March 3, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode, registered dietitian, Heather Fiore, sheds light on how we can redefine our relationships with what we eat. Join us as we explore the complexities of food habits, emotional eating, and the powerful stories we tell ourselves about nourishment. Heather shares her professional insights and personal journey in making peace with food. We discuss the habits that form during childhood, their long-term effects, and the cultural contexts that shape our views on eating.
This episode isn't just for those looking to change their diet — it’s for anyone seeking to find balance and joy in the food they consume while letting go of guilt and shame. Whether you’re seeking to overcome emotional eating or just want a new perspective on your eating habits, this conversation provides valuable takeaway techniques and ideas to consider. Heather emphasizes the idea of approaching food with kindness, reconnecting with our bodies, and ultimately unlocking the potential for a more fulfilling relationship with what we eat.
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Are you feeling stuck ?
Is something holding you back?
Are there obstacles in your way?
Well, let's smash through thoseobstacles so that you can live
your best life.
Hi, I'm Matt Brooks, founder ofMatt Brooks Coaching, and I'm
fascinated with how peopleovercome barriers and achieve
success.
Join me for insights,strategies and inspiring stories
(00:35):
as we explore practical tipsand powerful tools to unlock
your full potential.
This is the Barrier BustingPodcast.
Well, welcome back everyone.
I'm Matt Brooks and I'm happyto have you here listening.
(00:58):
And for those of you who arenew to the show, welcome.
We are talking about habits forseveral weeks now and the good
news is today you don't have tolisten to me talk nonstop about
it.
I've got my first guest.
I'm very excited.
Let me just recap quickly whatwe've done in the last three
shows.
So, the first show we talkedabout how the brain, like,
automates habits, how the basalganglia remembers your behaviors
(01:22):
and automates habits throughwhat we call the habit loop,
which is a four-step process, ifyou recall.
There's a cue or a trigger ofsome kind and that triggers a
craving, which is the secondstep.
The craving triggers a routineto find the fourth step, which
is the reward that was discussedin my first show, my second
show, we talked about how tobuild good habits and build new
(01:44):
habits, and then last week wediscussed bad habits, which no
one wants to hear about, butwe've all got them, and we
discussed why they're so hard tobreak and we got some
interesting information abouthow to break them.
Today we're going to look athabits from a different
perspective, from theperspective of food.
Yes, I know nobody wants tohear this, but don't worry, I
(02:05):
promise.
I know nobody wants to hearthis, but don't worry, I promise
you're not going to hear aboutkale today.
You might hear a little bit,but no one's going to force kale
upon you today.
In fact, I have a dietician onthe show today who I had on
another show at one point andwhen I asked her about sugar and
what she thinks about sugar,she said well, sugar's delicious
, so you're not going to getlectured to today.
I'm very excited to welcomeHeather Fiore, who is a
(02:27):
registered dietitian in privatepractice in Lawrence, kansas,
although she is licensed to workwith people from several states
.
We're going to talk about thatin a little bit.
Her practice is called FreeState Nutrition.
She holds a degree innutritional science from Cornell
and a degree in healtheducation from SUNY Brockport.
She works with people of allages, but has had a career that
(02:48):
has placed an emphasis onchildren and adolescents and
those who struggle with diabetes.
You can find more about her andher practice at
wwwfreestatenutritioncom.
More fascinating to me, however, above all of it is the fact
that she and her family own apet bearded dragon.
Hmm, there's not something youhear every day.
(03:11):
So, heather, good morning,welcome and thanks for coming on
the show.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Hi Matt, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, it's a pleasure to see you again.
It's been a while, you know.
Before we get into the topic ofhabits, I want to hear a bit
more about you.
Okay, Like, first, you've beena dietitian for a long time over
two decades and you went toschool for it, which means you
somehow caught the bug for thisearly on.
So tell us, how did you catchthe bug?
What got you into this in thefirst place?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
this in the first place?
Well, it was a couple of verypersonal factors.
My grandmother was interestedin nutrition, not educated just
generally, wasn't really aneducated person, but she just
had sort of a sense about youknow nutrition and you know
would say things like, ah, youknow, maybe watch the butter on
your bread and you know thingslike that where she just like
kind of you know sort of I don'tknow, just sort of made us
(04:10):
aware a little bit about what wewere eating, not just like eat
a big plate of pasta and thebread to sop up the gravy, as
she called it, because we areItalian, so there was plenty of
pasta, but she just had thissense of like, yeah, maybe
balance makes more sense.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Which is interesting because my grandmother you grew
up in Jersey and my grandmotherwas Portuguese.
When she immigrated to thecountry she was kind of pushed
into a neighborhood withItalians right.
So my grandmother was all abouteat, eat, eat.
Whenever we'd go over to visither, she would just pummel us
with food.
And your grandmother was allabout eat, eat, eat.
Whenever we'd go over to visither, she would just pommel us
(04:47):
with food.
And your grandmother was prettymuch saying be careful, which
is interesting.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Right, like recognized that we we love with
food and we celebrate with food,and you know we mourn with food
.
Food is involved in all thesethings.
But you know, she just had thesense of like, oh, let's maybe
be a little bit sensible aboutit too.
And and then you know, she justhad the sense of like, oh,
let's maybe be a little bitsensible about it too.
And and then you know, I had myown sort of struggles with, you
know, body image and all thatkind of thing that actually
(05:13):
turned me away from studyingnutrition, because I thought
maybe this is like going to betoo much.
I have all these issuespersonally and then I'm going to
be studying and maybe that'smaybe I should go in a different
direction.
But I found my way back tonutrition and it ended up
helping me, of course through myown personal issues, which made
me really want to help othersdeal with their food issues in a
(05:39):
similar way, and so that's kindof been my guide.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You know it's not uncommon when I talk to people
in helping professions that whatdrew them there in the first
place was something thathappened in their own lives.
This is a pretty common thing.
It's why I'm in life coaching.
You know, I studied to be atherapist but I opted to become
a life coach because, you know,I had my own shit right.
That happened in my life.
That was tough to deal with,and when that happens, you're
(06:10):
searching for answers and you'researching for help, and so it's
not uncommon to hear that, andI think it's important to.
We can't emphasize it enough,because when you see someone in
a helping profession who hasbeen through things themselves,
you're getting actual.
You're not just gettinginformation that came from a
book in college.
You're getting real lifeexperience and there's something
very potent about that.
Now, would you say that goinginto this profession really
helped you become a whole person?
Do you feel this is really theniche for you?
(06:31):
I get the sense, yes, and canyou talk just briefly about how
that has enhanced your life?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Absolutely.
