Hi and welcome to the Mindful Shape Podcast. I'm Paula Parker and I'm a life and weight loss coach. So before we get started I just wanted to let you know that I will be doing a free workshop the end of this month, so July 30th. It's on a Tuesday at noon pacific time. More details will be coming but essentially you'll need to get on my email list to get all of the info.

It's going to be on how to stick with it. So no matter what weight loss program you are doing, no matter how you want to be eating to release the weight and maintain the weight. I want to support you in being able to follow through on that so that you can get the results that you want. So again, right now, you can go to mindfulshape.

com and sign up for my emails. And that way you will be sure to get all of the signup details so that you won't miss it. All right, so let's talk about when we overeat healthy food. So many of us know how we want to be eating. We know how to eat healthy, so it's pretty straightforward. We know what foods we so called should be eating.

So what we tend to do is reduce or remove. the so called unhealthy foods from our diet. But what can happen then is that then we start overeating the healthier foods. This can be especially common if you are a vegetarian or vegan. In my personal experience, I, this was definitely the case. I, Kind of had in my mind that anything that you bought from Whole Foods, you could just eat as much as you want, okay?

So I was kind of thinking it's healthy so I get to just have a little bit of a food party Okay, so it just gives us such a justification to overeat and then we we're thinking in our heads I'm a healthy person. I eat healthy. I don't understand What's going on here? I don't really get why I'm not releasing the weight.

I suspect it's because I'm doing some overeating, but I'm eating so healthy. Okay. So I just want to talk about that today so that we can clear that up and you can make some progress in this area. If this is you, or if you consider yourself a so called volume eater. And what can happen also is once we get really good at making volume healthy food tastes delicious, then we will sometimes overeat it.

Either we're overeating at our meals or we're eating more often than we need because we're, we're now eating food that tastes a lot better than just chicken breast and steamed broccoli, right? We've learned how to take healthy food and make it taste really delicious. So let's talk more about how this shows up, how I see it.

So if you spend a lot of time looking for healthy substitutions, like using stevia instead of sugar. Or almond flour instead of white flour so that you can feel a little bit better about making that dessert and eating it. What's happening is you're not focused on decreasing your desire for food. You're more focused on trying to minimize the so called damage or the impact on your weight loss.

I'm not suggesting you don't look for healthy alternatives or that the goal is zero desire for food. A natural desire for food is the goal here rather than an over desire. So I just want to point this out as something to notice and be aware of. We can get so overly focused on healthier alternatives that we don't spend enough time working on.

Why we think we need and want all this food in the first place. So just a little note there to be aware of. This also shows up where you decide if food is healthy. And so then you just let yourself eat as much as you want. Maybe for you, that's fruit or nuts or avocado or even salad. Sometimes we can overeat salad.

Okay. So we know based on how we feel. feel in our bodies a few hours later. So if you have a stomach ache or any kind of digestive issues, that could be the case. So the justification your brain offers up to eat is, well, it's healthy, but then we can easily eat more than we need. Just because it tastes good and we're listening to that justification.

When you're trying to release weight off your body, you need to be focused on eating what you need, not eating for the sake of eating or eating more than you need, especially just because it tastes good. It also happens because we're simply used to eating more food than we need. It just becomes normal.

It becomes a habit. We're not in the habit of paying attention during our meals and stopping it enough. So we typically ignore these bodily cues and we override them because the food tastes good and, you know, it's healthy. So if you're trying to release weight and you think you eat really healthy, but volume is an issue in terms of Getting in the way, then it could be for a few reasons.

And I want to talk about that so you can just understand a little bit. I just find that for me and for so many of my clients, when they understand why it's happening, they just get more buy in for their, from their brain on like, okay, I understand why this is happening. And now I can come up with an appropriate solution.

Okay. So it totally makes sense. If you are one of these people that you just need to know why, I think that makes sense. I'm one of those people too. Okay. The first is a physiological reason is that your hormones are working against you rather than for you when it comes to your hunger and your satiety cues.

