Why diets don't work and what to do instead

9:  In this episode, I explore the mindset behind dieting and why it doesn't provide long term success. I also discuss emotional eating and how to make the change to intuitive eating if you want lasting results.

You can learn more about my Finally Free ™ Program here:  https://brigittefactor.com/finally-free/

You can take the emotional eating survey here:  http://bit.ly/39KtnAp

Take the Happy Gut Key Quiz:
https://brigittefactor.com/happygutkeyquiz

Episode Transcript

Brigitte Factor (00:13):
Hello, and welcome to the hungry for truth
podcast. I'm your host, BrigitteFactor, the truth seeker,
researcher, scientist,nutritionist, teacher in truth
teller, and awakening is coming.
Get ready for it.

(00:46):
Welcome back to the hungry fortruth podcast. I'm so glad
you're here. This is going to beanother informative and fun
episode, we're going to betalking about diets. Yes, that
ugly word diets. And we're goingto be looking at why diets don't
work. And what we can doinstead. And it's the beginning

(01:10):
of the year, and a lot of peopleare considering going on a diet
or some type of health change,whether it's going to the gym or
changing the way we eat.
Oftentimes, those changes don'tlast very long, because the
motivation to make those doesn'tlast very long, or we haven't
set up the environment to makeit successful for us. So I want

(01:31):
to dive into that today. Talkabout why dieting doesn't work.
And there are lots of reasonswhy diets don't work. Some
reasons involve the physiologyor the metabolism changes that
happen when we restrict theamount of food that we're
eating.
You know, the biggest loser is aclassic example of this, when we

(01:55):
go on crash diets, and we lose alot of weight. Really quickly,
we alter our metabolic rate insuch a way that when we go back
to the environment that we werein, our metabolism has changed
that it can't keep up with aweight loss, and it makes it
easier for us to gain the weightback. And so this is why we see

(02:18):
in, you know, cases, like thebiggest loser participants,
where most of them gain theweight back. It's not because
they failed, it's because theytheir metabolism had changed in
a way their metabolism hadshifted in a way to to basically
down regulate to match the lowlevel of energy intake. And I'm

(02:43):
not going to go into the scienceof that in this lesson. Because
really, what I wanted to talkabout was the other side of why
diets don't work. And that isour mindset, or the psychology,
of dieting. And if we eat foodwith the wrong mindset, we won't
get the results that we want ifwe are tapping into willpower,

(03:07):
and just trying to muscle ourway through, or we approach it
from a place of feeling deprivedor feeling that we're not good
enough or that we can't dothings or feeling like we're
going to reward ourselves withour favorite foods. As soon as
this diet is over, then we'vealready approached this with the

(03:31):
wrong mindset. And really, whatwe need to do is to reframe our
thinking about why we're dietingwhat is the reason we're on a
diet, if it's to lose weight?
Why do we want to lose weight?
What is the importance of that?
Is it to look better? Or is itto be healthier, and really

(03:52):
going into the underlyingmotivations because if it's just
superficial, the motivationisn't going to last that long.
If it's, you know, a deeperunderstanding, like you're
facing a sickness that's due tobeing overweight or an illness,
or you want to have more energybecause you're fatigued, then

(04:17):
that has a deeper motivation toit. But we still have to be
careful in how we're approachingour food and looking at our food
and really removing the guiltand shame about food choices and
not moralizing food choices.
This is something that I havehad to get away from looking at

(04:40):
different foods as good versusbad, when in reality, there's
not good or bad food. There'sjust a biological consequence to
the types of food that you eat.
And not everybody has the sameconsequence when they eat the
same foods.
So how is each food individuallyaffecting you, at an energetic

(05:05):
level at a nutritional level? Atthe gut level, like how well are
you digesting it? Is it causinginflammation? Is it causing
digestive stress? And also atthe emotional level? Like what?
What kind of impact is that foodhaving on your emotions and your
brain health and your thinkingand your cognition. So there's a

(05:26):
variety of different ways tolook at that. Really, what I
wanted to dive into was aanother way to approach eating
instead of this food, or thatthose foods or bad type of way
or approach. And this approachis called intuitive eating. Now,

(05:47):
when I first heard of intuitiveeating, I thought it was dumb. I
thought, how can you tellsomeone to follow their
intuition and eat the foods thatthey feel like they should be
eating? How are people going tohave any type of self regulation
around that because honestly, welive in a processed food, ocean

