Real Food Stories
The question of "what to eat" can feel endlessly confusing, especially when we contend with our own deeply ingrained beliefs and stories around food. Blame social media, the headline news, and let's not get started on family influences. Passed down from generations of women and men to their daughters, it's no wonder women are so baffled about how to stay healthy the older we get.
As a nutritionist and healthy eating chef, combined with her own personal and professional experience, Heather Carey has been connected to years of stories related to diets, weight loss, food fads, staying healthy, cooking well, and eating well. Beliefs around food start the day we try our first vegetables as babies and get solidified through our families, cultures, and messages we receive throughout our lifetime.
We have the power to call out our food beliefs so we can finally make peace with what we eat and get on with enjoying the real food and lives we deserve. Listen in to find out how to have your own happy ending to your real food story. Connect with Heather at heather@heathercarey.com or visit her website at www.heathercarey.com or www.greenpalettekitchen.com
Real Food Stories
141. Always Hungry, But Not For Food with Jane McGuiness
What if “always hungry” wasn’t about food at all? Heather sits down with author and registered clinical counselor Jane McGuinness to explore how she lost over 100 pounds and kept it off by healing emotional eating, listening to her body, and replacing rules with honest moderation. No magic diet, no all-or-nothing plan, no Ozempic—just time, self-compassion, and daily habits that fit a real life.
Jane takes us back to the early roots of comfort eating, through motherhood, anxiety, and the moments that turned the pantry into a refuge. A chance encounter with Janine Roth’s work reframed everything, helping her name feelings, pause before autopilot snacking, and build a practice of mindful eating that still guides her today. We get practical about what actually worked: walking and biking for consistent movement, meals anchored by protein and fiber, seasonal foods, and light-touch tracking that focuses on monthly trends instead of daily judgment. She shares how yoga and meditation deepened her connection to hunger and fullness cues, especially through perimenopause, and how choosing joy outside the kitchen—hobbies, nature, learning—quieted food obsession.
Beyond the plate, we confront "thin privilege" and weight bias head-on. Jane explains how losing weight changed how the world treated her and why that fueled her memoir, Always Hungry, a funny, raw, and compassionate account of emotional eating, identity, and real change. Expect candid insights on alcohol and sugar, “moderation” as a practice of honesty, and why quick fixes rarely teach the skills that make health sustainable.
If you’ve ever felt stuck between diets and despair, this conversation offers a clear path forward: trust your signals, move in ways you enjoy, build meals that satisfy, and meet yourself with kindness. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a gentler path, and leave a review to tell us what resonated most.
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Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the Real Food Stories podcast. Now, emotional eating, body image, and weight are some of the overwhelming issues for some women, myself included, in my own weight loss journey. And I have someone with me today that successfully battled society's obsession with diet culture and body shaming to finally lose weight and make peace with her own body. So let me introduce you to Jane McGuinness. Jane is the author of Always Hungry, a raw and hilarious memoir about emotional eating, body image, and reclaiming self-worth. A registered clinical counselor, Jane blends professional insight with lived experience, sharing her journey of losing 103 pounds, navigating divorce, and parenting three children. With wit, honesty, and compassion, she speaks to the pressures of diet culture, body shaming, and emotional health. So, hi Jane, welcome to the show. I'm so glad to have you on today because losing weight, keeping it off are complicated for so many women in our culture, especially because women feel like there must be a perfect diet or a secret or now drugs like Ozempic that get them to take action when I know your story is wildly different from the norm. And I say wildly different because you used none of those, right? So I want to jump in. I want to hear your story, where you started from and where you are now in your journey with weight loss and making peace with your body and how you got to then write your book.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, thank you. Thanks, Heather. And so it's lovely to be here. I appreciate you welcoming me onto your show. And yeah, no, you're right. My my story is different. And I think it's it's one we don't hear enough, which is that, you know, just common sense and persistence, you know, and a commitment to making positive changes can move the needle. And it did for myself. A big, massive integral piece of that was getting to the core of the emotional eating disorder. It was the why. Why was I snacking when I wasn't hungry? What was really going on, what was I really hungry for, which is where the title of my book came from Always Hungry. Because I am still always hungry, but it's not food. You know, that's what I had to figure out, like what needed changing in my life, what would what needed healing, what was missing, like what was really going on. I think so many of us I learned through my own lived experience and through working in my clinical practice, is that so many of us find ourselves in the fridge or pantry and mindle seeding, it's got nothing to do with physical hunger. There's just a complete disconnect with from the neck down with the body. And so for me, my healing started with that. It was a reconnection, started with walking, starting to move my body again to make you know, get back to whole, you know, real food. You know, I've always loved cooking. It was just just making those small, positive, sustainable changes and exploring, you know, tweaking recipes, making um more nutritious, healthier, and it just it was just one step at a time. And it took time, which I think a lot of people in society don't want. We want a quick fix, we want to, we spend decades gaining weight and then we want to drop it in 30 days, you know, which is why all of these diet industry and diet culture is what it is in such a multi-billion dollar industry. But the bottom line is yeah, we can make positive changes just if we give ourselves time to heal, we do the emotional work and we just use common sense, which I maintain is not that common. So I wanted to speak out to that and let people know, yeah, there is a path of moderation, which is why my sub stack is called all things moderation. You know, it doesn't get, we don't hear this enough because we're just drowned out by all of, like you say, the the diagnosis or zen pick, like everything else that's going on. While I don't judge other people for choosing those paths, if that works for them, like great. That just wasn't wasn't um my path. And it's yeah, personally not something that that that I'm interested in exploring. My focus now is is maintaining my health long term and what does that look like for me and mentally and physically, of course.
