If you feel like food controls your life and 99% of your brain space is consumed with obsessive thoughts about food, this episode is a must listen.
In this episode, I'm going to share powerful strategies to help you stop feeling so crazy around food, and free up your mind to focus on things that matter most to you.
So, if you want to :
Then let's jump in!
RESOURCES
Connect with Sabrina:
If you feel like food controls your life and 99% of your brain space is consumed with obsessive thoughts about food, this episode is a must listen.
In this episode, I'm going to share powerful strategies to help you stop feeling so crazy around food, and free up your mind to focus on things that matter most to you.
So, if you want to :
Then let's jump in!
RESOURCES
Connect with Sabrina:
If you feel obsessed with food, if you feel like food controls you instead of the other way around, then this episode is going to be so valuable for you, because I'm going to give you one of my favorite exercises to help you stop feeling obsessed with food. So let's get into it. Welcome to the Live, unrestricted podcast, a show where you'll learn how to heal your relationship with food and your body so that you can focus your time and energy on more important things, like your personal growth. I'm your host, sabrina Magna, food freedom coach, and my mission is to help make your life happier and healthier, without stress, overwhelm or guilt about food. If you love the show, please do go out and share it, and if you're looking for support with your relationship with food, details about my programs are in the show notes. Thanks for spending time with me today. Now let's jump in.
Speaker 1:I feel like I think about food from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. I'm always thinking about how many calories I've eaten or I'm going to eat, or carbs or sugar, or portion sizes. I'm always planning and calculating and even if I'm trying to be out and about, no matter who I'm with, where I am what I'm doing. It's always like this weight on the back of my mind. This is something that I have experienced so intimately and viscerally when I was struggling with disordered eating, and this is something I hear from women in my community and clients of mine constantly. So if you feel like you are thinking about food 24 seven, if you feel constant guilt and shame every time that you eat something quote, unquote bad or forbidden or off limits like cookies or ice cream or whatever your rules are around food, if you feel like you cannot control yourself around food, like the second, you have one bite of something that you shouldn't and I'm saying air quotes here. It's like a shift goes off in your mind and you cannot stop eating until the entire box, container, bag is done.
Speaker 1:If you can't trust yourself around food and it feels like your entire life revolves around it, then there's a really good chance that you've tried to diet or restrict food or lose weight. At least once in your life, most likely more than once You've counted calories or measured all of your food intake by using portion control tools like the food scale or measuring cups or measuring spoons, or you've tried to cut out or limit carbs. Instead of eating wheel noodles, you eat zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice, or you've tried to cut out sugar because you've been convinced or told that if you cut these foods out, then the cravings for these foods will just go away and eventually you're not going to want them and you're just going to want healthy food and your life is just going to be easy. And so you've probably had this mentality.
Speaker 1:Going on a diet where at first it starts to feel good, you're noticing, okay, it's not that bad. And maybe you're starting to see yourself losing weight and you're like, okay, this is finally working. And then, over time, you're noticing that your thoughts around food are getting more and more intense. It's like you're always thinking about the foods that you can't have, and maybe before you go to like a birthday party or an anniversary or whatever the event is that is centered around food, you're already thinking about it like a day ahead, two days ahead, maybe even a week before, and the thoughts could be excitement that you're going to be able to have a quote unquote cheat day and eat the foods that you've been craving so much, or nervousness and anxiety that you're going to fall off your plan and lose control and binge and then have to get back on track because you've quote unquote ruined your progress. And so, as you go on, it starts to feel like food is all you can think about. You might even feel like you're addicted to food and you might think things like what is wrong with me? Why can't I just be normal around food? And maybe you look at people around you who can just have one bite or one plate of something and don't have to go back for more, and they just don't seem to have the same struggle and obsession around food than you do. And if you've tried all of these different things that people tell you to do, like cut out the carbs or count your calories or follow the meal plan, and it doesn't feel like it works for you and maybe you're blaming yourself that, I want you to know that you're not alone. There's millions of women out there who are experiencing the same thing, but you wouldn't know that because all you see is the shiny before and after pictures that companies will post, that individuals will post, but you never see the after after picture, right when the food obsession starts taking over and when the weight comes back on, and all of the struggle that comes after that. And I want to talk about food obsession specifically because it's something that can literally start to feel like it takes over your life.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a little story of when I hit a really deep rock bottom. So when I was deep in my orthorexia eating disorder, it was my sister's baby shower, and so this was the first time that I was ever becoming an aunt, and at that time I was really anxious, controlling rigid with my food, like I was tracking every single food into my fitness pal. I wasn't eating carbs and this was a joyous occasion that was supposed to be such a great day where I was going to be around my family, my sister's friends that I very rarely get to see. Like it was just going to be this beautiful day surrounded by amazing women. And leading up to that day, I wasn't feeling this excitement that I should feel about the fact that this was a really joyous occasion. I was feeling mixed emotions between anxiety because of how many temptations and foods that would be there, because my mom had this catering service, so there was going to be a whole table of pasta salad and tiny sandwiches and sweets and chips all of these foods that I did not allow myself to eat. So I was a scared to be around those foods but also be kind of excited because I could allow myself to have these foods and have kind of a cheat. It's like these conflicting feelings.