(06:11):
and ocean of processed food. Andeven though we have proper
hunger and satiety signals builtinto us where if we're eating
real food, those things shouldwork like they're supposed to,
we don't live in an environmentthat supports that it doesn't

(06:32):
support our ability to tap intothose natural signals that we're
designed to have. And becauseprocessed food is specifically
formulated to override thosesatiety signals, there's a
reason why you can't just eatone Oreo. It's because it's

(06:52):
designed to be addictive. It'sdesigned to tap into that reward
center of your brain that makesyou want more. And so when we're
surrounded by these types offood, it makes it harder and
harder to self regulate.
When we are eating, nutrientdense Whole Foods or unprocessed

(07:16):
foods, foods closest to theirnatural form, we are sending
signals, or positive informationor good information through the
body to help tap into thosesignals that are sent from the
brain. So we have designed inour brain, the hunger and
satiety signals that are builtin and they just like, in

(07:37):
previous episodes, when I'vetalked about Captain H or the
hypothalamus is responsible forscanning our body and keeping
things in homeostasis. Thehypothalamus is also responsible
for regulating our energy intakein scanning the body and seeing
how much energy we're using, andseeing how much energy we need

(07:59):
to take. And so when we make thetransition to eating, nutrient
dense whole foods diet, we canstart to tap into that innate
intelligence that's built intous to help us regulate our
energy intake. That is part ofwhy I'm a huge advocate of a
nutrient dense whole food dietapproach, as opposed to eating

(08:21):
whatever you want, but justmaking sure it's within your
calorie level, because differentfoods send different signals
throughout the body. And I cantalk more about how that is,
especially with our gut bacteriaand in future episodes. But I've
had that experience too, when Ifirst switched to a paleo ish

(08:43):
type of diet where I wasremoving the refined foods from
my diet and removing certainfoods that were irritating me
and causing inflammation that Iwasn't aware of or fully aware
of, and that I was eating alarger volume of food. But I was
also losing weight at the sametime initially, because of the

(09:05):
different types of signals itwas sending to my body. And that
was part of the reason thatlaunched me into wanting to
study nutrition more was tryingto, you know, figure these
things out as I was exploringthem and experiencing them that
was different than whatconventional wisdom was telling

(09:26):
me. So I want to come back tothis concept of intuitive eating
and what it means and that it'snot really stupid. It's actually
very powerful. And intuitiveeating is what happens when you
decide you will no longer lookoutside of yourself for
guidance, and that you throwaway the different diets that

(09:48):
you're following you throw awaywhether it's the Paleo diet or
the keto diet. And instead offollowing these external
guidelines, you turn inward tofigure out what it is that your
body needs. And that doesn'tmean that these diets aren't
helpful in certain situations ornot. And it also doesn't mean

(10:10):
that there's not a time andplace for them. Because there
can be, you know, I don't this adiet that gets somebody moving
in the right direction, eventhough it might not be the
absolute best diet for them atthe time. If it's starting the
ball rolling, to help them makethe changes that they need to

(10:32):
make, then I'm for progress.
I'm, that's what I'm for I'm forprogress and not perfection. And
the thing with intuitive eatingis when you come to that place
where you're ready to tap intoyour own internal motivation,
instead of just using willpowerto force through or just saying,
just tell me what to do. AndI'll follow this plan, or that

(10:54):
plan, which doesn't have a lotof stick to itiveness to it.
With intuitive eating, you'retapping into that internal power
really comes down to asking thequestion of why do we eat, what
drives us to eat is it ourhunger that drives us to eat is
it to nourish us that drives tous to eat Who? Well, for some of

(11:17):
us, it could be our emotionsthat drive us to eat. And
there's a lot of differentreasons of why we eat. Sometimes
we eat out of boredom, you know,we've been locked down, or some
of us have been at home a lotmore working from home a lot
more this past year. And we havemore opportunities to visit

(11:39):
visit our kitchen or to getbored or to get stir crazy or
cabin fever, whatever you wantto call it. And in so what is
there to do well to go look inthe cabinet to go look in the
fridge. And so we eat just toout of boredom to find something
to do. Sometimes we eat forcelebration. And food is meant

(12:00):
to be used in celebration. It'sthat's just part of our history,
foods meant to be used to bringus together and to gather as
family and as friends tocelebrate and commemorate over
food and drink. So that's partof food. But sometimes we use
food. beyond that. And we usefood as a reward. And or as a

