Ep 103- No Track, No Rules: You're an Athlete and You Just Don't Know It Yet

Kat welcomes Paige Thompson, a Philadelphia-based licensed counselor specializing in eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image—especially for athletes and women in the perinatal season. They discuss how health is often treated as a narrow, linear “track,” and how diet culture fuels black-and-white thinking, moralizing around food and exercise, and beliefs such as “smaller is healthier,” or that rest equals laziness. Paige reframes food as more than “fuel,” emphasizing flexibility, culture, connection, and values-based definitions of health that include relationships and mental well-being. They explore internal critical dialogue, how to build awareness of where messages come from, and why transitions (such as leaving college sports or experiencing an injury) can increase vulnerability to rigid rules. Paige suggests starting by identifying food rules and “good/bad” lists, eating enough with frequency/volume/variety, tuning in to hunger cues, and seeking HAES/anti-diet professionals. 

Connect with Paige at https://www.paigethompsonlpc.com (IG: therapistthoughts_paget)

00:00 Food Body Scale Control

00:22 Show Intro Disclaimer

01:27 Meet Paige Thompson

02:13 Health Is Not Linear

04:47 Fueling With Flexibility

09:56 Clean Eating Exercise Guilt

14:34 Quieting The Inner Critic

17:56 Unlearning Worth And Thinness

20:07 Am I An Athlete

24:50 Post College Identity Shift

31:51 Start This Week Practical Steps

34:52 Where To Find Paige

35:27 Final Wrap And Subscribe

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Transcript

Kat 0:01

If you've ever felt like your relationship with food, your body, or the scale was quietly running the show, this episode is for you. I'm sitting down with Paige Thompson, a Philadelphia based licensed counselor who specializes in eating disorders. Disordered eating and body image, and she works specifically with athletes and women in the perinatal season of life. A quick note before we dive in. The information and discussion in this episode is for informational purposes only and is not intended to treat or diagnose any condition. Please consult your doctor or a qualified medical professional for personalized guidance.

0:39

Welcome to MilesFromherView, the podcast powered by KatFit Strength, where busy women like you find practical solutions to fuel your fitness journey with authenticity and resilience. I'm Kat, your host, a mom of two active boys, a business owner, and an ultra marathon runner and a strength trainer in her forties with nearly two decades of experience. I'm here to help you cut through the noise of fads, hacks, and quick fixes. This is a space where we celebrate womanhood and motherhood. All while building strength and resilience and reconnecting with you from a place of self-compassion and worthiness. Whether you're lacing up your running shoes to go out for a run, driving your kids to practice or squeezing in a moment for yourself, I'm right here in the trenches with you. Let's dive in.

Kat 1:28

Welcome back to Miles From Her View. I am Kat and I'm here with Paige today. Welcome, Paige.

Paige 1:34

Thanks. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to, to be here and to chat.

Kat 1:37

I really feel this conversation is gonna resonate with the audience. There's many women listening and they are a wide range of listeners from women who are chasing podiums to personal best in their respective athletics, chasing toddlers and other kids around the house, and. Food and body image, it can get complicated fast especially when you care about your performance and health. You work with athletes and women in the perinatal season in individuals navigating. Disorders and body image struggles. So we're gonna dive in and I wanna hear from your perspective for women who train in any capacity, what is the biggest misunderstanding about food and health? This is a big one, so I'm throwing at you here.

Paige 2:26

I would say really just like how narrow of an understanding we have of like the, that food and Health have this very linear narrow idea of what is healthy and when it comes to food. And I often, something I hear all the time is, and I'm sure you have heard it as well, is I feel off track or I fell off track, or I'm like, what track? There is no track that health is so much more than the food that we put in our body. And that is certainly an aspect of it. But there are. So many more factors that, that go into that. And I think all of these things obviously are extremely intertwined, but the idea that smaller is healthier that whether that's smaller portions, smaller size of our body, smaller anything I think that's, there's a lot of societal conditioning that goes into that, obviously. But yeah, I think we have a relationship with food, like we have a relationship with, anything else in life, whether that's people, whether that's like people have a relationship with money, with material items, with social media. It's like how we relate to these things and the messages and that we've been given and that have been internalized over our life. So there's a lot of layers to what goes into our relationship with food. And when we're training, I think we're especially vulnerable or get, maybe we even, we seek out, even more messages around food, what we should be doing, what's best for us, what what's gonna help us in our sport. And while that information can be super helpful, it can also be super overwhelming and confusing.

