Women's hormones, gut + metabolism

What’s Your Food Rule Story?

From day one my relationship with food was fucked.

I remember being 10 and my grandmother eating a box of peeps, telling me they are good for you because they don’t have any fat and that fat is bad for you. There began my journey into low fat dieting.

I remember in middle school my mother doing all those slim fast shakes and only allowing herself to eat wheat thins or pretzels if she needed to.

I remember when I was a teenager and the biggest thing to hit the news was that Oprah had lost weight. During all of her interviews she said all she did was “not eat past 7pm. Not even a grape.” – Yes, I literally remember hearing these exact words. There began my journey of always thinking I would get fat if I ate a grape past 7pm.

Then in my early 20s, YouTube bikini competitor influencers were the hot new thing. I started watching videos religiously and began inheriting food rules- always work out fasted, have coffee on an empty stomach for weight loss, always have nut milks because they are lower calorie, sugar is a no, sugar free sweeteners are better, avoid fat at all costs and the biggest one…

Never enjoy food or allow yourself to eat unless you earned it at the gym.

THIS.

This is a constant mind fuck that we have all been exposed to at a young age. At this point we are so damn confused about food it’s honestly quite sad.

We have such anxiety and stress around food no wonder why are guts are fucked and our hormones are wack.

I can talk about all the “sciencey” things and how food works with our biology but at the end of the day, its all about LIVING and reducing stress.

At what point do we just live? I mean truly live.

I have come to realize the happier a person is in their life, the easier it is to heal.

Nutrition doesn’t need to be hard. At the end of the day it’s about nourishing your cells, getting in the most nutrients possible so you can live a happy, fulfilling, symptom-free life, one of joy and excitement, every damn day.

Eat real food. Eat like your great grandmother ate. It’s that simple.

And fuck the rest.

Oh and incase you were wondering all the above rules are bullshit and do not work with our biology. ✌🏼

What Is Your Happy Weight?

Raise your hand if you really know your happy weight. I mean really know.

I’m talking the weight your body FEELS it’s best, the weight your body feels nourished, safe, energetic, happy and less symptomatic.

As women we have no idea what our happy weight is.

We have had negative thoughts around food and our bodies since we were in grade school.

We have been restricting, over-exercising, under-eating and starving ourselves for the majority of our lives because society tells us we need to be skinny to be worthy and the wellness industry promotes things like juice cleanses, low carb diets and fasting to be “healthy.”

Our bodies change. We cannot compare our bodies to others, to what we looked like in high school or hell what we looked like two years ago.

The problem is, once you start nourishing your body often and giving your body what it needs for the first time EVER, you will put on weight. Duh.

The other problem is, we think this is a bad thing but actually your body is thanking you for giving it energy, giving your cells life and nourishing it.

In most cases this is just safety weight, weight your body will shed as soon as it feels safe enough to do so.

As soon as she trusts you again.

We so quickly forget how much better we feel. Having healthy pain free periods, the brain fog has lifted, our skin is glowing, our digestion is on point, we have energy and a zest for life again.

Instead you are so laser focused on the scale and regardless of how far you have come on your health journey, you still believe that losing weight is what will truly make you happy.

But will it? No.

Nobody gives a shit if you have a six pack or are skinny if you are boring and no fun to be around because food has taken over your life.

Stop fighting against your body and start working with it. And most importantly give yourself grace during the healing process.

Your best weight is the one where you can live a fulfilling happy life, free from restriction, free from obsessing over every little thing that goes in your mouth and really enjoying food again.

If you have to restrict to keep your desired weight. It’s not the weight for you. Period.

BREAKING NEWS: Women’s Stomachs Aren’t Meant to be Flat

How often do you look at your stomach in the mirror + wish it were flatter? How many times have you starved yourself or not eaten the cake for this goal to have a flatter stomach? How many times have you felt unworthy because of that roll on your stomach?

This idea that in order for women to be beautiful they need to have a flat stomach is BULLSHIT.

This my friends is diet culture at it’s finest. Never in history has a flat stomach been a desirable trait in women, in fact, the more curvy a woman was (big breast, large hips, and squishy stomach) the more desirable she was, it was a sign of being well-nourished.

Women are not biologically built to have a flat stomach + the only way most of us can achieve it is through severe restriction + over-exercising.

So you mean to tell me that all this work I have been doing to attain this goal is a waste of time? Yup, girlfriend, that is EXACTLY what I am saying!

There is a very big reason why women cannot achieve a flat stomach, it’s called reproductive organs! We not only need to have room in that belly of ours for digestive organs but we also need to have space for our reproductive organs. These organs are VITAL + require extra padding to protect them. We store fat cells in our stomach due to this very reason.

Women typically lose subcutaneous fat, the layer below the skin. Men lose visceral fat, the layer right behind abdominal muscles. For women, in order to achieve a flat stomach you need to lose fat in both of these areas which is what makes it even harder for us to achieve that flat stomach, hormones also play a role in storing visceral fat.

A stressed out body will always put on the lbs in the stomach first. This is a good thing! This is your body trying to protect you + your vital organs. This is your body’s way of saying it does not feel safe. After proper nourishment, time + stress elimination the fat will redistribute.

Your stomach will go up and down at certain times + it is normal.

Having a flat stomach is not the key to being healthy + happy. Give yourself grace, trust your body, she’s just trying to keep you alive. Life is too short to hate yourself for something that is totally unattainable.

Are Some of Your Symptoms Related to Your Anxiety Around Food?

“I can’t eat the dessert unless I go for a run”

“I earned this wine!”

“I eat ‘clean’ most of the time”

“Too many calories!”

“I’ll pass on the rice + potatoes, too many carbs! But I can have cauliflower!”

“I should really eat more vegetables”

“It’s the weekend, I can have a cheat meal”

“Good thing I am working out tomorrow to burn all this off”

You start learning more about nutrition + your thoughts turn into…

“God knows what oil that was cooked in, I can’t eat it!”

“I don’t trust that meat, who knows the quality and where it came from”

“I can’t eat the sugar, it’s so bad and will cause diabetes and insulin resistance”

No matter what end of the spectrum you are on, these thoughts are FUCKED. And quite honestly, It is hard being a woman.

It is so sad that diet culture + propaganda makes us feel so much guilt, shame, + confusion around food.

I remember living in Chicago 5 years ago + the only way I would allow myself to eat out at a restaurant was if I walked at least 3 miles there + back. I remember all the times I stayed home rather than going out with friends because I had anxiety around going out to dinner at an “unhealthy” restaurant. I remember only having a few restaurants to choose from because they had a “safe, healthy option” on the menu.

Whether you are eating to earn your food or being hyper aware of everything that goes in your mouth, it’s not the food that is unhealthy, it’s these thoughts that are. These thoughts are what causes stress, these thoughts are what causes physical symptoms from hormonal imbalances to digestive distress.

Deep healing only happens once we let go of these thought patterns and start enjoying food for what it is- fuel and energy so we can live our happiest most fulfilling lives. If you don’t have the energy + your stressed out about your food all the time you can’t truly expect to heal.

Once I found food freedom, became less obsessive about every damn thing I put in my mouth + started to understand my body better that is when I found true happiness in all aspects of my life + began to heal on a deeper level.

Do you think some of your symptoms are related to your anxiety around food?