactly who I meant to be, and that my needs matter, and that my voice matters, and that the more I take care of myself, the more I'm going to be able to give to other people. That was the root for me, is true healing there.

Sabrina Rogers  23:17  
And I think so many women have very similar root causes of this feeling not enough for a myriad of reasons like for sure whether it's our relationship with mom, dad, something else significant that happened. We learned fairly early on, that our worth is contingent on something outside of ourselves.

Kim  23:41  
Absolutely. And I know that the they know that term, feeling enough being enough. I know it's overused. But we can't just turn a blind eye to it. Because there there is the wisdom right there.

Sabrina Rogers  23:53  
Yeah. Yeah. And for me, looking at this more like in the cognitive psychology realm, it's very much about this belief that we hold about ourselves. Of if if we learn if we believe that we are not enough, that's going to continue to show up and show up until we heal those wounds and change that belief. What are your thoughts on how our beliefs influence our relationship with food?

Kim  24:28  
Mm hmm. So this is where we go back. I have recently certified in NLP and hypnotherapy and other subconscious modalities. And this is where we have to understand that this is always a powerful start. So I'm going to say this really slowly. 95% of the things that we think feel the ways we act, our behaviors, they're all happening, unconsciously they're happening because we have laid down the pathways in our brain. So picture your brain with tons of highways or you know fields that you've logged in you mowed down, we have ingrained those patterns. We do that I want everyone right now to picture a necklace. And you put on one bead when you were a child, and you put that one bead on, where you were told that who you were wasn't enough, and you put that bead on, and then another person, put that bead on that necklace, you what we tend to do is we're trying to protect ourselves, but we look in the world for evidence to prove that the things that we feel about ourselves are true. And before we know it, we have created this necklace of beliefs throughout our childhood throughout our adult life. And so we have to go back. And here's the thing that I've learned. Because I know for me, I don't have a lot of memories of my childhood. But we I've learned this that we don't have to remember, because our subconscious remembers our subconscious remembers our body remembers, but we don't have to remember. But we can still go back and heal, we can still go back and change because we have to address our thoughts. So often we address our environment and our behaviors. So I'm going to control myself, I'm not going to bring the food into my house, those are the types of things. But we have to go back to our identity we have to heal at the identity level. And this might sound like a lot of work. And I'm not going to say that it isn't. But it is absolutely doable work that you can address your thoughts and just like our subconscious has taken years to adopt these patterns, it needs the repetition. So, you know, we've all heard about affirmations, and all of these things, and they do work. But I will say that we do have to emotionally attach because everything is fed through the emotion, right? So we want to think about the things that we're saying to ourselves. So when I have a negative statement that I say about myself, what can I say that is, is closer to how I want to feel I am learning to trust myself around food, I am willing to, to understand how I can support myself instead of just going to food like it's leading the brain on where it wants to go. But I just want everyone to understand that, that it does start with our thoughts. So if you keep telling yourself that it's not possible that you're always going to do this, sadly, that can become our reality. So I compassionately say to your listeners, if normal to have those thoughts. But you have to try again, you can't quit on yourself.

Sabrina Rogers  27:34  
And sometimes what I've noticed is that they're not even, we're not even aware that these thoughts are happening. Because like you said, they just become so ingrained, that it feels like the truth. And then to have somebody like Kim or myself kind of like well, but But is that true? Are you really unlovable? Really, like slows down to the thought pattern. And you can pick out some of those thoughts a little bit easier and realized, oh, maybe I don't have to believe that anymore.

Kim  28:06  
Hmm, that's so that's so true, right? Because even some of the thoughts that we have, because like, who knows who's listening to this right now, and maybe there has been people in their life who have really spoken some really mean harmful words into them. But the beautiful thing is, is that we have our now and we have our tomorrow. And if that is something that you no longer want to believe about yourself, this is where we get to change the lens that we look at life through. This is where we have to learn how to receive the opportunity to say that I am, I am worthy of love, I am worthy of kindness, and start to take those steps forward. And that means receiving somebody's compliment. Like when somebody says you did a really great job at that. Stop like and sometimes, you know, you said, you know, notice the patterns, like whatever it is for you like do you do you? Do you visualize a stop sign that stops you, that stops you in that path? And instead of saying, oh, whatever, it's just whatever, no, you say thank you. Even if it's uncomfortable, say thank you and start to let yourself bring a new way of thinking into your life. It makes such a difference.

Sabrina Rogers  29:21  
I love that suggestion cam. One of the things I like to tell my clients and then other podcast listeners is to help kind of be more aware of these thought patterns is to to notice what you say, over and over and not like on repeat over and over and over like parrot. But notice, are you are you saying a lot? This is hard. It's so hard to change. Because if you keep reinforcing that belief that it's hard to change. Yeah, it's gonna be really hard to change. If you keep repeating to yourself, whether it's mentally internally or externally, we can't do this until I lose the weight. Yeah, you're gonna hold yourself back from doing that. Probably forever, because we don't know what your body's going to do. What other? Oh, go ahead.

Kim  30:14  
Oh, I just want to say it just sorry, this just came up in my, in my mind here. Another powerful thing for when it comes to thinking is the brain, the brain does not process negatives. So I'm not going to be able to do this, or you get my point. So really listen to that. And we want our statements to be positive. So, so understanding, you know, I, I'll use this example, I don't want to be late. I don't want to be late. The brain can't process don't. So it'll hear I want to be late. So pay attention to that language, too, because it makes a big difference for our brains.