Kat 3:52

I like what you said there it's not linear. We tend to think of it as being very linear. And that is so true with, I'm gonna say everything in that, that, that fitness space, because I see it in my field where. Point A is starting point and goal is point B. I also like how you brought up that there's. There's no track. It's and I think from my lens, where I see and I fall into that, I'm like, oh, I'm falling off the track or the wagon. I'm like no. We, that, drop that from your your language. But I think that comes from the what we should or what we think is this epitome of what we should be doing and why, what this incredible track is like the perfect track.

Paige 4:32

Yes. That there is a right way to do whatever it is.

Kat 4:35

When I was an athlete or I don't know if it's still floating around, but one thing I saw when I was. A college athlete it was athletes fuel everybody diets. It was like something that was floating around. And so in that concept, how do you see, or how do you see that conversation change around food when someone is, someone's goal is I want to be strong and healthy versus performance metrics?

Paige 5:00

Yeah. I think that message is probably well intentioned in the sense of you need to. Nourish yourself enough to be able to perform. But I think that, like you said, food is so much more dynamic than that, that there is room for food to also be, for there to be freedom and flexibility within fueling. That food is also we can't even separate food from like culture, like there's food is involved in celebrations, in community events, in bringing people together and ways that we grieve and ways that we show up for each other and yeah, express love and all of these things that, like food is so intertwined in so many aspects of our life to the fuel idea is while it's valid and we do need to quote unquote fuel ourselves, it's an oversimplification of the role that food plays in our life. So I think that being able to hold a little bit of a broader idea of how to, how food fits into our performance, it absolutely can be a tool that we use to help us get where we wanna go in terms of getting the right nutrients and getting adequate nutrients and all of that. But I think when we have a little bit more. Flexibility around it. It allows us to stay grounded in our values too. I never want food to be something that takes away from somebody's like social life, like denying, like not going out to eat with friends because of the food that's gonna be there. Or like fearing what's gonna be there when you know you're trying to also nourish yourself or fuel yourself for. Whether that's like a race or a performance or whatever it is that like being able to have flexible goals or have multiple ways and variety of meeting those goals that fit into your life.

Kat 6:39

I like what you said there, it's we don't want it to limit us, and it is a huge part of culture and socialization. I cringe with stuff that you see in mainstream, or whether it be on social media or whatnot, is vilifying foods or cutting out whole food groups. That creates that mistrust and complicates it. So

Paige 7:03

yeah. I think too, like I always ask clients like, what is, we really do a deep dive into what is your definition of health? And it helps expand this idea of yes, nutrition and food and even performance goals or strength goals are all a part of that, but like your definition of health. For a lot of people also includes things like, I want healthy relationships or connection or I wanna feel fulfilled, or feeling like you are not lonely or have these connections. So I think that, yeah, the ways food limiting us in other ways is also not helping us achieve other forms of health. And those are really important ways of even. Tending to our mental health, also our physical health that all of these performance things or activities and exercise can be done in community as well.

Kat 7:50

Yeah. And I like how you have the client identify what does that look for, like for them, like really getting in touch we have so many messages coming at us with all this stuff that it's hard in a very loud world to sit down and be like, what does this look like actually for me? That for me when I do that with my clients of let's sit down and really look at things when clients do that. And I know when I do that for myself too, It clears a lot of that friction and creates more ease. When I'm coaching my clients, it's almost the catalyst of them becoming that consistent individual who can work out. It stops that from all or nothing, that perfection seeking that, track that we all think we have to be on because it's. Very polluted with outside messaging and not what works for us and for the season that we're in at this moment.

