January 7, 2023 • 17 mins
OUTWEIGH: Do you ever say that a particular food is bad or good? The words we say about food matter!! Dr. Amy Porto (@dr.amyporto) is our expert guest today and she talks with Amy about words that matter when it comes to food because that often extends to what we say about our body…which leads to what we think of our body…and ultimately our self and self-worth.
Dr. Amy Porto is an anti-diet registered dietitian, nutrition educator, and certified intuitive eating counselor. As an expert in her field with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Porto speaks the truth about nutrition. Her purpose is to disrupt mainstream diet culture with real science, a dash of humor, and a little bit of common sense. She believes you shouldn’t need a PhD to decode food labels at the grocery store. Breaking down complex information about food and nutrition into digestible bite-sized pieces of information is her passion — plus, she loves a good pun. Her ultimate goal is to help you trust your body and reclaim your relationship with food.
Best places to find more about Amy: RadioAmy.com + @RadioAmy
To contact Amy about Outweigh: hello@outweighpodcast.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I won't lend my body out out way everything that
I'm made do, won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning to love who I am again. I'm strong,
I feel free, I know who every part of me.
It's beautiful. And then hello, always out way if you
(00:24):
feel it with your hands in here, she's some love
to the boom. Let's say good day and did you
and die out? Happy Saturday? Outweigh fam Amy here and
I actually have another Amy joining us today. She is
our expert, Dr Amy Porto. Amy. Hello, Thank you for coming. Amy. Hello,
(00:47):
I'm glad to be here. Thank you for coming to
this zoom. I wish that we were able to talk
in person. But Amy is a anti diet registered dietitian
and nutrition educator and a Certify Intuitive Eating counselor. So
you have over twenty years of experience, which is a
wealth of knowledge, that's for sure. And I want to
(01:09):
talk today about how words matter. Words matter in all
kinds of relationships, but especially when it comes to our
relationships to food and then our body and then our
self worth and sometimes well not some All the time,
I think how we feel about the food can affect
how we feel about the body, which can affect how
we feel about our self worth. So walk us through that. Yeah,
(01:32):
I really do believe strongly, and I know you do
as well about the words that we say matter. And
sometimes we don't think about that when we're talking about food.
You know, we're out of lunch with somebody and we
say things like, oh, I'm gonna be good today and
have the salad, you know, those types of things. But
we are inherently good in our value regardless of the
types of foods that we're choosing. But the types of
(01:54):
decisions that we make, it does get internalized and it
becomes a bigger issue as we're looking like as you
mentioned from I get education state space of where I
spend a lot of time when we have these lists
of these are the good foods, or these are the
bad foods, or these are the clean foods, or which
inherently means the other foods are the dirty foods and
super foods. And like all of these types of labels
(02:15):
that we put on things, we then start to take
those into ourselves in some ways that we are better
than or less that in ways that food doesn't really
have that type of moral power over us. Yeah, that's
something we try to drive home here, is that food
has no moral value, and so I don't even really
think that. Sometimes people realize they're doing it, And now
(02:38):
that I'm out of it, I notice it a lot more.
And of course I don't feel the need to call
anybody out on it. I just think in my head, like, oh,
I don't even think she realized she just said that.
And I guess men can do it too, But in
my experience, I witness a lot of women talking this
way because that's how we've grown up to feel about food,
and it's a way that, in a strange way, that
(02:59):
we bond with each other to you know what, we
bond over conversations about food, just because you gave that example, Like,
I have to wonder when men sit down to lunch,
how much of that conversation is about who ordered what?
You know, there's so much of this connection to each
other if I got this and you've got that, more
so about having a sense of like, Okay, we're all
okay with these choices, you know, and I'm okay in
(03:20):
the group, and like there's a bonding that happens that
I don't know, it just culturally connects us in ways
that probably aren't great a lot of the time until
you realize it. Yeah, and I think something I used
to do that was very common. And you know, no
shame if you're listening and I give this example right
now and you said it yesterday. That is not the
point of this conversation. It's just to be more self
(03:42):
aware of how you're speaking about food. But anyway, something
that I used to say was well, okay, you know
you're talking about being out to eat with a girlfriend.