And I have to say you know, youmentioned I have been in
practice for over two decadesand I didn't this entire time I
wasn't totally focused on all ofthis.
I had lots of jobs and I didthis and I did that, and I
didn't always have the autonomyto practice in a way that I
wanted.
But especially since gettinginto my private practice about
(07:04):
seven years ago, I really cameinto myself as a professional
and realized, you know, sort ofremembered oh right, this is
where I did this in the firstplace and like getting people
out of this cycle that they'rein, of all the guilt and shame
(07:24):
and all that stuff it is, it isjust the honor of my life to do
it.
It is such a joy for me towitness.
It's incredible and I like I'mnot prone to hyperbole but it is
.
It's so life-changing forpeople that, like I can't deny
that it is truly an amazingthing that people experience and
(07:47):
I love being a part of it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Isn't that wonderful.
I mean, that's the reason I'mbringing up this kind of life
coach and I talk to people whofeel stuck and want to get
somewhere, and so it's great totalk to people who found that
center in their lives.
I want to ask you after workingas a dietitian in a number of
different settings, you decidedin 2017 to open up your own
(08:10):
practice, which takes tremendouscourage, by the way, to do
something like that.
Tell us about the experience ofopening your practice and how
well you already said how it'smade a difference in your life.
But what do you do with yourclients to help them find the
sweet spot of fulfillment?
I know you're not about guiltand shame when it comes to food,
(08:32):
so you know what is thatexperience of opening up your
practice.
It's very scary.
It takes a lot of courage.
And then how did that get youto a point where you are working
with people to find their sweetspot?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Absolutely.
So I have to admit, I sort ofstumbled into it.
We moved here to Kansas fromRochester, new York, and I
didn't know what I was going tobe doing.
I just sort of had anopportunity office oh we'd love
(09:09):
to have somebody to refer to andI was kind of like, oh, all
right, I guess that could be me,I guess I could try that, and
I've worked outpatient andthought it would be similar.
So you know, just kind of hungmy shingle up, I got myself a
little flip phone and that wasmy business line and some
business cards.
And I was, you know, I wasbasically ready to go Completely
clueless about what thisprocess looked like, what it's
like to work with people in thissetting and how it differs from
(09:32):
outpatient, like in a doctor'sclinic type of thing.
But I had the fortune of gettingconnected with a business coach
, which was life changing for mebecause he saved me like months
and months of time figuringstuff out on my own, like I was
charging very little, it was notgoing to be sustainable.
(09:53):
So he figured out, helped mefigure out a reasonable price to
charge and then a way topackage my services, and you
know even just the intensity ofworking with folks.
You know an outpatient, you seesomebody every three months and
even then sometimes people arelike, oh, the dietician again.
And here it's like I'm workingwith people every week or two
(10:13):
and like three weeks feels likeway too long.
I'm like, oh my gosh, how haveyou been?
I haven't seen you in so long.
And so it's like a verydifferent mentality of you know
the intensity of the work andthe amount you're able to get
done with folks because you'reseeing them so often and you
know, and I get an hour andnobody's knocking on the door
saying your next client'swaiting and all that stuff.
(10:34):
It is just, you know, it justreally gives us the time and the
space to work on what we needto work on.
And you know, I don't know itjust helps people really like
explore the root of things.
I'm not just here, you know,talking about the food pyramid,
although to do this, but likeyeah, why are you doing it?
(10:57):
Like that?
Like let's look at these thingsand explore how you might
change.
You know, back to your theme,like why is it like this?
(11:20):
And you know what would it belike to change to this or to try
this, and you know, kind ofjust go slowly with it.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, two thoughts came from that.
First, I was a kind of just goslowly with it.
Well, two thoughts came fromthat.
First, I was a child of theseventies.
So for my generation, if youget sick, you have saltines and
ginger ale, right, and paragoricthey used to give us paragoric
oh my God, was that horrible.
And but the other thing is, forthose out there that are, you
know, more prone to work with alife coach, that I love about
this story is this advice thatyou can see in a lot of places
(11:51):
just do it If you're not fullyready.
So what?
Just do it.
You'll learn it as you go.
You can plan and plan and plan,but action is what makes things
happen.
So you just jumped in, you dovein and then you learned it as
you went, which is the kind ofadvice I give people.
So that's spectacular.
I saw on.
So that's spectacular.
You know, I saw on your websitethat you are licensed to work
(12:13):
with people from several states.
I can't remember them all now,but it was like Texas.
Tell us all the states you'relicensed to work in.
And do you do telehealth?
Is that what you do with thepeople?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
from there, correct?
Yes, I do do telehealth Gosh.
Can I name all the states?
So I officially have a licensein Kansas and Missouri.
New York has a certification Ihave that and then Texas I just
got that license.
And then there are a few otherstates that don't require a
license of any kind, so they areon my list as well, like New
(12:42):
Jersey.
They've got like a licensinglaw on the books for the past
four years and it's actually notin place yet.
So in the meantime it's still.
You know, you can.
I can see people there.
I believe it's Colorado,california, virginia.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
And so you meet them over Zoom or something like that
, over Zoom, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yes, and I had that in place all along.
But, you know, COVID lockdownreally, you know, you know,
required all of us to sort ofjump into zoom full time and
realize, like gosh, I could beseeing people from anywhere.
You know this is.
It's a very similar service,Like, yeah, sitting in the same
room together is nice, buthonestly, zoom is, like you know
(13:24):
, pretty much the same.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, same with me.
I can see people from Europe ifthey want to want to click on.
But I wanted to make sure tobring that up because you're
terrific and I want people towork with you and not think that
, oh, I don't live in Kansas soI can't work with Heather.
No, you can work with her ifyou're from a lot of places.
Let's get into the topic athand, since we're talking about
habits.
That's been the series thatI've been doing.
Let's start real quick withwhat are some of the things you
(13:47):
see in your practice as a resultof lifelong bad habits.
What should we know?
Are there things that might beless than obvious to us?
Lay people, people who don'tthink about diet and
dietitian-related issues in ourregular day?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Sure, I think so many things, but one of the things
that I realize people are doing,maybe subconsciously in some
way, is a lot of people arefocused on trying to lose weight
, and so there's this sense oftrying to eat less, like always.
(14:25):
Even when they're not doing it,they're still in their mind
thinking I'm supposed to eatless.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
That is like drilled into our heads which, by the way
, often backfires right 100%,100%.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And so, you know, people start their day and they
think, well, the longer I gowithout food, the less I'll end
up eating, right, is thethinking?
