Psychotic P***y Podcast
Just two sisters discussing women’s mental and physical health. It's not only our hobby, but our careers. We want to shed light on important topics & teach people new things every episode.
Psychotic P***y Podcast
Intuitive Eating: Cultivating a Friendship with Food Beyond Guilt and Restrictions
Embark on an exploration of your body's deepest cravings and nutritional needs with our guest star, Annie Zappulla, a trailblazing dietitian and owner of A to Z Wellness Solutions in Sea Girt, NJ. As we chart the landscape of intuitive eating, you'll discover how to decode the signals your body sends, paving the way to a healthier, more vibrant you.
Ever feel like you're on the losing end of a battle with food guilt and restrictive diets? We're flipping the script, busting the myths of forbidden fruits (or roll-ups, in this case) to forge a new narrative where food is neither a foe nor a mere fuel but a friend. With laughter as our companion, we navigate the emotional and psychological terrain of eating, learning to honor hunger and savor satisfaction without the baggage of the "food police."
This episode isn't just about what we put on our plates; it's about the holistic tapestry of health—where hormones dance in harmony with diet and lifestyle, and where medications like Ozempic are demystified. Join us as we unravel the threads of gentle nutrition and honor our bodies' wisdom, planting the seeds for a nourished life, rich with the joys of food as nature intended. With Annie's expertise guiding the way, let's feast on the knowledge that'll lead us to the heart of whole body well-being.
Guest Star:
Annie Zappulla, BS, RDN
A to Z Wellness Solutions
2130 NJ-35 STE 227
Sea Girt, NJ 08750
Phone: 732-619-1854
Instagram: @atozwellness_
Website: https://atozwellnesssolutions.com/
Disclaimer: This podcast represents the opinions of Dr. Bridget Melton, MD and licensed therapist Marissa Volinsky, MS, LPC, NCC. The contents of our podcast and website should not be taken as medical advice. The contents of our podcast and website are for general informational purposes only, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any condition or disease or substitute for medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, mental health professional, or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before starting or discontinuing treatment.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741. These services are free and confidential.
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welcome back to the podcast guys today. Your hosts, marissa and bridget who hopefully you you know by now if you've tuned in before are here the very special guest, annie Zapula. So Annie is a registered dietitian and nutritionist and the owner of A to Z Wellness in New Jersey, who focuses on intuitive eating and, I think, integrative health. Is that correct? Or integrative eating? Is that another term?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes. Whole body health is a good approach. So not only intuitive eating, but also other aspects of health that nutrition can help definitely.
Speaker 2:Brilliant. So Annie is also a busy mom who knows the importance of fueling our bodies properly in order to make the most of our days. So today we'll be talking about the mind-gut connection, diets and how food affects our health. I do want to just preface by saying if I mention any like dieting terms, that is not supported by the intuitive eating community. It's just coming from my medical perspective. That's all. So nobody attack Annie, yeah, nobody. So, annie, if you have any further introduction for yourself, carry on.
Speaker 3:Thanks, bridget, thank you, marissa and Bridget for having me. It's so nice to be able to be on a platform like this to share the nutrition side of health, because I always advocate my clients to be working with all of their interdisciplinary teams. I think that the therapies are so important to be working together, so it's so great to have all three perspectives on a podcast like this. So, like Bridget said, I am a dietician nutritionist.
Speaker 3:I have a private practice in Seagirt, new Jersey, that provides one-on-one nutritional counseling services for those who want to utilize nutrition as a way to promote their overall health. I work one-on-one with clients to support a variety of health goals, whether it's helping women heal their relationship with food with a more intuitive eating approach, or just helping other genders and age groups support their overall health or manage any kind of chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease. So I really advocate for my clients and take a very personalized approach in supporting their health and want it to be something that feels like a positive incorporation to their lifelong well-being. So I do virtual and in-person sessions and work with major insurance plans. So just the accessibility of nutrition therapy is also super important to me. So I'm excited to share a little bit more of my perspective and, like I said, thank you for having me on to share a little bit more specifically about intuitive eating and its benefits.