I'd be like, okay, well let's order this and then
we'll go run tomorrow or go to the gym tonight
and we'll be sure to work it off. Or do
you want to get dessert, We can go do this
yoga class or x y Z. However, there was always
a you know, a price to pay. Yeah, there's some
(04:05):
kind of compensation that I need to take care of
our burn this off or do something as a result
of what you were taking in. Yeah, for sure, like
almost treating ourselves like a math problem. Right, if this
is coming in, then I have to cancel it out
in some particular way. But yeah, even that language that
we use not so much like the good and bad.
I think lots of folks are talking about that, like, yeah,
there's no good food and there's no bad food, you know,
(04:27):
in that language. But we even get into things like
this is junk or this is garbage food, right, or
this is just trash you know, that type of language,
and that gets internalized too, and a lot of the
conversations I know, you know we're having just you and
I together, and within the show is often touching. We're
thinking about how this impacts ourselves, right, the things that
we say to ourselves. But in a role that I
(04:50):
work as a nutrition professor and like educating future dietitians
as well, I think about that messaging just in general
when we prefer to food in that way, because there's
who are eating a variety of different types of depending
on the access and the means that they have to
get those. And when we categorize certain things as being
just trash food and junk food, you know what are
we also saying about ourselves but groups of evil as well?
(05:13):
We're making decisions you know, based on what they have
access to. Yeah, that's such an important point to remember,
or even no, some people may not even need to
they've never heard it before, so it's not even something
that they can remember, but now now you've heard it,
so it's definitely something to consider and process. And what
advice do you have for parents that have kids? And
(05:36):
I'm trying to instill in my kids this is something
where I don't speak about food when it comes to
my own food that I'm eating, but sometimes when I
talk to them, I catch myself being like, oh, have
you had anything healthy today? And then I'm like, oh shoot,
I got to back it up and kind of rephrase
that and say, have we had a vegetable or a
(05:58):
fruit today that's going to offer our body some nutrients
and some things for our brain and our heart and
all that are different organs or things that we need. Like,
I mess up often and I'm admitting it. So is
there anything that's like you advise to parents? It's just
really easy way to talk about that kind of food. Yeah,
I think if we're just kind of looking at and
that's a great example that you gave, I think you're
(06:19):
doing it running you know that what are all the
different things that different foods can give to you? And
some days it's things about like these are some great
decisions because you're headed off to a sports practice and
you're gonna need endurance, or you're not gonna, you know,
have an opportunity to eat for a long period of time,
or maybe you don't want something really heavy in your
stomach at this point if you're going to go off
(06:39):
and do whatever's happening next, like, what's the function that
it's going to perform? And sometimes the function is because
we're all having fun and sitting down and watching a movie,
and the function is this taste good and that's what
I'm gonna have and I want some crunchy popcorn or
whatever it's going to be. So kind of framing it
in in that way of like what's gonna feel good
to you in the short term, in the long term,
what's going to provide you with what you're going to
(07:00):
need coming up? And that extends for us as adults too,
when we start to think of it that way that
everything can have purpose, but it's what's the purpose that
we need in that period of time. Right as you
were saying, and I know I was asking about the kids,
and I was like, Oh, this is exactly how we
need to be looking at it as adults too. But
I guess I know that I've tackled it and how
I talk to myself about food. But gosh, sometimes with
(07:22):
the kids, it's just the thing that comes out because
I know they have had, you know, been eating all
kinds of X y Z that I'm like, oh, gosh,
their energy or maybe their mood is totally going to
be affected by this if we don't course correct for
a minute. But then again, I don't want them to
feel bad about that or to give that other food
(07:42):
power to where they then think they need to deny themselves,
which will then make them want it even more. Yeah,
it's it's so much of our stuff, right, and the
messaging that comes in. I always like the example of like,
you know, you're feeding a baby, and they always have
that face at some point where like no, I'm done,
you know, like I've done, I'm turning my face and
(08:03):
