The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
Healthy Huddle: Real Food Problems
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We talk through the “real food problems” that keep smart people stuck, from cravings and comfort food to the stress of choosing meals every week. We push for progress over perfection by focusing on barriers, priorities, and the mindset skills that make healthier eating realistic.
• cravings and the pull of familiar foods
• decision fatigue and not knowing what to eat
• time pressure, picky households, and falling back on old recipes
• trying new meals without fear of wasting effort
• choosing a better option when the best option is not realistic
• guilt loops, discipline, and clarifying priorities
• rapid weight loss and why mindset can lag behind
Join our live call each week.
Welcome And Live Call Setup
SPEAKER_01Welcome to Healthy Huddle. If this is your first time here, welcome. Um, each week we just discuss a different health topic related to food and diet, unless we join our live call each week. So again, thanks for being here on Healthy Huddle and let's join our live call. Does anybody remember what the topic was today? By chance.
SPEAKER_00Little blank line. Not dang it.
SPEAKER_01Today is healthy huddle, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Just check. Anybody remember or happen to look to see what tonight's title was?
SPEAKER_00What's the real food problems? Listen to that.
SPEAKER_01What's the real food problems? Exactly. So each week we have a different topic that we talk about all sorts of things. Just all kinds of things. So a lot of those probably aren't the real food problems. So I'm gonna rely on you to say why do you tune in and what are the real food problems?
SPEAKER_00That it talks to me when it's in the cabinet, no matter where I'm at, if I'm at home. And it tastes really good.
SPEAKER_01So so then what do you do about that in the when it talks to you in the cabinet?
SPEAKER_00Just ignore it.
SPEAKER_01How challenging is that?
SPEAKER_00Very. And the next big one is I don't know what to eat. If I have to change foods, then like if I have to change it from a food that I've ate for 10 years, then I don't know what to change it to. So then I'll just let's just not eat anything. Let's just give you also suffer from decision fatigue in that way. Yeah. Having to decide each week what the meal is or what the meals are, and now living in a home with somebody who's so picky but also has to watch her carb intake, fighting for my life. Really?
SPEAKER_01So so how so how do you decrease decision fatigue? Like like what it what have you currently been doing that may or may not be working?
SPEAKER_00See if I better weather and something else. And also like falling back on old recipes that aren't as healthy or balanced. So Mima makes chicken and rice. We make uh stuff that Mima makes, which is just velvet and cheese with a lot of stuff in it. It's a lot of things with chips and crackers, and so that's something that I've been fighting is like falling back into like childhood recipes, the things that I know aren't helping either of us, and it's been very not beneficial. Hamburgers, oh yeah, girl, come on, so that's what's good too for sure. We we have a child that calls that poor people food, that's how that's what we call it around here.
SPEAKER_01So then so what seems to be holding up from trying new recipes or spending time to make those?
SPEAKER_00No time at all. It seems like a lot because then you have to go through and like figure out what are your ingredients gonna be, and then what if you're not gonna like it and you made it and then you wasted that, and then and then also no time, right? For Rayleigh, yes, it was never time. Yes, I have plenty of time, yes, plenty of time to try any of them, but I don't do it. I was saying 100% of my time working out or at work, and then I come home and I do not want to think about going to the grocery store, so I let Nima think about it, which leads us to old recipes.
SPEAKER_01And then after you eat that, how do you feel?
Time Pressure And Meal Planning Fear
SPEAKER_00Happy because it reminds me of home in childhood, but it makes me feel like a failure because I can't help in the kitchen and I can't help us in a balanced life with our meals and like help her try fun things.
SPEAKER_01So bad is how it makes me feel usually, and so all those are very real things, and so sometimes, so those are so kind of what the holdup is, not the holdup, the obstacle, the obstacle like for Kim is what if I spend the time making it and then I don't like it? But on the flip side, what if you spend a little time making it and you really like it? How do you find things you like? You gotta try them by trying things you don't like, and then sometimes you go, well, that doesn't work, but I like something about it, but what if I change it a little bit and make it into something I like? Or maybe it's finding really unhealthy recipes, and how do you alter them to make it healthy? You know, when Caleb was little, he was a chubby little fella, and so the doctor told him he needed to lose weight, and so our challenge was we have three other kids. How do we manage giving them a snack and give him a snack without him feeling like he is being left out and doesn't get all the good stuff?
SPEAKER_00And we didn't want him to know he was overweight, and we didn't want him to know he was overweight because he was like seven or six.