So wake up in the morning,morning not feeling all that
hungry, skip breakfast, cool,have some coffee, skip lunch
maybe, or grab a littlesomething or other.
And so that's kind of the sortof the habit people get into is
like, oh, I don't eat breakfast,I'm not hungry for breakfast.
(15:00):
You know all the things I'veheard, all the things about why
people aren't eating in themorning, and it does become a
habit because your body is justlike, well, you know, I guess
this is what we're doing, so itdoesn't send hunger signals, and
you know, you just feel like,oh yeah, I'm just, I'm like one
of those people.
I don't, I don't eat breakfast.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, I might be guilty of that.
I think I told you that thatmight have been me.
You drink coffee until two inthe afternoon.
Then you're really over.
You're stupidly hungry and yougrab whatever you want, right?
You see that often.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yes, see it all the time, and it not only you know.
Affects like what dinner lookslike, especially if you're the
person that's supposed to gohome and cook and you're
starving.
You know you're probably goingto pick up the drive-thru on the
way home, because who wants torun home and start cooking when
you're starved?
And then usually, if you're uplate enough, a couple hours
(15:51):
later you're hungry againbecause you missed out on eating
all day and so now you'resnacking at night.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I know nothing about this.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
The thinking is like oh, I shouldn't be doing this,
but you're doing it becauseyou're, like, legitimately
hungry.
You might eat too much foodbecause of, again, the thoughts
you have about it.
And then that affects thatmorning.
Right Now you ate, you went tobed and of course you're not
hungry.
So it all starts again.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Right, right, right, right and just tell me about
real quick and I've got to breakfor a quick minute.
But when it comes to the topicof habits with food, it occurs
to me that so many of our habitsthat center around food were
sort of put in place in ourchildhoods.
Is that right?
I mean, wouldn't you agree withthat?
And how do you break those?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Because habits like that are hard to break most
definitely and I do try toexplain to people that you have
to you have to start with somegrace for yourself, right, like
you've been doing it this waymaybe for decades, and you were
sort of trained to do this forwhatever reason.
Maybe your parents, you know,taught you to clear your plate
(17:00):
or, you know, made you trythings or eat things that you
didn't want to eat, or just havethese rules about food that you
picked up on and you're like,okay, this is how we do things
and so you know I, you know I'mnot a therapist, I'm not trying
to like delve into theirchildhood and address that, but
just like recognize thatexplains a lot about why you do
(17:21):
things now.
So, like you know, why notthink about taking a different
approach, try something new anddifferent?
It's going to feeluncomfortable, but let's see how
it feels.
You know, like let's justapproach things with curiosity,
see how it feels.
If it's really terrible, don'tdo it, but let's try it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, and I just love the fact that you started this
whole thing with give yourselfsome grace.
That's a phrase I use a lot topeople who are beating
themselves up for things theylearned in their lives that have
caused them real problems.
Okay, start from a perspectiveof giving yourself grace.
(18:01):
That is a great place for us tostop for a second, just for a
quick break.
We're going to be right backand we are going to talk junk
food to talk junk food, feelingoverwhelmed, struggling to find
balance in your daily life.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
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(18:40):
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Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, sorry for the shameless plug, but I have to do
that, and don't I have a greatvoiceover artist, don't I?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I love it.
Yeah, she does a great job.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Somebody might know I believe right, I might.
So let's get back to why.
Do we develop these bad habitsaround food.
Talk about the mindset and inparticular, I'm interested in
the concept of junk food becauseI was reading, in one of the
books on habits that I've beenresearching, a discussion about
(19:22):
how our ancient ancestors, whenthey were foraging for food,
were looking for calorie-densefoods, but those were not as
common to find.
It was hard to find foods thatwere calorie-dense, which means
sugar, salt, fat, and so todayour world is rich with these
foods, these calorie-dense foods, but we still crave them
(19:42):
because those patterns areembedded in the base of our
minds that worry about where ournext meals come from, even
though we have McDonald'severywhere and food everywhere.
That's a powerful force tofight.
So let's talk about that andtalk about mindset.
How do we fight thousands andthousands of years of primitive
(20:06):
instincts?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yes, there's a couple things there.
One I will say is just this.
You know this idea of oh, thisis calorie dense and so we're
prone to crave that, and on onehand it's true, but on the other
hand, that habit I was justdescribing is part of how we end
up there.
When we're in this place ofrestriction, whether it's
(20:32):
intentional or not, you're muchmore prone to go for those foods
.
You know, you show up at homehaving barely eaten all day and
there's a bag of chips there.
You're going to eat the bag ofchips because you right hungry
and it's, it's delicious, it'squick and you know it's gonna
(20:52):
provide some calories.
You know it's just it'schecking all the boxes and um,
and then you know they they makeit so that they're not very
filling and then they're justlike they've got the, the I
don't know the flavor pattern.
That just makes you want tokeep going.
And so you, you know if you'rehungry, that just makes you want
to keep going.
And so you know if you'rehungry you're not really going
to get full, so you're justgoing to keep going.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So you're kind of sick.
It's super stimuli, right?
You know?
Yes, yes, and so you're goingto want to keep it.
I mean, yeah, I know, do notput a bag of potato chips or
Tootsie Rolls in my house.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It's not going to last the day.
I'm going to kill it in a dayand it's.
I know it's shameful, butthat's the problem, well, and
there's.
So there, there's the piecewhere you're showing up and
you're starving, so that'ssetting you up to do it.
The other piece there is thementality that you have around
chips, where you're thinkinglike these aren't good for me, I
(21:52):
shouldn't eat chips.
And so just that thought ofshowing up to eating, I
shouldn't eat this.
Once you eat one chip, youmight as well eat the whole bag,
because you've already done thething you just told yourself
not to do.
So what's the differencebetween one chip and 10 chips?
And you know a bag of chips andI was talking about in one of
my podcasts.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Sorry to interrupt, but about this habit loop in
terms of you see the donut, youcrave sugar.
You eat the donut, you get thesugar high.
But it could be that thecraving and the reward come from
a deeper place, a place ofdefiance which you're sort of
inferring right there.
Like you see the donut, youhear in your head all the people
that tell you do not eat thedonut, it's bad for you, don't
(22:30):
eat the donut.
You say, screw that, I'm goingto do what I want.
You eat the donut and you getthat feeling of you won, that
feeling of defiance.
And aren't I awesome because Idefied the rules.
Right?
That's a big problem with food,isn't it?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
100%, but One hundred percent.
But it's quickly followed bysome shame of like oh, I
shouldn't have done that, I wishI hadn't eaten that donut.