we already start doing it. Then you know we're doing
the best we can, Like here's the airplane noises, and
just take one more bite and there's only a little
bit left in the jar. And all of those things
where they've given us like clear signals that they're done,
or they're not feeling good, or it doesn't taste good,
and so the more that we kind of step out
of the way, we don't interfere when it comes to
intuitive eating. Since you're certified coach, what is one of
(08:24):
the most common misconceptions about intuitive eating? I think, misconception
wise is you've given up on your health, that you
can just do whatever you want. You know, this is
just you know what, we're just not worried about anything
and just eating everyone. And but there's no um thinking
about that is how that relates to health completely. And
then also probably the other big one is it's the
(08:45):
hunger and fullness diet. It gets turned into rules. And
so for those of us who have had experiences following
a lot of plans and rules and all of these things,
the idea to stand back and be like, wow, I
get to make some decisions for myself mis challenging. So
when you start to get some boundaries around that, like
oh I need to assess my hunger and fullness, that
can become a little rigid for folks. But I think
(09:07):
the public perception is very much like that people don't
care about their health or just eat whatever they want,
you know, type of thing. And there's a piece to
that of maybe opening things up um surround what rigidity
might have been, but it's certainly not without having concern
for your well being. And I think that fits into
what we're talking about right now too. Just because you
(09:29):
are trying to be in recovery, or you're in an
active recovery or you're thinking about recovery, doesn't mean you're
throwing in the towel on health. Although I will say
it does get a little bit tricky, especially if you've
been in the orthorexia space, which I was. For sure
my eating disorder has multiple layers, but you know, so
obsessed with eating only these certain foods that were on
(09:50):
my list that when I opened things back up, I
did have to allow more things in and give myself
that permission over and over to have it. So I
felt that freedom, and I've described it before on other
episodes as like this pendulum, and I kind of feel
like I swung all the way the other direction so
that I could swing back down and level out and
(10:12):
my body finally found its sweet spot or you know,
my brain, my gut, my cravings, whatever, finally found it's
sweet spot. But yeah, I think that you're right. It's
a misconception that we're just throwing in the towel and
eating whatever we want and having sugary latte's every single
day when that's really not the case. To your point
(10:33):
there too, I think that's important to touch on for
people who are early on in recovery or we're thinking
about that that pendulum swing, because I could be a
scary place, you know, to be over on that one
side where things are swinging in a direction and the
feeling safe that it's going to come back into the
middle and knowing that it's not always going to be
in that swing to the one side if you're so
(10:54):
used to being kind of on the complete opposite side,
working with someone that can kind of provide that guidance
and an insurance throughout the process is helpful. And and
also I would say another piece of in intuitive eating
with clients that I've worked with is, especially through recovery,
is having a sense of what are hunger and fullness cues.
You know, if you've spent a lot of time kind
(11:16):
of faking out hunger or not even allowing yourself to
be fool that's going to be a process to kind
of relearn and being back in touch with your body
in some way. Yeah, And what you get to realize, too,
is that every day can look so different. I remember
having such rigid rules, but so many days looked exactly
the same because that is what I allowed myself. And
now I have days where I am not as hungry
(11:41):
and I pay attention to that, and I have days
where I'm like, wow, I am so hungry today, and
I honor that. And so for me, the days just
look so different when you know they used to feel
like groundhog Day. Yeah, And that's a really great example too,
because so much is different all the time from to day,
just based on how you're feeling in your activity level
(12:02):
and just life being life that we can get really
structured in. You know, this is the quantity that I
eat or the type of I eat at this time
and this time and this other time, without ever assessing
all those other pieces. And we wouldn't do that with
other bodily functions. You know, when you think of other
things happening in your body, you don't think, well, I
(12:23):
just went to the bathroom. I shouldn't possibly have to
do that again, Like we would say, like I can't
possibly be hungry, Like something's different today, and that's okay.
