Healthy Huddle: Eat For The Life You Want

We unpack how snow days and boredom push us into comfort eating and then flip the script to eating on purpose. We shift from guilt and “I’ll start tomorrow” to food as an investment in energy, strength, and clarity for our future self.

• why boredom and stress drive snacking
• short-term comfort choices versus long-term goals
• defining a clear why for eating
• eating to gain muscle, lean out, or boost cardio
• timing meals for energy, recovery, and focus
• using identity language to stay consistent
• avoiding the “what can I get away with” trap
• treating food as an investment, not a reward
• simple protein and produce anchors for stability
• building joyful foods with intention

https://aarondegler.com/

Transcript

Welcome And Format

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Healthy Huddle. Thank you for taking a little time to join us. If this is your first time to Healthy Huddle, welcome. Each week we join a live call that we have at M2B Fitness. For our Healthy Huddle, each week we just discuss a food topic to help us live a balanced food life. In our healthy huddle, we don't really talk about diets, we just talk about how do we create a healthy lifestyle around balance of food. Um, good days and bad days, all about balance. So um, let's join our healthy huddle live call. So, what has been the biggest challenge since you've been stuck inside?

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Not eating.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Not eating.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

That has been the worst thing about this, is I'm constantly munching or wanting to munch. Food, always food.

Stuck Indoors And Constant Munching

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Food's the hardest thing. And I mean, and and the interesting thing today is we're gonna, and it just happened like this, we're gonna talk about eating for the life you want. And and probably most of us feel like for since we've been snowed in, we've been eating for the six thousand six thousand pound life. Like 600 pound. 600 pound, but I was I thought it'd be funny to say 6,000. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

That's what I've been eating for.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

That's what I feel like.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

That there might have been some that came to work out today at lunch at noon and might have complained that the jumping might have made them feel kind of even like they'd eaten more. It was a little rough. I think that I think that's been the the common consensus is a little too much food.

SPEAKER_03 2:27

So what else are you supposed to do?

Introducing Eating For The Life You Want

SPEAKER_00 2:30

That's true. I mean, it and you know, and who knew it's gonna be, and it might roll into a little bit tomorrow, too. So just because everything's kind of icy and the holidays all over again. Just when you thought we were past the first of the year and you could get on track, then all the food worse uh than the holidays, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Me too. Because you can't get out, you can't do a workout, relieve a little bit of the pressure, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

So we are doing nothing but sitting and then and and even if you do get a workout in at home, it's just it's just not the same. You don't feel quite as motivated. I mean, it's hard to go from the couch to your living room floor to get a workout in. Yeah, it's very challenging.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

So yeah, stop painting along with Rickas.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Wax and paint.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

I did. This is the second go around. They sold the old paint the first time. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Well, if anybody needs to know, I saw that uh when I went by Ace today, their parking lot is completely cleared. They had a scraper out there, means completely cleared off.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

So skating home as we speak.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

But our our street over here on Smy Street is not, it is just solid ice. So be beware if you do come tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

It is slick, so be I attested to try to get out of the garage today, and that was a no-go.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

So yeah, I mean Kim's kind of stuck at home too because we can't move her car, it's stuck right where it's at.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

So I think it's crazy how many of our cars are stuck in our garage.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

We have we have now managed to get two of the four unstuck.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Monica's is only stuck because Kobe's is stuck, so and isn't that so frustrating to think I could go somewhere if I could just get out of my driveway.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

But no, I couldn't tend to home. But I mean not bothering me at all.