Paige 8:49

Yeah I think that's a great example of even like bringing it back to the track concept that when we have a broader definition or we know even what our definition of health is, we can challenge those thinking traps or, black and white thinking or all or nothing thinking a little bit better because we're like, okay, if I am saying that, my brain is telling me this critical voice is telling me that I fell off track. Because I went out to eat with friends and I had more than I thought, or it doesn't align with kind of the what I intended my eating to look like that day or I had a couple cocktails or whatever it is. That those things also actually can just go into a different bucket of health of oh, okay. So that doesn't necessarily take away from nutrition, but it can add to okay, I had connection, I had fulfilling interactions, I had enjoyment and pleasure. And if we're restricting ourself of all of these other things, that's gonna show up in our relationship with food too. And so I think it's balance.

Kat 9:47

Yeah, and I like that reframe of, it's filling other buckets, which is so good because it's like, again, we get so black and white. How have messages about like clean eating and shrinking your body or earning your food shaped the way women approach exercise.

Paige 10:05

That is I'm

Kat 10:05

so interested to hear your take. And I see it a lot,

Paige 10:08

yeah.

Kat 10:09

Yeah.

Paige 10:09

I feel like that is a big one. We could have a whole episode on, I know. My first thought is just like how, like deeply ingrained these messages are in our society that we don't even realize how often and how much we're consuming them. It's like down to every single image that is put into our brain implicit messages that are given that this is normal or this is what you should look like or this is what good eating is and all this moral value assigned to things. I think when it comes to exercise, similar to placing moral value on food, I think we've we've placed moral value on on not just movement, but like types of movement and intensity of movement and the way in which we're approaching it and that we should love every moment of it and all of these messages that if you don't do it this way, it invokes this sense of guilt. All of this being rooted too and a sense of diet, culture, idealizing, thinness and equating thinness to health. And I think that with all of that too, there can be this demonizing of rest of like exercise at all costs. Or the messages that are almost like not explicitly said, but maybe internalized over time of if I'm not exercising in. This way or in the most intense way then I'm lazy or then I'm undisciplined or, and these aren't always like conscious or explicit thoughts, but I think that, though, in the work that I do, we really try and get what's underneath this idea that I like am beating myself up because I didn't make it to the gym today, or because I quote unquote fell off track. And it's a lot of like self worth that is tied to, how we look, what are, how active we are, what kind of movement we're doing that there's a lot of moral value assigned to movement. And I think one example that comes to mind right now is even this, just the popularity of Pilates. And listen, I love Pilates. Nothing against it. I think it's awesome. And I love that we're like, moving into strengthen strength movement and all of these wonderful things about it. But then I like hear clients who go to a Pilates class and they feel like they can't go because their body does, isn't a Pilates body. And it's these subtle messages of you need to do this and you need to do it this way, but if you don't look this way while you're doing it, then you're not doing it right. And it's. Finding something, there's something wrong, whether it's the way you're nourishing yourself or the way you're exercising or the way your body looks while you're exercising is this idea that women are socialized to nitpick and find something wrong with whatever they're doing.

Kat 13:58

Yeah that drives me bonkers. I'm like, if I had a magic wand, I would take away this idea that there's a specific look tied to different activities. I'm a big runner, so you hear like the runner's body though, it's just, I'm like, there's no, you have a body you can run or I hope it's, hopefully it's going to the wayside. Block so much of this out because I'm like, I don't even want any of this in my space. But it's still cold here in the northeast and it's some point where, we're coming up on spring break season, but it's like the bikini body or the bathing suit body, and it's it's no, you have a body where what you feel comfortable don't allow other people's judgments or some marketing message to. Define the story that you're telling in your head because you're not gonna step into fully who you are. And it's, I always say I, this messaging never became more apparent to me until I became a parent because you see my kids are middle school and high school. And so when they are toddlers, the babies, they're like, the world is their oyster. They are just, they're exploring, they're doing anything. They have no problem being everything and anything that they want to be like, they'll throw and they're like super hero costume and wear it to the grocery store. They'll just do, and it's like along the way we start to shrink in and. Become what the world is telling us. The one thing I always tell my kids,, always turn inward and let that show outward. Be yourself. They've encountered words of unkindness from peers and I'm like, just put up a barrier. Don't let that in, block it out. And that's where I feel with all this messaging in the wellness culture,, it's so hard to block it out. And how do you find. How do you find, or and again, I'll preface this when I ask this question'cause it can be a bit of a loaded question here, is we're not here to diagnose and treat and this is educational purpose is only not diagnosing or treating. How do you, I'm gonna say help shape when it just feels so overwhelming to. Turn off that internal dialogue in the brain of shutting down those stories that have been in our head, whether consciously or subconsciously. And at this point, becoming more consciously because you're actively trying to change that dialogue.