So it's an interesting way to reframe it. Yeah, and
it may take you a while to to figure all
of that out. Is that a quick fix? There's this
not a microwave solution. It takes patience, and you know
(12:44):
we're here to encourage you through that and to let
to remind you of that when you have those frustrating
days we're like, oh, I just wish I could just
get this down. I mean, you're rewiring your brain in
a sense, and you know, not only and how you
talk about food, the more and more you talk about
it the right way and not give it that moral
(13:05):
power than the easier old will get. But yeah, let's
wrap up with talking about how that can even affect
our self worth when we're talking to food in that way. Yeah,
it definitely can have an impact as we label foods
in particular ways. I think there is this aspirational part
to food that when we're looking for an identity around
(13:26):
some of that are connecting to self worth. We're choosing
you know, the quote unquote good foods or the clean
foods or the whatever. That aspirational part of it is
when really all of that value with more is was
inside of us, regardless of the food choices that we had.
You know, I shared something a while ago about that
idea of you know, I'll be good and have the salad,
but you're good, you know, if you had the cheeseburger,
(13:48):
and you're good if you had the cheesecake, and you're
good if you ate after seven, and you're good if
you missed the Monday on your workout. Like all of
those things, you are inherently worthy and a valued regard
list of the food choices that you're banking, and so
stepping away from some of that language can help break
that connection between the types of things that we're consuming
(14:09):
and then our value where our worked as a person.
I love ending on that note with that reminder of
just because the cheeseburger and then you've been trained to
think cheeseburger bad doesn't mean that you're bad. And it's
crazy to think how how easily we have that thought process,
and I definitely lived in that space for a very
very very long time. And just one other quick thing
(14:31):
that popped into my head that we've talked about many
many times before, but I still see it on social media,
so I just feel like I want to get amy
your thoughts on it. But focusing a little at all
on what other people are eating and thinking that they're
better because they eat that way, and oh, you wish
you could be that good if only you could eat
(14:53):
exactly like they do. And how you know what I
eat in a day type videos or posts, how damaging
those can be. Oh wait, I lost them to say
about that, but yeah, but yeah, the comparison part, because again,
I think it goes back to what we're just talking
about it. It goes back to connecting worth of anyone
related to the choices on their plate. So it would
(15:15):
make sense that if I am making things decisions for
myself that I am good or bad or worthy or
whatever that's going to be based on what I'm eating, Well,
of course I would make those same assumptions based on
what you're eating. If we were sitting across from each other,
and if the person kind of has culturally a body
type or shape that's aspirational to me for whatever reason,
well then of course I'm going to be connected to
(15:36):
seeing what's on their plate, not knowing you know, the
wealth of other things that could be going on that
are health related, and you know, two people eating the
same way and moving in the same way are not
going to show up in their bodies in the same way,
and that can be frustrating if we're trying to follow
what someone eats in a day, because we don't necessarily
have that saved connection just based on movement and truth.
(15:58):
But yeah, the comparison of that, I think if we
stop the language towards ourselves and how we evaluate food,
it helps to not be necessarily evaluating what other people
are eating as well. Well. Amy, thank you so much
for sharing your wisdom and encouragement with us. That's a
lot about what these episodes are. Just a weekly dose
(16:19):
of digestible encouragement that you can think about and then
keep in your back pocket if you need to bust
it out during the week because it's it's definitely a journey,
and so so many of us are on it, and
you know, whether it's something you're trying to do for
yourself or do things differently for your kids, I know
(16:41):
you can do it, and I'm on the journey and Amy,
you've been there too. Yeah, absolutely, I think you You
can't be someone in the culture right in our culture
just surrounded by all of that if you have enough
years of life behind you. We're all going through it,
just at different levels. And so where can people find you?