Short-Term Comfort vs Long-Term Vision

SPEAKER_00 4:34

It's a good reason to be at home. There's there's not many times we we get that opportunity, so sometimes we should just embrace it. So we are going to talk about eating for the life you want. Maybe we won't take the last couple days as an example, um, because none of us want that life. Uh, we know that. None of us want the 600-pound life that we probably currently feel like. Um, and you'll hope everybody recognizes you when you come back to the gym and say, Oh my goodness, you ate everything in sight. Um, because that's what everybody feels like. Um, that nobody's gonna recognize me. Um, so we are gonna talk about eating for the life you want. Um, we've often talked about um in walk and talk, um, you know, your future self. What does your future self look like? What do they do? What do they say? How do they act? So we're gonna kind of talk about that in regards to food. Um, eating for the life that you want. Um, so it's really thinking about what kind of life um you want to be living in five years with regard to how you feel. Um, you know, what do you have coming up in five years? Um, maybe kids are getting older, you have more activities, maybe you have grandkids coming along, maybe you have to be more active to do things. And so it, you know, it's almost what kind of energy do I want to have in next year? What kind of energy do you want to have in three or four years? Um, so you know, currently, I mean, we I mean, as we um are home, why what are the reasons you're eating currently? Like as of right now over the last couple days?

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Boredom. Boredom.

Define Your Why And Goals

Energy, Aging, And Daily Performance

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Boredom. Yeah, it's probably one of the biggest things is boredom. Um, because really, I mean, you after a little bit, it's only you've done so much in the house, and like I'm tired of doing stuff in the house. There's probably always plenty to do, but you're like, I'm just tired of doing that. And then you think I'm bored. So we eat out of boredom, the stress. Probably it's cravings, probably your boredom, and you have something to eat and go, well, that didn't satisfy my craving. So I'm gonna go find something else to eat, and then that didn't. Um, and so um we keep eating those, doing those things, um, trying to uh knock off the craving, reduce uh stress, and then when we come back, when we start exercising, we're doing a lot, then we're gonna be eating so we can try to fix the guilt over the last few days. Um, we can undo what we've done over the last few days, so our eating starts to change a little bit. Um, and a lot of times, um, in general, not talking about this the past few days, but um if you talk to people, a lot of people don't eat on purpose. Think about you know, a lot of you here, you're here, and we we're talking about food, and and really you do eat on purpose. But in general, people don't really eat on purpose, they eat out of convenience, out of it being quick, it being easy, all of those things. So we're really gonna talk about eating on purpose and and eating for the life that you want to live. So, a lot of times, short-term eating kind of looks like this. It kind of looks like I deserve this. How many times have you said in your life, I deserve this? Probably more than once. Many, many. I'm too tired to care. It's too late in the evening, I don't want to have to plan. I'll start tomorrow. The biggest, the biggest avoidance technique that we have is I'll start tomorrow. Or I just need comfort. Chances are one of those you've probably over the years have said once, twice, maybe a whole bunch. And and and those aren't necessarily wrong, they're just short-sighted because we're thinking about currently, I deserve this because of something happened. I'm too tired because of my day. I'll start tomorrow, short term. Um, I just need comfort because of the way I feel, or something happened. So short term really optimizes for comfort, distraction. I don't want to feel those things, so I'm gonna eat this. But when we talk about eating for the