How to Eat Healthy Without Becoming Obsessed With Food

Somewhere along the way, healthy eating turned into fear, obsession, and food rules that leave people more anxious than nourished. In this episode, I’m breaking down why carbs are not the enemy, how people get stuck scanning every food for what’s “wrong” with it, and why that mindset is making eating feel way harder than it needs to. I’m sharing my simple philosophy around food: focus on mostly whole foods, stop moralizing what you eat, leave room for fun foods, and build a way of eating that supports your health without taking over your life. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Somewhere along the way, eating healthy turned into being scared of food. And if your approach to food is making you anxious, feel obsessive, or afraid of carbs, it's not healthy. Welcome to the embodiment lab. My name is Addy, and today we are talking about my mindset around food because I truly feel like I have developed the best approach and perspective on food ever. And this is coming from somebody who used to struggle with food and who used to view tracking as restrictive, who used to fear food and feel so guilty around food, and who used to step on the scale every single morning and decide whether or not I was going to eat that day based off of what the number told me. So I feel like I have a lot of history with this and I have a lot of insight that I want to provide because your view on food is something that can make or break your fitness journey because it is something that can get in your head and screw with you and make you absolutely demonize foods. And that is no way to live. I feel like I've come out on the other side where I genuinely enjoy the way that I eat. And I love the approach that I have around food. And so if I can share that with the entire world and change the way that everybody views food, I'm going to do it because it drives me nuts hearing so many people fear food and freak the fuck out over everything that they're putting in their body. And I just feel like it, it's not that deep. It doesn't have to be that stressful. So I'm going to give you some insight as to what goes on in my brain in terms of food. First of all, eating healthy has become associated with fear. And people think that if they eat healthy and eat clean and eat perfect, then that's going to give them a certain result. And so there becomes a lot of pressure around every single thing that you're putting into your body. And there's a lot of information out there that likes to create a lot of fear around certain food groups and around certain things that are in food. And as somebody who has worked with clients before, obviously, that's my job. I do that all the time, every single day, in fact. But as somebody who works with clients, I hear this constantly of like people saying, okay, so I'm told not to eat carbs, but then like there's this conflicting article, and then there's this conflicting piece of information, and then this person on the internet says to do this. And now I'm like, what the heck do I even eat? And that confusion is so unnecessary. And then you find yourself in the aisle at the grocery store completely overanalyzing the labels on the back of foods. And you're sitting there going, okay, so what do I even do? Because this food is, it claims it's high in protein, but really it's not. And then it has a shit ton of carbs and it has fat and it has this long ingredient list. And like, oh, this specific ingredient is quote unquote bad for me because somebody said that it was, and I I don't know. I just I literally don't know what to eat. And yeah, that's that's exhausting. So let's stop doing that and let's stop trying to avoid foods that are quote unquote wrong because somebody somewhere said that that's wrong and that we should avoid it. That's a lot of nonsense. And it's really freaking exhausting to keep up with when in reality your body just needs to be fed. Okay. Yes, there are good options. Yes, there are not so good options, but at the end of the day, your body needs energy. And so if we can just boil it down to that simple fact, that will make your life a lot easier. Because here's the thing when you are scared of carbs or you're overanalyzing ingredients, or you're trying to avoid the wrong foods and you're trying to eat perfect and eat the right foods and never mess up, that might look healthy on the outside. You might feel like, oh, I'm putting good things into my body. But it's not healthy if your mind is so completely overwhelmed and you've created this obsessive manner about what you're putting into your body. That is the unhealthy thing. And that makes it very difficult for you to actually stick to this long term because it becomes very exhausting to look at absolutely everything that you're putting into your body and it's deciding whether or not it's good or bad, or whether or not it's going to make you fat, or whether or not you're failing when you eat it, because that feeling of failure is not something that we as humans want to feel on a consistent basis. And so every time that you're eating, whether that's two, three, four, five times a day, if every time that you're eating you feel like you're failing, that's not fun. That's not fun at all. Okay, so I think the first thing that I want to dive into today, because I just got a message about this this morning. And to be honest, it's 2026. I can't believe that we're still talking about this, but I need to set the record straight because this drives me