Paige 16:15

Yeah, I think there's a couple of like avenues and I usually start with just trying to be more aware of what that internal dialogue is. I think sometimes we're familiar with it because it's been in our head, maybe even since we were a young child that whether it's like writing it down or saying out loud, whether to a friend or a therapist or whoever we often have a, there's like a, when we say it out loud, there's this sense of Ooh, even that is mean, or I wouldn't say that to my friend. Or that's pretty harsh. Being with it a little bit more and practicing some some awareness around what are these thoughts? I think some of them happen so automatically that we don't even realize how judgmental or mean we're being to ourself. And then the other thing is being really curious about like, where did these come from? Sometimes it is as simple as societal messaging. Sometimes we can identify like a specific voice or a specific, even I think about a specific commercial or a specific book that we read or things like that, that really just for whatever reason in that time, in our life, like stuck with us or maybe we read it at a really vulnerable time or someone really important to us said this thing that was, reinforced. Being able to be curious about where these messages are coming from, and then we can be like, okay, deciding does that, is that a value or is that a thought or a message that really aligns with my values or that I wanna act upon? And obviously this is a lot easier said than done and can even take years in therapy to. To go through. But it's a good place to start of like being curious about these messages and not only the messages we've already consumed, but being aware of what we are consuming at the time that I think that, whether it's social media or the news or all these other things that we're in a a time right now where I feel like that messaging has even gotten louder. So it, it makes a lot of sense if that's feeling especially loud right now in our society. Trying to ground yourself in your values, whether that's wanting to move your body for enjoyment, for a sport, for a specific like accomplishment or achievement that you're trying to pursue. And stay grounded in what feels important to you.

Kat 18:16

You're so right. It's so loud.

Paige 18:18

Yes.

Kat 18:19

And I, I have. Have conversations with my clients too. I'm like I catch myself in the trap and when you know, you catch, it's put your phone down, limit it. It's, it said, I'm in the business and I wind up being like, wait, second guessing things because things are meant to. Enr, you evoke emotion, hook you in question things or just get in there and like needle at you and it's no, shut it down. And I like how you said bring it back like to what is it aligned with you or not? And bringing it back. And and I'm also glad that you said that. It's not an overnight process does not mean that it won't work, but it can take years and that's okay. Because it, the work is good and it's gonna help change and create that trust and comfort in your body and with movement and food. Yeah. This is similar, if there was like one belief that you wish every woman or active woman would just unlearn, what would that be? I know that's that's, it's a I'm here for the loaded questions. I'm just throwing that too.

Paige 19:21

Let's sum it down to one that feels,

Kat 19:24

yeah,

Paige 19:25

I'm probably gonna give you more than one, but

Kat 19:26

yeah, go for it. Yeah, and it doesn't have to be limited one, that's the thing is like, it could be many,

Paige 19:30

yeah, I think it's, I guess the overarching one would be like that your worth is not tied to your body, your movement, or your like food that, like those things are all going to. Change at various times in life, like your movement routine is gonna change based on what's going on in your life and what goals you're trying to achieve Your relationship with food can shift based on all kinds of things, whether that's resources available or pregnancy or thing health, things you're going through that change how your body is breaking down the food or what your hunger cues are. What actually sounds good. And then also our body is gonna change over time. So I think not having our worth tied to those three things feels really important. That is a very loaded statement and a lot easier said than done. And I, so I feel like some of the like. Maybe smaller things that like support that bigger idea of not having our worth wrapped up in that would be like, breaking down the association of like smaller is better or thin equals health. Also think like there's no one right way to nourish yourself. I think that. When it comes to like food specifically like that, even when you are trying to achieve like I think about like Olympic athletes or like some super high level or very specific fitness goals. There is still room for preferences enjoyable foods and like flexibility and if somebody's telling you otherwise, maybe it's time to find a new provider. It shouldn't be so rigid that it impacts your life in other negative ways