Sabrina Rogers  30:51  
It does. And it seems so silly. Like, I'll kind of give that information out there. And I'll have clients look at me like, I wasn't going to work. That's too simple. Try it. Yeah, yeah. What other strategies or tools can you suggest to help support people who are struggling with emotional eating? Yeah, there's,

Kim  31:15  
there's so many. And I mean, some of these things I'm gonna say people might hear for the first time, depending on where they are on their journey. Some of them may be repetitive, but they're important is unconditional permission to eat. Always, this, this piece around all of the rules that we've been carrying, in order for us to heal our relationships with food, allow our bodies to trust us again, and us to trust our bodies, we have to give permission. And that means, you know, eating whatever foods you're wanting, and I understand that some of the foods that we're eating might not make us feel well, okay, and this is obviously not about medical allergies, but it's the labels, it's the bag versus the goods, it's the time of day, it's the volume. This is where the healing will start for sure. And as far as emotional eating goes, one of the bigger pieces that I know you and I are both close to is is slowing down with our food. Because when we are eating, for emotional reasons, we disconnect from the body. And that's also where we're, we're consuming large volumes of food and not able to listen to the body and what it's trying to tell us. So slowing down is super important. And I know it doesn't give the same dopamine hit, I know that eating at a table doesn't give us the same fix as eating in front of Netflix. But if we're wanting to, to do that, we have to be able to slow ourselves down the nervous system, when it's in that place of panic, stress overwhelm, we disconnect. One of the biggest pieces that which I remember being shared by our mentor, is that cortisol, which is our stress hormone, desensitizes us to pleasure. So what that means in in layman's terms is, is when I'm in a place of stress, I will be able to receive the pleasure from whatever it is I'm seeking at the same level, my body doesn't experience it, which is why we have to eat more food to get that hit that we're looking for. So if I can slow down and take some really gentle breaths, close my eyes, if I feel safe to connect with my heart, and just slow down with the food, it's going to speak so much to you, it's going to slow down how much you consume, for sure. But it's going to help you connect with that next stage of your journey. And we've spoken a lot about it already. Different ways of supporting yourself, you know, meet your needs, how else can I meet these needs without food being my only source of support. And then the biggest one of all, forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, compassion, curiosity. These are words that we speak a lot about in this industry that we work in. But there's a reason for that. So and I guess the last thing I will say, because I could talk on this for a long time is don't give up surround yourself with people who want the best for you. If you surround yourself with people who take keep telling you that it's not safe around food, the dieters the quick fixes, you're going to stay in that so surround yourself with people who want you to have peace with food. That's going to be huge for your for your journey ahead.

Sabrina Rogers  34:30  
That is so true cam. And the world is filled with those naysayers and the people who think that we need to control every last piece of our lives. And if that doesn't feel good to you find other people are out there. They are here. We're weird, but we're out

Kim  34:50  
here. Yeah, and you know what, we're doing our best to be loud and proud amongst the diet culture that's out there. But you know, we're not giving Have you and I both know that this work is really, really healing for our own journeys, and we have the support to help other people. And we know nobody needs to feel alone in this because that shame is a beast. So if you keep yourself alone and locked away, it's going to grow. So surround yourself with people and reach out and ask

Sabrina Rogers  35:18  
for help. So I'm getting three big takeaways from today's episode, one, give yourself on unconditional permission to eat. Whenever you need to want to whatever you want to or need to be gentle with yourself, have lots of self compassion, let go of the judgment. Rest in that like body kindness, self compassion, self kindness. And the third one is kind of that last little tidbit we just talked about is surround yourself with people who support

Kim  35:51  
you, all of you, all of you, all of you. And I know that you're doing a great job. And you can keep trying.

Sabrina Rogers  36:02  
Is there anything else that you want to share with the listeners before we say farewell today? Gosh, I'm

Kim  36:10  
just sitting here going well, what speaks to me right now. I guess, know that whatever it is you're experiencing, it's experienced, somebody else has experienced it. You know, I can think back. And this is where I leave with a little bit of humor, but it's not humor. I remember waking up with food around me. I remember waking up with melted chocolate chips, granola bar wrappers, in my in my pockets. When I was eating through the night and hiding, like I have so many memories of stuff that I did. And I'm sharing that because if somebody else is having things happen, and they feel very shamed about it, you're never alone. And, and just just don't hide. Just don't hide.

Sabrina Rogers  36:55  
Thank you for shedding light on it.

Kim  36:57  
You're welcome. That's a big topic right there.

Sabrina Rogers  37:00  
It is. Yeah. If people want to find you, where are you at?

Kim  37:08  
Yeah, I'm very present on Facebook and Instagram. So my handle on Instagram is Kim Basler. With an S underscore food freedom. You can find me on there. I'm there doing my real doing my message sharing I share very transparently. So some of my my posts are very raw and vulnerable. And then there's also me dancing and being crazy me. So a little bit of everything with me. Very present on Facebook. My website is Kim bosler.com. And yeah, just reach out. I mean, Sabrina's got a beautiful space here for you to keep learning. There's lots of us out there. So follow people going back to this last thing, follow people that are here to help you move you forward. There's plenty of us out there and I'd love to stay in contact with your listeners.

Sabrina Rogers  37:55  
Wonderful listeners. If you're riding your bike or got your hands on the dishes or driving or for whatever reason can't write those things down. Don't worry, they are in the shownotes. I'm also going to pop a link into Kim's free guide five steps to embrace self love and send kindness to your body. Because I think that is that's a good starting point for everybody. And it's going to be really beneficial for you. So listeners until next time, I wish you well