Low Effort/Low Cost Habits That Lead to High Fulfillment & Satisfaction

Today I'm talking about how we can use the concept of "Volume Eating" to inform the way we think about everything in our lives!

When I first discovered volume eating, it opened up a whole new world for me! I was practicing the 2B Mindset by Ilana Muhlstein (link below) and realized that I didn't need to learn how to eat LESS, I just needed to learn how to eat SMARTER.

The same way that a high volume/low calorie diet can lead to major fulfillment and satisfaction, there are low effort habits in every sphere of our lives that can lead to high fulfillment and satisfaction.

In today's episode, I'm talking about 6 different spheres of life and giving examples of low-effort, low-cost (low-calorie) activities that can lead to high impact, high satisfaction (high volume) in our everyday lives. 

I hope you enjoy this episode!

For the 2B Mindset program, go to the link below, nutrition programs, and 2B Mindset. Only $60 to have the program for life!
https://shop.bodi.com?code=socialladder_affiliate&ambassadorID=4d781f00-72d8-4f49-8a71-d1f04ba60d32

Follow on Instagram LINK
Apple Podcasts LINK
Youtube LINK
Spotify LINK

Transcript

Speaker 0:40

Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of the podcast. I am so glad that you're here. Today, I am-- I'm not talking about volume eating, but I am using that kind of dietary preference, I guess, to allude to a different style or mindset, about the way that we live. And if you've never heard of volume eating, I will explain that. But before we get into that, I do wanna say that if you are watching on YouTube, thank you. I have been getting some more comments and reactions and whatnot recently there, and I really appreciate it. If you aren't subscribed there already or haven't left a comment or a reaction, I would appreciate if you went there. Also, if you are listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and you haven't left a rating or review, I would sure appreciate that. Those are definitely the ways that I get more into the, like, discover or explore and find your next podcast type of pages. So would really appreciate it if you would take a moment to do that if you haven't already. with that being said, let's go ahead and dive into the episode. So today, I'm talking about volume eating, and I do wanna describe what that is because maybe you've heard it before. I'm not sure. I hadn't heard it until several years back when I... And I didn't even realize, but The nutrition program that I started to dive into, I didn't even realize necessarily that it was volume eating, but now it makes sense now that I know what volume eating is. But volume eating is basically the concept of taking in high volume, but low calorie foods to help you feel full and satisfied and, yeah, just fulfilled with your dietary choices, but not necessarily gaining weight or eating unhealthily, I guess. So the program that I started several years back was called 2B Mindset, and the core principle-- one of the core principles is water first, veggies most. And when you drink water before consuming anything, before eating anything, and you eat veggies most, you naturally become fuller faster. And so it makes you eat less of the things that are really calorie dense, like candy and sugary things and baked goods and all of the really fun things that I still eat, but just eat less of because the fiber from the vegetables and the water, is making you fuller faster. And so it's that, if you've ever heard of satiety, it's, it's a little trick that you can play on your body to... I guess it's not a trick it's just anatomically true that you get fuller. And so that's the 2B Mindset, which I had started several years back, and I really love it. I can link it in the show notes if you're interested in the program. I go and re-watch the, like, informational videos all the time. Even though I bought it seven years ago, when you buy it, you have it for life. And so I reference it all the time whenever I'm trying to remind myself of what are some of the tips and tricks that the program person... she's not a trainer necessarily, but she's a registered dietina- dietitian, Ilana Muhlstein, she's the program creator. And I go back and re-listen to some of her videos that she has on there just to get, just to remind myself of some of the tips and tricks and phrases and sayings and things that she has to keep herself in a good mindset when it comes to food and fulfillment and hunger and all of those good things. But then later on, I had heard about volume eating, and it's really a very similar concept. It doesn't have to be veggies, but it's the idea of choosing higher volume but lower calorie foods. And so Giving an example of this, I know this is kinda heavy on the nutrition part, but I feel like it'll help set up the metaphor for what I'm talking about in a second. But if you think of your stomach... I heard this illusion a while back. I heard this example a while back, and I don't really exactly remember