Welcome back to Rebuilding Trust With Your Body, I’m Katy Harvey your host. Today on the show we are going to do something fun that I’ve never done here on the podcast before – a flash fire Q&A. 

I asked members of my Facebook group, Intuitive Eating Made Easy, what questions they’d like to hear me cover, and I picked some of the top questions that you might be wondering about too. 

A quick reminder and then we’ll do our Wellness Woo for today – Enrollment for Stepping Off The Dieting Rollercoaster, my new mini-course, closes on Friday 5/30 at midnight CT. A huge shout out to those of you who have already registered! I am super pumped to spend the month of June with you digging into the course and hanging out together in our private rollercoaster FB group where you’re going to get in-depth support and coaching from me – which is usually unheard of for an offer that’s less than $100, so run don’t walk if you’ve been thinking about us working together in some capacity because this is hands-down one of the best deals I’ve ever offered. (As a quick side note, I don’t know if I’ll do the 4 weeks of support in a FB group again in the future with this course since it’s going to be mostly be a self-study situation – so if you want the tools, guidance AND hands on support, NOW is the time to take advantage of the opportunity!) 

I had a couple people reach out and ask if they’ll be able to access the materials later because they’re going to be on vacation or busy with kid stuff in the month of June, and the answer is YES, you’ll get lifetime access to all of the course materials, so even if you can’t get through the whole mini-course in June, no biggie. You can still join now and follow along inside the FB group if you want. It’s not like you’re going to miss anything by not showing up for class on a certain day or anything like that. I know how busy schedules get, and I know it’s tricky when we might be operating in different time zones, so I always factor that into my programs. 

You can find all the details and registration info at nondietacademy.com/rollercoaster, or feel free to DM me on IG or FB to chat. 

Before we dive into our Q&A for today, you know what time it is…We’ve got some Wellness Woo to talk about. 

Wellness Woo is the stuff that diet and wellness culture tells us we should do in the name of health, but it’s really based on pseudoscience, exaggerated claims, or just nonsense. 

Today’s Wellness Woo is: Plexus

In case you’re unfamiliar with this company, it’s an MLM that sells supplements that are geared towards weight loss, gut health and wellness. 

So many wellness woo red flags already. You know how I feel about MLM’s. They are predatory scams that prey on women, promising them financial freedom that rarely comes true, and statistically most women who invest lose money. (Notice any similarities to dieting?)

What’s also concerning about the MLM model here is that you have people selling these health and wellness based products who aren’t health practitioners and who don’t have training or credentials in healthcare. (And if someone who is an actual healthcare practitioner is selling these products that’s a huge ethical concern because these products are not scientifically proven and they ought to know better.)

So Plexus sells things like Plexus Slim which is a weight loss drink mix, along with various supplements. They are capitalizing on the trend of gut health, which is mostly wellness woo in the first place, and they’re selling expensive probiotics (which there is science behind probiotics and the gut microbiome, but we’re not there yet…), and digestive enzymes. You don’t need to be taking digestive enzymes unless you have some very specific health conditions (and if so, your doctor needs to be guiding you). 

It was started by a dude named Tal Robinson, who had a “passon for direct sales” and he started the company as an “in home breast health kit” (WTF…)

Concerns:

• Super expensive
  • Cleanse for $158
  • Flavor packets for water $41
  • A fast for $109
  • Hunger Control powder for $98
  • Skincare
  • Stuff for kids – MAKES ME ANGRY
• Supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA
• No evidence for effectiveness
• Risk of adverse effects

If you have an example of Wellness Woo that you want to share, send it to me at rebuildingtrustwithyourbody@gmail.com. 

Ok, that’s enough of that. Moving on to our Flash Fire Intuitive Eating Q&A!