So let's talk about the hormone leptin for a minute. So leptin is a hormone that's produced. by your fat cells. And it sends signals to your brain just to let you know that the body has had enough. So it has enough energy reserves. So this then reduces hunger and it keeps us feeling essentially fuller and satisfied with what we have.

For longer. So you want to have a healthy amount of leptin in your body. The problem is that years of overeating and also lots of crash dieting where your weight goes up and then you heavily restrict and your weight goes back down. And then it goes back up again and down that all that whole pattern can really mess with our leptin.

And then we become. resistant. This is when that signal that leptin sends to the brain just doesn't work properly. So leptin resistance causes you to eat more, which of course leads to more fat on your body, which produces more leptin, which you become increasingly resistant to. So if you have a lot of body fat, especially around your middle and your mid midsection, then you are likely leptin resistant.

So this is something that I encourage you to learn more about and know about. Okay. Another note here to know about leptin is it can explain why you release weight initially, maybe the first couple of weeks of your program, or even the first month, then it tapers off. It's because when you reduce body fat, you also reduce the amount of leptin that you have in your body.

So you actually feel hungrier. And you're less satiated and you eat more and you eat more often. So what is the solution? Cause this all sounds kind of depressing, right? It's like I lose more body fat. I have less leptin. What is going on here? The trick is to one, choose a way of eating. That is just how you want to be eating as a lifestyle choice.

So that it's actually sustainable so that when you're riding out kind of the harder times, when it feels harder, you know, that, You know what? This isn't temporary. This is just, I'm learning how to eat longer term. This is how I want to be showing up when it comes to food. Then allow that temporary hunger and stick with your eating plan just long enough until your body can adjust because it will adjust and level out again.

Okay. So you won't be experiencing all, all that, um, amount of hunger. It will level out. So this is why it's so important to be looking at this as a long game rather than doing something super temporary, like a low calorie diet. The changes need to be slow and gradual and really focused on lifestyle habits that work with your hormones so that you can stick with it longer term.

That's the reason you could be overeating healthy food is that your leptin isn't working as it should. So you're Overly hungry and not being satiated as you would like other people. So if you are eating lunch and after like a reasonable lunch and then you finish and you're thinking, God, you know, I could eat double, I could eat another lunch.

Then it could be a hormonal imbalance and that can be cleared up. with changes to your diet. The second physiological reason is your microbiome. So that's your gut bacteria. I'm not going to get into too much detail here, but there's a ton of research out there, really good information out on the internet, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it at all.

If you've been on either the birth control pill for years, or you've taken antibiotics, which killed 90 percent of your gut bacteria, Which I just learned, which is incredible, right? Ninety percent, both good and bad. Then you'll need to be actively eating and supplementing to restore that healthy gut bacteria.

Again, I'm no expert here, but I know enough to tell you that much. In my program, this falls under the category of eating foods that serve you, and we can talk about that. Just foods that are going to serve your microbiome and build that backup. But if you're eating healthy and you have been for a while and your hormones are relatively balanced now If there is still overeating in terms of volume if that's happening Even when it's healthy food, it's not physiological, but emotional.

So let's talk about what's going on here. Anytime you want food when you are not physically hungry, or you're satiated, but you continue to eat, I want you to consider that it's based on one or both emotions, desire and permissiveness. And those emotions are coming from something you are thinking, which may or may not be in your awareness in the moment.

So I want you just to recall, see if you can think of the last time that you overate something healthy. See if you can guess what thought might have been creating desire and permissiveness to continue to eat. Okay. So, or to snack if it was a snack that you were eating, but you're thinking it's healthy food, right?

So there's a thought right there. It's healthy. I can eat it. That creates desire and permissiveness. I'll give you some other examples that I hear a lot. One is this won't make that much of a difference. I don't want to be hungry later. So I'm going to eat a little extra now. Or as I mentioned, it's healthy.

