When All You Want is Sweets 🍭

Does it seem like ALL you ever crave is sweets?

The advice of “listen to your body” might feel like a 1-way ticket to a sugar coma. So what do you do when you’re sick of dieting, but you also don’t want to be out of control with sugar?

Let’s chat through what you need to know to in order to have body cues that work for you instead of against you. 

There are challenges many people face when trying to implement intuitive eating, like how to differentiate between emotional vs physical cravings and discover the logistics of mindful eating (without the ’woo-woo’).

We’ll discuss the issue of missing hunger and fullness cues and how to build a dietary lifestyle that includes the foods you love, like sweets. 

Get ready to feel less sugar crazy 🍬😵‍💫 and more in control. 💪🏼

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

eBook: The Guidebook for Guilt-Free Nourishment

More about intuitive eating:

Article: What is Intuitive Eating?

Episode: My Intuitive Eating Icks (Critiques)

Episode: Intuitive Eating vs. Not Dieting vs. Reverse Dieting - Are they the same?

Episode: Untangling the Complexities of Intuitive Eating

Episode: What if I Want to Lose Weight with Intuitive Eating?

TOPICS COVERED 👇 
Emotional vs. Physical Cravings (07:34)
Mindful Eating Practices (09:50)
Hunger/Full Cues (12:09)
Food is Fuel (13:29)
Building balanced meals (17:15)
Listening to your body (19:29)

LEARN MORE
🔥 My Signature 4-Month Program, Nourished & Free
📲 Follow me on Instagram (you'll get to know me pretty quickly!)
📖 Check out my Blog for tons of helpful articles

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Transcript

Michelle 00:00:00  Welcome back to Nourished and Free the Podcast. This is the show where I want to help you create a healthy relationship with food and with your body, and do that in a way that's helping you cut through all the misinformation and all the bits, and really solve some myths out there when it comes to nutrition and health, so that you can ultimately live nourished and free. If you're new here, my name is Michelle Yates. I'm a registered dietitian with my master's in health psychology, and I specialize in the topics of eating disorders and disordered eating and body image. In light of that, I typically work with women who struggle with their body image and binge eating, emotional eating, and chronic dieting. And something that comes up a lot is the topic of sweets. What the heck do I do with sweets? How are we supposed to approach that? Do we just cut them out completely because we can't trust ourselves? Or do we allow ourselves to have them? But then what do you do if, when you allow yourself to have them, you want them all the time? It's a big topic, right? And especially because there's so much emotion wrapped up in the topic of sweets, because not only is there the emotion of I'm scared of them, we've been taught to be afraid of them, to never eat them, that they're evil.

Michelle 00:01:18  But there's also this emotional connection of, like, nostalgia or pleasure. Like we really love them because they taste great. And I know there's people out there who are like, not sweets people, and that's totally fine. But for most people, they really love sweets. And so it's like there's so many mixed emotions and we can be left feeling very confused about how to handle them. So I want to dig into that topic today. Specifically, what to do when you feel like all your body wants is sweets. If you haven't subscribed to the show yet, be sure you do that so that you never miss an episode. And if you haven't left a rating or review, that would mean the world to me. It's so helpful and it's completely and utterly necessary in order for me to get into the charts of podcast. And, you know, nutrition is a competitive field, especially with podcasting. There's a lot of nutrition podcasts. So if you can support my show by leaving me a rating or review, that would mean so, so much.

Michelle 00:02:20  And for all of you who have already done that, thank you. Times a thousand. It means so much for anybody listening on Spotify. You can leave a review as well. It just looks a little bit different than if you're listening on Apple Podcast. You have to go to the homepage of the show and then click on the either on the about tab or on the three dots. One of those options, I can't remember which, and then you'll have the option to rate the show. So if you could do that on Spotify, that'd be amazing. Apple listeners, super easy. You just go to the homepage of the show and scroll all the way down. You'll see some pretty stars that you can tap. Okay, so let's talk about sweets. I recently posted a reel on Instagram that got over 8 million views, which has never happened to me before. And I was thinking about it and I was like, this is just a fluke. I mean, like sometimes the reels that get a ton of views are things that I would have never expected.

Michelle 00:03:16  And then videos that I think are going to get more attention. They don't. So I didn't know what to think about this, but after sitting on it, I realized that I think the reason this took off is because it was so relatable to so many people. If you haven't seen the video, essentially I have this huge plate of cake in front of me, and on the video it says when they say to just listen to your body, but all your body wants is sweets. So what I'm applying is essentially like there's people out there, specifically intuitive eating folks who are encouraging you to listen to your body. But we can be left feeling really confused by that because sometimes all we want our sweets. And so what are we supposed to do in that situation? Do we just have a huge plate full of cake and feel good about it? Or like, what are we supposed to do here? And so yeah, like that, that clearly resonated with a lot of people. And that was a surprise to me.