(12:22):
reward motivation. And I reallyget frustrated about using food
as a reward, especially when itcomes to like school or church.
Because I don't think that'steaching a good lesson to our
children. But oftentimes, we doit as adults, too. We say I've
had a hard day at work, I'mgoing to go reward myself with

(12:44):
this restaurant meal or thisbeverage or, you know, I've
accomplished this great goal,I'm going to go reward myself
with a big meal or a party.
So, again, we have to kind ofwalk that line of what is
appropriate. And what is leaningmore towards tapping into that

(13:08):
addictive part of food. And whatmessage Are we really telling
ourselves. Sometimes we eat justfor comfort, where we eat
comfort food, right? We'refeeling sad or blue or
depressed. And we want tointentionally tap into those
rewards that are so we find thesugar, fatty, salty food that

(13:30):
tastes great like salted caramelice cream, definitely a comfort
food definitely gets thosedopamine centers going. And it's
okay to have that every now andthen. I'm not saying it's not
okay. But you know, reallyunderstanding why we're eating.
Sometimes we eat food just to beaccepted to go along, along with

(13:51):
the crowd. You know, have youever not been able to say no to
somebody that offers you a fooditem? Like if your mom makes you
cookies and you're not wantingto eat cookies or you don't need
cookies? Is it hard to say no.
Sometimes we eat to avoid thingsyou know, it can be used as one
of our stress coping mechanismsare defense mechanisms we eat

(14:13):
for avoidance, and a lot oftimes we eat just out of habit,
you know that it's time forbreakfast or time for lunch, or
this is what I always eat, orthis is what I always do. Or
every time I walk by the bag ofm&ms or the bowl of m&ms. I
always grab a handful I don'teven think about it. It's just
what I do. So how do we begin tointerrupt that programming that

(14:36):
programming that may have beenlaid down for many, many years
out of habit or out of customsor family tradition or whatever
it is? How do we interrupt thatprogramming programming and
really start to examine why weeat awareness is the first step
in making those changes. AndDenise talked about this in her

(15:01):
episode, talking about awarenessbeing that first step, anytime
anyone wants to make a change,if you're not aware of it, you
can't change it. And part of whyI'm doing a podcast is to help
raise awareness about certainissues regarding our health, so
that those that want to makechange can start to begin

(15:22):
thinking about it and going downthat path of making change. Once
you're aware, then you can startresearching and contemplating
making the steps or making thechanges that you need to make or
to take the steps that you needto take. To start with that, you
know, it really comes back totapping into our innate

(15:44):
intelligence tapping into theintuition of our body that's
built in to help us selfregulate, around food. And this
is where we can tap into ourpersonal power, versus relying
on willpower or externalmotivation. And so to do that,
though, we may be able topractice or try things, some of

(16:07):
these eating habits areprogrammed in our nervous
system. And it takes more thanjust trying it to get past it,
it we have to be able toidentify and remove the blocks
that are keeping us stuck. Andpart of what keeps us stuck is
not recognizing the emotionaltriggers that cause us to eat.

(16:31):
Like the various reasons I'vementioned before. And once we
become aware of those emotionaltriggers, really exploring those
being able to explore that froma place of non judgement, but
from a place of being open andcurious. And how can we sit with

(16:52):
those emotions? How can we allowthose emotions to happen instead
of stuffing our face with foodto avoid them, or to get rid of
them, right? emotions are therefor a reason they're signals,
they're messengers telling ussomething they will, it's our
way of getting our body orgetting us to listen to what our

(17:15):
body and brain is trying to say.
And once we start listening, wecan begin to examine the stories
that we tell ourselves aboutthings, are we judging
ourselves, are we feelingashamed for certain things, and

(17:36):
we use food to try to cope withthat. And then we just feed the
shame cycle by realizing we'reusing food to cope with it.
So I like to use the phrasedon't should on yourself,
because should and shame startthe same, they feed this cycle
that isn't helping us to makepositive change, they keep us

(17:59):
stuck. And really, with ourdefensive behaviors, whether
it's you know, emotional eatingor something else, it really
takes time to be able to sitwith those emotions to and to
explore what's really going on.
And tapping into those storiesthat we're telling ourselves.
And this is really, really hardwork to do. And this is