Better Options Beat Perfect Eating
SPEAKER_01So, I mean, at the time we would buy South Beach chocolate chip cookies, and so when the other kids were having chocolate chip cookies, he would just have a couple of those, which was a better option for him, and and it and it did help, it it did make a difference. So sometimes it's altering we're still having what we want, but altering it in a healthier way, right? And I always like to challenge when there is no time what is the priority of the time, and and typically that helps redefine how we spend our time. So sometimes it might be the and again we've talked about before, it may not be prepping the whole week long, it may be two meals, because maybe two meals for the week is better than no meals, or three meals is better than no meals. So maybe it's maybe it's 30 minutes that could actually get two to three meals. And and so, and maybe it's not even it's not even freshly made because what's a better option? A better option is sometimes just a packaged meal. Is it is it the best option? No, but is it a better option than sometimes our childhood indulgences? I mean, one of my favorite things is rice aroni with hamburger meat and velvine in it. Like I love and put some ranch style beans in it, hmm, nothing better. Put it on tortilla, it's some good stuff. But, you know, even uh even a boxed, you know, we call them a TV dinner. I think they have a different name now, but that would still be a better option because it's a portion control that that is still a good option. Is it the best option? No, because you got sodium and all kinds of other things, but it's still a better option. So it's sometimes just finding something that is not maybe it's not the best. It's not the best solution, but for now, it's a better solution to those barriers. Because I think sometimes we do talk about, we we do talk about a lot about eating whole foods, clean foods, all that. And I think sometimes that outweighs or it overshadows just picking a better option. And sometimes the better option is not the best option, it's just better than what we're doing. And really that's kind of where we start. What's the one better thing we can do? Again, not the optimal, but better. If that kind of helps and makes a little bit of sense, maybe. Any thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_00Or I mean I do agree with that. You know, it's a better option. It's just, you know. But it's still always there. Like in my mind, I think, but then I would still need to find something.
SPEAKER_01Because that's not the best option.
SPEAKER_00Well, because it's not like like I need it for weeks at a time.
SPEAKER_01Because you need it to be the same.
SPEAKER_00Yes, that's well, that's me. But I mean that's not everybody, I'm just saying. That's the overwhelming feeling of it is that well that can't replace the everyday. So I still have to find it.
SPEAKER_01But it can replace some days. Yep. And and and and it's and it's again trying to like like you you found me you I mean, you fixed me green beans this week.
SPEAKER_00I did.
SPEAKER_01And so you did it for me.
SPEAKER_00I did. Well, I would do things for others, just not for my own thing.
SPEAKER_01Right. So that's maybe that maybe that's what I'm saying. So maybe and I'm not just picking on Kim, but sometimes it's more than just a food thing, if that makes sense. There's usually something behind the things we're doing with with food, there's usually something behind those. It's not the food.
SPEAKER_00Okay, thanks.
SPEAKER_01I'm not calling you out, but I'm just I'm just using that as an example. Same thing with with priority of time. It's not necessarily always a food thing. There is how can we shuffle our time, how can we lot our time, how can we maybe pencil some things in, not pen, because we found out this morning that I mean, but but actually, if you weren't here this morning, we asked how many people wrote in pen on their calendar, and six out of ten people write in pen on their calendar. It was kind of amazing.
SPEAKER_00I was passed.
SPEAKER_01I was really surprised at that.
SPEAKER_00That's illegal.
SPEAKER_01Huh?
SPEAKER_00Apparently that's illegal.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, I was highly surprised.
SPEAKER_00It was to uh four of us.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I mean, I guess I mean I I don't know if you're scribbling out or you're just getting it all done.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I got to see an example today, and they could just put white out over it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, white out. Interesting.
SPEAKER_00Like the little tab thing.
SPEAKER_01So it's not because it's going in pen because it's committed to. You still have an option to white it out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. If your friend cancels it, then you have to white it out.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Definitely white it out.
SPEAKER_01If your friend cancels it.
SPEAKER_00It's all the friend's fault. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yep, it's the friend's fault. It's somebody else's fault. So going back to both those issues, it it has to, we have to be aware of what we want to accomplish and what is the barrier. What is the true barrier? Is it the food or is there something else that we could maybe do to help with that barrier that helps any? Any other maybe food real life problems?
SPEAKER_00Well, the bad stuff always tastes the best. There's always that.