SPEAKER_01:So let's go back a little bit. Let's jump back because I know you're using you're throwing out some words like common sense and moderation and persistence and you know, and it's sort of with emotional eating. So I would love it if you could go back a little bit and just give me some of your story about growing up. I mean, we all have a food story, right? I that's what my whole podcast is called Real Food Stories, because I really feel like we are very rooted in how we were raised and our cultures and and our, you know, whoever the adults were in our lives and who gave us the bull the food beliefs. And and that's where the the emotional eating can kind of get rooted. And so I wanna so I just want to hear from you. Tell me, you know, you say that you've lost 103 pounds, is which is significant. And you have kept it off, which is equally as significant. So tell me where this, where your story begins.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, absolutely, because people are surprised when they hear I've kept it off for a decade. And most people only know Jane in a slim body. They don't even believe that I used to be obese. People, people, a lot of people say no, no, that's that's not you, but it was. And it started, I think, like um, like it does for many of us in childhood. You know, I had unhappily married parents, so there was some small tea trauma there in my family of origin. I mean, my father was an emotional leader. My mother always cooked from scratch and she would always make healthy food for us. But I learned when I was very young, you know, that food equaled love to me, like it was a substitute. It was, it was somewhere to go, you know, when there was some childhood bullying, when there were issues at home, food became comfort. So I would cook and bake, but you know, there was no moderation. I was just, I was, you know, baking whatever I felt like, frankly, after school, whether it was cake or cheesecake. And then, yeah, it wasn't one piece I was having occasionally. It was, yeah, it was far more. And it was it was about the why. And I had to figure that out. And it took me decades of work to figure out what was going on. Because often, you know, these these habits that we form, you know, they become entrenched very easily. And we just immediately were upset and dysregulated. We head straight to the pantry, and I know I did that for a long time without recognizing the triggers and what was really going on. You know, I'm I um I married in my early 20s, had three children, so I was a stay-at-home mother, and my husband worked long hours. And so, of course, food became a comfort again. I mean, my eldest is on the spectrum and was undiagnosed, so there were some big challenges there. So I had three little ones in my first one, you know, having, you know, and it wasn't their fault, of course, in being neurodivergent, but um, but didn't have the support that I needed. And so, yeah, my my escape, as I as I state in my book, my escape was the pantry and the kitchen where I went for comfort because I was in need of nurturing and and and yeah, I was going about it the wrong ways, but it's what I knew at the time. So that's where it all began. And then, you know, three pregnancies and I continually gained weight and got to the point after my youngest was born when I realized this is something needs to change. I I was lacking energy, I didn't feel good, I was struggling with anxiety, I didn't feel confident, and I just knew this was not going to be my story. I thought, okay, it's it's time to take charge here and start making some small positive changes. You know, I began walking and biking and then discovered Janine Roth's work, all of her brilliant books on emotional eating, and that was that was really one of one of the key turning points. You know, I'd already started along the journey, but her books, you know, When Food Is Love, you know, breaking free from emotional eating, her books really, really helped me to start to get to the bottom of what was going on and start to figure it out. And then I then I put the piece of the puzzle together and just continually persisted. And it and it took time. It didn't come off overnight, but nor should it. And I believe I've been able to keep it off because I formed those positive habits that have now become just my daily. It's what I do. And so I think we need to start with self-compassion, we need to just be gentle with ourselves, and then we need to recognize that healing the body takes time because I was also healing emotionally from my past, from the anxiety. And I think we need to give ourselves time. I I don't believe in quick fixes. I don't, I don't know that they're sustainable. Certainly not if you don't do the inner emotional work. I mean, if people choose choose a medication, um, you know, as MPIC, whatnot, that's like I said, I I respect that that's their path. It just wasn't mine. And I've yeah, I'm finally at a point where I'm at I'm at peace. You know, 99. Like there's still the off day, you know, where I'm challenged because I'm human. I mean, we all are.
SPEAKER_01:Of course, right. Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a it's a lifelong rate um practice, I guess. I don't want to say an issue or anything like that, but it's just something that you have to keep you can't take for granted, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, a hundred percent. And I agree. And I've found and I'm I'm sort of writing more about this in my second book, actually, because I want to share what I continue to learn as I start to navigate, you know, getting later into my 40s and starting to navigate changes and recognizing that yoga is extremely helpful. And the more I practice it, the karma I feel meditation. I meditate every day now. That's huge. You know, I didn't do that a decade ago, and that's really, really helping me to stay grounded within my body. And it connects somatically, which just helps with understanding signals of hunger and fullness, recognizing what's going on if I am a little dysregulated and dealing with stresses as we all do in life. You know, my children are young adults now, and that comes with its own challenges. I've made a career change. So, yeah, things like that, like meditation, just figuring out okay, what else works here to help me to maintain my health and and sanity, frankly. I'm parenting three kids in the today's world, which is insane.