And next time you see a donutyou're like I'm the person that
eats the donut.
You know, I'm the guy that eatsthe whole bag of chips.
It's like a self-fulfillingprophecy.
And that brings me to you justtold yourself who you are.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
That's a perfect segue to my next question, which
was when you and I were talkingabout how we talk about food.
You said something reallyinteresting to me about how we
talk about food somehow shapeswho we are with our relationship
to food.
Right, talk about that a bit,yes.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, I think you know we can't just, you know eat
food and think, you know, I'mnourishing my body.
We have all these thoughts andfeelings about it again, like
maybe going back to yourchildhood, maybe your parents
didn't allow you to eat cookies,or there was no candy in the
house, or whatever it is, andyou know.
And so it isn't just a food,it's something you weren't
(23:42):
supposed to have or it's youknow something.
Again you get into this patternwhere you feel like I can't
trust myself around this foodand you're reinforcing this
message that you're not somebodywho can be trusted around food.
You know, and that's sort ofthe story you're telling
yourself about.
You know how you act with thisfood instead of just like I
(24:06):
don't know, maybe it's just food, maybe today you only need one
piece of candy, Maybe tomorrowyou need three pieces who cares?
Like it doesn't actually matterin the grand scheme of things,
but in your mind it feels likethis very big deal and that just
sort of makes it harder tomanage and it feels, yeah, it
feels like, oh, I just eat allthe thing, all the time.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So we really need to pay attention to how we talk
about food with ourselves, right, and not just.
I mean, it's sort of like how,you know, we're always told
listen to our bodies.
We need to listen to our wordstoo, right?
That's kind of what you'resaying, Right?
Okay?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, yes.
A hundred percent, when we relytoo much on our brain and
you've got like, oh, don't dothis or do do this on one side
or the other, you're all mixedup in there.
But if your body is going totell you like, yes, I feel like
eating a donut, or no, I don'tfeel like eating a donut today,
but your brain is always likedonut.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
My body has never told me no, I don't feel like
eating potato chips.
Today, I'm going to admit thatI'm guilty.
I'm older now, so I try not toeat things like that very often.
But yes, there was a time wheremy body would say, no, you want
those, you need them, eat asmany as you want, and that you
know that sounds like your brain, not your stomach.
Right?
Exactly, I'm sure it was, butlet's use this as a segue into
(25:27):
another topic that I think isreally important Emotional
eating.
Right, and I found an articleon CNN by a Madeline Holcomb
that was saying that emotionaleating isn't always so bad.
That was like the titleEmotional eating isn't always so
bad and I was fascinated bythat, because all we hear is
shameful things that make usfeel guilty and shameful.
(25:49):
And this article was sayingessentially that, yeah, it can
get out of hand, but that foodhas a place in many areas, not
just in terms of nutrition.
It's something we do culturallyyou referred to that earlier.
It's something we do for many,many reasons, and sometimes we
use it as a coping mechanism,right.
So what do you think?
(26:10):
I sent you that article and youread it.
What did you think?
Do you think emotional eatingis a bad thing?
Fill us in from a registereddietician's perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, I absolutely agreed with the article and the
folks that were quoted in therethat you know.
Again, it's like approachingyourself with grace.
This is something that you do,you know.
Is it the only way that youmanage a certain feeling?
If so, that might be somethingto look at.
Right, maybe you need to talkto somebody about that.
(26:41):
Maybe you need to figure outother strategies for managing
that, that emotion or or orsituation.
But it can be in your toolbox,like sometimes food helps,
sometimes you had a tough day,you sit down, you want to relax
and you know a bowl of chocolateice cream might be just the
thing, and other times it's not,like it might be the thing you
(27:05):
think of eating.
But then you know you eat thething and you're like well, I'm
actually still feeling whateverway, right, and maybe that
wasn't the best choice that day.
Maybe something else, maybetaking a walk or talking to
somebody or whatever, would havebeen better.
But you really just want toconsider is this the thing that
I, that I need and want rightnow?
(27:26):
Is this going to be the bestway to serve myself?
If so, then go right ahead, eatthe thing or do whatever it is
you're thinking you're going todo, as long as it's not harming
you.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Well, what I liked about the article and what
you're saying is that our bodiesand our minds are not separate.
They work in different ways,but they're all part of one
whole.
They work in different ways,but they're all part of one
whole.
And the reason they call itcomfort food is because
sometimes we need comfort.
Right, we just do.
It's a question about and againwith the cultural traditions.
(27:58):
So much food is centered aroundcelebrations and I'm in Jersey
now and everything has pasta.
Oh my God, I've never seen somuch pasta in my life.
Everything you know tomatoesthose are the things that you
see all the time and but you seepeople celebrating around that
like there's special pastadishes for Christmas and other
(28:18):
times of the year, and and yousee the families enjoying
themselves and that has apositive impact on our overall
wellbeing.
Right, even if it's food maybewe shouldn't really eat, it does
have a positive impact.
So when does it go over theline?
When is comfort food eating orjunk food eating, or emotional
(28:40):
eating?
When is it a sign that maybe weshould get some help?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
that maybe we should get some help.
So I mean, one example would beso I mean, food is all food is
fine, right, there's nothingthat's totally off limits and
that if you ate it, ever it'sbad.
So eating, you know, food inthat situation in general is
fine If it turns into a bingesituation, meaning it feels out
(29:07):
of control.
Sometimes someone who's bingingwill describe it as almost like
dissociating, like they barelyeven know they're doing it.
If you're in the situationwhere you are eating a very
large volume of food, you know,not just you know, not just like
eating a large portion atdinner, or two portions or
(29:29):
something, but a very largevolume in a short amount of time
, it barely registers, you know,you just, you just do it before
you even realize you've done itand it feels compulsive.
That's a problem.
That is something that youmaybe probably need some help
addressing.
That's where we are concernedabout, and I don't even know if
(29:52):
I describe that as emotionaleating, but it could start there
, I suppose.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Okay, well, I'm glad you said binge eating.
You keep leading me into mynext things because we are out
of time for today, but we aregoing to have you back,
heather's coming back, for nextweek's show, which is awesome of
you.
Thank you, heather, and we'regoing to talk about binge eating
and in-depth and overeating andthings like that, but that is
all for today.
(30:17):
I want to thank Heather Fiorefor joining us, remember you can
find out more about her atwwwfreestatenutritioncom, and
join us again next week to hearmore, because we have many more
topics to discuss.
For now, thank you so much forlistening.