who it was from, so sorry if I am stealing credit, but this was not something that I came up with. But imagine your stomach as though it's like a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. If you're watching on YouTube, I don't-- you can see that I don't actually have a Ziploc bag. I- maybe I should have brought one. But you know the clear gallon-sized freezer bags or Ziploc bags, and yeah, they're big. Let's say that's how big your stomach is, and that actually is s- somewhat, uh, depending on the person, that is about how big it can expand to. That's like the maximum volume that your stomach typically, the average human stomach can expand to. Now, when it doesn't have food and whatnot in- inside of it, it shrivels back up. It's really s- really an interesting organ but it shrivels back up, and so it, it is really small whenever it's not full. So imagine that Ziploc bag when it starts empty, it's like all shriveled up. If you're watching on YouTube, I'm like putting my hands into like a fist together. So it's all shriveled up like that when it's empty, and then as you start to fill it, it starts to expand and get bigger because the stomach is super elastic. It like expands and then goes back in, expands, goes back in. And when you fill it or when you consume things that are really calorie dense, so higher in calories but small in satiety or nutrient ratio, I guess, so things like candy, let's say. So if you drop, like, 10 gummy worms in there, that's probably-- Actually, it's probably more calories than, let's say, like, two cups of broccoli. And so, but when you drop 10 gummy worms into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, as you can imagine, that Ziploc bag, I mean, those are right at the bottom. And so the Ziploc bag is not very full. It's not very fulfilled or satisfied or... Yeah. The-- It's not very full. But when you drop two cups of broccoli into it, broccoli is about probably the same calories, but fills up way more of that, and so the bag is fuller. And same with your stomach. Your stomach feels fuller. It feels like there's not that much room. Whereas with the gummy worms, you eat the 10 gummy worms, and then you go, "Wow, I really have a lot more room for more food that I can eat." And so the idea of doing high volume is that you get fuller faster, and then maybe you don't eat 40 gummy worms instead of 10 because you don't have the room for that. You just don't physically feel like you have the room for that. And obviously, there are times when we kinda make room. We make ourselves a little sick eating. Like, I, I think of Thanksgiving or, like, when we've been at all-inclusive resorts or something, and somehow, some way, I make room in my stomach for another this, another that. That's also why, if you've ever heard the, like, liquid calories thing, in America, we drink a lot of our calories through soda and really sugary coffees and just als- and energy drinks that aren't zero sugar, that sort of thing. And when, again, like, liquid, when you think about dropping a can of Coke into a Ziploc bag, it doesn't ex- it doesn't fill up the bag the way that broccoli would. Or even another i- high-fiber item or high-water item like strawberries. If you filled a bag of, with strawberries, that's probably about the same calories That maybe like a handful of Skittles would be, whereas the Skittles at the bottom of the bag don't fill it nearly as much as a whole bunch of strawberries would. So I hope that this concept is making sense if you've never heard about volume eating, or maybe you have and you are skipping forward past this part. But volume eating is the idea that you can take something that is lower in calories but higher in volume or fiber and water, and it fills you more than something that is really calorie dense. And I was thinking about this this last week 'cause I was reminding myself of what the highest volume foods are. I was seeing... I saw, like, a registered dietician, it wasn't Ilona Molsin, but it was just some video on Facebook, talking about how they start with... When they make a plate and they're making a balanced meal, They may start with something that they really like. Like this last week, for example, I really like... Goodles is a fun, mac and cheese type of brand, but it just has a little bit better nutrients and a little bit better, I guess, macros. Like, there's a little bit more protein, a little bit more fiber. It's made from chickpeas instead of made from flour, like regular flour, like pasta is. And so this last week I started with that. Y- so you start with something that you really like, like the mac and cheese or something like that, and then you add volume, which usually is in the form of veggies or fruits or something. So you... So I added broccoli. That added a ton of volume to make it more fulfilling. And then you add a protein, which I feel like everybody talks about protein these days, but I really feel like veggies are the superstar of the, of nutrition. And so I do think that you need to get in protein and