(18:20):
important work for us to do tohelp us get out of the sugar
addiction, emotional eatingcycles that keep us stuck and
make it harder for us to stickto a diet plan or to stick to a
lifestyle change. We have to letgo of that and realize that
eating certain foods isn't goodor bad. It just might have

(18:42):
consequences if you eat them.
What are those consequences. Socan we take a step back and
remove that story that we'replacing around it? I just want
to mention that if you'reexploring your emotions and
examining these stories that youhave and you have strong

(19:02):
emotions, or trauma come to thesurface, then I want to
encourage you to reach out to aprofessional counselor or
psychologist that can help youwork through those because
sometimes that deeper stuff doescome up and you'll need help.
Another resource for you couldbe your church or pastor. One

(19:23):
thing I love about my church isthat they offer and addiction
ministry called living free.
I've been a facilitator with theliving free program at our
church for many years. And Ilove this program, because it is
a transformational program. Andit really helps people that are
struggling with any type of lifecontrolling problem or addiction

(19:45):
to examine what going on and anddo it from a place of safety and
do it from the basis of theknowledge of who they are in
Christ. And so with the livingfree ministries, they use three
tools to help people who arestruggling with the life
controlling problem and want tobreak that cycle. And those

(20:07):
three tools are the Word of God.
The second tool is the Spirit ofGod. And the other tool is the
people of God. So surroundingyourself with like minded
people, other believers that canencourage you and speak to you
and share stories with you know,like the verse goes iron

(20:29):
sharpens iron. When you surroundyourself with other believers,
you creating an environment thathelps everyone grow. I love
being a part of that ministry. Ilove how the timing of things
work, because I recently cameacross another program for
nutritionists, called thefinally free program, when I

(20:50):
started looking into it. Andthis particular program uses our
relationship with food as a toolfor self discovery and
transformation. And I just knewwhen I came across, it was
something that I wanted to be apart of. Because right now, with
the environment that we're in, alot of us are stuck in that

(21:12):
cycle, where we're wanting toget out, we're wanting to make
change. And it's just reallyhard. And we need that deeper
support system to do that. Andso I'm proud to say that I'm
finally free instructor andoffering this program now. And
what's really cool about thisprogram is it's using our

(21:33):
relationship with food as a as atool, to help us make those
changes and to help us explorethose deeper why's that we have.
But it also is done in an in afashion that helps you set up
your environment for success sothat you're surrounding yourself
with the right food and theright people within, it's also

(21:55):
teaching you how to tap intothat inner guidance system and
your personal power. So you'renot just relying on the rules of
the program, that you'relearning how to self govern
around food for yourself. Andthen also exploring how to
reframe negative thinking, andthe type of thinking that keeps

(22:16):
us stuck. When we see a certainevent happen, and we wrap a
story around it, and we startthat negative thinking about it,
it can be really hard todeprogram that and so you know,
this program helps provide sometools to help start down that
path. So that when you'rethinking about changing your

(22:37):
diet, or going to the gym ormaking these lifestyle changes,
so you can be healthier, andmore resilient, you're not
telling yourself that you can'tyou're instead you're telling
yourself that you can and you'resurrounding yourself with the
tools and the people to help youdo that. So I am launching my

(22:59):
first round of finally freeprogram. It's a seven week
workshop series, where we gothrough these steps. And that's
starting soon. And you can findthat on my website, the
information for that atBrigittefactor.com/finally-free,
and I'll put a link in the shownotes for that, too. So you can

(23:20):
take a look at that and see ifthat's something that you're
interested in.
The finally free program is nota diet program. It's a mindset
program. Although we will bemaking changes to our diet, and
it does start with a 30 day nosugar challenge. But it goes

(23:40):
beyond that in exploring ourrelationship with food, and
learning how we can self governaround food and make good
decisions most of the time. It'salso not a counseling program.
So I just wanted to clarifythat. in future episodes, I'm
going to talk more about themetabolism of different foods

(24:03):
and how different foods canaffect our body in different
ways. But I hope that you'veenjoyed this exploration of the
reason why we eat from theemotional perspective. And,
again, check out the finallyfree program, see if that's
something that looks likesomething that would interest

(24:26):
you. Also, I have a survey thatif you would like to take it's
an emotional eating survey justto see you know how much
emotional eating does motivateour decisions around food. And
so that survey is going to belinked in the show notes as
well. Well, thank you so muchfor listening, and until next

(24:49):
time, Grace and peace to you.