SPEAKER_01:I I get it. I have three kids too, and I know, and it is it is um interesting right now. It is so you mentioned that your dad was also an emotional eater.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Tell me a little bit more about that. Was that was that something that influenced you? And and what was his emotional eating?
SPEAKER_00:You know, it's it's interesting. I mean, sadly, he passed suddenly last year, and it was only thank you. Um, yeah, but it was only after he passed that I reflected on his life. I mean, he he struggled with depression his whole life. And back in the day it wasn't even talked about, it was undiagnosed until he was 50. So he had his own struggles, which of course impacted, you know, my childhood negatively, unfortunately. But it was, yeah, after his passing, I I could reflect, you know, speak to other family members and realize, yeah, he was absolutely food was comfort for my father too. You know, he loved my mother's cooking. He just, you know, far too much of it. And then she'd have to hide the leftovers like in the bottom of the fridge at the back. She'd say you'd have a man's look and he wouldn't find it if it was hidden well. So that's where she'd put things, you know, before they divorced. It was quite funny, but in hindsight, it's speaks to a bigger problem. And, you know, how much of this is, you know, nature and nurture. I mean, of course, there's that genetic component and that predisposition. Fortunately, I didn't in um haven't struggled with depression ever. I'm very, very lucky in that respect. But you know, yeah, I see the genetic link, and it's certainly, you know, extremely common in every family. I mean, now I know myself with the the extra learning that I've undertaken and my knowledge of, you know, my microbiome and the how important that is to have to have healed that maybe without realizing, and then know, okay, I need to actually focus on on thinking about my gut health, because that, of course, you know, happy hormones are you know produced there too. And I think a lot of us don't realize that, which is why when I eat really well, really good food, I feel better, so much better, because I'm getting all of those happy chemicals from my tummy too. And a lot of us don't know that. So, yeah, certainly learning more and writing more about that in my second book so I can share that with people. This is why when we eat crap, we feel like crap. You know, it's just disgusting.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right. But so for you though, I just want to stick with this emotional eating part for a minute. Sure. I have to imagine that back then the making sure your microbiome was all happy was not really your first priority, right? I mean, emotional eating can override lots of right because the comfort that you can get from food in hard times. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, can really dictate your whole life. I totally get that. I grew grew up an emotional eater too. I had some, I think you said small tea traumas. I think I had some fairly big tea traumas. And that and and emotional eating really gave me a lot of comfort at the time. And I had to unlink that, you know, as an adult. I had to realize, you know, even though I went to school, I have my master's degree in clinical nutrition and everything. And and I, you know, they never taught you about the emotional part or the mindful part, or, you know, I learned a lot about the science of nutrition, but that work I had to do kind of on my own. And it sounds like you also had to do that. That was part of your journey. I know you mentioned Janine Roth, who's uh has written a number of books on emotional eating and everything. And I remember reading some of her books too years ago and feeling like that she was one of the first people who I think was talking about that, that this emotional connection to food that I remember. So, how did you fall into reading about her books? Or what was the changing where you said I've had enough?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there was definitely a few pivotal moments along the way and after the birth of my son that I write about. Um, yeah, that I've that I put in here in this book that I'm I'm deliberately matching. But there was, yeah, there were a few moments in there that were, you know, those, and I think when people do as an emotional leader, you kind of hit rock bottom, and I just realized, okay, like I am going to make changes here because I did love exercise as a kid. You know, I played team sports, we were encouraged to, you know, the weight went on as a teenager, but when I was younger, I enjoyed being physically active. And so I had to reconnect with that. But with the emotional eating, it was absolutely um, I believe serendipitous that I I was in a bookstore because I've always loved to read. You know, I was in the health and wellness section, found Janine's book, one of her first. And yeah, it was just like a light bulb moment like that. Aha, I I get it now. You know, she was just, I really feel like I need to thank this woman one day if I can. I want to, because yeah, that was a that was a massive turning point in, you know, I'd already made some positive changes, but I had to get to the root of what was really going on when I was, you know, comfort eating. Even now today in 2025. I mean, if I'm if I have a stressful day, I will bang, like I go straight into the kitchen, then I find myself and I can usually stop myself. You know, I put my ground, I put my feet on the floor, I take those slow breaths and I ask myself, like, what is going on here? Like, what's what this, what is this really about? If I'm looking for comfort or something sweet. And yeah, I'm I'm not actually physically hungry because it's, gosh, it is a lifelong journey and it's so easy to do, particularly when these habits are entrenched and we've been, you know, these behaviors have been decades, you know, decades of of repeat every day. And often we do it without awareness. So it was just coming back into the body and and recognizing, also being compassionate, you know. If if I'm if I'm really struggling and having a tough day, like I'll do everything I can, you know. Um, yeah, I think it's just recognizing in those moments too, and acknowledging, okay, I feel like ice cream, and even just acknowledging I'm not physically hungry and I know why I want it, it's because I'm I'm stressed right now or I'm sad. But just putting words to that can be very, very helpful. And then if somebody does choose, okay, well, I'm still going to have the Ben and Jerry's because it's super yummy and I'm sad, at least there's an awareness of what's going on. It's like, right, I realize right now, what do I really need right now? I mean, sometimes I'll run a bath, you know, which I do often, or yeah, go for a walk. You know, I try and make make another choice, you know, phone a friend, whatever it is. