Well hello, and welcome to Rebuilding Trust With Your Body. It’s Katy here. First of all – if you’re listening to this the day it comes out, Merry Christmas Eve! And Happy Holidays to those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas. I am beyond honored that you’ve got me in your ear today, and I don’t want to drive by this moment without taking a moment to just say how grateful I am for this podcast community and for you listening. It’s not lost on me what a big deal it is that you trust me to talk to you about this stuff that is so vulnerable, and where everyone has an opinion on what’s right and wrong with food, and even with intuitive eating. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate you, and I feel very blessed to get to do this work and to share my ideas and guidance with you. 

Today’s episode is about a theme that I hear over and over in my work with clients. It’s so funny how many people describe this phenomenon in exactly the same way. And the other thing that is funny about it is how people feel so relieved to discover that they are not alone in thinking and feeling this way about food. They will say oh my gosh, I thought it was just me and that I was crazy or something and to know that other people have dealt with the same thing is actually really comforting. 

This phenomenon that I’m talking about is the feeling that you have an “angel and a devil” on your shoulder, talking in your ears. The angel tells you all of the things that you should be doing in order to be good and holier than thou with food, and the devil tells you all of the “naughty” things that you should do and the things that you should eat that aren’t healthy, but taste so good, and then how guilty you should feel afterwards, and how you should just give up on your health goals and eat whatever the heck you want.

I know you know what I’m talking about, and even if you’ve never thought of it in the angel/devil terms, you probably recognize that voice chattering in your ear telling you what to eat, what not to eat, and how bad you should feel for eating certain things. That’s what we’re talking about in this episode.

Before we dive into our main topic 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: Bone broth

With it being cold and flu season here in the US, you might be hearing people talk about eating bone broth to boost their immune system, or all sorts of other claims that are made about bone broth. 

But does it really live up to the hype?

Bone broth has gotten lumped into that category of “superfoods” – which is a made up Wellness Woo term to begin with. It has no scientific meaning. 

And this idea that bone broth can boost your immune system is also based on woo – because the entire concept of boosting your immune system is wellness woo. You can’t boost your immune system with food – and even if you could, you wouldn’t want to. 

Let’s back up. What exactly IS bone broth? And why the hype?

Bone broth is kind of like chicken stock or vegetable stock, except it’s made from roasted bones, sometimes with the meat attached, and vegetables. Generally it’s cooked for more than 24 hours, then strained and seasoned.

It’s touted as having all sorts of nutrients and healing powers, but if we look at what’s actually in it, it’s not really that different from a homemade chicken stock, which has around 6 grams of protein per cup. (Now, the stuff in the can from the grocery store only has about 2 grams per cup). Bone broth has about 9 grams per cup, so a little more but nothing earth shattering compared to a homemade chicken stock. Keep in mind that both of these are going to be pretty high in sodium, so if you have high blood pressure you’d want to be aware of that.. 

One concern about bone broth is that bones themselves can contain heavy metals, and bone broth can be contaminated with lead – which as you probably are aware is not good for us. That’s why lead paint is a no-no. So we’d want to be especially careful about feeding this alleged health food to kids, because in their little bodies lead poisoning can happen so easily.

Interestingly, in one study done in the UK back in 2013 it showed that bone broth from organic chickens had 10x more lead than water. 

In addition to the claims about immunity, there are all sorts of other claims about bone broth such as it can allegedly improve digestion, detox your liver (spoiler your liver detoxes itself and if it can’t you’ve got bigger problems), and improve wound healing.

If you dig into the research, is there solid scientific evidence to back up these claims? No. There’s just not.

Overall, bone broth is pretty devoid of nutrients, and it can be contaminated with harmful metals. You’re better off just eating normal soup, that has a variety of ingredients such as veggies, meat, and grains – because the variety of food groups gives you a variety of nutrients which is what supports your overall health. 

Bone broth = wellness woo

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 today’s main topic…The angel vs devil on your shoulder telling you how to eat.

Identifying Your Angel and Devil Voices (aka the Food Police)

Within the intuitive eating book and the principles, one of the principles talks about the food police. That’s essentially what we’re talking about here with these voices in your head, and I’m not talking about schizophrenic voices of mental illness, but rather these voices in your head that are telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. 