nuts. It drives me insane. Oh my gosh. Okay, so I got a message this morning that said that this person is confused about what to eat, how much to eat, whatever. And I asked her, okay, like what have you been trying to do so far? And she said that she's trying to eat less carbs. And immediately my brain is like, oh God, okay. Oh, Addy, don't go attacking this person. Don't do that. So I asked her, I'm like, okay, well, why? Why are you doing that? What makes you think that you need to cut out carbs? And she said, because it's healthier. Oh my gosh. Okay, no, um, no, no, I'm gonna be real blunt. No, that is not true. That is false information. So, first of all, carbs for the last 10, 15, 12, gosh, I don't even know how many years. Carbs have been made to be the problem. They are the enemy. That is something that people look at and they're like, okay, so I hear that carbs are bad for you, and so I'm gonna cut out carbs. And then what ends up happening is they feel like shit. They might lose a couple pounds in water weight, not fat, water weight. You might see a little bit of progress initially, but then that comes to a screeching halt. They feel like shit. They can do two and a half squats and immediately feel fatigued and like their legs are going to just like collapse underneath them because hey, guess what? They have no carbs in their bodies. Carbs are good for you. Carbs are your body's main energy source. Carbs are amazing for you. Carbs help you build muscle. Carbs are so good for you. Okay, can I repeat that 16 and a half more times? Carbs are so good for you, okay. I want you to hear me when I say this. I eat 300 grams of carbs every single day. If carbs were so bad for me, I would not look the way that I do eating 300 carbs, 300 grams of carbs a day. I would not. So I promise you, the issue is not the carbs. The issue is everything else that you're doing, and you're blaming your circumstances and the reason why you can't lose fat, and the reason why you don't look the way that you do, you're blaming that on the fact that you're eating carbs. Carbs are not unhealthy, carbs are good for you. Okay. Do we all understand that? Are we all on the same page about carbs? Carbs are not the enemy. Great, fantastic. Moving on. Second thing that I want to talk about is you could look at absolutely any food on this planet and find something wrong with it. Any food, and I'll prove it to you. People I've heard say that they don't want to eat fruits because fruits have sugar in them, fruits have carbs in them, and so they won't eat fruit. That's insane. Fruit is so good for you. Fruit has so many micronutrients, fiber, the simple carbs in your body, like your body literally needs them. Minerals, vitamins, all these things are found in fruit. Amazing for you, okay? Debunk. Next, avocados are unhealthy because they have fat or they're super high in calories. And yes, that's true. But also, they have omega-3s, sixes, and nines, which are your healthy fats, by the way. And those are so good for your hair, your skin, your nails, your hormones, your gut health, all of the things. Avocados, also high in fiber. So good for you. So good for you. Okay. What about eggs? This was something my mom kind of instilled this fear in me a little bit, unintentionally. I don't think it was on purpose. But when I was maybe 10, 12, when I started looking at foods and trying to figure out, okay, what's healthy, what's not. Eggs were one of those things where, like, girl, I live off eggs. I eat eggs every single day. And if I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would. I love eggs. They're my favorite food. Actually, just kidding, that's a lie. Not my favorite food, but I love them, okay? And my mom told me, she's like, ooh, be careful with the eggs, because eggs are high in cholesterol. Okay, what does that mean? Cholesterol is not bad for you. Cholesterol is one of those things that it's it's good for you. Your body needs it, obviously, in a moderate amount. Yeah, sure. So then it was like, okay, what do I do? And then the entire world was only eating egg whites because oh, the the yolk is bad for you. That's where the problem is. What? Why don't we just eat the entire freaking egg? Okay. There is nothing wrong with eggs because it went back and forth of eggs are good for you, eggs are bad for you, eggs are good. What? What do I even eat? What do I do? Just screw it. Whatever. I'm eating the damn eggs. I eat eggs every single morning. Oh, another one that gets me. Red meat. There for a little bit. Everybody was avoiding red meat because red meat's gonna give you cancer. It's gonna kill you. When um anything, anything could kill you, to be honest. You could literally get in a car accident and die. Okay? The red meat, it's not gonna kill you. Obviously, if you eat like an obnoxious amount of it, yeah, sure. That could be a problem. But eating steak, not unhealthy. Because there's good protein, it's a complete protein. There's iron, there's so many nutrients and so many beneficial things for our bodies in red meat. It's so good for you. So why are we avoiding that? That's weird. Why are we demonizing foods? Do you see what I'm saying? There are so many foods that are considered healthy. They are healthy, but people like to create a lot of fear around the things that we are putting in our bodies. And then we end up running around like chickens with our head chopped off, not knowing what to eat. And that's really silly. That's so silly. Why are we doing this? So, do you see what I mean? You can