Follow, rate and review! The way that I keep this show going and grow it without ads is when you do this. And it’s also helping with this movement and this community we are creating here where we are taking a stand against diet culture, and you are saying ENOUGH ALREADY, I’m done with the quick fixes, and the gimmicks, and the wellness woo nonsense. Collectively we are pushing back and saying I’m DONE shrinking my life in the pursuit of thinness and dieting, and I’m here to get healthier in ways that are actually sustainable and effective WITHOUT HATING MYSELF while I’m doing it. That’s what we’re doing here. And when you follow, rate, review and share this podcast with people you know – that’s how this gets into the ears of more people who need to hear it. 

Now, before we go any further, 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: FODMAPs

You may have heard of the low FODMAP diet – especially if you have digestive issues or IBS. And I want to preface this by saying that FODMAPs are real, and there is a time and place to do low FODMAP – but the way that it is mostly talked about in our culture is completely warped and incorrect, so let’s set the record straight here. 

I’ve had SO MANY clients come to me telling me that they’re doing low FODMAP and that it’s just their way of eating. And the first thing I’ll tell them is that it was never meant to be a long-term way of eating. It’s a temporary elimination protocol where you add everything back in one at a time. And they’re always like, “Ohhhhh….nobody told me that.” Which is SO FRUSTRATING because it goes to show that most people who are preaching this stuff online have no freaking clue what they’re talking about. 

So let’s back up and talk about what a FODMAP is. FODMAP stands for:

Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols

These are types of sugars, or if we’re talking biochemistry, they’re short-chain carbohydrates. 

Oligosaccharides: Includes fructans and galactans (found in wheat, rye, onions, garlic, and legumes like beans and lentils).

Disaccharides: Includes lactose (found in dairy products like milk, yogurt, and soft cheeses).

Monosaccharides: Includes excess fructose (found in certain fruits, honey, and high-fructose corn syrup).

Polyols: Includes sugar alcohols like sorbitol and mannitol (found in stone fruits, apples, pears, and sugar-free chewing gum)

I saw this video the other day of some guy on IG trying to mansplain fructose in a way that was so confident – he had zero doubt that what he was saying was true – and Jessica Knurick who is a PhD RD broke down why what he was saying was without a shred of doubt false. It’s honestly exhausting to have to constantly battle this type of misinformation online. This guy was saying “I have no problem with sugar, but it’s the type of sugar that really matters. The human body can handle glucose and sucrose fine, but fructose is a poison.” He went on to say “I’m not saying that to be hyperbolic – it’s a literal poison.” He actually believes this. What he doesn’t understand is that sucrose is literally made up of glucose + fructose. It’s a disaccharide (which is one of these FODMAPs we’re talking about – that’s the D for disaccharide). Telling people that fructose is poison is insane, but here we are. This is prime wellness culture. 

Anyway, I digress…

So these FODMAPs are types of sugars. The F stands for “fermentable” which means that for some people they don’t break down very easily in their digestive system, and they start to ferment which causes a lot of gas and bloating. The idea behind low FODMAP is to cut these “higher likelihood” offenders out to clear the gut out, and then test each one by adding it in to see what the individual is reacting to. If they have a significant negative reaction to a particular food like onions or garlic, then they might try to avoid or limit it. The goal was NEVER to avoid all FODMAPs forever. And what I think kind of appeals to people about low FODMAP (kind of like the GF trend) is the idea that you are “justified” in cutting out sugar. The other pattern I’ve seen is with people who have a lot of gut issues, and they feel better when they cut out FODMAPs so they assume this is just how they need to eat forever. They don’t really want to add anything back in because they don’t want to feel like crap again. But this becomes a viscous cycle, because the more restricted your diet gets, the more your body will downregulate the production of enzymes that break down these foods so it then reinforces the idea that you don’t tolerate them, when you very well might be able to if you reintroduced them gradually. (give examples from Br. JM and Taushia). (Use lactose as prime example)

If you cut out FODMAPs it would mean you’re not eating mostly carbs – so you can also see where this plays into the anti-carb attitudes in our culture right now:

• Many fruits and vegetables
• Dairy
• Honey
• Anything w/ HFCS
• Onions
• Cereals, wheat, bread, pasta
• Soy
• Beans
• Whey protein (which is in a lot of things)

And you’re basically allowed to eat meat, eggs, and a few types of fruits and veggies. 