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think that that that's that's a really good point and that we can talk about right now is that is that it sounds like you, you know, you read the books and you know you got some awareness, but you know, being mindful, right, of your eating. And I know that for me too and my weight loss journey, and I have talked about this many times on this podcast, so I don't have to repeat the whole story to my audience, but but that that was the difference between just being on a diet and okay, like, you know, tracking your food and loot, like, you know, and and losing weight and keeping it off because I think that is what lacks in a in so many diets is the mindful part, or just getting in tune with your emotions and your body and asking yourself daily if you have to, am I really hungry right now? Am I physically hungry? If you're physically hungry, I'm sure you know this, right? Please eat. Like, please like honor your hunger and eat, not starve yourself. Or are you emotionally hungry, is what I usually just call it. Like, are you, you know, are you having a bad day? Are you tired? Are you lonely? Are you filling the blank? And if and you know, and if you are, right, then maybe we could go do get on the phone with a friend or go take a bath or or whatever it is. And then, and then even still, if you recognize like, but I still want that ice cream. It's you know, just make me feel a little bit, you know, at least you're aware of it, right? We're not doing it mindlessly. You're not like eating a pint of ice cream and then wondering what the hell happened. You're you're you're doing it with awareness. Oh I think that's a huge difference. And I think that's that's the that's the key to really start to differentiate. So is that, you know, can you speak to that too? Do you feel like you had that was part of your story as well?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, certainly, absolutely. And I mean it's it's still it's an ongoing journey, as I said. Like it's yeah, that took years to get on top of, you know, absolutely years, because you know, it often for for so many of us, like food is a poor man's substitute for love, you know, as I write in my book. I know it was. For me. You know, and there are moments I left my husband, you know, through the separation and divorce. I mean, those were so there were some dark times. And I really, that was, that was incredibly challenging. It was so so easy to turn to food for comfort, but then recognize, okay, that's that's not what I'm I'm needing right now. So I had to start with, you know, recognizing, okay, I need nurturing and self-compassion. You know, the world won't give it to us. We have to be our own best friends and give that to ourselves. And I realized, okay, I need to fill my life with other things that bring joy and pleasure because I do love food. I'm a foodie and I'll always enjoy good food, like good, wholesome, you know, cooked from scratch, ideally. You know, real food. But I also then realized, okay, well, what else brings joy? So, you know, I took up more um, you know, different hobbies. I mean, I took up mountain biking, I mean, I started puzzling again, which I hadn't done since I was a child, you know. Um yeah, just started reading more, you know, music, you know, there were just so many. I started started learning Italian, you know, I wanted to challenge myself and just do something that I wanted to do for me. You know, and um start to do some bigger hiker hikes, which I'm also writing about in the next book. Just things that things that bring joy and that's so important to fill our life, uh our lives with yeah, things that we love and bring joy that aren't necessarily related to food because I know when we're in that, whether it's uh any kind of disordered eating, it can just become such such an obsession that you know there's so much mental noise. I mean, my entire day used to be taken up by like counting points or calories and what can I eat? When can I eat? What am I allowed to eat? What am I cooking? And it was just this crazy unhealthy obsession. And so just recognizing, okay, there is there's so much more to life. Like, yes, let's enjoy good food and then let's go and you know do something we love. It doesn't have to all revolve around that. So it needed to, I needed to really, really recognize that. It was taking up fade too way, way too much, you know, real estate in my brain, like constantly the obsession thinking about it. So yeah, it's it's absolutely a journey and a process.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, when you're on a diet, I mean, you can get completely obsessed and consumed with food, right? Because you're right, you're counting, you're tracking, you're and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, I want to like, you know, just put that out there. I think that there's nothing wrong with getting the information from tracking your food and finding out, you know, because weight loss, and I want to talk to you about this too. Weight loss is is a numbers game, right? We have to like eat less and and and we need to know how much we're eating. So there's you know, so there's nothing wrong with tracking food and you know, just getting clear on how much your morning bowl of oatmeal, how many calories that is, and you know, but it we can turn that into a little bit of an obsession if we are just constantly like you know, down to like the calorie trying to um you know count count everything. So it sounds like for you, you know, I want to hear how when you s I guess made that decision that you've had enough, because a hundred pounds is is takes a lot of commitment. I mean that's a right, I mean that's that's not 10 pounds, I mean that's that's like a months and months of a of commitment. For sure. Yeah, it was a lot of a lot of walking. Yeah. I mean what so what tell me, I mean, did you did you try diets?