literally find anything wrong with anything that you're eating. And then you don't know what to eat. You feel like every choice that you make is so loaded, and then food is taking up way too much space in your mind, and it creates a lot of decision fatigue. And then sometimes you're like, oh, well, what's the point? Maybe I just won't eat. That's also a problem. And then eating clean, which is supposed to be healthy, becomes more obsessive and you feel more disconnected from food because you're assigning way too much value to it, and that is not a healthy relationship with food. Third thing, protein. Let's talk about it. Oh my goodness. I could I could talk about so many things with protein. Now, yes, I am a personal trainer, I'm a coach, I'm in the fitness space, I love my life, I love it, okay? Prioritizing protein is very important. Your body needs protein, obviously. But the problem is that in prioritizing protein, many people think that absolutely every single thing that they put in their body needs to be high protein. And so then you're eating a shit ton of protein powders, protein bars, shit. Even the what is it, the uncrustables came out and said we're high protein. When it's not really a high protein food, they're just saying that as a marketing thing. But not everything that you eat needs to be high protein. The bread that you eat doesn't necessarily need to be high protein. It doesn't. Your coffee can just be coffee. Let it be coffee. I also was the person that thought, oh cool, let me make protein coffee. But then I realized I like regular coffee so much better. And I'd rather just eat my protein through a steak or some chicken or whatever. Not everything that you eat has to be high protein. Okay. Also, the best form of protein is gonna come from whole natural nutrient-dense foods. A processed protein, like in a protein powder or a protein bar, they're great for whenever you're a little low on protein or you need a little snack or a little pick-me-up, or you get to the end of the day and you're like, shit, I'm under 20 grams of protein. Like that's that's when you can use a protein powder, but when you're using your protein powders as the sole resource of where you're getting your protein from, that can create some digestive issues. So they're great, they're fantastic as a tool, as a supplement, but not as the star of the show, the star of your entire diet. It gets taken way too far. Another thing, this is like kind of a random side tangent, but I think I saw, I think it was Subway several months ago. And even like other restaurants like Chipotle or, you know, you've seen, I'm sure you've seen the ads, but there was an ad one day that was talking about, I think it was wraps at Subway. They came out with these new high protein wraps, and there were, I think, 15 to 20 grams of protein per wrap, which like cool, whatever. Love the direction that the world's going in. But let's think about this, okay? You know how you increase protein in a wrap? You add more meat, right? More chicken, more deli meat, more ground beef, more more meat, more protein, because that's the protein source. So why are we marketing this as high protein wraps when it should just be high protein to begin with? You know what I mean? Like, it's not like you're creating this magical new thing and you're putting it in the wrap that no one knows what it is. It's literally just deli meat and a little bit more of it, because that's how a wrap should be made, right? You have the wrap, you have the veggies, you have the protein. There's your protein. It's not magically a high protein food. So, like, there's another thought because everywhere is like marketing, even like Starbucks and coffee shops and places are like promoting their high protein coffees, which is like great because as a s as a society, we do need to be eating more protein. But like, you can't just use a marketing technique of, hey, we added some extra chicken to this bowl at Chipotle, and suddenly now it's our high protein bowl. You see what I'm saying? It's kind of crazy. The marketing around high protein stuff has become kind of obnoxious. Let's even go back to the uncrustables for a second. I'm pretty sure, hang on, let me get some actual factual information here, real quick. Okay, I have the uncrustable protein nutrition facts pulled up. So just one of these, they're calling it protein sandwiches, is 320 calories for 12 grams of protein. Seems great. It's marketed on the front as like high protein, protein rich food. Yay, fantastic. But if you listened to my protein episode, I believe in that episode, I gave you a little trick to see if a food is actually high protein. And it's if you add a zero to the end of the protein, like on the box, and that is more or equal to the total number of calories, then that is a high protein food. If the calories is higher than that number, then it's a it's not considered high protein. So if you take 12 and you add a zero to that, you get 120. For this to be a high protein food, the sand or the yeah, the sandwich would need to be about 120, 150 calories for it to be considered high protein. It's 320 calories with 10 grams of added sugar. That's not technically high protein. You see what I'm saying? We're promoting these things as high protein, and they're not actually high protein. Just because something has protein in it does not mean that it's high protein. So that creates a whole other layer of stress, is this obsession around protein in the food industry, in the fitness industry, in the marketing