If you've enjoyed this, pleasehit the subscribe or follow
button so you'll be notifiedevery time I drop a new show,
(30:38):
especially next week's whenHeather comes back.
Thank you for listening and wewill catch you next time on the
Barrier Busting Podcast.
Thank you.
Are you feeling stuck ?
Is something holding you back?
Are there obstacles in your way?
Well, let's smash through thoseobstacles so that you can live
your best life.
Hi, I'm Matt Brooks, founder ofMatt Brooks Coaching, and I'm
fascinated with how peopleovercome barriers and achieve
success.
Join me for insights,strategies and inspiring stories
(00:35):
as we explore practical tipsand powerful tools to unlock
your full potential.
This is the Barrier BustingPodcast.
Well, welcome back everyone.
I'm Matt Brooks and I'm happyto have you here listening.
(00:58):
And for those of you who arenew to the show, welcome.
We are talking about habits forseveral weeks now and the good
news is today you don't have tolisten to me talk nonstop about
it.
I've got my first guest.
I'm very excited.
Let me just recap quickly whatwe've done in the last three
shows.
So, the first show we talkedabout how the brain, like,
automates habits, how the basalganglia remembers your behaviors
(01:22):
and automates habits throughwhat we call the habit loop,
which is a four-step process, ifyou recall.
There's a cue or a trigger ofsome kind and that triggers a
craving, which is the secondstep.
The craving triggers a routineto find the fourth step, which
is the reward that was discussedin my first show, my second
show, we talked about how tobuild good habits and build new
(01:44):
habits, and then last week wediscussed bad habits, which no
one wants to hear about, butwe've all got them, and we
discussed why they're so hard tobreak and we got some
interesting information abouthow to break them.
Today we're going to look athabits from a different
perspective, from theperspective of food.
Yes, I know nobody wants tohear this, but don't worry, I
(02:05):
promise.
I know nobody wants to hearthis, but don't worry, I promise
you're not going to hear aboutkale today.
You might hear a little bit,but no one's going to force kale
upon you today.
In fact, I have a dietician onthe show today who I had on
another show at one point andwhen I asked her about sugar and
what she thinks about sugar,she said well, sugar's delicious
, so you're not going to getlectured to today.
I'm very excited to welcomeHeather Fiore, who is a
(02:27):
registered dietitian in privatepractice in Lawrence, kansas,
although she is licensed to workwith people from several states
.
We're going to talk about thatin a little bit.
Her practice is called FreeState Nutrition.
She holds a degree innutritional science from Cornell
and a degree in healtheducation from SUNY Brockport.
She works with people of allages, but has had a career that
(02:48):
has placed an emphasis onchildren and adolescents and
those who struggle with diabetes.
You can find more about her andher practice at
wwwfreestatenutritioncom.
More fascinating to me, however, above all of it is the fact
that she and her family own apet bearded dragon.
Hmm, there's not something youhear every day.
(03:11):
So, heather, good morning,welcome and thanks for coming on
the show.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Hi Matt, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, it's a pleasure to see you again.
It's been a while, you know.
Before we get into the topic ofhabits, I want to hear a bit
more about you.
Okay, Like, first, you've beena dietitian for a long time over
two decades and you went toschool for it, which means you
somehow caught the bug for thisearly on.
So tell us, how did you catchthe bug?
What got you into this in thefirst place?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
this in the first place?
Well, it was a couple of verypersonal factors.
My grandmother was interestedin nutrition, not educated just
generally, wasn't really aneducated person, but she just
had sort of a sense about youknow nutrition and you know
would say things like, ah, youknow, maybe watch the butter on
your bread and you know thingslike that where she just like
kind of you know sort of I don'tknow, just sort of made us
(04:10):
aware a little bit about what wewere eating, not just like eat
a big plate of pasta and thebread to sop up the gravy, as
she called it, because we areItalian, so there was plenty of
pasta, but she just had thissense of like, yeah, maybe
balance makes more sense.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Which is interesting because my grandmother you grew
up in Jersey and my grandmotherwas Portuguese.
When she immigrated to thecountry she was kind of pushed
into a neighborhood withItalians right.
So my grandmother was all abouteat, eat, eat.
Whenever we'd go over to visither, she would just pummel us
with food.
And your grandmother was allabout eat, eat, eat.
Whenever we'd go over to visither, she would just pommel us
(04:47):
with food.
And your grandmother was prettymuch saying be careful, which
is interesting.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Right, like recognized that we we love with
food and we celebrate with food,and you know we mourn with food
.
Food is involved in all thesethings.
But you know, she just had thesense of like, oh, let's maybe
be a little bit sensible aboutit too.
And and then you know, she justhad the sense of like, oh,
let's maybe be a little bitsensible about it too.
And and then you know, I had myown sort of struggles with, you
know, body image and all thatkind of thing that actually
(05:13):
turned me away from studyingnutrition, because I thought
maybe this is like going to betoo much.
I have all these issuespersonally and then I'm going to
be studying and maybe that'smaybe I should go in a different
direction.
But I found my way back tonutrition and it ended up
helping me, of course through myown personal issues, which made
me really want to help othersdeal with their food issues in a
(05:39):
similar way, and so that's kindof been my guide.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You know it's not uncommon when I talk to people
in helping professions that whatdrew them there in the first
place was something thathappened in their own lives.
This is a pretty common thing.
It's why I'm in life coaching.
You know, I studied to be atherapist but I opted to become
a life coach because, you know,I had my own shit right.
That happened in my life.
That was tough to deal with,and when that happens, you're
(06:10):
searching for answers and you'researching for help, and so it's
not uncommon to hear that, andI think it's important to.
We can't emphasize it enough,because when you see someone in
a helping profession who hasbeen through things themselves,
you're getting actual.
You're not just gettinginformation that came from a
book in college.
You're getting real lifeexperience and there's something
very potent about that.
Now, would you say that goinginto this profession really
helped you become a whole person?
Do you feel this is really theniche for you?
(06:31):
I get the sense, yes, and canyou talk just briefly about how
that has enhanced your life?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Absolutely.
And I have to say you know, youmentioned I have been in
practice for over two decadesand I didn't this entire time I
wasn't totally focused on all ofthis.
I had lots of jobs and I didthis and I did that, and I
didn't always have the autonomyto practice in a way that I
wanted.
But especially since gettinginto my private practice about
(07:04):
seven years ago, I really cameinto myself as a professional
and realized, you know, sort ofremembered oh right, this is
where I did this in the firstplace and like getting people
out of this cycle that they'rein, of all the guilt and shame
(07:24):
and all that stuff it is, it isjust the honor of my life to do
it.