SPEAKER_01There is that. And again, it yes. It does taste the best. And it's trying to think of a nice way to put it. It it does taste the best, but again, and I'm guilty of this, and I'm not saying that I'm not, because I am too. Because this chat this is a challenge too. In all honesty, it's what are the priorities? What do you want the most? What is you know, because it is a challenge because those good things do taste good, and so we want them. And what happens when we eat them? What happens? What do we want more of?
SPEAKER_00Those things.
When Weight Loss Outruns Mind
Closing And Next Healthy Huddle
SPEAKER_01Those things. And and a lot of times we go to those good things, kind of like Raleigh said, because it's it's quick, it's easy, we don't have to think about it. But then after it's familiar, but then afterwards we kind of struggle with I shouldn't have done that, I should have done better. I told myself this morning I was gonna do better, but then nighttime came and I didn't do better, and and then we start in that uh guilt loop every day. I'm gonna do better tomorrow morning. And it and it's not it's not just with food, it's I mean, we do that with a lot of things. I'm gonna do better in not scrolling, and then we get to then they go, well, I did it again today, I'm gonna do better tomorrow. And then we're just we get in that guilt loop, and unfortunately, it's not always motivation that gets us out, it's just the discipline of of not doing it, and and really discipline simply is going through temporary pain, going through temporary pain for future gain. And pain means I want to do it, but I don't, I'm not going to. I want to eat it, but I'm not going to. And that's easy, but I'm not going to do the easy. That's kind of what the temporary pain is. So it's it's very challenging. And it and it's and it's not easy. And there's there's four people only change under four circumstances. I can't remember all of them, but one is when they know better or they've learned better or they heard enough to change, and there's two others, and I can't remember what they are. So sometimes change doesn't happen until, and typically it won't happen until one of those four things causes change. Think about when you've had the most change in your life, whether it's career, whether it was a relationship, personal growth. What why was that change necessary? Or why did you begin to change? You know, mine was for like when I lost weight. It was because I couldn't do that anymore. I couldn't continue that. Um, I had to change because the pain was too great. So I had to change. And a lot of times, if if you know, look at different people maybe that have have have struggled a long time with maybe addiction or different things, and they finally change. And what caused that? A lot of times it's maybe they can't do that anymore, or they've learned enough to change, and there's several different things, but typically we will only change when one of those four, and I wish I didn't have my computer with me, otherwise I'd pull it up, but it's one of those four things. Any other maybe real food struggles, and I guess is what I'm saying is if it would give you a minute to think, is what we think about food is we just have to learn about food. But really, a lot of our food struggles go back to our personal growth, it goes back to our mindset, our attitude, our perspective, our understanding of discipline and motivation, understand our triggers, understand our barriers or obstacles. We have to be understanding of that of ourselves as we grow to kind of see, you know, some food issues because food, again, it's just a thing, but it's related, there's usually a whole lot more to it. I think I've mentioned before, I thought my clients before when they couldn't adhere to a diet were just lazy, but that was not the case. There's other things, kind of like you said, early, sometimes it's in the household. Sometimes the household is an issue. Um, when the other person says, Let me just fix this, okay. Yeah, that's easy. So there's more to it than typically just, you know, not wanting to change because yeah, I want to do better, but this is just easy, and I'm in the environment, and so that's what I'm gonna do. So it has to do with a lot about what we know about ourselves and how we operate. And we do have to, as we go over every week, we have to spend a lot of time on that, on our personal growth, uh, to really understand food changes. Interesting thing when people lose weight quickly, very rapidly, very, very rapidly. And we're talking more than the the typical two to three pounds a week that you can lose to keep it off. Typically, their mind doesn't keep up with their weight loss. So, what does that mean? So typically, as you slowly lose weight, you start to begin to have a mindset change. And when you rapidly lose weight, you don't always, your mind doesn't adjust to that at the same time. So it it's definitely more challenging when weight comes off quicker because your mind is a little bit behind on what all that means. How do I how do I deal with that? What about the changes? How do I eat now? What does that mean about me and my my self-esteem, my self-image, my confidence, all of those things? Sometimes we don't we can't learn as quick as our body loses the weight. So so typically there can be a difference there, and sometimes it takes a little while to catch up to that, but it you can, it just takes a little while to catch up. Any other real world problems? Remember real world on MTV? Yes, that was like the original.
SPEAKER_00You're right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Any other real world food problems? And thank you to each of you for joining on Healthy Huddle. Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Huddle.