Speaker 2:Excellent, yeah, absolutely. About intuitive eating and its benefits Excellent, okay, yeah, absolutely. So, before we really get into it, quick bump date for everybody, anybody who cares, probably like two friends. I'm 21 weeks now, so we're more than halfway and I do not know the sex, so let us know. What do you think, boy or girl, or does nobody care?
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, I'm going to say boy, you think boy?
Speaker 3:I would say boy, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:So I'm having like horrific acne, so take these. I'm ugly as anything, so just think about that. No other symptoms except extreme ugliness.
Speaker 1:This is why we cannot video podcast. Just kidding, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We don't video because right now I'm not fit for camera.
Speaker 3:This is, this is a face for radio. It's technical issues.
Speaker 1:A face. Only a mother could love Technical issues, so yeah, All right, let's get into it guys.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to just chat a little bit about how our diet and what we eat affects our physical health. I'm sure a lot of this stuff people have heard before, but just in case. So, according to the CDC, a healthy diet helps children grow and develop properly. Adequate vitamin D prevents bone diseases like rickets in children and osteopenia or osteoporosis in adults. So osteopenia is basically the weakening of the bones and it can develop into osteoporosis, which is literally translated to porous bones, and that's when you're at risk of fractures, especially in postmenopausal women. So a healthy diet helps us to live longer and healthier lives. It prevents chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac disease, having a higher weight and even certain cancers. Nine in 10 American adults consume too much sodium to support a healthy diet and nearly $173 billion a year is spent on healthcare for complications caused by having a higher weight, which is crazy. I read that number and I was like blown away. It really shows you that our healthcare should be more focused on prevention and living healthy lives instead of treating it after the fact. You're already behind the curve. At that point it's too late. Yeah, In the US, 20% of young people.
Speaker 2:So people aged two to 19 years old and 42% of adults are classified as larger bodied, and this can lead to chronic diseases, even cancer, which I know sounds really frightening but it is true. So basically, things like increased peripheral fat stores can lead to endometrial cancer and that's just related to increased estrogen production causes your endometrium to get thicker and thicker and that can lead to some dysplasia and eventually cancer. And increased fat stores can also lead to breast cancer, especially in men. So I think breast cancer overall incidence for men is only like 1% of breast cancers are male and you see that higher in men with gynecomastia, so fat pads around where their pectoral muscles are. So increased weight can lead to breast cancer in men. The overconsumption of certain foods like ultra processed foods and red meat, can lead to colorectal cancer. Higher levels of fat affect our hormones, mainly estrogen. The excess fat also leads to cellular damage from release of reactive oxygen species.
Speaker 2:Places where cell damage happens repeatedly, cancer cells are more likely to develop, and I'll explain how that happens. So one really good example is something called Barrett's esophagus, which is a prec-cancerous condition and it's really common. So something as simple as chronic acid reflux. It's increased chances in middle-aged people with higher weights, who eat particularly like spicy food or greasy food, or who eat really late at night, have stressful careers or are smokers or drink a lot of alcohol. These all contribute to having this chronic acid reflux that doesn't really respond to medication. So if you have acid reflux every night, eventually the cells that line your esophagus will change over to a more sturdy cell to prevent the lining of your esophagus from eroding further. So when this happens it's called Barrett's esophagus and that's pre-cancer, and years down the road that can actually turn into esophageal cancer. Just because of the repeated attack of acid on your throat, you develop metaplasia, which is a new cell in the throat, and that can lead to dysplasia and then cancer.
Speaker 2:So it's really interesting about how our diet and our lifestyle can actually directly cause cancer in certain situations. So we all know that feeling of fatigue and brain fog after a week of maybe binge eating, whether we were away on vacation or just overindulging during the holidays or just if you had a poor week of takeout and drinking when you were in college. When we fuel our bodies poorly, we feel poor because we're not taking in maybe enough food, Maybe we're feeling guilty and we're not eating as much as we should be. So we're undernourished and we don't realize and that's why you're so lethargic. So all of these things really affect how we act as adults.