Kat 21:07

a hundred percent. And one thing I say num numerous times on the podcast is, it's my favorite sentence. It's two words. Bodies change. It holds no emotion. It's just bodies change. And I'm glad you said that, and. One thing I hear, and I don't know if I found the right wording for it, but I hear a lot from the women I work with who typically are 35 and above, they're in the midst of building their families to their kids are, being launched into the world and what I hear is, oh, I'm not an athlete. And that just gets under my skin sometimes, because for me and I know there's a couple camps and I can understand somewhere where this is coming from, but there's the camp of you never played a competitive sport. And then there's the camp of, you can be an athlete at any age, which, I decide with that. But I also, I'm gonna interject my thoughts and I wanna hear your thoughts on this. I'm basically like, life is an athletic event. A little bit of like my own personal background, like I was a college athlete and I know I struggled with that athletic identity because I don't recall. Who said along the way was, I think a fellow coach when I moved into coaching track and field, it was like, oh, you're no longer an athlete. And I was like, wait. What does that mean? Does that mean all my athletic accomplishments have wiped away? I was in my mid twenties being like, wait, what does that mean? I, am I an athlete? I guess I'm not an athlete even though I still work out and do all these things, et cetera. So I would love to hear your thoughts on that. Again, not divulging anything about your clients, but if a client was like, I'm not an athlete, but they want to engage, or a little bit more, more specific is I hear from running, oh, I'm not a real runner. And I'm like you engage in a running practice you run. You're like, what defines this? So I think that is along that same lines of that athlete versus like non-athlete.

Paige 23:00

Yeah, I think that I'm probably in the same camp as you of yes, you, if you are doing activity, like if you want to be an athlete, you are an athlete. If you are training, if you are working towards something, even if you're don't have a specific goal, you're moving your body like you're an athlete. Like there, there's all different kinds of athletes too, and different levels, like there's agility and there's. Like very specific skills and there's endurance athletes and there's obviously anything from I do this because I enjoy it to like some amateur competitions all the way up to like the Olympic level, and every single one of those is a valid athlete. I do think that it's fascinating to dive into what is this self-limiting belief around I'm not an athlete, and what function has that served? And at some point in your life in terms of like either, feeling like it keeps you from a fear of failure. What if I try and I'm not good at this? Or what if I am not able to, keep up. I think on that's one end of it of I'm not, this keeps me from trying or fully applying myself or maybe even keeps us from. Creating community around being an athlete. And then there's the whole other kind of end where maybe our identity is wrapped up in being an athlete for most of our life. I deeply resonated with what you said of being a college athlete and you graduate. And I have will say, I have multiple people who have come to therapy for this specific reason because their life went from being almost centered around their athletic. Pursuits to feeling like a lack of purpose or a, like lack of identity. Now they're, whether they're in the working world or whatever their life looks like, it's confusing to know how do I, even if I am still engaging in physical activity, or even if I'm not this was how I identified before and I sometimes people are like. Everybody responds differently. So sometimes people dive into athletics in a whole new realm. You'll see like the, people training for a marathon as soon as they graduate. And then you'll see of other people who I've talked to are like, I haven't worked out in a few years, and that I never would've thought that would've been me. And every response is valid, but you get to identify with being an athlete as much or as little as you want. I think it's. Cool to see how we integrate that into our life that I think there's so many personality traits and life experiences that come with being an athlete that go well beyond the physical training. I think there can be grief with going from. Being an athlete, being such a big part of your identity to trying to figure out where that fits into your identity. Maybe not being like the sole thing post-grad life. And then I also think that for people who are hesitant to consider themselves athletes, that I would. Highly encourage people to not limit themselves in terms of the language they're using and also like how that kind of translates to maybe even like how much they're pushing themselves or how much they feel like they fit into a certain community or or almost sounds like there could be like some imposter syndrome there, things like that.