focus on that. But veggies and fruits and high-fiber, high-water foods are the things that are going to expand in your stomach and fill that gallon-sized bag, like I was talking about before. So what this made me think of this last week when I was thinking about, okay, let's add volume to make it more filling, I was thinking about, well, maybe there are things in our lives that are higher volume and lower Quote, unquote, "calorie," but really what I was thinking about, like low effort that we could add into our lives that would make a really big difference in our fulfillment or our satisfaction, or how full we feel our lives are. And so, I kinda wanted to go through a different... a few different categories. I started thinking about little things that I've incorporated in my life or want to incorporate in my life that I think would fall into this. So, start thinking about categories of your life, like work, or your spouse relationship, or your friendships, or your physical health, or your spiritual health, or your mental health, and start thinking about where you feel like you're not feeling quite fulfilled, you're not feeling quite full, and you want some more satisfaction and fulfillment. And start thinking about what's something very, very small, because I say this all the time. Maybe I don't say it on the podcast. I don't know. I feel like I've said it on the podcast, but I say this all the time in real life, that little by little, a little becomes a lot, and I just really believe that the small things that we do daily stack up to create a more full and satisfied life. And so, I wanted to go through a few things that I feel this is true for. So, in, so in one category, this is something that I've started doing, and I think it's really helpful for stress and anxiety. So, if you find yourself having stress and anxiety, something really, really small that you could do, something really... This is really attainable, really tangible, right? It's low calorie or low effort is what I'm thinking of, but high volume. Like high, m- high difference that it can make, or big difference that it can make, is some kind of breathing technique. And I'm gonna give you a breathing technique, just one that I really like that I learned in one of my workout programs a while back. But I think that this really helps when you start to feel really overwhelmed and you have high stress. I have discovered w- this is a topic for another episode but I have discovered in my, therapy sessions and whatnot, and little therapy questionnaires that I do, that I have high stress. I don't have high anxiety, 'cause I don't have a consistent fear or consistent worry necessarily. I don't battle with that. Luckily, I feel really fortunate that I don't, but I do have high stress. I do get stressed easily, which means, like, I don't worry, but I get a feeling, of overwhelm. Like, I can't manage everything on my plate, or I feel really strung out or tense and, yeah, just stressed. So this is something that I think really helps. It's called 4-7-8 breathing, and you could develop any breathing technique because guess what? It's free. You can do it anywhere. You can do it anytime. Just stop whenever you're getting stressed and do this. So 4-7-8 breathing is breathing in for four counts, and you count them. So as long as it's even, it doesn't matter. But in for four counts, hold for seven counts, and then out for eight counts. And When you do the four, seven, eight breathing, your exhale is intentionally longer than your inhale, and there is a physiological benefit of that, like, actually scientifically because, and I'm reading this off my phone because I didn't wanna misphrase it. the benefit is the rapid activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. It lowers your heart rate, and it down regulates the body's stress response. So what is happening is your body is down regulating the stress response and lowering your heart rate, and that immediately makes you physi-phys-physiologically less stressed. And so if you do this, you repeat this for, I don't know, 30 seconds. Wait, no, let me do the math because 30 seconds probably wouldn't be enough because one round of this is 19 seconds. Let's say that you set a timer for, like, three minutes, and you do this, and so y- and you do it repeatedly for those three minutes, then you are going to feel so much better, and that was three minutes, right? It is a very low effort, low... It doesn't take up a lot of time. It doesn't take up a lot of effort. It doesn't take a lot of mental energy. But it's high volume in the way that it makes you feel way more satisfied and fulfilled and full. And I guarantee that if you start doing this every time that you're stressed, like I want to do, I've started doing it a little bit, but I wanna do it more often when I get that impending sense of overwhelm. If you start doing this, you are going to feel so much better. Like, you probably-- you're going to feel so much more fulfilled. So that is in the category of stress and anxiety. My next one