One of my dear friends and colleagues describes how it’s like having an entire committee in your head where all of the voices have opinions about what you should eat, what you shouldn’t eat, what you want to do, what you don’t want to do, and it can be exhausting, trying to navigate all of this internal chatter when you are also trying to make peace with food and listen to your body.

This is part of what makes the 10 principles of intuitive eating so beautiful because they capture the complexity wrapped up in our relationship with food. It captures the mental side of the thoughts, the rules, the guilt, the judgments and the shame that we feel – as well as the physical side of honoring your hunger and fullness, and connecting with satisfaction.

If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend that you read (or reread) the book Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elise Resch, and that you get a copy of the Intuitive Eating Workbook that goes with it and go through it because it is going to deepen in your understanding of the principles, and it’s going to help you practice the application of the skills and the mindset shifts that are necessary within this process.

It’s really important that you have an understanding of those 10 principles and the entirety of the intuitive eating framework, so that you can see how it all fits together. 

One of my clients inside Intuitive Eating Exploration (which is the program I will be running starting the first Monday of January where we go through the IE Workbook together), who took it earlier this year, told me that it was by slowing down and not just going through the workbook, but actually talking about her experience with the exercises inside of it that things started to click for her. 

At the end of the program she told me, “I can’t remember the last time I binged” and that it helped her stop thinking of foods as “good” and “bad” – because she now trusts her body, instead of what she called the “incessant demands” of that angel and devil on her shoulder. So you can see where digging into this mental part of the intuitive eating process, you can break free from those constant nagging thoughts that are exhausting and keep you stuck in that restrict-binge cycle with food, and thinking about food constantly. 

I’m guessing (and this is an educated guess here, based on having helped hundreds of my individual clients and the clients inside my programs) that a big part of the tug-of-war that goes on between that angel and devil on your shoulders is about your health and wanting to eat in a way that is “healthy” (which in and of itself, we may need to deconstruct to understand how you are defining “health” and whether your definition is working for you), and the pull towards eating what you want having to eat the things that taste good. 

We’ve been made to feel like there has to be a choice between “healthy eating” vs eating what tastes good. I want to reassure you, it doesn’t have to be that way. 

You don’t have to choose between your health and the foods you enjoy. 

These two things get to coexist when you are an intuitive eater. 

That’s one of my favorite things about this framework as a dietitian, because I care very much about health, and I understand the physiology and the science of how food and nutrition factor into that – and I also understand that there’s more to it than just trying to eat the perfect amounts of the perfect foods (which by the way, there is no such thing). 

Here’s what I can say with confidence and certainty: There ABSOLUTELY is room in your eating for all types of foods, including things like cake, cookies, pizza, pasta, fast food, and all of the things that you probably think of as “unhealthy.”

It’s those voices in your head that are talking in your ear all day long about what you should and shouldn’t eat that are keeping you disconnected from your body and stressed out about your eating. 

Within the intuitive eating framework, one of the principles is called “Challenge the Food Police.” That’s essentially what we’re talking about here. The angel and devil voice, or however you want to conceptualize it is part of your inner food police. There’s also the external food police in our society – that would be diet culture, and the people in your life who make comments about your food, like when your mom or sister says, “I can’t believe you’re eating that junk!”

In fact, one of the things that we are going to do inside the free challenge that I’m running next week is about how to recognize your inner food police so that these voices don’t control your food choices and make you feel ashamed of your eating anymore. 

And really quick – I shouldn’t even be saying this because technically registration for the free challenge has already closed, but since you’re part of the podcast fam I’ll still let you sneak in if you want to join us. It’s called “Have Your Cake & Eat It Too” and it’s a free 5-day New Year’s IE challenge happening from Dec 30-Jan 3 where it’s centered around how to let go of the restrictive New Year’s resolutions, and instead use intuitive eating to find that sweet spot where you can eat the foods that you want and the foods that you crave – while also honoring your health. 

That angel and devil on your shoulder, and your inner food police tell you all these things about how you should be eating in order to be healthy, and then that devil voice also tells you all the things you should eat basically as an act of rebellion, and all of this chatter in your brain is keeping you disconnected from your body, and it’s preventing you from letting your body’s cues guide you towards what you need with your nutrition and your eating habits. 