It is such a joy for me towitness.
It's incredible and I like I'mnot prone to hyperbole but it is
.
It's so life-changing forpeople that, like I can't deny
that it is truly an amazingthing that people experience and
(07:47):
I love being a part of it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Isn't that wonderful.
I mean, that's the reason I'mbringing up this kind of life
coach and I talk to people whofeel stuck and want to get
somewhere, and so it's great totalk to people who found that
center in their lives.
I want to ask you after workingas a dietitian in a number of
different settings, you decidedin 2017 to open up your own
(08:10):
practice, which takes tremendouscourage, by the way, to do
something like that.
Tell us about the experience ofopening your practice and how
well you already said how it'smade a difference in your life.
But what do you do with yourclients to help them find the
sweet spot of fulfillment?
I know you're not about guiltand shame when it comes to food,
(08:32):
so you know what is thatexperience of opening up your
practice.
It's very scary.
It takes a lot of courage.
And then how did that get youto a point where you are working
with people to find their sweetspot?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Absolutely.
So I have to admit, I sort ofstumbled into it.
We moved here to Kansas fromRochester, new York, and I
didn't know what I was going tobe doing.
I just sort of had anopportunity office oh we'd love
(09:09):
to have somebody to refer to andI was kind of like, oh, all
right, I guess that could be me,I guess I could try that, and
I've worked outpatient andthought it would be similar.
So you know, just kind of hungmy shingle up, I got myself a
little flip phone and that wasmy business line and some
business cards.
And I was, you know, I wasbasically ready to go Completely
clueless about what thisprocess looked like, what it's
like to work with people in thissetting and how it differs from
(09:32):
outpatient, like in a doctor'sclinic type of thing.
But I had the fortune of gettingconnected with a business coach
, which was life changing for mebecause he saved me like months
and months of time figuringstuff out on my own, like I was
charging very little, it was notgoing to be sustainable.
(09:53):
So he figured out, helped mefigure out a reasonable price to
charge and then a way topackage my services, and you
know even just the intensity ofworking with folks.
You know an outpatient, you seesomebody every three months and
even then sometimes people arelike, oh, the dietician again.
And here it's like I'm workingwith people every week or two
(10:13):
and like three weeks feels likeway too long.
I'm like, oh my gosh, how haveyou been?
I haven't seen you in so long.
And so it's like a verydifferent mentality of you know
the intensity of the work andthe amount you're able to get
done with folks because you'reseeing them so often and you
know, and I get an hour andnobody's knocking on the door
saying your next client'swaiting and all that stuff.
(10:34):
It is just, you know, it justreally gives us the time and the
space to work on what we needto work on.
And you know, I don't know itjust helps people really like
explore the root of things.
I'm not just here, you know,talking about the food pyramid,
although to do this, but likeyeah, why are you doing it?
(10:57):
Like that?
Like let's look at these thingsand explore how you might
change.
You know, back to your theme,like why is it like this?
(11:20):
And you know what would it belike to change to this or to try
this, and you know, kind ofjust go slowly with it.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, two thoughts came from that.
First, I was a kind of just goslowly with it.
Well, two thoughts came fromthat.
First, I was a child of theseventies.
So for my generation, if youget sick, you have saltines and
ginger ale, right, and paragoricthey used to give us paragoric
oh my God, was that horrible.
And but the other thing is, forthose out there that are, you
know, more prone to work with alife coach, that I love about
this story is this advice thatyou can see in a lot of places
(11:51):
just do it If you're not fullyready.
So what?
Just do it.
You'll learn it as you go.
You can plan and plan and plan,but action is what makes things
happen.
So you just jumped in, you dovein and then you learned it as
you went, which is the kind ofadvice I give people.
So that's spectacular.
I saw on.
So that's spectacular.
You know, I saw on your websitethat you are licensed to work
(12:13):
with people from several states.
I can't remember them all now,but it was like Texas.
Tell us all the states you'relicensed to work in.
And do you do telehealth?
Is that what you do with thepeople?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
from there, correct?
Yes, I do do telehealth Gosh.
Can I name all the states?
So I officially have a licensein Kansas and Missouri.
New York has a certification Ihave that and then Texas I just
got that license.
And then there are a few otherstates that don't require a
license of any kind, so they areon my list as well, like New
(12:42):
Jersey.
They've got like a licensinglaw on the books for the past
four years and it's actually notin place yet.
So in the meantime it's still.
You know, you can.
I can see people there.
I believe it's Colorado,california, virginia.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
And so you meet them over Zoom or something like that
, over Zoom, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yes, and I had that in place all along.
But, you know, COVID lockdownreally, you know, you know,
required all of us to sort ofjump into zoom full time and
realize, like gosh, I could beseeing people from anywhere.
You know this is.
It's a very similar service,Like, yeah, sitting in the same
room together is nice, buthonestly, zoom is, like you know
(13:24):
, pretty much the same.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, same with me.
I can see people from Europe ifthey want to want to click on.
But I wanted to make sure tobring that up because you're
terrific and I want people towork with you and not think that
, oh, I don't live in Kansas soI can't work with Heather.
No, you can work with her ifyou're from a lot of places.
Let's get into the topic athand, since we're talking about
habits.
That's been the series thatI've been doing.
Let's start real quick withwhat are some of the things you
(13:47):
see in your practice as a resultof lifelong bad habits.
What should we know?
Are there things that might beless than obvious to us?
Lay people, people who don'tthink about diet and
dietitian-related issues in ourregular day?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Sure, I think so many things, but one of the things
that I realize people are doing,maybe subconsciously in some
way, is a lot of people arefocused on trying to lose weight
, and so there's this sense oftrying to eat less, like always.
(14:25):
Even when they're not doing it,they're still in their mind
thinking I'm supposed to eatless.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
That is like drilled into our heads which, by the way
, often backfires right 100%,100%.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And so, you know, people start their day and they
think, well, the longer I gowithout food, the less I'll end
up eating, right, is thethinking?
So wake up in the morning,morning not feeling all that
hungry, skip breakfast, cool,have some coffee, skip lunch
maybe, or grab a littlesomething or other.
And so that's kind of the sortof the habit people get into is
like, oh, I don't eat breakfast,I'm not hungry for breakfast.
(15:00):
You know all the things I'veheard, all the things about why
people aren't eating in themorning, and it does become a
habit because your body is justlike, well, you know, I guess
this is what we're doing, so itdoesn't send hunger signals, and
you know, you just feel like,oh yeah, I'm just, I'm like one
of those people.