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah. I mean, I tried everything, you know. I tried Weight Watches, I tried, you know, juicing, I tried like, I mean, a million things, you know, low carb, you know, paleo. I tried all of them. And and yeah, there was there was of course, like when you, you know, for a certain period of time, of course, it is, it is, I believe, absolutely, you know, we can't, there's fundamental science there. Like I have to be burning up more than I consume. You know, if I'm if I'm working out 10 hours a day, but I'm eating, you know, like a you know, mountains of food, I'm not, you know, I'm not gonna move the needle. Like, so yeah, the common sense around moderation and balance and recognizing, yeah, you're right. I need to know how much is in roughly in a bowl of oatmeal. Because if I'm eating a massive big bowl, like, you know, it could be half my day's energy or more in that. So yeah, I had to figure that out. But it was when I I just stopped with the diets and started incorporating just common sense, you know, filling my plate with more vegetables, you know, exploring, you know, switching it up because I'd loved cooking, you know. So trying different recipes and, you know, a million different warm salads and figuring out, like, wow, these are phenomenal. They're filling, they're full of fiber and full of good, healthy protein that I needed. So I wasn't craving simple carbs, I wasn't craving sugar. So making those changes over time and figuring out what worked for my body, that was absolutely um, yeah, absolutely key to. Yeah, most definitely. And just, yeah, way back when it was, yeah, there was a lot of trial and error. And, you know, I was obviously trying to restrict energy in those early days. So I was walking a lot. I would, I experimented with some protein shakes, some vegan protein shakes. But what I found ultimately now at this point, when I'm maintaining my body does prefer real food. You know, I just I'd rather, I'd rather eat rather than, you know, rather than drink my calories. So, you know, I can make an omelette, you know, with a whole lot of spinach and onion and capsicum and peppers, we call them over here, you know, all of that. So I enjoy, I enjoy using the the, you know, my my the energy, um, taking it in that way. But yeah, I I tried different things and really just settled. And it took a long time to settle on the fact that, yeah, my body just wants, you know, unprocessed food. Really does. And I will try and, you know, when whatever's in season, like right now, the apples are delicious. Everybody's just eating a ton of them because they taste great. They're in season. So just making sure the fridge is stocked. And sure, like again, like if I'm really, if I really feel like ice cream, I'm not going to deprive myself of it. But it's balance and moderation. I'm not going to eat the whole tub, but have some of it and enjoy it, you know, and then brush my teeth and go to bed, you know, and not beat myself up for it. It used to be all or nothing. It was like, you know, as dieters, I think we think, well, I can't have that. I'm not allowed to have that. Or sourdough bread I love. You know, I used to be like, well, I can't have bread. There's there's too many carbs in it. So now I'll enjoy it, but in moderation. I'm not eating a ton of bread every day because, well, that wouldn't be balanced for me. My body just doesn't need it. But yeah, I really, if I feel like it, you know, I'll in I'll enjoy it, but smaller amounts, you know, just a sensible portion. And then I'll, you know, I'll go from I'll fit a workout into my day. So it's just like just like that balance, that equilibrium. And that takes us time to learn and understand, okay, what does our body need and want? So we're all we're all you know, white a little differently. So I had to figure out what worked for me. I mean, protein's a big one. I have to make sure I have enough healthy protein. So I'm not craving sugar.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm so you mentioned this all or nothing mentality, which I think is very diet-minded.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, like mentality, right? We're either on the diet or we're totally off the diet, going like off the rails, and then we have to go back on, we have to, you know, beat ourselves up, go back on the diet. Yeah. Um, and I agree with you that this all or nothing mentality is never works in the long run. Because when you when you lose weight, I mean don't you want to lose weight to keep it off? You know, I mean, but I think the there's a big belief, I think, in our culture that that's not how it works is that you lose 20 pounds, you gain you, you know, you can't sustain it, you gain 20 pounds back, and then you lose 20 pounds. I have a lot of clients like this who just lose and gain like all the time.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. You could spend a lifetime doing losing and gaining the same 10 pounds. It's so true. And and I think when that's happening, it's um perhaps those people haven't done the inner work to realize, okay, what's really going on here? Because this is taking up my entire life, and sometimes it's a way of avoiding other issues in our life if we're constantly obsessing with that, you know. Right. Yeah. I think often it's it's that emotional piece, it's what's yeah, yeah, piece within our body.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Um, but you mentioned the words common sense, using just using common sense or doing food in moderation, which I totally agree with you. I mean, I I I the concept of that, you know, of course we have to keep it like sort of like even killed in moderation, but sometimes I feel like the word moderation gets overused because I hear people all the time saying, Well, I drink alcohol, but in moderation. But what is moderation, right? I mean, is moderation one glass of wine for you? And for me, moderation's three glasses of wine. Is it is it ice cream five days a week? Is it, you know, it like so sometimes I feel like moderation just gets a little overused or it's a it's a it's an excuse, I guess, to you know, to just justify things. But what to you what does it mean to you when you say moderation or just using common sense? Because a lot of people, you and I, I think have common sense now at this point, right? We've had like journeys and you, you know, have had a big journey. Yeah. And so you know exactly what common sense and moderation mean for you. Yeah, but a lot of people don't, you know, like they don't really understand what common sense means.