life we want, it really focuses on energy, confidence, clarity, consistency. Think about as you get older and the way you want to eat. Don't as you get older, don't you want to have energy? Because you might have kids that get older and you might want to play with them. You might want to have grandkids and you want to be able to run around with them because they have endless amounts of energy. So you have to start thinking, how do I want to eat? Because I bet a lot of you over the last few days eating the way you have, you probably don't feel like you normally do. You probably feel a little more sluggish, a little more tired. Maybe your brain isn't, maybe you have a little more brain fog, and maybe you find yourself a little slower to want to do things. It's very interesting how just a few days of this can cause, you know, less, you know, you think, man, I've rested, I should have all this energy, but you find that I'm not quite as motivated to do those things. I'm not really don't want to eat as great. So it's harder to find that energy and that motivation. And as we get older, if we continue that lifestyle, we it's easily it gets easier and easier to sit in a chair, to eat what's quick, to not do those things. So we look at food as it can either what's our vision? It can either support it or sabotage it. But we have to have purpose, purpose in our eating. So to do that, we have to define what do we want? What are we eating for? Are we eating for energy? Are we eating for appearance? Are we are we eating so you can lift a certain amount of weight that you can be stronger, that you can be faster, that you can be more cardiovascular fit. You know, there can be all sorts of reasons why we're eating. And I think a lot of times we think we try to manage our eating because we want to be skinny or we want to be thin or we want to lose weight, but there's so many other reasons to eat. And we have to decide what it is, what's our primary goal we want from it. Because really, if you want to be stronger, and let's say you want to gain muscle, to gain muscle, you actually have to eat more calories than you're taking in to actually gain muscle. Because you have to add those calories in to gain muscle. Now, it's a whole thing about then do you want to lean down to show off that muscle? That's a whole different thing. But actually, to gain more muscle, you would have to take in more calories to gain more muscle. So you say, Am I gonna eat more? Do I want to eat less? Do I want to lean out? Do I need to eat more because I want to do be better at my cardiovascular events? Do I want to eat certain types of foods because I want to be, it makes me feel this way or that way. You know, when do I want to eat my meal? When I wake up, how do I want to feel? If I eat late at night, I don't feel so great. So maybe I don't eat after five o'clock. Doesn't mean that's a right or wrong way. It just means for me, when I wake up, I want to feel that that not full feeling. I have more energy when I do that. You know, what kind of energy do you want mid-afternoon? That could that could dictate what you eat at lunch. You know, what do you want to say yes to more often? Maybe you want to be more ready to go on a hike, to go play soccer with your kids, grandkids, whatever you want to do, you want to be able to say, you don't want to have to say no, I'm too tired, I can't do that. You want to what do you want to say yes more to and have more energy? And what do you want food to stop controlling? In other words, is food controlling you in some way? And you want to say no to that? So you have to find out food is really the bridge between today and the future. So, what we eat today is really determining what we do in the future. So, what kind of future do you want? What are you looking for? So, when you eat currently, are you having that goal in mind? I want to lose weight, I want to be stronger, I want to be leaner, I want to have more energy, I don't want to feel crashed by the end of the day. Or is it just I'm just trying to maintain a balance in food? So, really, when we talk about eating, it's really about we're not always because will we always be motivated?