Michelle 00:04:17  But it's also not a surprise. And that's why I wanted to talk about sweets today, because I think it's worth digging into a little bit more, something that I hear a lot with the women that I work with is that they have tried intuitive eating before, and if you don't know what intuitive eating is, I have past episodes on it. I have episodes on like what it is, but I also have episodes on my critiques about it. Like there's there's all kinds of information that you can find about that on my own show or on my YouTube channel, so feel free to dig into that. If you're like, I don't know what you're talking about, but essentially a lot of my clients have tried it and it is a big part of how I work with my clients. It's one of the tools that I teach them, but the way I teach it is different than how they've typically done it. And here's how it typically goes when they've tried intuitive eating before they saw it online, they saw somebody on social media talking about it, and essentially they were left with the impression that intuitive eating is like, don't eat with rules.

Michelle 00:05:21  Like no food rules. Listen to your body, eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, and have what you want. That's kind of like the main gist of what they've learned from whatever they've gathered online. So then they try it. They try to eat when they're hungry. They try to stop when they're full. They try to listen to what their body wants, but they run into the issues of not feeling hunger until they're starving, not feeling full until they're sick, and whatever their body wants is just sweets. That's all it ever is. It's foods that they know objectively aren't the best for them. So they're so confused because they're like, what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to skip breakfast because I don't feel hungry until 2 p.m.? Am I supposed to eat until I'm dying and lying on the couch because I don't feel full until I'm at that point? Am I supposed to constantly eat sweets because I don't want anything except that? So understandably, at some point they give up because they're like, there's no way this is healthy.

Michelle 00:06:33  And I'm still trying to take care of my health at the end of the day. So this is why a lot of times people say that they tried intuitive eating and it didn't work. They essentially swung a pendulum from being on the side, one side where it's extremely strict, really restrictive dieting, cutting out all the carbs, all the sweets, whatever it is. And then they swing the pendulum to the complete other end where they don't have any restrictions around food. They don't have any like, intention, I guess, around the nutrition of their food, and eventually they end up gaining a ton of weight, feeling horrible physically, maybe having bad feedback at the doctor's office from labs that are coming back, lipid profile, whatever it is. And so then they're like, what do I do from here? I'm stuck because I don't want to go back to the other side of the pendulum. That was miserable. I want to be able to eat a banana without feeling guilty. But on the other end, I can't do this either because I'm going to die soon.

Michelle 00:07:34  So what do we do? And I think one of the most important things that we need to think about in the midst of, quote unquote, listening to our body is the difference between your emotions and what you're emotionally craving or desiring, or the things that, like mentally to you are on your mind versus the things that you're physically needing and desiring or that your body might be desiring. And one way to know if something that you're thinking about eating is going to be more of an emotional choice versus a physical choice, is asking yourself, how is this going to make me feel after I eat it? Why do I want this? Just simply taking a minute to pause and ask yourself that question can be so crucial. Why do I want this thing? And how is it going to make me feel? Because a lot of times we don't take the time to do that. We just think about a food. We see it in front of us, we eat it. Maybe we feel terrible later. We don't really pause and reflect on like why that is.

Michelle 00:08:48  I mean, we might we might know logically like, yeah, I shouldn't have eaten that thing, but we don't really like reflect to the point of understanding, well, then why did I make that choice in the first place? And so that really is true intuitive eating like I there are things about intuitive eating that I don't agree with. And you can go to my episode called My Intuitive Eating ICS to learn about that. But the basis of it, which is basically mindful eating, I do agree with we should be intentional in addition to mindful. And what I mean by that is you can mindfully make the choice of like, actually, I only want cake right now because everybody else is having it around me. I don't even like that cake, so I'm not going to eat it like that. Congratulations, you just did an intuitive eating. Intuitive eating or mindful eating could also be man, that looks really good. That is my favorite flavor of cake and I would really like to enjoy that. And then you do.