Kat 26:02

I'm kinda like, man, I wish I had you in my mid twenties, because it's one of those things where it, I went through. Trek was my whole life and, I had plans to continue competing post-college in which I was I had an undiagnosed injury and took years to diagnose. That's a whole other, that's a whole other podcast if we wanna go there. And so then when I realized what am I doing? And it was interesting and I'll speak for myself'cause maybe other individuals have had this experience out there. That's when I found that my relationship with food and working out became. Really sticky. I started having doubts of oh, I can't eat that. Oh, I didn't work out today, so I can't have a dessert or I can't enjoy this. The diet culture just came in and hooked me and, oh, I don't wanna bulk up so I'm not gonna lift weights. Meanwhile, in college. I still, I lift weights now. I still love lifting, but it was like, I wouldn't think twice about that. It would be like I like bulking up or anything. It was so bizarre. How. It changed and then how I had to work after becoming a mom, being like, wait, no, this is not anything of who I am. And that's where I have this notion of I'm an athlete for life and I want my clients. To adopt that athletic mindset and like you said, it's like there's different levels of being an athlete and they're all athletes and whenever I see the statistic it's more, it's much higher for girls and a little bit lower for boys, but it's almost the gap is closing of around 12 to 13 where that's when they are cut from a sport. That's when they're. I'm gonna say they're athletic in that traditional, like you're playing on a sport. Yeah. And I think about that and I'm like, if we could reframe. The ideology of movement and who is an athlete and take it from that black and white and add more gray area in there that it's, no, you can be, and I hear it from women who maybe in their fifties where athletics were totally different for women in the time that they were in their teens, that they were told they're not athletic. So it has become a barrier for them. To move their bodies in the gym. When I break down, like movements, I'm like a squat is essentially sitting on a chair. So if you can sit on a chair I don't, I'm making it sound really like a, I'm being a jerk right there, but I'm like, you can sit down on a chair and stand up. That's a squat. Doing a hip hinge or a deadlift. You have two grocery bags in your hand. You gotta shut a car door, you stick your butt out. That's a hip hinge. And it's like these movements we see every day, and you can do them so you're athletic. And it's, and it becomes tangible where it wasn't tangible because the notion it was, I wasn't good enough to play sports. I was maybe a little bit more uncoordinated than a peer, so therefore I was cut. And it's no, everybody has a body. Everybody's body can be athletic.

Paige 29:07

Absolutely. And I think too the like idea of athletics having to look fit into a certain whether it's a sport or a certain exercise or there's, I think too, like I'm a big believer of not everybody is meant to do or enjoy every form of movement. Like it might take some trial and error to figure out what form of movement you actually enjoy or feel good doing. And whether it's like yoga or running or lifting or. Swimming there's so many options out there. So I like definitely encourage people to try different things and to not force yourself to do something that you truly do not enjoy.

Kat 29:42

A thousand percent. And as a personal trainer, I fully support that and it's yes, I would love everyone to lift weights.

Paige 29:49

Yeah.

Kat 29:49

But at the same point, if it makes you miserable, like to the point where you're like, this really feels unco. There are other ways we can build strength. It's, there's so many forms of movement that. Have joy. You may not always want to do it. And that is normal. Don't let any fitness influencer or any type of influencer tell you're gonna love it all the time.

Paige 30:10

You also really spoke to, I think the transition away from college athletics and the, when you said that's when my, when your relationship with food seemed a lot more challenging or confusing or you were really vulnerable to all of those diet culture messages that I think that's a. A really common experience when one, it's a huge life transition and so that's a time when we're probably grasping for control in some way and trying to do everything quote unquote right. A lot of athletes are generally pretty high achieving individuals who like to do things well and like to do things to the most, and, I think that's a time of a lot of uncertainty when you're transitioning out of whether it's out of a sport or college or both, or whatever that looks like. Or even when people are injured and not able to partake in their sport that they usually do. And I think too with college athletics in particular, there's this like intense amount of. Structure that is provided in terms of like your day to day, and like you, you're told when to show up where, and you just go and do it and you fit in. Like you don't even have time to think about you eat the team meal that's provided or you do, there's a lot less choices autonomy and yes, you're still vulnerable to, diet culture messages and things like that during that time. But I think that you really kinda hit something there of that transition out of college and the the lack of structure, the increased freedom, the time in your life and the life transition that comes with that. And that it's a time when I think a lot of people struggle to figure out for the first time, you have the freedom to choose how you're moving your body, how much when, and what are you putting in your body? Some people also go oh my gosh, is this the first time I have been able to like, eat and not care how it's gonna impact my run or this? And like, all of those things are valid experiences to go through and experiment with because there's been so much like potential rigidity around food and exercise for a long time that it's quite a transition.