It's healthy. So why not? It's not a problem. I just want it. I'd rather eat than go back to work. Right? I'd rather eat than do that thing that I don't want to do. Again, this might not be conscious. Okay. Or the last one is kind of related. I'll be bored when I'm finished eating. So there's something that's going to happen when you finish eating that you are trying to avoid.

And that might be another emotion like boredom. And so instead you will elongate your meal. You'll go back for seconds. Okay. Again, just something to be aware of. And as I mentioned, our thinking isn't really clear to us in the moment always. We're not even aware that we're having these thoughts and that these thoughts are driving this overeating.

We simply want the food, and then we eat it. We feel the desire, and then we go ahead and we overeat. So to pay attention to how you're feeling in your body when you're eating is a habit and you'll need to cultivate that so that you know when you are satiated and you physically had enough in your body.

But once you get good at that and once you know that and you're still consciously eating beyond that point, then it's okay. The question becomes what's driving that? What might I be trying to escape like boredom or dread? And how will I feel if I stop eating before I want to? So if I say no to myself, if I say no when I want to continue eating, what's going to happen?

What's the experience that's going to happen for me? So will it be self pity? Will it be despair? Will it be sadness? Will it be just mild sadness that I'm trying to avoid? Or will it be something like FOMO? So if you are overeating past the point of comfort with healthy food, consider you have two ways of changing this.

You can change the thinking, or you can increase your capacity to feel all of these emotions. For example, if you're thinking, I'd rather eat than go back to work right now, you can decide to change that. You can change it to, well, if I'm not going back to work either way, I might as well go for a walk instead of eat.

That will remove the desire and permissiveness for food. Okay, or you could change the thinking that's creating the negative feelings When you stop eating. So for example, if you're feeling self pity because you're stopping before you want to, it's likely coming from a thought of it's not fair, or I can't have what I really want.

You could up level your thinking to something that's going to serve you better, which could be, I'll give you a list of examples here so that you can use them as almost anchor thoughts to lean into, right? To start practicing new thoughts, which is I get to choose this. I don't have to stop, but I'd rather feel good in my body than not.

Like, my highest priority is feeling really good in my body and loving my body and loving the body that I'm in. Another one is, I can handle a little wanting more and put the fork down. Like, I can handle that. I can handle that desire. I'm in charge. Just reminding your brain that you're always in charge.

I was thinking this morning, I was doing a workout and it's so good. If you haven't tried, um, um, bar class before, it's so good. I actually don't go to any classes. I just do it at home through this program called bar definition. And I would highly, highly recommend it. I think I've mentioned it on this podcast before, but it's so good.

And she's just very encouraging in the things that she says. And it reminded me of something a yoga teacher once said in her class, which was. Don't let your brain tell you that you're not happy. And that has always stuck with me because oftentimes I think our default is to kind of go negative and we can remind ourselves.

You know what? I actually am pretty happy. I actually have a pretty great life, but your brain will tell you, you don't. So don't let your brain tell you that you're not happy. If you take nothing away from this podcast, I didn't, wasn't even planning on saying that, but maybe that's the thing. Maybe that's the thing that you take away, right?

Allow what she was saying in this class that made me think of it was you get to allow yourself to feel good. You get to feel good. Like you deserve to feel good in your body. Okay. It's the same with, with eating. You get to feel good in your body. You deserve it. And another thought is it's not worth it.

This is a really useful one is, yeah, it tastes good, but it's just not worth it. I'm not willing to pay the cost of that temporary pleasure. Another one is I'm good. I've had enough like checking with your body. Like I'm good. I've had enough. I might want more. Yep, but I don't need more. That's another really common one that I find is very effective with my clients is sure I want it, but I don't need it.