Speaker 3:So Annie is going to explain more about what she does. And yeah, thanks, bridget. I think that's actually a really great segue, because intuitive eating is really about how you can be more in tune with yourself and perceive what your physical and psychological needs are. So it is a lot about checking in with your body to see how does food make me feel, and jumping into that side of nutrition and honoring what makes us feel our best on a day to day basis. I want to share a little bit about how I got into intuitive eating.
Speaker 3:So I've always been pretty intrigued with intuitive eating because I grew up a pretty intuitive eater. My mom would always say I could just leave a couple bites of food on my plate and walk away and easily listen to my body, I would say. For the most part growing up, even through high school and college, I had a pretty good relationship with food. I did struggle to find that right balance, which I think a lot of people do in this day and age. Unfortunately, through high school and college I was thrown so much nutrition information, you know just through my career choice, that it was difficult to not get over consumed with that, which I think sometimes people struggle with now, especially just with like the outlets we have with social media. There's a lot of information out there and part of my job is to make that information easier to digest and find the right information as well. So I do feel like intuitive eating for myself always brought me back center and gave me that right mix of like utilizing the nutrition information without feeling too overwhelmed. And then, through my practice with nutritional counseling, I just I've run into so many clients who also struggle with the same thing or currently struggle with their relationship with food. I'm really just passionate about helping people heal and just get to a better place for overall wellness.
Speaker 3:So intuitive eating is considered a self-care eating framework. It's rooted in providing respect for all bodies and it's a non-diet approach to eating. So it's not weight loss specific, it's more of that non-diet approach and just kind of focusing more on what our body tells us, what makes us feel good and what behaviors we're doing on a day to day basis. And it follows 10 specific principles. Those 10 principles are dynamic, play with instinct, emotion and thought, and so a little bit of a background on intuiting as well. It was coined not that long ago, but we still have a good amount of time under our belt. It was coined in 1990 by Evelyn Triboli and Elise Resch, who are the founders of intuitive eating, and then it wasn't until 2005 where intuitive eating studies actually started to emerge and have actually grown to over 200 that exist now, so it's really gaining popularity and it's something that people I see a lot of dietitians are incorporating it into their counseling. There's actually over 2000 intuitive eating counselors across 40 countries now, so it's really grown a lot since they first started it and I find that you know so many different clients can benefit from it.
Speaker 3:So intuitive eating is all about something called interceptive awareness, which is the ability to perceive your physical sensations in your body that arise. So like feeling like you have a full bladder. You can also feel like when your body is satiated from food or when emotion comes up, so when we can be really in tune with our bodies through intuitive eating, we can know what our physical needs are, maybe through nutrition and nourishment, but also our psychological needs as well, like maybe needing to have some extra self care when emotions come up. I know the goal with intuitive eating is is to make it as simple as knowing that we have to use the restroom, knowing when our body needs nourishment, what kind of nourishment that is, and knowing when you know when we're satisfied and we're we're done and finished.
Speaker 3:This is a whole practice that is unique to each person and it's a direct experience through yourself and everyone's journey is different, but it allows you to kind of make your own food choices based on what your body is telling you. So through the intuitive eating studies, we do see that it increases variety of foods. It also increases body appreciation, body trust, enjoyment of eating, overall well-being, actually can increase your HDL levels, which is your good cholesterol. It lowers your triglyceride levels and it can regulate glycemic control as well, which is your blood sugar regulation. People also notice a sense of overall optimism, enjoyment of food and there's a reduced incidence of disordered eating, which is super important for people to feel like they don't have that poor relationship with food.
Speaker 2:So, like I, mentioned Wow, can I interject yeah?
Speaker 3:Yes, please.
Speaker 2:Real quick. I just have a question for you. Do you find that people struggle to find that internal sensor that says I think I'm full now, or do you think it kind of comes naturally once it's explained to them?
Speaker 3:That's a really good question and I will say it varies for each person. Someone can really jump on intuitive eating and heal their relationship with food in a couple months. Sometimes it takes years. So I will say there's a information we collect in the first session of like where your health history is at, where your relationship with food was at when you were younger and what's kind of contributed to your perspective on food now. So I will say that it varies per person but it is kind of like a whole new learning process for some people.