Kat 32:08

The thing I love about this conversation is it's really tuning into you. And what do you want for yourself? I'm a firm believer if it is not aligned with your own. Morals, ethics and values, and you can come in not knowing what they are. But the more you sit with that and have someone like yourself that can converse over it, and you can be really vulnerable in a trusted space to work that out and understand the internal dialogue and the messaging that comes up. And maybe you never pinpoint exactly where it gets inserted in there, but. It helps you become more of you and who you are and reduces that friction with movement, with enjoying food, with enjoying life and building that community that we all want and we all crave. Again, if someone is listening to this and they're like, I just wanna feel stronger and healthier and make, and more at peace with food, where should she start this week? And I know again, it's a loaded question here. And just emphasizing, we're not here to treat or diagnose. If there's a tangible piece and maybe it's reaching out to someone like you, but where could they start this week?

Paige 33:23

Yeah, I would say. One would be and this is a loaded one too, but like evaluating what moral value or judgements that you're assigning to food with a dietician or a therapist. This could look as like explicit as having a sheet of paper and writing down like good and bad and just off the top of your head, foods that fall into categories there and challenging okay, why is this a bad food and what makes me think that? Or where did that messaging come from? And working on yeah, exploring those judgments. And that would be like the first step. You could take it a step further and try and challenge some of those judgements and incorporate a little more flexibility. I would say another very basic one is just making sure that you're eating enough in terms of like frequency and volume and variety. Like those are like these three big frequency, volume and variety. If we're not getting a lot of variety, maybe we start with that's a very simple goal of just gonna try adding in one more food group at this meal. I think with the eating enough thing too, like checking in with your body and being really in tune with some of those internal cues, this whole concept of like embodiment and really trying to pay attention to that felt sense of living through our body and what it's telling us. Whether that, like sometimes that's hunger and sometimes hunger comes up in very obvious ways. What we think of when we are like, oh, my stomach is telling me I'm hungry. Other times it's oh, I am feeling a little irritable. Or if we've heard, the term hangry or I am feeling like my mood, my energy's dropped, or my mood is shifting. Or I'm thinking about food, which can sometimes be an indicator that we're hungry. So really just trying to honor what our body is telling us. Another obvious one would be just reaching out to a health at every size or kind of anti diet dietician or therapist. I think those are always wonderful resources to have the space to really talk through all of this and work with a qualified professional exploring like where these messages come from, but also what shifts you can make in your day to day. I would say if we're. Like food too, like maybe even naming or identifying any like rules that you have around food. I think that's a really common thing that people don't even realize that they're operating from a place of one that comes to mind is if I don't eat past a certain time or not having dessert or things like that, if we just pause and ask ourself, like, why do I have that rule? Or where did that come from? Or what would it be like to. Not have such a rigid rule that I think all of those things can promote more freedom, more flexibility, and a little bit more peace around food that

Kat 35:50

I love that. You touched on so many things. I love this. This has been awesome. And I know there's, like I said, there's so much we did not get to. If you have questions anyone listening, I have questions for our page. You can email the podcast and I can always pass'em on to her and we will have Paige back. In the future where can people find you? And we'll put these, your information in the show notes but if you wanna share where people can find you.

Paige 36:13

Yeah. My website it's paige thompson lpc.com. Is probably the best way. I do have an Instagram handle, but I cannot tell you the last time I posted on it. It's called therapist Thoughts like One Word, underscore Page T. Thank you so much for having me and talking about food and exercise and all that goes into that and living in today's world.

Kat 36:36

And thank you so much for coming on.

36:39

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