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's it's you know, and that's a really good point too. And I mean, I find um when you say that, I think back to um, you know, my former obsession with the scales, you know, where I'd be weighing myself three times a day. And you know, if I'd had a day where I'd overeaten or binged on something and then I'd punish myself the next day and starve and then just end up dizzy with a headache and no energy, and you know, it was just a mess. It was a complete just a mess. But what I've learned now is that for moderation for me means, you know, are my pants comfortable like month by month, if I say track my weight and check in every couple of weeks, you know, and then I can just notice on a monthly, with a monthly weigh-in, for example, and I keep a record in, you know, in my calendar in my phone as we all, you know, use it for different things. And so I can track over six months, okay, is my weight tracking up a little, down a little or level? And so for me, moderation means if I can keep where I'm at right now, I'm quite happy, you know, at a comfortable weight. My pants do up, you know, I'm feel I feel energetic, I can work out, I'm happy. So for me, it moderation is okay, is, you know, am I just at the set point that my body seems comfortable with? Or is it jumping up and down? And you know, over Christmas, if it jumps up a little, I realize, okay, so there hasn't been quite enough moderation. Yeah, I mean, with alcohol, for example, I don't drink very often. And it's it's such a subjective thing, of course. I mean, sometimes I won't drink at all for a couple of weeks because it just doesn't feel good at this point in my life. You know, if it's Christmas and, you know, there's there's events, you know, sure, you know, maybe a few times a week there'll be a glass or two of red. Um and my but my body feels it. So I do need to be absolutely mindful, realizing, okay, if I'm not sleeping as well and waking up not feeling as well, like that's just a it's time to say no. Yeah, but but I agree, it's figuring out, and I think for everybody what works for them and just being honest with yourself. You know, if it's we're saying, oh, well, I'm eating, you know, meeting this, that, and the other in moderation, but really you know that yeah, it's an excuse. I think we're only fooling ourselves and our pants don't lie. You know, I can I can, you know, if I have a few weeks where I'm on holidays and just really being kind of irresponsible because I do believe in personal responsibility. And if I'm being a little irresponsible and just, you know, not feeling well and just indulging too much and my pants tight. Well, that's that's all I need to know, really, that, you know, okay, there hasn't been enough moderation for me. Let's just, let's just make some changes and tweak this. So I I make sure I never let it let it get out of hand. You know, and now, of course, holidays, I much prefer to ski or hike and do something active, which tends to balance, you know, the bread and wine and cheese quite nicely. So it's yeah, it's I think balance is key. Yeah, and and again, the self-compassion. We beat ourselves up, and some people will then, you know, try the quick, the the fasting diet. You know, they'll do, you know, do something really extreme and then often, you know, you regain. Once you jump off that, the whole time you're thinking about what you can have when you stop the diet, and then you just regain it all plus a few extra pounds. You know, I used to never, for example, let myself have twice banked Dharma croissants. They were kind of my thing. I love them and they're well done. And, you know, sure I don't have them every day or very often, but if I'm out somewhere, you know, with a girlfriend or one of my kids, I might split one and enjoy it and recognize, yeah, not going to gain 100 pounds. You know, I can enjoy this in moderation and it's a treat. I think we forget that treats were historically treats for a reason. I'm not saying we should reward ourselves with food, but I'm saying, you know, way back when, you know, we didn't have croissants every day. We didn't have dessert every day. It was that was that was something you'd have at celebrations and birthdays and, you know, and sure enjoy it. But for me, it's not a part of, you know, an everyday like intake. My body just does not need that, that kind of calorie-dense, energy dense food every day. So recognizing that, yeah, I don't advocate rewarding yourself for a job well done, but I do think just recognize that, okay, yeah, I love ice cream, I'll enjoy it sometimes. But it's, yeah, it's for me, it's it's more of a um it's a bit of an indulgence because it's just it is energy dense, and that's just the reality of recognizing that, you know, there's a whole lot in that. And unless I'm doing a lot of exercise that day, my body's pretty, pretty effective at storing fat. Like I can just I can pack it away very quickly, you know. I think as as yeah, most of us can really, because that's it's evolution, isn't it? We were designed to be able to conserve energy for times of famine, but there's no famine. Like I look around and there's just a whole lot of feasting. Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, exactly. So it sounds like for you, and and I agree with this, that moderation is your you're using that word as like your own definition of being mindful, right? And being right, you're you're you're on top of it. I think that some people just use the like, oh well, everything in moderation, you know, it kind of gives them the hall pass, right? Which and I'm like, well, what is moderation exactly? You know, to like it's it's just it's it's personal to everybody. And I so I agree with you that what your, you know, what your moderation or like what your set point weight feels, you know, that you feel good at is personal to you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. And we've just got to be honest with ourselves because I think, you know, as a nutritionist, it's very, very easy to overconsume. Like it's so easy, you know. Yeah. It's just it's amazing how many foods out there are really, really energy dense. And so I think that's where educating oneself and really understanding