Speaker 3:We're kind of sometimes starting from scratch if people from you know, from a young area are not used to listening to their body and maybe have been told a lot of rules and restrictions as a child or do struggle with, like, their relationship with social media and following certain people that put some fear around food.
Speaker 3:So everyone's journey is different. I would say we do a lot of practices together to make that easier for you. For example, I have a resource that is called a hunger scale and it is a scale from zero to 10 that rates zero being like very hungry and pain, uncomfortable, and 10 being the opposite but for fullness, so being bloated, having pain, not having any energy, not being able to move too much, and we utilize that information together to kind of check in with where do you sense those things approaching meals and how does that change also as you're eating. So we do a lot of mindfulness practice when it comes to intuitive eating. Mindfulness is a skill and intuitive eating is more of like this eating style and lifestyle approach, and so we do a lot of practices together to not only have that nutrition education but also, you know, bring it back to yourselves too, because there are a lot of guidelines when it comes to nutrition. We also want to circle back to how you're feeling in the process as well.
Speaker 2:Cool. It sounds like such a holistic approach to really overall wellness. So it's very interesting.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely so. I think I mentioned this earlier. There's literally so much we could talk about when it comes to intuitive eating Because, like I said, there are 10 principles to it and everyone's experience is different, so you know how deep we get in certain varies per person, so someone might really struggle with one topic and one might be a breeze for them, and so you know each each person's different, but there's just a lot of information to talk about, which is which is very interesting, but it also shows you how much people struggle with their relationship with food, which is really unfortunate. Food is supposed to be something that, like, supports our body and provides nourishment and makes us feel better, and unfortunately, that's not always the case, and so intuitive eating is a really helpful approach to improve that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I was just even thinking with you. Know you explaining intuitive eating? How many kids might have grown up I know this is probably more older generations but in a house where they were full and they were feeling full, but their parent was like no, you don't leave the table till you finish the plate.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly, and that's actually like a food rule. People don't really recognize that when they come to see me, but that actually is a food rule that pulls yourself away from what your body is telling you. It makes you feel like you have to go against its. You know your body signals and unfortunately that's just kind of losing trust with your body and making it really confusing on how to eat. So that's something that we do in the beginning is to recognize where maybe like that food police or those food rules are coming from and to really try to change that. You know those thoughts and talk around food. There's a lot of preoccupation people have with food when they're eating. There's a lot of things going through people's minds that unfortunately those thoughts and rules can cause them to avoid listening to their body's needs and can push them past that comfortable fullness for sure.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. Yeah, I'm sure very you know helpful for people, maybe even hearing this for the first time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's 10 principles to intuitive eating, and I wanted to just touch on a couple here that I find my clients or people struggle with the most when it comes to their relationship with food, and I'll try to try to be concise with this as well. Like I said, there's so much information, but definitely jump in and let me know if you have questions with anything that I share here. So one of the first actually the first principle of intuitive eating is rejecting the diet mentality, and this is a big one when it comes to intuitive eating, because we're essentially accepting that dieting does not work and research does show us that, and so it pretty much, you know, means that we're going to accept that following any kind of like restrictive fad diet is not going to support overall well-being and is not going to be sustainable. There's actually a really interesting study called the Minnesota Starvation Study. I'm not sure if either of you have heard of it before, but it was taken place in 1944 to 1945 on college-age men who were put on a semi-starvation diet along with exercise, and they were put on about a 1,700 calorie diet, which was really only a few hundred less calories than what their body would need. But they found that this study led to food preoccupation.
Speaker 3:So food thoughts, food talk, people just talking about food in excess, collecting recipes, studying cookbooks, having food cravings, so kind of really becoming like that obsessive, having those obsessive feelings around food that some people often do when they're on really restrictive diets.
Speaker 3:And there are actually a couple scenarios where people did binge on food and purge because they over consumed and they kind of had that rebound effect of under eating and then that food restriction causing them to binge on food and then be so uncomfortable that they purge.