Michelle 00:09:50  That is also mindful eating or intuitive eating. So there's there's intention. There's a thought process. It's not just like autopilot all the time reflex decisions. It's it's thoughtful and it's intentional. In addition to the intentional side of things, we also need to be addressing hunger and fullness cues. You shouldn't only be feeling them at their extreme points that isn't helpful for you. You're never going to be able to honor your body if you only feel them at extreme points. And this is really common for people who have dieted for years and years and have ignored those signals because they were too focused on staying within a certain plan, whether it was like a calorie limit, or if it was like a meal plan or macro limit or whatever it is. If you're focused on meeting numbers, then you're not focused on how you feel physically. You just ignore that. You pretend like that doesn't matter. And typically we just see hunger as, like, our body's way of trying to sabotage us and and make us fatter. So we ignore it.

Michelle 00:11:04  And then with the fullness, too, like that becomes irrelevant because you're just eating the food that you've been allowed to eat or allotted to eat. It doesn't matter how full you are, right? So those signals go to the wayside. They stop being sent. That brain body connection kind of breaks down because your body is essentially learned that those signals aren't going to be responded to, so why send them? But there's still an element of survival here. Your body at some point will express needs for food or that you've had too much. It's just that they end up only being expressed when they're at their extremes, so you're still going to feel it at some point. You're still going to feel hunger or fullness at some point. It's just that it's usually way too late by the point you actually feel those signals when you've been a chronic Dieter or somebody who's ignored the early signs because those early signs stop being sent. So that makes things like intuitive eating really, really hard. And if you're trying this whole thing on, you're out on your own.

Michelle 00:12:09  It's like impossible to be a quote unquote intuitive eater or even mindful eater if you don't have early hunger and fullness cues. Right? Like you can't just be eating one meal at 2 p.m. every day. That's no way to live. And it's also super unhealthy. So you have to rehabilitate the body to restore those cues. And that's something that we do inside of my group coaching program. And I would say about half of the women maybe more need that rehabilitation period where we reinstate those early signs of hunger and fullness, because otherwise you're never going to be able to be somebody who just eats when they're hungry and stops when they're full. If you only feel those signals when they're at their worst, and then something else that I think it's lost in this conversation of intuitive eating and just listening to your body is the topic of nourishing foods. You know, like food is still fuel at the end of the day, it's literally gas in the car. It is like if your car. The food is gas for your car, for you, so you still need to fuel your car.

Michelle 00:13:29  Well, you need to feel your body. Well, everybody's heard this right, but we forget it. Especially when we're trying something like intuitive eating because we're so focused on like not dieting anymore. And we're very excited about that. That anything along the lines of the topic of healthy eating or nutritious foods or nourishment is like PTSD. I don't want to talk about that. I've been talking about that for decades. I'm sick of that conversation. I just want to be free from dieting. But the problem is that nutrition doesn't stop existing. Just because you've dieted for years and now you're trying to heal from that, Nutrition still exist, foods still exist and have different nutrient profiles, but it becomes really difficult to listen to your body if you don't have a variety of foods and feel the different things that you can feel when it comes to different fuel sources. Having a box full of donuts is going to make you feel different physically than having a whole wheat piece of toast with cottage cheese. And avocado is something that's like protein, carbs and fiber and healthy fats, right? They're going to make you feel different physically.

Michelle 00:14:47  And if you don't give yourself the chance to experience that, then listening to your body is really, really difficult because you just don't know what you're looking for. But if you experiment and you try all different kinds of foods, including really nourishing foods, including balancing out your meals or trying sweets, but having them with, again, balanced meals or even like adding something alongside of it that balances it out more. You will experience the different feelings that you can have physically, but if you never give yourself that chance, you're not going to know what you're looking for. So I think we can become so afraid of slipping back into diet culture. Or the opposite of, like, going too far into the anti diet world where we're like, just not taking care of our body anymore that we don't like. We don't give ourselves the room to experiment and figure out, like, how does this thing make me feel And do I feel differently if I pair it with another food or another food group, another nutrient profile? How does it make me feel emotionally? Maybe it makes me feel a different way depending on the time of day, or depending on the day of the week, or depending on if I exercise that day or not.

Michelle 00:16:01  Like these things. It takes experimentation and also patience. It's not a quick thing. We're going to be able to just, like, know immediately what the needs of your body are constantly. So to that point, we do need to be strategic about how we're learning how to listen to our body. And that's I think, where things go wrong is that we here listen to your body and we think, okay, well, my body right now wants to sleep with Oreos, so I'm going to go have a sleepover. Yes. And I'm not demonizing Oreos, I love Oreos. I just bought a new pack yesterday. But what if and maybe you do really want that. Like, I'm not going to judge you if that's what your body wants, but what if that's more of an emotional choice and that's not so much of a physical need or desire? And what if you could marry the two? What if he could have some Oreos, but you could also have something with it that provides you with the nutrients that Oreos are missing? You know, like, you can pair things together, you can have a ball.