On Instagram? On Instagram, I am at Dr Amy porno
(17:02):
doctor with a period, because otherwise it looks like dreaming.
Oh true. I hadn't thought about that, so d R
period Amy and then p O R t O awesome. Well,
thank you for for coming on and joining our outweigh fam.
I always appreciate experts and their wisdom, and again, like
(17:24):
the number one thing is just the encouragement and reminding
people that they're not alone. Yeah, thanks so much for
having me and I really really love what you're doing
with the show. A great, great idea and a great
resource for folks. Thanks for inviting me feature
I won't lend my body out out way everything that
I'm made do, won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning to love who I am again. I'm strong,
I feel free, I know who every part of me.
It's beautiful. And then hello, always out way if you
(00:24):
feel it with your hands in here, she's some love
to the boom. Let's say good day and did you
and die out? Happy Saturday? Outweigh fam Amy here and
I actually have another Amy joining us today. She is
our expert, Dr Amy Porto. Amy. Hello, Thank you for coming. Amy. Hello,
(00:47):
I'm glad to be here. Thank you for coming to
this zoom. I wish that we were able to talk
in person. But Amy is a anti diet registered dietitian
and nutrition educator and a Certify Intuitive Eating counselor. So
you have over twenty years of experience, which is a
wealth of knowledge, that's for sure. And I want to
(01:09):
talk today about how words matter. Words matter in all
kinds of relationships, but especially when it comes to our
relationships to food and then our body and then our
self worth and sometimes well not some All the time,
I think how we feel about the food can affect
how we feel about the body, which can affect how
we feel about our self worth. So walk us through that. Yeah,
(01:32):
I really do believe strongly, and I know you do
as well about the words that we say matter. And
sometimes we don't think about that when we're talking about food.
You know, we're out of lunch with somebody and we
say things like, oh, I'm gonna be good today and
have the salad, you know, those types of things. But
we are inherently good in our value regardless of the
types of foods that we're choosing. But the types of
(01:54):
decisions that we make, it does get internalized and it
becomes a bigger issue as we're looking like as you
mentioned from I get education state space of where I
spend a lot of time when we have these lists
of these are the good foods, or these are the
bad foods, or these are the clean foods, or which
inherently means the other foods are the dirty foods and
super foods. And like all of these types of labels
(02:15):
that we put on things, we then start to take
those into ourselves in some ways that we are better
than or less that in ways that food doesn't really
have that type of moral power over us. Yeah, that's
something we try to drive home here, is that food
has no moral value, and so I don't even really
think that. Sometimes people realize they're doing it, And now
(02:38):
that I'm out of it, I notice it a lot more.
And of course I don't feel the need to call
anybody out on it. I just think in my head, like, oh,
I don't even think she realized she just said that.
And I guess men can do it too, But in
my experience, I witness a lot of women talking this
way because that's how we've grown up to feel about food,
and it's a way that, in a strange way, that
(02:59):
we bond with each other to you know what, we
bond over conversations about food, just because you gave that example, Like,
I have to wonder when men sit down to lunch,
how much of that conversation is about who ordered what?
You know, there's so much of this connection to each
other if I got this and you've got that, more
so about having a sense of like, Okay, we're all
okay with these choices, you know, and I'm okay in
(03:20):
the group, and like there's a bonding that happens that
I don't know, it just culturally connects us in ways
that probably aren't great a lot of the time until
you realize it. Yeah, and I think something I used
to do that was very common. And you know, no
shame if you're listening and I give this example right
now and you said it yesterday. That is not the
point of this conversation. It's just to be more self
(03:42):
aware of how you're speaking about food. But anyway, something
that I used to say was well, okay, you know
you're talking about being out to eat with a girlfriend.
I'd be like, okay, well let's order this and then
we'll go run tomorrow or go to the gym tonight
and we'll be sure to work it off. Or do
you want to get dessert, We can go do this
yoga class or x y Z. However, there was always
a you know, a price to pay. Yeah, there's some
(04:05):
kind of compensation that I need to take care of
our burn this off or do something as a result
of what you were taking in. Yeah, for sure, like
almost treating ourselves like a math problem. Right, if this
is coming in, then I have to cancel it out
in some particular way. But yeah, even that language that
we use not so much like the good and bad.