Speaker 3:So it's really interesting how we have these studies to show that diets don't work and how much people can actually suffer and struggle when they are put on really restrictive diets. And so diets don't work for sustainable weight loss and more of a predictor of weight gain. So in 30 studies up to two thirds of people regained more weight than they lost within that five year mark, and so that's kind of where we generally see a lot of those diets start to cause people to gain weight. There's not a lot of studies with these diets after five years and so that's kind of like in that five year mark where we start seeing people gain the weight back, just because it's just not sustainable and realistic for the long term and so, like I mentioned, it actually can increase poor mental health and poor physical health when we're experiencing some of these side effects from under under eating, like Bridget was kind of mentioning earlier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's kind of like when you grow up in that really restrictive household and you're not allowed to have any snacks. You know you had no soda, no snacks, nothing fun. And you go to your friend's house and they have everything, so you just eat it all. And then you go home and you beg your parents like please, can we have fruit roll-ups? And your parents are like, no, sorry, but that's all you could think about. Now. How do I get the fruit roll-ups? Who has the fruit roll-ups? Where can I eat the fruit roll-ups?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I related a lot to COVID with my clients too. When the pandemic happened, we were told we couldn't go outside, go to the grocery store, go to a park, go do anything, and all we wanted to do was go stand in the grocery store, right Like it was. When we're told we can't do that something and we're like really restricted with something, that's where our minds start to become like we start to overthink around, and the same thing applies to food as well. Yeah, that's so funny.
Speaker 2:Okay, during COVID. This is so, it's just funny. You mentioned the grocery store during COVID. I was in Chicago. In Chicago, it was like spring 2020.
Speaker 2:So early COVID Chicago had like a full lockdown effect in order because COVID was spreading rampant there. So my roommate Marwa and I lockdown effect in order because COVID was spreading rampant there. So my roommate Marwa and I shout out to Marwa we were just watching Superstore, that NBC sitcom. We were watching Superstore and it basically takes place in something called Cloud 9, but it's like a Walmart, it's a huge store and we were watching episode after episode for hours sitting on the couch. And one time I just looked over at Marwa and I was like, oh my God, should we quit medicine? Like maybe we should just have a fun job like that. And she's like Bridget, this is the COVID talking. You just want space. Like you just want to leave the apartment and go to a Walmart, I think. And I was like, oh my God, work at Walmart. I just want to like go to one. I'm just stuck in a two bedroom apartment.
Speaker 1:Like it was so weird. I was like, oh yeah, oh my God, yeah, that's hilarious. I would love to be there when you broke the news to mom. You know, I don't want to do med school anymore, I just want to be a Walmart. You know, greeters.
Speaker 2:I just had so many fun antics and I was like, oh my God, there's so much like space and free time.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness I love it the amount of times you've mentioned walmart. You think they'd be sponsoring us. Yeah, okay, shout out to walmart, please.
Speaker 3:That would be good lord, I would be impressed if you guys got walmart. That is like the largest food store, I think, like the most, like the most successful food store, isn't it? Walmart's pretty impressive is it? Oh my god, wow, I mean, I wouldn't be shocked it's one of the largest, like real retailers endorsement for a lot of products funny.
Speaker 1:I'm in a walmart sundress right now.
Speaker 2:Love it you know what's her name? Sophia vergara. There's clothing for walmart.
Speaker 1:That makes sense, because that's fabulous and comfy.
Speaker 2:I know all right, we gotta stop bigging up walmart unless they're giving us money.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Oh, my gosh, that's hilarious, walmart, yeah. So I think that it takes home the point that when we're told we can't have something, we want an even more. And so we really want to like look at those notions head on and recognize where those rules are coming into play. Which actually takes me to my next principle of challenging the food police.
Speaker 3:Whether that's an inner play or an outer play, we want to challenge the thoughts, beliefs and rules that are held against food. People say I feel guilty because I ate this, or oh, I'm so bad for eating this food, or I need to, I need to go on a cleanse tomorrow because I ate a piece of cake the day before, and so we really want to unpack these thoughts and feelings as a way to kind of let go of them and change the script that we have with the food. So that's a really big practice for people. It's actually interesting when we sit down and actually think about what thoughts are going on, you know, when we're eating.