• Victoria:
  • How to eat mindfully when sharing meals with a toddler and infant! It feels like creating a mindful eating environment is a pipe dream
    • Validate the challenge. 
    • Keep eating with them – it gets easier!
    • Be mindful when you can.
    • Powerful Pause
    • DOR
• Danielle:
  • Would love some strategies for managing food sensitivities. I just discovered a salicylate sensitivity (I’m quite sensitive right now), and I am lactose, fructose, and egg intolerant. As well as allergic to soy. I have chronic illnesses as well, and have to keep my diet blood sugar friendly. It’s difficult to manage all of that and do IE.
    • Validate how challenging this is – AND give hope it’s possible!
    • HOW were these sensitivities diagnosed? IgG is not valid testing.
    • Think of this as feedback from the body. 
• Maggie:
  • I feel like gentle nutrition is almost impossible when I am dealing with a lot of stress. What about those of us who cannot reduce stress at the current moment? Strategies? Thanks!
    • Validate the challenge.
    • You might not be able to reduce the stressor, but you can mange the stress itself. >> Book “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Emily and Amelia Nagoski. Emily has a PhD in health behavior, and Amelia is a music professor and conductor who teaches musicians how to manage stress.
    • Redefine gentle nutrition and how it changes based on your situation
• Elaine:
  • Another question I have it I start work 3 days a week at 5.15 am So I have to prepare my lunch the day before. Sometimes I think my meal disappoints me. How or what can I do to make my lunch choice for the next better
  • It’s also hard as I have a set time to eat my lunch sometimes you feel starved by then and sometimes you just don’t.
    • Validate the challenge of having to decide the day before.
    • The longer you practice IE the better you’ll get at anticipating what types of food will be satisfying to you later, AND it will be less of a big deal when you have to make do with something less than satisfying, because when most of the time you’re eating what’s satisfying, then it’s no biggie when it’s just kind of meh. 
    • You can also pack more food than you think you’ll need, and include options. 
    • Keep extra food options at work?
    • When it comes to the timing, this is what we call “practical hunger” or “practical eating.” (Explain)
• Jane:
  • Weight cycling since 9yo and is in her 50’s. Struggles with binge eating, history of trauma. When not dieting gains weight quickly. Has some health issues. Worried about never finding balanced, healthy eating. Worried that without rules and restrictions impulsive eating will take over and I’ll lose what’s left of my health and quality of life. CAN I REALLY DO INTUITIVE EATING? IS IT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE?
    • This is really common, and you are not alone. In fact, I’m sure many of you listening are thinking, “Oh my gosh, that’s me too!”
    • When you’ve been dieting and weight cycling since 9yo, we have to recognize it’s going to take time – years – to heal. 
    • And when you’ve been going back and forth between dieting and restrictive eating, to binge eating, it can feel so challenging to find the middle ground in between. This is where STRUCTURE comes in. (Explain SCA framework)
    • Is it possible? YES! 
• Denise:
  • I’m finding this morning a little challenging mentally. I’m super proud of myself for doing the unchallenge, especially when sick. And nurtured my body more carbs than normal, I had some foods that I typically would not have had because they are “bad”.  I broke a bunch of food rules.  I even had popcorn at the movies because I really wanted some.
    • Which is awesome! Denise showed up and challenged herself, and it was a really interesting experience for her because she was sick during the UnChallenge, and it presented an opportunity to break rules she had internalized about how carbs are bad – and carbs were what her body was wanting and needing when she was sick. It was mainly what she could tolerate. So eating carbs was self-care. 
  • I’m super early in this journey and I’m slowly working through the book.  I’m really glad I’m signed up for next program starting on June 3 (SOTDR) because I’m gonna need it.  This morning I stepped on the scale and I know I throw it away, but I’m not there mentally yet. The number was up and I had to fight all of my urges to jump on the diet train.
  • Does anybody have any suggestions? Any ideas on how to make it through when mentally, when you are fighting yourself as to if this is the right thing to do?
    • It’s really normal to still be questioning early on in this process – and rightly so. 
    • Get curious about WHY you felt the need to get on the scale that day, and what you were hoping it would do for you. 
    • Also be curious about the impact that seeing your weight has on your mood, your thoughts about food and your body, and how you carry yourself the rest of the day. 
    • What are the stories you’re telling yourself about your weight? We are conditioned to believe that weight gain = bad, weight loss = good. And that we are failing when we gain weight, and we’re succeeding when we lose weight.  – What if instead this were a neutral piece of data? Or a piece of information you don’t even need to know on a regular basis? (similar to how we don’t measure our cholesterol daily or weekly, or our A1c)
    • Keep finding ways to “keep your head in the game.” Hype up that she did the UnChallenge AND SOTDR.
    • If you want to join us inside SOTDR and you are listening to this before May 30 there’s still time to sign up for this inaugural launch and to have the support and community of others inside our private FB group for the month of June. If you’re listening in the future, you can still do the self-study version of this mini-course and dig in right away. All the details are at nondietacademy.com/rollercoaster

There you have it! Those were some incredible and powerful questions, and I want to recap some of the key points that YOU can apply in your own life:

• Eating with your kids if you’re a parent, and using the Division of Responsibility framework to help your kids grow up as intuitive eaters.
• We also talked about the Powerful Pause to check in with yourself before you eat – which can be really helpful if you’re eating with your kids and it’s kind of chaotic, or if you tend to be distracted while eating. 
• We talked about food sensitivities, and chronic health issues and how to navigate this within the intuitive eating framework by viewing it as feedback and signals from your body, similar to hunger and fullness signals, that are guiding you towards what your body needs. (This is a good example of how intuitive eating is WAY MORE than just “eat whatever you want, whenever you want.” Remember that’s impulsive eating, not intuitive eating.)
• Next we talked about stress and how it absolutely can impact your appetite, food cravings and your capacity to do things like meal planning, cooking, and practicing gentle nutrition. I highly recommend the book Burnout to help with this, and we talked about redefining what gentle nutrition means under these circumstances. One key thing to remember with gentle nutrition is that it changes based on the context of your situation. 
• We talked about planning ahead, having plenty of options on hand so you have choices, and practical eating when you have the opportunity.
• We also covered the SCA framework to help you with structure and reconnecting with your body, and the importance of having ongoing support and guidance on this journey. 

That was a lot, I know. My hope is that you’ll take one thing you learned today and apply it. That’s how you make progress, one step at a time. It’s not about making giant sweeping changes. That’s basically diet mentality. It’s about making small, sustainable changes and being gentle and patient with yourself. 

That’s all for today. Thank you so much for listening. Shoot me a DM on IG if you have questions or if you want to share your ah-ha moments from this episode, and I’d love it if you took a screenshot and post it to your stories and tag me in it. This type of sharing inspires others to listen, and I so appreciate it when you help me grow this show! Take care, and we’ll talk again soon!