what am I putting into my body is really important. And I do try and fill up on a lot of fiber now because of course it's filling, it's really good for us, it's really important. And looking at my sources of protein, you know, I mean, even, you know, I did a subsect post about macadamia's, for example. I love them, they're super healthy. I think we should all eat more tree nuts. But if I eat too many of them, I'm going to get a tummy ache and they're really, really energy dense. So, you know, sitting down and eating two cups of them is just not going to be good for a whole lot of reasons. Right, exactly. It's that balance of enjoying a few and then, yeah, yeah, some having on my plate for lunch or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01:So, where did you learn about food and nutrition? You mentioned microbiome before and you know, just needed to support yourself and you know, your protein and fiber and everything. I mean, do do you feel like as part of your journey to lose weight, you educated yourself on food?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. I took a deep dive. I mean, recent more recently I've read Tim Spector's work on the microbiome. I mean, I've loved his work. And yeah, I just I really became hungry for knowledge. So again, the the title always hungry really speaks to so much because I have a big collection um on my bookshelf. Um, gosh, everything, everything around, you know, Michael Poland's work, you know, on nutrition, on what our bodies really need, you know, learning more about how um, you know, even in terms of the calorie, I mean it's a crude tool. It really doesn't tell us like how the body processes certain foods, how much of the energy we're taking in. You know, there's there's so much more to it. So yeah, my interest in nutrition has really only grown as I learn more about my body and what we all need. So yeah, I'm a pretty voracious reader now and constantly always just um you know, wanting to keep abreast of like latest developments and and again using common sense, you know, and and shutting out a lot of the nonsense, like the silly stuff I think that comes out, you know, telling us we need to, you know, drink juice for like 10 hours and then fast for 20 and then eat five eggs and you know, all of these extreme things. So I, you know, but when it comes to incredible scientists, I absolutely love to read anything they're putting out, you know, the latest research when they're figuring out, okay, what's what's good for us, you know, in terms of wellness and living well. And yeah, obviously I'm I'm enthusiastic, I'm enthusiastic about living as long as possible. I have children, and you know, if if any of them decide to have their own, I want to be here and be well. So it's about feeling good and staying active and well as I get to this next point in my life.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, of course. I mean, and there's a lot of quackery out there too, right? A lot of a lot of just dying nonsense. And yeah, and I think that the right, and the you know, but the older that we get, yeah, and then going through perimenopause and menopause and everything, I mean, we really need to be more mindful than ever of just our energy and how we feel, you know, and food can definitely be really influential with that.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely. I find if I have too much sugar, I mean, I try and I try and keep it pretty low. I mean, I love fruit, so I'll try and get my sugar and fruit because yeah, sugar um, you know, is not really my friend if I'm having processed sugar. I just it it messes with my energy. I don't feel good the next day. You know, if I have a big piece of birthday cake and I'll enjoy it at the time if it's a birthday, but sometimes I've notice afterwards I just my body doesn't feel as good. So I think when we really listen, you know, our body tells us what it needs. There's a reason I feel energized. You know, if I've had, you know, some salmon and some some you know, a yummy quinoa veggie salad, there's a reason I feel so good after that. I think we have to really be, you know, honor and respect the signals our bodies give us. Our bodies tell us, my body tells me, you know, very, very quickly. But it's not good after I've had something. Yeah. Important too, especially as you say, as you know, never getting perimenopause and getting to that next stage. My body sort of those those voices are getting louder now. And maybe I'm just listening more, but yeah, I do need to honor that. And then I just feel so much better for it. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it sounds like you have been on a big journey, a lifelong journey, and and um that's and you're not giving up right. And because this is not a diet, right? You or this is your life. And and it sounds like then then, you know, after you had this experience and you lost weight and everything, you wrote a book. And so I was curious what inspired you to write your book, your first book, and I know you're writing a second book, but um your first book, Always Hungry.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. No, thank you for asking. You know, it kind of hit me in um August of 2023. I was traveling and I just I'd been been working as a therapist, the clinical counselor here in BC for a while. I went back to school after the divorce, but I just realized my friends would always joke they were living vicariously through me, you know, the divorce, the dating, all of the other things that go into life and parenting as a you know solo parent. And I thought that at the core of it it was was the physical changes and the transformation in terms of, you know, dealing with the anxiety, the emotional leading, all of it. I thought, okay, I need to share this because I knew there was, I knew I had a lot of value. I thought, I know that it's been a heck of a ride. And I think, I think I just knew that there was a story in here. And then there were also the very serious pieces around size discrimination and the thin, pretty privilege, you know, the slim privilege, the white girl privilege I have now in society, because I only realized I had it when the weight came off and everybody treated me differently in society. And I still, and and that was that's incredibly sad. And I thought, I need to tell this story. It's not okay that I'm treated well now, you know, because my pants are a