Speaker 1:So on the day of, all I remember from that day is the foods that I ate, how sick I felt and me going back and forth between the bathroom. Like when I look back on that day, I don't remember the conversations I had, I don't remember the pictures that I took. I wasn't fully present. Because when you feel obsessed with food as a byproduct of dieting and a restriction, like if you feel addicted or obsessed with food, ask yourself if you have restricted in the past and if the answer is yes like it's a very common side effect and it's very rare that you develop this kind of obsession free from dieting or restricting food. And when you have this constant chatter in your mind, it feels like when you're trying to talk to someone and they're just on their phone and distracted the entire time. So that's kind of what it feels like in your mind, like you're trying to have a conversation with someone but you're having your like mindset is on the table of food and I look back on so many events in my life that I experienced when I was struggling with disordered eating and I wasn't really present in them, and I was actually talking about this with Luke a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1:How, like ever since healing and finding intuitive eating and being in this place of food freedom, I feel like I remember things so clearly, like all of the events I go to and all of the people I meet. If I meet them a year later, I remember their jobs, I remember the things we talked about, I remember if we took a picture together, like I remember all of these specific details from it. And it's because I don't go to these things worried about food. I don't go to these things afraid that if I have one chip I'm going to eat the entire bag and have a stomach ache. Because I'm able to go and because everything in my life is supporting my relationship with food. There's no more restriction, there's no more guilt, there's no more shame. Then, if there's a bowl of chips, I might have a few. Come back a bit later, but that's like a background noise, it's not the main event, and it feels so good to truly be able to be present and intentional with your life, and I want to be able to do that for you, and that's what this episode is about, because when you feel obsessed with food, it takes up like 95% of your brain space and it leaves very little room to focus on the things that truly matter to you. And this became so clear to me about a month ago.
Speaker 1:I was at this business conference and I was surrounded by these amazing women. We are about a thousand entrepreneurs, business owners, online digital CEOs and it was a majority crowd of females, and so there was obviously there was maybe like 20, 25% men entrepreneurs, but a lot of them were females. And I was looking around and I was seeing all of these amazing, ambitious, driven women and I started talking to a lot of them. And you'll find body diversity there, because that's humans. You find human diversity, and I was telling people about my business and they were telling me about theirs, and then, when I was telling them what I do, a lot I mean a lot of women say, oh my God, I would need you, or I've struggled with that, or they would start telling me about the diets they're on, and it made me really sad, because a lot of them are women who will change the world one day who have this amazing drive to create something out of their lives, to start their business, to start a new business or to scale their business, and, like they have these huge passions, and a lot of them would tell me that I do feel like food and my body image is holding me back from actually achieving my potential.
Speaker 1:And there was this other women, uh, this uh, who was a speaker and she's a seven figure business owner. And that was the stat, which was that only 2% of seven figure business owners are female. And that broke my heart because, yes, we can't deny that we live in a patriarchy where men get paid more, they get promoted more easily, they get jobs more easily, but when it also comes to starting your own business, what it requires is having the brain space to do it, having the confidence, the energy right, fueling your body properly so that you're not hungry all the time. You're not always thinking about food, and if we could uplift more women to actually go after their highest potential. And you might be listening to this right now and you're like I don't want to start a business and that's cool, you don't need to.
Speaker 1:But ask yourself what are those dreams in your life? What is that like perfect life that you want to create that you're not doing right now because you just your entire life, your project in your life, has been dieting and obsessing over food. Maybe that's traveling for you, or being this like amazing mom and role model for your kids. Maybe it's there's a career change that you want to make or a job promotion that you want to go after. Like, what is that Mount Everest for you, and can you ever achieve that with the very little free brain space that you have right now and a lot of the time, the answer is no. So this is a really nearing dear topic to my heart, and that's why I created a brand new three-part video series, all on how to stop feeling obsessed with food. That's going to be starting on January 25th, so you can go to the show notes and I'm going to talk about it at the end of this episode. But I'm so excited because I'm going to take you through one of my most powerful frameworks and I'm going to take you through a actual roadmap to have a better relationship with food.
Speaker 1:But this is not what this episode is about. I want to give you one exercise, one activity that's going to help you start working through this food obsession so that you no longer feel stuck, you no longer feel. I can remember, if I put myself back into the mind space, that I was just a couple of years ago and it felt like. This is what it felt like like my entire life revolved around food and I knew that it wasn't normal. I knew that I didn't like living this way, but the thought of not doing that, of not tracking, of not cutting out carbs, gave me even more anxiety. So it was like this really big fight and I also didn't know how to fix it because I didn't know what was wrong. And awareness is a really key piece of it. So this is the exercise that I have for you. So what I would like you to do is, if right now, you feel like food controls you, what I would like you to do again, this is not a passively listening podcast. This is a doing podcast.