And there's a lot of power there because I think because you're validating. The wanting you are recognizing the desire. You're not telling yourself that you don't want it, but you also are Stepping into your power of and I don't need it. And there's something very powerful about Wanting something and saying no because you know that you don't need it And then last one is all my decisions count So I like this one because oftentimes we can minimize the What we are doing in the moment.

So like this little by that little by we're telling ourselves, it doesn't really matter because that's kind of true. Like, is that one little thing going to get in the way of you reaching your natural weight ultimately? Probably not. But I find that a much more empowering thought is all my decisions count again.

It's just how you feel. It's how you tap into that, the power that you have all. If all my decisions count, then it matters. And it's important and I'm going to do what serves me best. All these thoughts that I offered, they're likely not automatic in your brain. Right now that I was really been reflecting on where I'm at now.

And like the success that I feel like I have now. And it's really, Because I have one got the coaching, but I've got the coaching because I wanted to change what my brain was doing. I wanted to change what my brain was offering. I wanted to change the actual neural pathways in my brain to change them into automatic thoughts.

Like I'm good. I've had enough. That made it easy for me to do that, right? So if these are not automatic for you right now, that's no problem. They can be with practice. So consider that you can lean into it, okay? You can do it gradually, you can try them on, just see how they feel. The other option is to expand your capacity for experiencing all emotion.

So let yourself experience some boredom. Some dread, some FOMO without turning to food. And if you remind your brain that this is simply a part of being human, you're not a robot, you're going to feel negative. Sometimes you're going to have bad days or even bad weeks. It will be easier. Okay. And the upside is that when you start doing this and you no longer use food to cope with your life, you'll feel very compelled.

To make some changes so that you decrease your boredom and your dread, right? You will feel very motivated to do these things, to make these changes. You might be eating to cope with a less than desirable job. Right now, or you're in a marriage. That's just not working for you anymore. Maybe you're in a relationship that's not working for you anymore, or maybe you're single and you really do want to be in partnership, but there's something that's holding you back from doing that.

So long as you allow yourself to continue to turn to food, it will serve as a viable distraction. You will also have the added distraction of extra weight on your body, too. This is likely familiar. And so, even though it's not something you want consciously, your brain wants it unconsciously, because it's a problem you're comfortable with.

Simply because it's familiar. But, when you get committed, like really, truly committed, to removing all That option of extra food, like it's not even an option anymore. You won't have any distractions and you will feel so inspired and compelled to deal with your life and to make some changes, and that can be really scary.

So it makes sense that you might go back to food. So I say this not to discourage you in any way or freak you out, just to add some understanding and hopefully a lot of compassion to yourself. If this is you, if you make some progress and then you find that the weight is not coming off or you're turning to food more.

One, it could be physio, it could be physiology. And then second, it could be because. Your brain kind of still needs this distraction. Like you're not quite ready. You don't have the capacity to experience those emotions without food and make some changes in your life. So it just makes sense. But just know that once you're clear on it, you're clear on what's really happening, you can change it when you're ready.

Okay. Whenever you want. Okay. So again, just going to wrap up here, but be sure to come to my workshop that I'm having. It's totally free. It's going to help you follow through on any plan that you want. So any program that you're doing right now or anything that you want to learn how to stick with it, anything that you in life that you're just like, I really need to stick with it.

I want to learn that skill. This workshop is really going to teach you that. So I can go to mindful shape. com and get on my list and I will send you all the details. Oh, and one last thing. If you have ever gained anything from this podcast, please how you can show your gratitude to me is really just by telling somebody else about it.

Okay. So just by sharing. that this podcast even exists, you have no idea how big of a difference that makes in terms of helping get the word out so that people like don't have to be stuck in diet culture and they know that it is possible that there's a different way. So if you are someone who is into this mindfulness approach when it comes to weight loss and you can think of a friend or your sister or somebody else who could benefit from it, um, please share it with them and I would be so grateful.

Okay. Thank you. Bye.