different size, because I was the same human, I was the same person when I was 100 pounds heavier. And yeah, they're just like thin privilege and you know, weight bias and discrimination is very real. So there was there were some serious, very serious reasons. I wanted to share my journey and also the emotional eating piece, much like Janine Roth shared. I wanted to share what I'd learned because I think so many of us struggle with that. So many of my clients would come in with anxiety and depression. And it was only in the third or fourth session that they would share, you know, their own food stories. And yeah, it was really just universal, you know, this this complicated, really often very conflicted relationship that my clients all had with food, their bodies. And yeah, it wasn't gender specific. It was across the board. Most people would report, you know, issues around eating and food, disordered eating. So I thought, yeah, I've I've figured out. I mean, I'm still learning. I haven't learned at all, but I figured, yeah, I've figured out I've learned a lot over the last decade or two, and I want to share this with people. So then when I decided to write it, I just sat down and wrote it and I got the draft done in three months and I didn't sleep a lot. I just thought, okay, I'm getting this book done, and everyone thought I was mad and said, no, I'm getting it published, I'm going to keep writing because I kind of like um like a damn burst and I have this fire now within. And now I can't stop writing. So I I will there will be more Jane McGinnis books because it's it's truly my passion and joy. And I I know I can reach more people this way, rather than in a clinical setting where I can only see so many people a week. Decided, okay, I'm I'm going to keep writing and share this because these things, these stories need to be told. And people, I have something of value and I can help a few people with their own relationships with food. If they struggle with any kind of disordered eating, that's what I want to do from here on. That's that's kind of my purpose now. And I'm just, I'm just determined to make some noise and and share what I've learned. And and also speak out, you know, around, you know, weight bias and just reminding people just to be kind, you know, and compassionate. Nobody made positive changes because they were judged or shamed or criticized. Exactly, right. That's right. Right. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that's that's such a a key thing. And maybe to end with, I mean, is that is that the difference between we said this before, you know losing weight in a sustainable way, right? Takes a so much compassion and kindness for yourself versus dieting, going on and off diets. And yeah, diets are punishing, you know, diets don't do not teach you how to be kind to yourself at all. Exactly. And I think hence the reason why 90% of all diets fail. I mean, and people go lose weight, gain weight, and like they're just in this, you know, horrible cycle. And then even going further than like with like drugs like Ozempic, which I no judgment on anyone using them, but I don't think it teaches you anything on how to be kind and compassionate or eat well, or like I mean, it it doesn't, you know, and and it's kind of the same. Once you go off of those, you're gonna gain the weight back and yeah, which people are reporting.
SPEAKER_00:And the other thing is, as you mentioned with the diets, they also don't teach you to trust within you know, with truit of eating, trust signals of hunger and fullness, actually listen to your body, you know, because sometimes I might be out with a friend for lunch and it's noon. But if I'm not physically hungry, I know now. If I'm choosing to eat because I'm there, my body's not asking for it. And if I'm ravenous at 11 a.m., I will go and eat lunch early. I'll let how I will I'll eat, I'll listen to my body. And that's what a diet doesn't teach us. It doesn't teach us to trust our wisdom and trust that our bodies know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, what now it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't right educate you on hunger cues and I'm the same. If it's if it's 11 o'clock in the morning and I'm physically hungry, yeah, I'm gonna eat lunch. Right. Even though society tells you I can't eat lunch until noon, I'm eating lunch because because that's what I'm and I'm just gonna trust that like that's okay. It's I'm not gonna then overeat the rest of the day or do any, you know, just I'm just honoring my hunger.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly. Because there's so much fear around food. I think diets teach us to fear food. And then I know I did fear you. Yeah. Yeah. I would fear, you know, having a glass of wine thinking, no, I can't have that. I'll I'll gain weight. Whereas actually I can, just not all the time every day, you know. It's just right. Yeah, it's an occasional thing. It's a bit of a yeah, I'll admit it's it's something I'll enjoy occasionally, but yeah, not too often because yeah, my skin looks bad, like everything just you know, it goes in a handbasket very quickly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, Jane, it's been a pleasure speaking with you and thank you for being so forthcoming about your journey and your story and your experience. And I know um my audience is gonna love to hear about you and and um and everything. So, where can people find you and where can they find your book?
SPEAKER_00:Sure, absolutely. So if they go to janemaginnistheauthor.com, there's links to yeah, there's links to um Intigon Barnes and Noble and yeah, Amazon, of course. Every everything is there. Links and to the audio book, if they'd like the paperback or the ebook, it's all there and more information. Yeah, and more information about the next one that I'm writing to. So yeah, and links to all of my socials so they can see what I'm getting up to online and what I'm sharing about what I continue to learn about. Yeah, just common sense and you know looking after ourselves with kindness and compassion and love.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Yeah, exactly. Well, I will put all those links in the show notes of the podcast so people can find you that way too. And it was really nice speaking with you and thank you so much. Oh, thank you for having me, Heather. It was just an absolute pleasure. Great. Absolutely. Thanks.