I think lots of folks are talking about that, like, yeah,
there's no good food and there's no bad food, you know,
(04:27):
in that language. But we even get into things like
this is junk or this is garbage food, right, or
this is just trash you know, that type of language,
and that gets internalized too, and a lot of the
conversations I know, you know we're having just you and
I together, and within the show is often touching. We're
thinking about how this impacts ourselves, right, the things that
we say to ourselves. But in a role that I
(04:50):
work as a nutrition professor and like educating future dietitians
as well, I think about that messaging just in general
when we prefer to food in that way, because there's
who are eating a variety of different types of depending
on the access and the means that they have to
get those. And when we categorize certain things as being
just trash food and junk food, you know what are
we also saying about ourselves but groups of evil as well?
(05:13):
We're making decisions you know, based on what they have
access to. Yeah, that's such an important point to remember,
or even no, some people may not even need to
they've never heard it before, so it's not even something
that they can remember, but now now you've heard it,
so it's definitely something to consider and process. And what
advice do you have for parents that have kids? And
(05:36):
I'm trying to instill in my kids this is something
where I don't speak about food when it comes to
my own food that I'm eating, but sometimes when I
talk to them, I catch myself being like, oh, have
you had anything healthy today? And then I'm like, oh shoot,
I got to back it up and kind of rephrase
that and say, have we had a vegetable or a
(05:58):
fruit today that's going to offer our body some nutrients
and some things for our brain and our heart and
all that are different organs or things that we need. Like,
I mess up often and I'm admitting it. So is
there anything that's like you advise to parents? It's just
really easy way to talk about that kind of food. Yeah,
I think if we're just kind of looking at and
that's a great example that you gave, I think you're
(06:19):
doing it running you know that what are all the
different things that different foods can give to you? And
some days it's things about like these are some great
decisions because you're headed off to a sports practice and
you're gonna need endurance, or you're not gonna, you know,
have an opportunity to eat for a long period of time,
or maybe you don't want something really heavy in your
stomach at this point if you're going to go off
(06:39):
and do whatever's happening next, like, what's the function that
it's going to perform? And sometimes the function is because
we're all having fun and sitting down and watching a movie,
and the function is this taste good and that's what
I'm gonna have and I want some crunchy popcorn or
whatever it's going to be. So kind of framing it
in in that way of like what's gonna feel good
to you in the short term, in the long term,
what's going to provide you with what you're going to
(07:00):
need coming up? And that extends for us as adults too,
when we start to think of it that way that
everything can have purpose, but it's what's the purpose that
we need in that period of time. Right as you
were saying, and I know I was asking about the kids,
and I was like, Oh, this is exactly how we
need to be looking at it as adults too. But
I guess I know that I've tackled it and how
I talk to myself about food. But gosh, sometimes with
(07:22):
the kids, it's just the thing that comes out because
I know they have had, you know, been eating all
kinds of X y Z that I'm like, oh, gosh,
their energy or maybe their mood is totally going to
be affected by this if we don't course correct for
a minute. But then again, I don't want them to
feel bad about that or to give that other food
(07:42):
power to where they then think they need to deny themselves,
which will then make them want it even more. Yeah,
it's it's so much of our stuff, right, and the
messaging that comes in. I always like the example of like,
you know, you're feeding a baby, and they always have
that face at some point where like no, I'm done,
you know, like I've done, I'm turning my face and
(08:03):
we already start doing it. Then you know we're doing
the best we can, Like here's the airplane noises, and
just take one more bite and there's only a little
bit left in the jar. And all of those things
where they've given us like clear signals that they're done,
or they're not feeling good, or it doesn't taste good,