SPEAKER_01 13:45

No.

Eating On Purpose, Not Convenience

Identity Shift: Fuel For Future Self

SPEAKER_00 13:46

No. That was a quick no. No, we won't always be motivated. Motivated really doesn't last very long. If you see an infomercial late at night and it shows the the model that is doing the six-pack ab workout, and you go, I want that, those abs, so I'm gonna order that six six-pack ab workout. You're motivated at the moment. Then when you get it, you read that you have to do it for 12 weeks three times a day, and then you have to follow this diet. Then how motivated do you become? Not very motivated. No, and and they forget to tell you all that, or it's been the very fine print at the very bottom, and you don't realize it until you get it. So we're not motivated all the time. Very, you know, it comes in spurts. So we have to rely on how am I eating for my future self? Instead of saying I'm trying to eat healthy, it's you shift it to someone who fuels for energy, someone who eats to feel strong. Like when you're chowing down on that high carb meal, you think this is to help me be really strong in my workout tomorrow. Probably don't feel guilty if you're running a long run the next day and you have a big carb meal the night or the two days before, because you know, hey, I'm eating this because I'm gonna run it off. Or I'm someone who chooses food to support my future. Because then you then you start to have a different relationship with food, you know, and and when we eat for a life we want, we're not we don't we don't say, what can I get away with? How many times have you gotten kind of where you wanted to get? And then you started seeing what you could get away with. I'll eat a little bit more because that didn't seem to budge the scale in me. I'll eat a little bit of this because that didn't seem to budge this. I'll eat a little of this because my pants didn't seem any tighter. The shirt didn't seem any tighter. I was still able to get it on, and then you keep doing that, and then one day you go, Well, how did how did my pants get tighter? How'd this shirt not fit? It was all in check, and that's what we do once we get where we want to get. We try to push the envelope and see what can I get away with? And instead, we should be saying, What supports what I want to become, how I want to be, and and then we just stop saying, Let me see what I can get away with, because that becomes the new you. So when we talk about the future you, when you think about your goal, what what do you want eating to have? What goal are you trying to get out of eating? And really, we eat for the short term all the time, because I want to lose five pounds. I want to be a little toner, I have an event to go to. We're always eating for the short term. Instead of, think about maybe a year from now. The future you, a year from now, that's the person you that's a that's the look you want, whether it's to be stronger, whether it's to be faster, whether it's to be slimmer, whether it's to fit into a certain size, that future you in a year comes down and sits at the table with you and and talks to you. What would they be saying to you? They'd probably be saying, This is what I've been doing all year long. Or maybe it's five years, and you go, That's that's you know, they come and sit at the table and you say, Oh, well, this is what I've been doing. I've been being consistent, no extremes, no liquid diet, no carb-free diet, no just high protein, no keto. I've been consistent. What we talk about. I, you know, maybe they say, I've been prioritizing my energy. I haven't been letting a snow, snow days mess up my mess up my progress. But we're all guilty of it because it's challenging. It's very, very challenging. Maybe that future self is sitting down with you and saying, I'm eating to feel good, not to punish myself. When we restrict food, how many of us feel like we're be we're punishing ourselves? Like when we go, when we get out of this in the next few days, how many of you are gonna feel punished by eating a little bit different food? Probably many of us. I feel like I've been bad person, and you're gonna be getting back onto what you normally eat, and you're like, I kind of miss that other food. Because it's good food, it's not because it's not good, it's good tasting. And again, your future self would be saying, again, it's not about perfection, it's about balance. Because right now, probably everybody, most everybody, probably over the last few days, feels a little bit thicker than they did. And they're probably thinking everybody's can notice, but nobody's gonna be able to tell. And it's really about balance. This time next week, you'll be right back to where you were. Again, it's what what are you the next few days after this? What are you gonna eat for? What are you looking for? When you take in that food and you try to eat better the next few days, what are you wanting? What are you wanting to gain out of your food? Is it that energy? Is it to you know, to lose weight? Is it to maybe gain some muscle? Put on a few pounds to reshape your body because you can reshape your body and actually weigh more and actually look thinner. So it's or or more fit. So it's all about what are you trying to gain from that as we come out of this into our daily eating? You know, the present moment it might be, we might say it's been a busy day. Whereas if we're eating like the future of us wants to be, it's a simple protein and produce. It's we we have joyful foods with intention. We enjoy foods. What are we gonna do? But we can do it intentionally. Maybe when we have low energy, it's we're fueling and it's not sugar, it's not spiking it up. How can I fuel to have more energy? Maybe our stress, our future you we're having a stable meal, so it's not just something that we're just having because we're stressed. It's like, what do I want? Now, are all these things easy in the moment? No, no, they are not easy in the moment at all. They're very challenging because what does our body tell us we want? All the bad stuff. So I always sometimes I think, you know, I can't remember those dolls that are on a string. I want to say a marionette puppet, but I don't think that's it.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

You're right. You're right.

Avoid “What Can I Get Away With”