that I wanted to share is a high volume hack And this is one that I see a lot on, if you've ever followed him or seen his stuff, Dr. Mark Hyman. I follow him on Instagram. He posts pretty often about the benefits of walking. And I would say physical health-wise, that this is one of the biggest bangs for your buck. Because again, walking, it's not like HIIT cardio, or it's not like pushups. It is very low effort. All you have to do is get up and walk out the door, walk around your block, or walk around your house. Just moving your body helps so much. And I thought that this was really, really interesting that he, Dr. Mark H- Hyman, had posted the benefits of walking and kinda posted it in a minutes format. So, like, after one minute, your blood flow elevates. Just after one minute of walking, your blood flow elevates. After five minutes, your mood improves, right? So when we're talking about fu- fulfillment and satisfaction and fullness, this could be just five minutes of walking, you get a mood booster. After 10 minutes, your cortisol reduces, which cortisol is directly related to stress, which I was talking about before. I probably have cortisol spikes whenever I get those moments of overwhelm. But you can reduce it just in 10 minutes of walking. Again, very low effort, very low intensity, very low calorie, but high fulfillment, high volume. 15 minutes, your blood sugar reduces. So this is really great for after eating. Like, if you are eating a meal, your... No matter what you're eating, whether it's sugary or not, your blood sugar naturally elevates. But when you walk afterward or do any sort of movement, but walking's the easiest, your blood sugar reduces, and that's really good for you. After 30 minutes, so this is getting into... This is maybe more effort, but after 30 minutes, walking starts burning fat. After 45 minutes, you start reducing how much you overthink. And then after 60 minutes, your dopamine increases. So I would say stay in that... For, for it to count as a, like, low calorie or low effort- high volume activity. It probably, I would think that the 15 minutes or less is kinda where I would stay to consider it in that category. But obviously there are benefits of increasing your walking, and there are brain scans of how your brain is so much more activated just after, 15 to 20 minutes of walking. So highly recommend that. That would be one that I would say with your physical health that is really important, and honestly your mental health because of, like, the brain stimulation. But a lot of that is, like, your cognitive health and stimulating your brain. So that would be one in the health category. The next ca- category I have is skincare. So I think the biggest bang for your buck with low effort but high volume high effect basically would be SPF every day. So some kind of sunscreen every day. I love this. It's Arbonne's Soft Glow. I really like it. It's got like 35, I think, SPF, or maybe even less than that. But just a little bit of SPF on your face. Biggest bang for your buck, I think, because it protects your skin from the sun. Sun is what does the most skin damage, and it really, really can h- it's the tiniest thing that you can do. Very low effort, but very high volume and high effect. With the next category I have is with your, like, romantic relationship or your spouse. I have shared this before, but my husband and I, every night before bed, we say the best part of our day. Takes less than a minute for us to talk about, but it is a point of connection, and it's a habit, and it's a very small, low-effort thing that we can do. But in just talking about the best part of our day, we are, one, expressing gratitude for something good that happened. We are, two, having a moment of connection before we go to bed, so it endears us toward one another. And we are, three, connecting with one another on something. For instance, if the best part of my day was something that I did with friends or something I did separate from my partner, then that is something that he, that is something that he gets to know about whenever I talk about it and same for him. Or it expresses gratitude for each other because if it is something that I did with him, then it's like, "Oh yeah, that was good. We liked that." So best part of your day, low effort, high volume in my opinion. And then I only have two more categories, so hopefully you're hanging in there with me. I'd be interested what categories you need the most fulfillment in. But the next category is work. So this is one where I feel like with work, you kinda feel like no matter what workplace you have, you probably feel like, oh, you could always be doing something, but you don't always want to be doing something. I think that something that is really grounding for me, and doesn't apply right now as much because I'm, I'm kind of at an entry-level position with the new job that I started, so I don't have quite as much, I guess, high level of responsibility, but When I was in a position where I had a high level of responsibility and