I don't, I don't eat breakfast.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, I might be guilty of that.
I think I told you that thatmight have been me.
You drink coffee until two inthe afternoon.
Then you're really over.
You're stupidly hungry and yougrab whatever you want, right?
You see that often.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yes, see it all the time, and it not only you know.
Affects like what dinner lookslike, especially if you're the
person that's supposed to gohome and cook and you're
starving.
You know you're probably goingto pick up the drive-thru on the
way home, because who wants torun home and start cooking when
you're starved?
And then usually, if you're uplate enough, a couple hours
(15:51):
later you're hungry againbecause you missed out on eating
all day and so now you'resnacking at night.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I know nothing about this.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
The thinking is like oh, I shouldn't be doing this,
but you're doing it becauseyou're, like, legitimately
hungry.
You might eat too much foodbecause of, again, the thoughts
you have about it.
And then that affects thatmorning.
Right Now you ate, you went tobed and of course you're not
hungry.
So it all starts again.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Right, right, right, right and just tell me about
real quick and I've got to breakfor a quick minute.
But when it comes to the topicof habits with food, it occurs
to me that so many of our habitsthat center around food were
sort of put in place in ourchildhoods.
Is that right?
I mean, wouldn't you agree withthat?
And how do you break those?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Because habits like that are hard to break most
definitely and I do try toexplain to people that you have
to you have to start with somegrace for yourself, right, like
you've been doing it this waymaybe for decades, and you were
sort of trained to do this forwhatever reason.
Maybe your parents, you know,taught you to clear your plate
(17:00):
or, you know, made you trythings or eat things that you
didn't want to eat, or just havethese rules about food that you
picked up on and you're like,okay, this is how we do things
and so you know I, you know I'mnot a therapist, I'm not trying
to like delve into theirchildhood and address that, but
just like recognize thatexplains a lot about why you do
(17:21):
things now.
So, like you know, why notthink about taking a different
approach, try something new anddifferent?
It's going to feeluncomfortable, but let's see how
it feels.
You know, like let's justapproach things with curiosity,
see how it feels.
If it's really terrible, don'tdo it, but let's try it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah, and I just love the fact that you started this
whole thing with give yourselfsome grace.
That's a phrase I use a lot topeople who are beating
themselves up for things theylearned in their lives that have
caused them real problems.
Okay, start from a perspectiveof giving yourself grace.
(18:01):
That is a great place for us tostop for a second, just for a
quick break.
We're going to be right backand we are going to talk junk
food to talk junk food, feelingoverwhelmed, struggling to find
balance in your daily life.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
At Matt Brooks Coaching, we get it and we can
help.
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with a clinical focus, mattBrooks offers personalized
coaching designed to help yourise above your challenges and
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simply find more clarity andpeace, matt is here to be your
(18:40):
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Visit mattbrookscoachingcom tobook your free discovery session
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Take the first step towards abrighter tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, sorry for the shameless plug, but I have to do
that, and don't I have a greatvoiceover artist, don't I?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I love it.
Yeah, she does a great job.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Somebody might know I believe right, I might.
So let's get back to why.
Do we develop these bad habitsaround food.
Talk about the mindset and inparticular, I'm interested in
the concept of junk food becauseI was reading, in one of the
books on habits that I've beenresearching, a discussion about
(19:22):
how our ancient ancestors, whenthey were foraging for food,
were looking for calorie-densefoods, but those were not as
common to find.
It was hard to find foods thatwere calorie-dense, which means
sugar, salt, fat, and so todayour world is rich with these
foods, these calorie-dense foods, but we still crave them
(19:42):
because those patterns areembedded in the base of our
minds that worry about where ournext meals come from, even
though we have McDonald'severywhere and food everywhere.
That's a powerful force tofight.
So let's talk about that andtalk about mindset.
How do we fight thousands andthousands of years of primitive
(20:06):
instincts?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yes, there's a couple things there.
One I will say is just this.
You know this idea of oh, thisis calorie dense and so we're
prone to crave that, and on onehand it's true, but on the other
hand, that habit I was justdescribing is part of how we end
up there.
When we're in this place ofrestriction, whether it's
(20:32):
intentional or not, you're muchmore prone to go for those foods
.
You know, you show up at homehaving barely eaten all day and
there's a bag of chips there.
You're going to eat the bag ofchips because you right hungry
and it's, it's delicious, it'squick and you know it's gonna
(20:52):
provide some calories.
You know it's just it'schecking all the boxes and um,
and then you know they they makeit so that they're not very
filling and then they're justlike they've got the, the I
don't know the flavor pattern.
That just makes you want tokeep going.
And so you, you know if you'rehungry, that just makes you want
to keep going.
And so you know if you'rehungry you're not really going
to get full, so you're justgoing to keep going.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So you're kind of sick.
It's super stimuli, right?
You know?
Yes, yes, and so you're goingto want to keep it.
I mean, yeah, I know, do notput a bag of potato chips or
Tootsie Rolls in my house.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It's not going to last the day.
I'm going to kill it in a dayand it's.
I know it's shameful, butthat's the problem, well, and
there's.
So there, there's the piecewhere you're showing up and
you're starving, so that'ssetting you up to do it.
The other piece there is thementality that you have around
chips, where you're thinkinglike these aren't good for me, I
(21:52):
shouldn't eat chips.
And so just that thought ofshowing up to eating, I
shouldn't eat this.
Once you eat one chip, youmight as well eat the whole bag,
because you've already done thething you just told yourself
not to do.
So what's the differencebetween one chip and 10 chips?
And you know a bag of chips andI was talking about in one of
my podcasts.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Sorry to interrupt, but about this habit loop in
terms of you see the donut, youcrave sugar.
You eat the donut, you get thesugar high.
But it could be that thecraving and the reward come from
a deeper place, a place ofdefiance which you're sort of
inferring right there.
Like you see the donut, youhear in your head all the people
that tell you do not eat thedonut, it's bad for you, don't
(22:30):
eat the donut.
You say, screw that, I'm goingto do what I want.
You eat the donut and you getthat feeling of you won, that
feeling of defiance.
And aren't I awesome because Idefied the rules.
Right?
That's a big problem with food,isn't it?
Speaker 2 (22:43):
100%, but One hundred percent.
But it's quickly followed bysome shame of like oh, I
shouldn't have done that, I wishI hadn't eaten that donut.
And next time you see a donutyou're like I'm the person that
eats the donut.
You know, I'm the guy that eatsthe whole bag of chips.
It's like a self-fulfillingprophecy.