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Is that right? Okay. Um, and so I always think of if it's my brain, my brain is the one that has a hold of it, and it gets to make the body move however it wants. The brain is in control. And we've talked about fasting, and sometimes that's why I do it because I need to tell my brain you're in charge. And body, you're just along for the ride. So we're gonna tell you what to do, and you have to follow along. And sometimes it's the other way around. Our brain says, hey, or our body says, that sure would taste good. And so our brain goes, okay, you probably deserve it, body, because you're kind of weak. You you've had a stressful day. You need some chocolate, you need some sugar, you need some snow ice cream with some chocolate drizzled all over it. You need that stuff, body, um, because you deserve it. When our brain needs to come back in and say, No, you don't. I'm in charge around here. I'm gonna tell you what to do. You're not, I'm the boss of you. So I just think of that little puppet, and we get to make our body do whatever we want based on our mind. And we have to look again at food as it's an investment in our future self. It's not a reward or a punishment, it's an investment. So when we eat those calories, it's an investment in whatever it is you've chosen for yourself in the future. Whatever you've, whatever your mind has chosen for your body in the future, it's an investment. Breakfast, it's an investment in your focusing on breakfast. Maybe lunch is an investment on productivity. I want to be productive. I don't want to have that crash mid-afternoon. Dinner is an investment in recovery. I worked hard today with exercise, all the different things. I want to recover. And maybe that snack is your stability overnight. So you wake up in the morning ready to go. You don't have that yucky full feeling. So you're asking what meals invest in my health or my energy, my health, my mood, my strength, my fatigue, all those things. What is how is the meal investing in that? And and we're aware of that. What kind of investment am I putting in now for my return on my investment later? And your return on your investment later is the body you want, the energy you want, whatever it is that you are looking for, that is your ROI. So, really, the challenge is to decide why are you eating? Are you just eating without paying attention? Or are you eating on purpose? And if you are eating on purpose, and of course we're talking about after we get out of the next couple of days. Um when you're when you're eating on purpose, what purpose is that for? Truly think about what is it do I want? Why do I come to treadmill class? Why do I come to circuit class? Why do I come to booty class? Why do I come to those classes? What do I want for my body? How do I want my my food to invest in those? Because those are the biggest investments. Because all of those 20 minutes, 30 minutes, that's it. Even if you go back to back, it's 20, 30, 30, maybe. But what do you want? Because all day long you're you're eating. So what investment are you making with those food choices, those chips that you're putting into the bank for a later return? What is it you want? And eat according to what you're trying to gain out of your future self. Maybe right now that's just six months, and maybe, maybe it's right now for three months. And then you eat on purpose. And then maybe in three months you evaluate and go, you know, I got stronger. I'd kind of like to lean down a little bit. So then you start eating according to that purpose. And maybe in another couple months it changes again. Just make sure that you're always eating on purpose. And it's not by not just by not paying attention, or it's just this is quick, or I'm stressed, or I deserve it. Always asking yourself, what is my purpose? So that's really just the challenge is why are you eating and is it on purpose for the purpose that you want for your future self? So, any thoughts, comments, or questions about eating for the life that you want, whatever, whatever life that is, as long as it's not a 600-pound life.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

Well, it is right now, it is right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

But I mean, some we may need the jaws of life to get you out of your house.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Um, you know, I mean uh I'm over here wondering why I didn't think about chocolate and drizzle on the snow ice cream now. Oh, well, you don't live with air, does it? I mean vanilla.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Yeah, you doctor that up with some chocolate every time.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

It can be chocolate ice cream, and it's still getting chocolate uh syrup on it.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Okay. So he uses uh chocolate syrup. What you're saying? Huh? He's a gatherer of chocolate.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Yes, he is a gatherer of chocolate syrup. We have two things of chocolate syrup in the fridge, but we are out of food. So yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

What I'm sure those are calendar.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

So no, they're not.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

They're they're for me. We might have actually ran out of breakfast food today. So we did we had five eggs. Yeah, we had five eggs and we we we ate all five eggs, so I don't know what she's gonna do tomorrow. It's gonna it's gonna be rough. So any any other comments, thoughts, or questions? All right, if you do, just let me know. Otherwise, be safe. Some of you I might see tomorrow. If not, I will see everybody tomorrow or the next day. So thank y'all.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Thank you. Thank you. Hey Erin, they're gonna have my videos.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

And thank you to each of you for joining us on Healthy Huddle. Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Huddle.