and so the more that we kind of step out
of the way, we don't interfere when it comes to
intuitive eating. Since you're certified coach, what is one of
(08:24):
the most common misconceptions about intuitive eating? I think, misconception
wise is you've given up on your health, that you
can just do whatever you want. You know, this is
just you know what, we're just not worried about anything
and just eating everyone. And but there's no um thinking
about that is how that relates to health completely. And
then also probably the other big one is it's the
(08:45):
hunger and fullness diet. It gets turned into rules. And
so for those of us who have had experiences following
a lot of plans and rules and all of these things,
the idea to stand back and be like, wow, I
get to make some decisions for myself mis challenging. So
when you start to get some boundaries around that, like
oh I need to assess my hunger and fullness, that
can become a little rigid for folks. But I think
(09:07):
the public perception is very much like that people don't
care about their health or just eat whatever they want,
you know, type of thing. And there's a piece to
that of maybe opening things up um surround what rigidity
might have been, but it's certainly not without having concern
for your well being. And I think that fits into
what we're talking about right now too. Just because you
(09:29):
are trying to be in recovery, or you're in an
active recovery or you're thinking about recovery, doesn't mean you're
throwing in the towel on health. Although I will say
it does get a little bit tricky, especially if you've
been in the orthorexia space, which I was. For sure
my eating disorder has multiple layers, but you know, so
obsessed with eating only these certain foods that were on
(09:50):
my list that when I opened things back up, I
did have to allow more things in and give myself
that permission over and over to have it. So I
felt that freedom, and I've described it before on other
episodes as like this pendulum, and I kind of feel
like I swung all the way the other direction so
that I could swing back down and level out and
(10:12):
my body finally found its sweet spot or you know,
my brain, my gut, my cravings, whatever, finally found it's
sweet spot. But yeah, I think that you're right. It's
a misconception that we're just throwing in the towel and
eating whatever we want and having sugary latte's every single
day when that's really not the case. To your point
(10:33):
there too, I think that's important to touch on for
people who are early on in recovery or we're thinking
about that that pendulum swing, because I could be a
scary place, you know, to be over on that one
side where things are swinging in a direction and the
feeling safe that it's going to come back into the
middle and knowing that it's not always going to be
in that swing to the one side if you're so
(10:54):
used to being kind of on the complete opposite side,
working with someone that can kind of provide that guidance
and an insurance throughout the process is helpful. And and
also I would say another piece of in intuitive eating
with clients that I've worked with is, especially through recovery,
is having a sense of what are hunger and fullness cues.
You know, if you've spent a lot of time kind
(11:16):
of faking out hunger or not even allowing yourself to
be fool that's going to be a process to kind
of relearn and being back in touch with your body
in some way. Yeah, And what you get to realize, too,
is that every day can look so different. I remember
having such rigid rules, but so many days looked exactly
the same because that is what I allowed myself. And
now I have days where I am not as hungry
(11:41):
and I pay attention to that, and I have days
where I'm like, wow, I am so hungry today, and
I honor that. And so for me, the days just
look so different when you know they used to feel
like groundhog Day. Yeah, And that's a really great example too,
because so much is different all the time from to day,
just based on how you're feeling in your activity level
(12:02):
and just life being life that we can get really
structured in. You know, this is the quantity that I
eat or the type of I eat at this time
and this time and this other time, without ever assessing
all those other pieces. And we wouldn't do that with
other bodily functions. You know, when you think of other
things happening in your body, you don't think, well, I
(12:23):
just went to the bathroom. I shouldn't possibly have to
do that again, Like we would say, like I can't
possibly be hungry, Like something's different today, and that's okay.