Speaker 1:So take out your notes app or your pen and piece of paper and I want you to write down the thoughts that you have that create anxiety, stress, guilt, shame around food. So, for example, one thought might be I cannot eat after 8pm or else I will gain weight, or it could be, I cannot eat more than one carb per day. And what these thoughts are? They're food rules. They're rules that you've picked up over time from doing one diet after another, after another. And even if you're no longer doing that very first diet that you did maybe that was a low carb diet and now you're doing whole 30 or up to via or weight watchers those thoughts get imprinted in your mind. So you might not being on a low carb diet right now, but still you're afraid of eating carbs because you're afraid they're going to make you gain weight.
Speaker 1:So you want to write down all of those food rules that you have that create this anxiety for you, so that you can start bringing awareness to why you feel this way, why you feel this constant tension inside of you. And you might not be able to find them all on the first try, right. So food rules might start popping up for you as you're going through the day and you notice oh, I'm afraid to put creamer in my coffee I'll add it to the list. And whenever they pop up for you and this could be related to food, but it could also be related to exercise All right, I have to get 10,000 steps a day, or else, or, if I don't get 10,000 steps a day, then I have to eat less. Like really write them all down, so, and you could make one column, which is going to be thoughts that give you anxiety and feel, make you feel obsessed, and then the second column is going to be activities that you do.
Speaker 1:So this could look like tracking every single calorie that you eat. Right, because we've been told by diet culture that if you're just, like, really controlled with food, you're going to feel more in control around food. Right, sounds like it makes sense. But then what you also realize is like, oh, I feel like I'm thinking about food 24, seven. Well, of course you are. You're tracking everything that you eat.
Speaker 1:Imagine I asked you to track every time that you drank water, every time that you went to go pee, every activity that you did. I mean it would consume your mind. You wouldn't be able to focus on anything else. And that's exactly what diet culture wants you to do. It wants you distracted. It wants you to spend so much of your power and energy trying to quote unquote fix yourself, when it's not a problem in the first place, so that you don't have that time and energy to focus on changing the world and actually stepping into your power.
Speaker 1:So, coming back to these activities that you do that make you feel obsessed with food, that might be tracking it might be wearing a Fitbit, and now you know every single calorie that you burn and every step that you take. I remember when I was healing my relationship with food and exercise, I had to take a break from my Fitbit. Now I can wear it without any stress or guilt because I have a completely different relationship with it. But if you're noticing that it's causing you anxiety, write that in your second column of activities. Another activity that you might be doing is weighing every single food that you eat, or measuring every, every tablespoon of peanut butter or every single almond that you eat. So all of those activities that you do that might be causing you obsession, you write it down in that second column, because what this is going to help you do is have clarity on what thoughts are making me feel this way and what activities are making me feel this way, because, as I always say to the members inside FFA, is that awareness is the first step to actually creating a change.
Speaker 1:Now what I'm going to do in my three part video series all about how to stop feeling obsessed with food is. I'm going to talk about the hidden driver in our society that is making you feel this way. This is something that most people are not talking about. And then, in the second part, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite, most powerful frameworks this is one of the first ones I teach inside FFA to actually help you move through these negative thoughts that cause you anxiety and move through these food rules and move through these activities that are perpetuating this anxiety, this guilt, this shame around food.
Speaker 1:So that you can start to feel freedom and peace around eating. So that you can start to feel more in control around eating. So that you can still have those foods that you love but not feel like you're breaking a rule or you're doing something wrong or you have to eat it as soon as possible. So that you can like, really slow down, enjoy that food. And that is how you develop this like balance that you're looking for. It's not through dieting, it's not through restriction.
Speaker 1:And then, finally, I'm going to take you through the step by step roadmap that's going to help you go from food obsession to healthy relationship with food. So this is something that I wish that I had when I was struggling, because I did it all by myself and it took me years, a lot of one step forward, two steps back and within these seven days. So it's a three part video series that's going to be done over seven days. I'm going to give you all of this so that you don't have to waste years like I did. Now I will warn you, I'm going to go against the grain in this video series. It's going to be completely different from anything that you've ever done before.
Speaker 1:This is not going to give you a food protocol. I'm not going to tell you what to stop eating, and this isn't going to be another seven day lose 30 pounds, kind of thing because this is meant to give you lasting trust, lasting transformation in the way that you feel, think and act around food. So if you want to sign up, it's completely free. You can go to Sabrina maniacom forward slash training. That's Sabrina maniacom forward slash training, and you can also find that link in the show notes. We get started on Thursday, january 25th with our very first lesson, and I cannot wait. I'm putting the final touches to it right now. It is truly one of the trainings I've been the most excited to share, so I cannot wait to see you on the inside. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.