So that’s what the “Have Your Cake & Eat It Too” challenge is all about. If you want to grab a spot inside, just shoot me a DM on FB or IG, or send me an email katy@katyharvey.net and I’ll get you all the details. Again it’s Dec 30-Jan 3, and it’s totally free, so if you want to find a way to wrap up 2024 and head into 2025 thinking about how to navigate your health without diets and restriction, I’ve got you covered, and I one thousand percent recommend jumping inside.

Connecting With Your True Self

Once you’ve identified which thoughts are coming from that angel and devil on your shoulder (or your food police, however you want to think of it), we want to start to tune into the voice that I call your “True Self.” This voice might be hard to recognize at first. It might be more of a whisper, while those food police voices are screaming at you with all their strong opinions. Sometimes that angel on your shoulder voice sounds so nice and sweet, and it can be confusing because it sounds like she’s got your best interests in mind, but it’s not your True Self.

Your True Self is your authentic voice, coming from deep within, and it’s the “real” you. It’s a voice that comes from a place of wisdom, compassion and knowing what you are thinking, feeling and needing.

Many of us have been trained to disconnect from our True Selves, to silence ourselves, and to tell that voice to shut up. Sometimes that happens as a result of trauma earlier in our lives, and other times it happens because these other voices get so loud. 

What we need to do here is help you identify the voice of your True Self, and to start listening to what she (or he) has to say. 

This Journaling Strategy is a Game Changer

I promised that I’d be sharing a game changing journaling strategy with you, and here it is. I want you to pull out a piece of paper and write down some of the thoughts that you have on a daily basis about your eating (what you should eat, what you shouldn’t eat, what you want to eat but won’t allow yourself to have, what you feel guilty about eating, etc.), about your body or your weight, and about your health. 

Then I want you to make note of which of these thoughts is coming from your True Self, or the angel/devil, the food police, or some other version of your inner critic. You might notice that there are multiple different voices. Some people only can identify one voice, and that’s ok.

In the world of psychology, this is called “externalization.” My hunch is that very few, if any of the thoughts you wrote down come from your True Self. 

Now I want you to look at the thoughts that are coming from these other voices, and to ask yourself how you think your True Self would respond to that, or how you’d want your True Self to respond. 

You might instantly connect with an inner knowing. And you might have no clue. 

Here’s a hint: Your True Self is wise, kind, caring towards you, is on your team, wants what’s best for you, is compassionate, and talks to you like a friend. If you need help just envisioning what this voice might sound like, you can borrow it from me. Ask yourself, “What would Katy say?” (Remember those bracelets from the 90’s that said WWJD? No, I’m not comparing myself to Jesus, but it’s kind of like that – WWKS. Borrow my compassionate voice if you need it.)

Wrapping Up

This is how you are going to start being guided more by your own body, your own True Self’s wisdom, and not letting those voices of the angel/devil, food police, and diet culture control the way that you are eating, and the way that you are thinking and feeling about food. 

It starts with recognizing these voices and separating them out, so that we can put YOU back in the driver’s seat of your choices. 

This process takes a little practice, and I know it feels silly and weird, but humor me. I’m not a “woo” person, as you know, and this is a strategy that works if you embrace it and do the work to notice your thoughts and get curious about where they’re coming from.

And with that, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I am so grateful that you listened to this episode and I wish you and your loved ones nothing but the best as we wrap up the year. 

In case nobody has told you today – you are worthy just as you are. We’ll talk again soon.

Resources Mentioned:

• Purchase the book Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
• Purchase the Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
• Join me inside Intuitive Eating Exploration starting in January!
• DM me for info on the free “Have Your Cake & Eat It Too” New Year’s intuitive eating challenge

Wellness Woo Sources:

• https://nutritionstudies.org/drinking-bone-broth-is-it-beneficial-or-just-a-fad/
• https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0516p10.shtml
• Monro JA, Leon R, Puri BK. The risk of lead contamination in bone broth diets. Med Hypotheses. 2013;80(4):389-390.

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