So it's an interesting way to reframe it. Yeah, and
it may take you a while to to figure all
of that out. Is that a quick fix? There's this
not a microwave solution. It takes patience, and you know
(12:44):
we're here to encourage you through that and to let
to remind you of that when you have those frustrating
days we're like, oh, I just wish I could just
get this down. I mean, you're rewiring your brain in
a sense, and you know, not only and how you
talk about food, the more and more you talk about
it the right way and not give it that moral
(13:05):
power than the easier old will get. But yeah, let's
wrap up with talking about how that can even affect
our self worth when we're talking to food in that way. Yeah,
it definitely can have an impact as we label foods
in particular ways. I think there is this aspirational part
to food that when we're looking for an identity around
(13:26):
some of that are connecting to self worth. We're choosing
you know, the quote unquote good foods or the clean
foods or the whatever. That aspirational part of it is
when really all of that value with more is was
inside of us, regardless of the food choices that we had.
You know, I shared something a while ago about that
idea of you know, I'll be good and have the salad,
but you're good, you know, if you had the cheeseburger,
(13:48):
and you're good if you had the cheesecake, and you're
good if you ate after seven, and you're good if
you missed the Monday on your workout. Like all of
those things, you are inherently worthy and a valued regard
list of the food choices that you're banking, and so
stepping away from some of that language can help break
that connection between the types of things that we're consuming
(14:09):
and then our value where our worked as a person.
I love ending on that note with that reminder of
just because the cheeseburger and then you've been trained to
think cheeseburger bad doesn't mean that you're bad. And it's
crazy to think how how easily we have that thought process,
and I definitely lived in that space for a very
very very long time. And just one other quick thing
(14:31):
that popped into my head that we've talked about many
many times before, but I still see it on social media,
so I just feel like I want to get amy
your thoughts on it. But focusing a little at all
on what other people are eating and thinking that they're
better because they eat that way, and oh, you wish
you could be that good if only you could eat
(14:53):
exactly like they do. And how you know what I
eat in a day type videos or posts, how damaging
those can be. Oh wait, I lost them to say
about that, but yeah, but yeah, the comparison part, because again,
I think it goes back to what we're just talking
about it. It goes back to connecting worth of anyone
related to the choices on their plate. So it would
(15:15):
make sense that if I am making things decisions for
myself that I am good or bad or worthy or
whatever that's going to be based on what I'm eating, Well,
of course I would make those same assumptions based on
what you're eating. If we were sitting across from each other,
and if the person kind of has culturally a body
type or shape that's aspirational to me for whatever reason,
well then of course I'm going to be connected to
(15:36):
seeing what's on their plate, not knowing you know, the
wealth of other things that could be going on that
are health related, and you know, two people eating the
same way and moving in the same way are not
going to show up in their bodies in the same way,
and that can be frustrating if we're trying to follow
what someone eats in a day, because we don't necessarily
have that saved connection just based on movement and truth.
(15:58):
But yeah, the comparison of that, I think if we
stop the language towards ourselves and how we evaluate food,
it helps to not be necessarily evaluating what other people
are eating as well. Well. Amy, thank you so much
for sharing your wisdom and encouragement with us. That's a
lot about what these episodes are. Just a weekly dose
(16:19):
of digestible encouragement that you can think about and then
keep in your back pocket if you need to bust
it out during the week because it's it's definitely a journey,
and so so many of us are on it, and
you know, whether it's something you're trying to do for
yourself or do things differently for your kids, I know
(16:41):
you can do it, and I'm on the journey and Amy,
you've been there too. Yeah, absolutely, I think you You
can't be someone in the culture right in our culture
just surrounded by all of that if you have enough
years of life behind you. We're all going through it,
just at different levels. And so where can people find you?
On Instagram? On Instagram, I am at Dr Amy porno
(17:02):
doctor with a period, because otherwise it looks like dreaming.
Oh true. I hadn't thought about that, so d R
period Amy and then p O R t O awesome. Well,
thank you for for coming on and joining our outweigh fam.
I always appreciate experts and their wisdom, and again, like
(17:24):
the number one thing is just the encouragement and reminding
people that they're not alone. Yeah, thanks so much for
having me and I really really love what you're doing
with the show. A great, great idea and a great
resource for folks. Thanks for inviting me feature
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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