We see this being recommended a lot by practitioners who will diagnose people with “leaky gut” (which is also wellness woo). And with SIBO – which if you have a valid SIBO diagnosis you need to be treated with an antibiotic.

If someone is following the evidence based FODMAP protocol, you’re only cutting these foods out for 2-6 weeks, and you’re adding back in everything you can. But that’s not how most people are doing it, and that’s why I’m calling low FODMAP mostly wellness woo. The valid way to do it is with an actual RD who is trained in the specific protocol for low FODMAP and who will make sure that you have 1) A proper diagnosis in the first place from a real doctor and not a quack; and 2) that you ONLY are cutting out our limiting as few things as possible long-term. 

If you have an example of Wellness Woo that you want to share, DM it to me! I need some new ideas for my list right now, so spam me with the things you’re seeing!!

Ok, that’s enough of that. Moving on to today’s main topic…The 3 types of “food noise” and different solutions for each.

3 types of “food noise”

1. Diet mentality
   1. You’re thinking about food because you’re telling yourself that you should be eating less of it.
   2. Studies show that being told you’re going on a diet will increase your thoughts about food.
   3. Leads to “Last Supper” type of eating before you diet, or on weekends before you “start over” on Monday
2. Restriction/not eating enough
   1. Can be intentional, with dieting, disordered eating, eating disorders, or people who are “cutting” for body building or wrestling. 
   2. Another example is if you have to do clear liquids or be NPO before a procedure and all you think about is food. (Tell story of my clear liquid experience…)
   3. When you are underfed and underfueled, it’s a protective mechanism of your brain to think about food more – to prompt you to seek out food. 
   4. Explain the % of TCT and what they mean
3. Metabolic (the type the GLP-1 addresses)
   1. Often overlap here with the previous 2 and this one (explain why)
   2. Explain how some people think about food constantly, the fMRI studies
   3. How this often correlates w/ insulin resistance (and why)
   4. GET OUT AHEAD of people assuming/hoping that this is them to justify going on GLP-1 b/c they actually are just desperate to lose weight

Recap:

1. Diet mentality
2. Restriction/not eating enough
3. Metabolic

Now the first thing that I would recommend for you to reduce this is that we rule out the first 2 things, and if it remains then we get curious about the metabolic piece and work with your doctor. A lot of you are going to want to start with the metabolic piece because you want to have a “valid” reason to try a GLP-1 (explain my words of caution about this; including lifetime med).

I have a free guide that will walk you through how to quiet these first 2 types of food noise. It’s called How to Stop Thinking About Food All Day. If you don’t already have that, you need to go grab it right now. It’s at nondietacademy.com/food.

And if you need some help sorting through this and making sense of what you’re experiencing, and you want to borrow my eyes, ears and brain on your situation, feel free to DM me and we can chat about what that support could look like for you. I know this can be confusing to figure out on your own. 

Wrapping Up:

Food noise is such a trendy term right now, and there is so much chatter out there about what it means, and most people (even a lot of dietitians) don’t have a good grasp on this. The reason I understand it so well is because of the 15+ years I’ve spent working with people who have all 3 types of this food noise, and I’ve seen what fixes it and what doesn’t. Figuring out YOUR reason why is what’s key for you to be able to stop thinking about food constantly. So I hope that this gives you clarity on that.  

And in case nobody has told you today – you are ENOUGH ALREADY just as you are. We’ll talk again soon.

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