Michelle 00:17:15  And if you're wondering, like, I don't know how to how the heck to do that, I don't know the different nutrient profiles of food I did put together a book that I think you'll love that will help you with this. It's an e-book, by the way. Not like a paper book. That would be cool though. Maybe I should look into doing that. But anyway, I'll put a link to that in the show notes. It helps you with building your meals to create balance so that you can have the sweets in your life. You can have whatever it is that you're craving, whether it's bread or carbs or whatever, but you can have it in a way that's still serving your body because you're including other nutrients with it that your body is missing. If you only have that thing that you're craving. So you get to have the thing you're craving, but you also get to include other foods that will ultimately serve you and help you feel good physically. So I'll include the link to that in the show notes.

Michelle 00:18:06  It's called the guidebook for Guilt Free Nourishment. It's seven bucks, which is nothing when you think about a lifetime of being able to build your own meals in a stress free way. So yeah, I highly recommend it. It's also part two of a three part series of ebooks. I won't bore you with the details of the other ones, but if you struggle with like self-sabotage or struggle with your weight, or how you feel about your weight or anything like that, you'll definitely want to snag the other books as well. And there's a bundle in save options, so you'll see all of the info about those books when you go to the link in the show notes. Again, I don't want to bug you or bore you with it now, so building your meals in a way that's balanced is going to be really essential in order to better learn the needs of your body and listen to it. and being able to differentiate, like, am I making an emotional decision right now, or is this more of a biological need right now? And if I want to follow through on that emotional decision because it's worth it to me, is there a way to also care for my biology in the midst of that, maybe having a smaller portion or maybe combining it with something else, whatever, And maybe not like making an emotional choice with food from time to time is not going to kill you like you can absolutely do.

Michelle 00:19:29  The point is that we want to avoid it being every time. So just listening to your body can be kind of a pipe dream. If you don't have the right tools or you don't have the right mindset around how to do that. But listening to your body can also be something that really helps you out and helps you decipher what to eat, when, how much of it where. But you need to figure out how to actually listen to your body. You can't just listen to it and it you know, it's not like a friend calling you on the phone and giving you step by step instructions on how to fix something, right? Like it's going to take time and practice to learn how to listen and what you're listening for. So you need to blend logic with intuition here, right? We have to be strategic. We need to have some tools. It's not just a free for all. Otherwise yeah you're going to feel miserable and you're going to feel like intuitive eating didn't work for you. And it was a joke.

Michelle 00:20:33  And, you know, like I said, intuitive eating has its flaws, and I think this is a part of it, right? A part of it is that it can feel very vague, and it can feel like a pipe dream if you don't have proper, like, guidance. A lot of times people don't want to take the time or the resources to get guidance, and so that it ends up being something that ultimately was just another failed attempt. So hopefully you'll find that this episode was helpful guidance in the right direction. If you're wanting to stay away from, like, really restrictive dieting or an emotional roller coaster with food, but you don't know how to do that without losing all control and going absolutely crazy with sweets. Hopefully you'll find that this was like a helpful bridge to help you get to a place that you can meet the middle ground, instead of being on either end of the pendulum. If you're feeling like, no, I still don't feel like I had any practical tools from this episode.

Michelle 00:21:34  I understand some people can feel that way. Just depends. Like what you're coming into this episode, carrying with you the knowledge you're already carrying with you, it tools you're already carrying with you. So you might have felt like you do need more. That's where I would recommend checking out the book and the show notes, checking out the whole set to which you'll get more information on when you click on the link anyway. Or if you need professional support. You want professional support and you want community like people who get it and who are on the same path as you. Then I would recommend checking out my signature program, Nourished and Free. Also nourished and free. Same name as this podcast. And look into that, because sometimes doing it on your own just doesn't work for whatever reason. You need support, you need accountability. You need somebody cheering you on, pointing things out. Sometimes you just need a coach and there's nothing wrong with that. So if you are somebody who identifies with that, you're welcome to check out my program Nourished and Free.

Michelle 00:22:35  Put the link to that in the show notes as well. Fill out an application. Takes two minutes if that, and we'll reach out about possibly working together. I hope you enjoyed today's shorter episode. I would love it if you would tag me on socials. Share this to your story. Let me know that you're listening to it. You can tag me just at Yates Nutrition and I would love to see you guys listening to it and hear your thoughts. Hope you have an amazing rest of your day and we'll catch you on the next episode.