And that brings me to you justtold yourself who you are.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
That's a perfect segue to my next question, which
was when you and I were talkingabout how we talk about food.
You said something reallyinteresting to me about how we
talk about food somehow shapeswho we are with our relationship
to food.
Right, talk about that a bit,yes.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yes, I think you know we can't just, you know eat
food and think, you know, I'mnourishing my body.
We have all these thoughts andfeelings about it again, like
maybe going back to yourchildhood, maybe your parents
didn't allow you to eat cookies,or there was no candy in the
house, or whatever it is, andyou know.
And so it isn't just a food,it's something you weren't
(23:42):
supposed to have or it's youknow something.
Again you get into this patternwhere you feel like I can't
trust myself around this foodand you're reinforcing this
message that you're not somebodywho can be trusted around food.
You know, and that's sort ofthe story you're telling
yourself about.
You know how you act with thisfood instead of just like I
(24:06):
don't know, maybe it's just food, maybe today you only need one
piece of candy, Maybe tomorrowyou need three pieces who cares?
Like it doesn't actually matterin the grand scheme of things,
but in your mind it feels likethis very big deal and that just
sort of makes it harder tomanage and it feels, yeah, it
feels like, oh, I just eat allthe thing, all the time.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So we really need to pay attention to how we talk
about food with ourselves, right, and not just.
I mean, it's sort of like how,you know, we're always told
listen to our bodies.
We need to listen to our wordstoo, right?
That's kind of what you'resaying, Right?
Okay?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, yes.
A hundred percent, when we relytoo much on our brain and
you've got like, oh, don't dothis or do do this on one side
or the other, you're all mixedup in there.
But if your body is going totell you like, yes, I feel like
eating a donut, or no, I don'tfeel like eating a donut today,
but your brain is always likedonut.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
My body has never told me no, I don't feel like
eating potato chips.
Today, I'm going to admit thatI'm guilty.
I'm older now, so I try not toeat things like that very often.
But yes, there was a time wheremy body would say, no, you want
those, you need them, eat asmany as you want, and that you
know that sounds like your brain, not your stomach.
Right?
Exactly, I'm sure it was, butlet's use this as a segue into
(25:27):
another topic that I think isreally important Emotional
eating.
Right, and I found an articleon CNN by a Madeline Holcomb
that was saying that emotionaleating isn't always so bad.
That was like the titleEmotional eating isn't always so
bad and I was fascinated bythat, because all we hear is
shameful things that make usfeel guilty and shameful.
(25:49):
And this article was sayingessentially that, yeah, it can
get out of hand, but that foodhas a place in many areas, not
just in terms of nutrition.
It's something we do culturallyyou referred to that earlier.
It's something we do for many,many reasons, and sometimes we
use it as a coping mechanism,right.
So what do you think?
(26:10):
I sent you that article and youread it.
What did you think?
Do you think emotional eatingis a bad thing?
Fill us in from a registereddietician's perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, I absolutely agreed with the article and the
folks that were quoted in therethat you know.
Again, it's like approachingyourself with grace.
This is something that you do,you know.
Is it the only way that youmanage a certain feeling?
If so, that might be somethingto look at.
Right, maybe you need to talkto somebody about that.
(26:41):
Maybe you need to figure outother strategies for managing
that, that emotion or or orsituation.
But it can be in your toolbox,like sometimes food helps,
sometimes you had a tough day,you sit down, you want to relax
and you know a bowl of chocolateice cream might be just the
thing, and other times it's not,like it might be the thing you
(27:05):
think of eating.
But then you know you eat thething and you're like well, I'm
actually still feeling whateverway, right, and maybe that
wasn't the best choice that day.
Maybe something else, maybetaking a walk or talking to
somebody or whatever, would havebeen better.
But you really just want toconsider is this the thing that
I, that I need and want rightnow?
(27:26):
Is this going to be the bestway to serve myself?
If so, then go right ahead, eatthe thing or do whatever it is
you're thinking you're going todo, as long as it's not harming
you.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Well, what I liked about the article and what
you're saying is that our bodiesand our minds are not separate.
They work in different ways,but they're all part of one
whole.
They work in different ways,but they're all part of one
whole.
And the reason they call itcomfort food is because
sometimes we need comfort.
Right, we just do.
It's a question about and againwith the cultural traditions.
(27:58):
So much food is centered aroundcelebrations and I'm in Jersey
now and everything has pasta.
Oh my God, I've never seen somuch pasta in my life.
Everything you know tomatoesthose are the things that you
see all the time and but you seepeople celebrating around that
like there's special pastadishes for Christmas and other
(28:18):
times of the year, and and yousee the families enjoying
themselves and that has apositive impact on our overall
wellbeing.
Right, even if it's food maybewe shouldn't really eat, it does
have a positive impact.
So when does it go over theline?
When is comfort food eating orjunk food eating, or emotional
(28:40):
eating?
When is it a sign that maybe weshould get some help?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
that maybe we should get some help.
So I mean, one example would beso I mean, food is all food is
fine, right, there's nothingthat's totally off limits and
that if you ate it, ever it'sbad.
So eating, you know, food inthat situation in general is
fine If it turns into a bingesituation, meaning it feels out
(29:07):
of control.
Sometimes someone who's bingingwill describe it as almost like
dissociating, like they barelyeven know they're doing it.
If you're in the situationwhere you are eating a very
large volume of food, you know,not just you know, not just like
eating a large portion atdinner, or two portions or
(29:29):
something, but a very largevolume in a short amount of time
, it barely registers, you know,you just, you just do it before
you even realize you've done itand it feels compulsive.
That's a problem.
That is something that youmaybe probably need some help
addressing.
That's where we are concernedabout, and I don't even know if
(29:52):
I describe that as emotionaleating, but it could start there
, I suppose.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Okay, well, I'm glad you said binge eating.
You keep leading me into mynext things because we are out
of time for today, but we aregoing to have you back,
heather's coming back, for nextweek's show, which is awesome of
you.
Thank you, heather, and we'regoing to talk about binge eating
and in-depth and overeating andthings like that, but that is
all for today.
(30:17):
I want to thank Heather Fiorefor joining us, remember you can
find out more about her atwwwfreestatenutritioncom, and
join us again next week to hearmore, because we have many more
topics to discuss.
For now, thank you so much forlistening.
If you've enjoyed this, pleasehit the subscribe or follow
button so you'll be notifiedevery time I drop a new show,
(30:38):
especially next week's whenHeather comes back.
Thank you for listening and wewill catch you next time on the
Barrier Busting Podcast.
Thank you.
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