industry these days. So that's kind of obnoxious, and that was a little bit of a side tangent. But, anyways, circling back, we have all of these fears around food. We have all this anxiety, all of this obsession in our thoughts and this food noise when it comes to making decisions about food every single day. Now let's talk about how I view food. Okay, my approach is pretty damn simple. I eat mostly whole foods. That's it. Mostly whole foods. When I go to the grocery store, I am shopping around the perimeter of the store. So I'm getting my fruits. I'm not really a big fan of veggies, but I should be getting veggies. But I also get, you know, my protein sources, my beef, my chicken, my salmon, all the things. I get my yogurts, my milk, my eggs. All those things are on the perimeter of the grocery store. And then I run into the aisles for a few things like rice or peanut butter or my granola, or I eat my cereal with like a protein shake for my like before bed um little dessert protein situation. That's for funsies. Like I still enjoy some of those foods, but predominantly the majority of my diet is coming from the outside perimeter of the grocery store. So if you look at food, the foods that I am eating are straight from the earth, animal-based, that's it. I don't have too many ingredients that are processed, packaged, whatever. Another thing is if you look at the ingredient list, and it is a entire novel on the back of whatever box, that is something to be mindful of, okay? And here's my approach with this is I eat nature's own bread, and the ingredient list on that is pretty long. But also in the grand scheme of things, it's not that deep. It's really not. I eat that every morning because I have a breakfast sandwich that I make at home every morning. And it's not anything worth stressing out about because the majority of my diet is whole natural foods. And so here's the thing: your body doesn't look at the foods that you're giving it and say, oh, this has a crap load of ingredients. So we're gonna consider this a failure and you need to do better next time. No, at the end of the day, it boils down to your body's an energy conversion system. Okay. So with that bread, I'm getting the calories, I'm getting the carbs, I'm getting a teeny tiny little bit of protein, and then I'm moving on with my day. Okay. But if you look at the rest of my breakfast, I eat raspberries, whole food. I eat eggs, whole food. I eat turkey bacon. Another whole food, slightly processed, but also it's one of those things that I'm like, pick your bottles. I'm having protein. It's six grams of protein per slice of turkey bacon, and I have two easy 12 grams of protein. A win is a win. I'm not gonna sit over here and be like, ugh, but the bread ingredients list is a mile long, and I'm gonna just like cause so much stress. No, no, at the end of the day, it's not that deep. It's not that deep. I could make much worse choices. I could have a packaged frozen sandwich from Jimmy Deans every morning. That would be a not as great decision, not an awful decision, because I definitely have had that in my life before. But I'm eating whole foods. I'm creating the foods in my kitchen, I'm putting them together, and I'm eating them and moving on with my day. And that breakfast is a great amount of calories for me to start my day off. It's about 30 grams of protein, and I'm getting a great deal of fiber in from my raspberries. That is a very nutrient-dense breakfast for me, and it sets my day up for success. You see how the little label on the food or on the bread, it's not that big of a deal. It's not that deep. I want you to like tell yourself this. It's not that deep. Okay? It's not that deep. Now, where this would become more of an issue is if you have tons of stuff in your pantry at all times that is packaged. Maybe you're eating like a pastry that's like packaged that you get from the bakery every morning, or you have some like chips and snacks and stuff that you eat every day. And your lunch, you're going out to eat, like that kind of thing, that is not an overall whole nutrient dense natural food diet. That is a processed diet, right? So, stuff like that is something that you can be mindful of and make some different swaps to make sure that you're eating more. Whole foods-based, but something here and there that is packaged and processed, it's not going to destroy you. It simply won't. I also want to point out that while I am a fitness coach, I also enjoy fun foods. I'm going to be so honest. Last night I went and I bought a bag. My obsession as of lately has been the flamin' hot Doritos. They're kind of like talkies, but they're Doritos. And I think that they are so yummy. I definitely had about half the bag last night. And that's okay. I enjoy fun foods, but that's because majority of my diet is whole natural foods. So I can eat fun foods in moderation. That's okay. That's not an everyday thing. Heck, that's not even an every week thing. That's an every now and then thing. And I enjoy it. I also have cheat meals. I call them cheat meals. I don't usually call them cheat meals, but I date a bodybuilder, okay? And he calls them cheat meals. And so accidentally that's what I call them. But I don't usually call them cheat meals because, again, that's kind of an unhealthy approach to food. But my point is, he has cheat meals twice a week, and I'll eat them with him. And they don't affect me whatsoever. Because, again, it's not that deep. But also, if you look at my entire day when I do have those meals, I have my