Speaker 3:I actually recently did this with a client on Friday and she sent me a paragraph of her thoughts just from one meal and she was like, wow, I have a lot of fog around my food and we need to break down what's the truth and what's a rule or what's a belief that doesn't hold truth for your well-being, because that distraction and those thoughts around food during an eating experience really take away from your eating experience overall and it's just going to continue to interfere with your ability to heal your relationship with food. And that's where myself, as a dietician, can share the actual nutrition facts with you. Is this something that is a factual information or is this not? And should you really be feeling guilty around food? Did you kill anyone to get the food? Did you steal the food? Guilt is a pretty strong emotion to feel with food and we really want to try to reduce that around your eating experience. It's not going to make it as enjoyable if we're feeling or thinking these thoughts this significantly.
Speaker 2:Very interesting. Can you think off the top of your head like a really odd food rule that you've heard?
Speaker 3:Let's see. Well, I wouldn't say necessarily odd, but I would say it's very unfortunate and sad for me to hear is that females or males in a larger body they believe that they shouldn't be eating in general, and so that's a whole nother topic in itself, but that is really unfortunate to feel like, because someone's in a larger body, that they think they shouldn't be eating or that they're going to be judged for eating anything or more, judged for eating a specific food. So that is one of the more unfortunate things. I hear that people really struggle with feeling like they deserve to eat because maybe of what people have said to them or how they think that they come across in regards to the size of their body.
Speaker 1:Wow, god, that's awful.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So it is very important to me to advocate that. Doesn't matter your body size, it doesn't matter what you look like or who you are your body deserves to eat, deserves to be nourished, it deserves to feel good on a day to day basis. Nutrition is a basic need that needs to be met on a daily basis. It's just like getting enough hydration, it's just like shelter, it's just like adequate sleep, and this is something that we definitely don't want to pull ourselves away from, but there's a lot to unpack there as well.
Speaker 3:So one of the next, one of the next principles that I think is a little bit lighter and a little bit more fun is discovering your satisfaction, which is the hub of intuitive eating, they like to call it, and finding your satisfaction is really important process of intuitive eating, because it allows you to decide where do I feel like I'm comfortable fullness, but also like really enjoying what I'm eating. A lot of times, people, because they maybe have been told eat this, eat that, or don't eat this, don't eat that, that they don't even really know what they like anymore, and so we really get curious and get excited about getting to know ourselves in this process, to say, okay, what tastes do I like, what textures, what aromas, what temperature, what feels good in my body? And it's really interesting how people can discover how they get that level of satisfaction in their meals when they just start to pay attention a little bit more and start to get to know their bodies a little bit better. That's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just going to say have you ever watched Physical on Apple TV? No, I haven't. Great show, it's Rose Byrne's. You know the comedian? I think her name's Rose Byrne. She is a woman in the 80s who has bulimia and she's always struggled with it. And she, in the end, she eventually does forcibly go to therapy and in one of the sessions they're they have an orange and they're taught to just hold the orange, smell the orange, you know, feel the orange. What emotions does it elicit? And she didn't even know if she liked oranges at that point, because she was so far removed from her body's cues and just saw food as binging and purging exercise only. She had no idea what she liked. If someone asked her, what food do you enjoy? She would have no answer yeah, that's so interesting.
Speaker 3:I find that, even for a lot of my clients' fear of foods, when we actually practice that mindfulness and they give themselves permission to eat and they can slow down and really taste what they're eating, they're like it was too sweet for me. I didn't even like it. I wouldn't go back and eat that again. But that is a really big component of saying you're the main driver of what you want to eat, instead of being told like, oh well, you can't have that, that increases your desire for it and then you're not even sure if you like it right and so when we can pull it back to ourselves. You know, a lot of times these foods that were restricted or feel like we have no control over actually easily goes away because we're the ones determining whether we like it or not. But that mindfulness practice is huge to get a better picture of, like what actually is this food about? Do I, do I like it? Does it make me feel good? Is it tasty to me? That's super interesting. I'm gonna have to look up that show for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very, very good. I definitely recommend it to everyone regardless so good.