I had so many things to do in a day, and I just didn't know where to start, it really helped when I would start at the beginning of the just list the top three things. If I get these three things done today, I will be happy with the work that I've done. Anything on top of that is just extra credit. It's just cherry on top. And. you could even limit this to just one thing a day, but I do think it's a really low effort thing to just really quickly take five minutes, not even five minutes, but, like, a minute to prioritize, write down one, two, three, these are three things I wanna do today. And then that way you have kind of a focus, and anything on top of that, you feel... Like, you feel really fulfilled whenever you finish those three things, and anything on top of that is just extra satisfaction, extra credit, cherry on top. And I, and honestly, I do still do this even though I don't have as much of, as high of a level of responsibility as I used to do. I do still do this in my job where I say, I kind of pick one thing where I say, "This is the carrier I wanna get done," or, "These are the three carriers I wanna get done," or, "This is the one task that I wanna do today." And I... It just makes me feel like, okay, if I've finished that thing, then everything else is extra. It's a good feeling. It makes you feel more fulfilled in your work because you feel like I've accomplished what I set out to do The last category, this is just, like, self-care or for yourself, taking care of yourself. I guess that's what self-care is. This is probably the one that I feel like might be most controversial or maybe hardest to do, so hardest effort, but it still is low effort, you guys. Wake up 15 minutes earlier than anybody else who needs you. So if you have children, set your alarm for 15 minutes before they are gonna wake up or gonna wake you up. If you have a roommate or a spouse or someone who gets up in the morning and you deal with them, I don't know. I- not necessarily that they need you or anything, but just wake up 15 minutes before your household. And obviously, if you and your household are listening to this podcast episode, maybe you both start waking up 15 minutes early, and then it's like, "Oh, wait, we outdid ourselves here." So Maybe just waking up 15 minutes earlier won't work, so maybe you have to wake up 15 minutes earlier and, like, go into your office or go into your workout space or go into your chair in the corner that you like to read in or whatever. But I swear to you, just having 15 minutes... You could even start with five minutes, but just having, like, 10 to 15 minutes, and this has turned in honestly to, like, 45 minutes for me because I do my workouts. It's more like an hour honestly. But I do my workouts, which I've gotten up to, like, 45 minutes to an hour on my workouts in the mornings. And I, like, feed my sourdough starter, and I feed my dog, and I get my pre-workout going. And I just, like, I kinda have a morning routine now where it has expanded to an hour. But I would say that that is probably considered more high effort because it's, that's a long time to start with. So start with, like, five, 10. 15 minutes would be great. And just have a moment to yourself. I really think that this helps set you up for success just mentally and physically and spiritually for the day if you just have 15 minutes to yourself. And what you do in that time is up to you. It can't be your phone, okay? But it could be that you get that 15-minute walk in, or it could be that you start your coffee and you sit out on the deck and you drink your coffee for a bit. It could be that you have a quiet time if you, are spiritual and you wanna read the Bible or something like that during that time. It could be that you do, make a gratitude list or you journal or whatever it is, you could do that. But that's the last category that I had, so I'd be curious what other categories you feel you need more fullness or fulfillment in. And these are just examples, right? These are just things that you could incorporate. You don't have to do these things. Y- if physical health, you think that there would be something else that would be low effort but high volume or high reward, then you could do something else instead. Or same with your spouse. There could be a different habit that you have. But the idea is look for things in your life where you're not feeling fulfilled, and then think of the lowest effort, like lowest, quote-unquote, calorie thing that you could add into that so that it would make the most difference and have the biggest effect. I hope that this is helpful. I hope you like this illusion or metaphor. I can never remember what the difference of those is but I hope you like this. If you do, please send it to a friend or loved one. If there's something in here that you want, like you're like, "Oh, I wanna start doing this," and you need someone to hold you accountable, you should send this episode to them too and say, "Hey, I really wanna start doing this." And yeah, I love you. Thank you