normal breakfast. I have my normal snacks that are also whole food-based. I have my normal lunch. I don't restrict leading up to that meal. And so I eat the fun food until I'm satisfied, not till I'm stuffed. And then I move on with my life. And if you look at that day as a whole, yeah, my fat my fats might be a little bit higher for one day. Not a big deal. But I'm eating enough carbs, I'm eating high protein. I'm still reaching my calorie goal without exceeding obnoxiously. And everything's okay, hunky dory, lovely, wonderful. And we move on with the rest of the day and the rest of the week. And I wake up the next morning not feeling bloated, not feeling guilty, and I just continue with my life. And I eat my breakfast again. I eat my snacks, my lunch, and I just move on. One fun meal out doesn't set me back because the mindset that I have around it is not one of restriction, of guilt, of fear, of anxiety. I eat the food and I move on. You see what I mean? It's not that deep. Maybe we title this episode, It's not that deep. Just kidding. Not gonna do that. But seriously, it's not that deep. The goal of food is nourishment. The goal of food is not to create fear around it, it's to eat well, nourish your body, give your body enough, and move on with your life. It's not supposed to have this emotional connection to it. I mean, it can be an emotional thing if it's like you're enjoying food with your family at like whatever meal you want to have, like a like an Easter or Thanksgiving or whatever. It can be emotional in that way. And it can be a thing of connection and we're bringing people together and enjoying food together. Fun, great, wonderful. But on a day-to-day basis, it's not an emotional thing. We can enjoy the foods that we eat. I love the foods that I eat. I eat whole natural foods every single day. And I don't think it's boring at all. I eat chicken and rice and buffalo sauce, and I go through phases where I'm absolutely obsessed with that meal. I also go through phases, like right now, where I don't necessarily love that meal, but I'm still eating it. Because while I am allowed to enjoy my foods, there's also seasons where you're not going to, and that's okay. Not everything that you eat has to be for pleasure. And accepting that is also important. So one of the points that I want to drive home is, you know, in the approach of eating clean and healthy foods, completely eliminating fun foods or processed foods is also not automatically healthy because it's the mindset around it that creates restriction that leads you in the future, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually will lead you in the future to self-sabotage. Because if you tell yourself that you can't have something, then you're creating a problem in the future where if you do have that something on accident, then you feel guilty, then you rebound and you go absolutely crazy and maybe have too much of it. You're overindulging. So eliminate that. If you're going to eliminate anything, eliminate the mindset of completely eliminating fun foods because you're allowed to have fun foods. We are human, we're allowed to enjoy life. That is very important. But just don't create a mindset of obsession over eliminating that food. So I really want you to take from this episode the mindset and approach to food from more of a simple approach. Simplify it. Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store. Look at the foods that you're eating and determine whether or not this came from the earth or it was made in a factory. Did it have a mom or dad, or was it created by man? That distinction should guide most of your decisions when it comes to food without having the mindset of if it was created in a factory, demonizing it. Okay, there's a balance. And finding that balance is something that it can be challenging, but it will take a little bit of time and energy and effort to work on. But at the end of the day, just simplify it. Realize that it's not that deep. Realize that if you have a donut one day, it's not going to ruin you. Learn to have discernment and be smart about what you're eating and don't just let yourself have whatever the heck you want because oh, balance. But also learn to incorporate the fun foods into your life without it being this negative, stressful, anxiety-provoking thing. Okay, there is a balance with that. Okay, I think I'm done yelling at you for today. Hopefully, this was super helpful. Um, this is the mindset that's helped me not have so much fear around food and the way that I eat and all the conflicting, confusing, and crazy information that is on the internet. Um, it's not that deep. I'm gonna say that 17 more times. Okay. It's not that deep. But, anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this episode. I hope that it was helpful. If you have any questions about anything that I talked about today, feel free to message me on Instagram. And I would love to have more of an in-depth conversation if you have any questions or concerns about anything that I said today. And then, of course, if you need more help with what to eat, how much to eat, what your body needs, and like actually how to eat to reach your goals and align what you eat with your training to reach the kind of physique that you want, message me. Work with me. I'll have all of my information and links and stuff in the description of this podcast. And you know what to do with that from there. So that is it for today's episode. I hope that you enjoyed and I will chat with you in the next one. Bye.