Speaker 3:One of the next, one of the next principles that's also super important is coping with emotions, with kindness. So a lot of times people struggle with the thought of intuitive eating because they think that oh well, if you ditch diets and you ditch food rules and you give yourself permission to fully eat, aren't you just going to eat whatever you want at all times of the day, which really isn't the case. Like I mentioned, with the research that we talked about earlier, actually shows more control over eating and less binge eating and whatnot. That mental side of eating where you know there's emotional eating that we rely on at times and it's unrealistic to say that we're never going to use food as an outlet for stress. That's just, unfortunately, impossible to say.
Speaker 3:We're never going to, you know, lean on food in times of comfort, but what I think is important is that it's not our only outlet, right, and so we want to kind of move away from food being our only outlet for these emotions and have healthier solutions for that, which, obviously, working with a therapist who has more guidance and specialty around managing stress and anxiety or emotions that come up is super important. Like I mentioned earlier, the therapies with nutrition therapy and seeing a therapist, work hand in hand together and make this process a lot easier for you. So, yes, we can lean on food for emotion, but eventually we're going to have to deal with the emotions that come on head on. So we just want to figure out what outlets can kind of manage those emotions that do come up and make sure you're seeking additional help if needed for things that are maybe a little bit more significant.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:The last principle I'll touch on is is honoring your health through gentle nutrition. So I think this is an important one as a dietician for me to touch on. Like where does nutrition come in the mix right? Like, how do we also prioritize some of the information Bridget was talking about in regards to healing our relationship with food? So we wanna make sure that we're making food choices that honor our health and taste buds while making us feel good. So it means that we think about other parts of our body, outside of our tongue, that can support our eating choices.
Speaker 3:You don't have to eat perfectly to be healthy. One food is never going to cause you to have a nutrition deficiency or cause you to have diabetes or heart disease. It's never going to be one wrong move. It's really we're looking at, you know, cumulatively, what are we doing overall to support our health, for physical, mental and emotional well being? So we want to really be flexible and not have those rigid rules and ask ourselves okay, with this information, this nutrition information, how do I align with this? How do I see that this could support where my goals are and still support my relationship with food?
Speaker 3:So I find that a lot of dietitians are taking a more of like an addition approach to their counseling, which I really support, I really like.
Speaker 3:So, in regards to heart health, people might be concerned about higher fat meats, ultra processed foods or cholesterol, different things like that. And you know, in my perspective there's actually a ton of research that shows how fiber is super important to absorbing our cholesterol in our blood right. So how can we add maybe a little bit more fiber and help you meet your fiber needs through the day? So it feels like we're adding to your meals instead of taking away, and we really want to kind of think about that approach so it doesn't feel so restrictive, but we're kind of like adding nutritious components to your meal. So we're thinking about variety, balance and sufficiency in regards to your nutrition. So the honoring your health and gentle nutrition is the last principle of intuitive eating, because if your relationship hasn't fully healed before going to this, there is a chance that you could take the gentle nutrition information and start playing it in more of the rigid rules. And so we really want to heal your relationship and perspective on food before adding in more of like that research around. You know nutrition guidelines.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's awesome. I feel like those were all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Excellent point. Yeah, I've learned a lot.
Speaker 3:No, I definitely did Like I said there's so much to chat about. I wanted to like highlight a lot like the specific principles that I see a lot with my clients and I will say too, when it comes to intuitive eating, I really do encourage, if anyone's interested in pursuing that route, to seek out a dietician that is certified in intuitive eating. There's a lot of information out there, whether it's on social media or Google, and some things are contradictory. So it's definitely important to make sure you're getting information from a reliable source, and I will say I always just encourage people to like bring it back to yourself. If something's making you feel uncomfortable or if you're starting to feel scared around food, then that's a red flag. So we just want to make sure that every like what you're incorporating in your day to day feels really aligned for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely, yeah, definitely. If you're feeling uncomfortable around food, then someone has sent you the wrong message at some point. I think. Right, exactly.
Speaker 3:If you're starting to question some things in that realm, it doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong. I think that's an important emotion and feeling to recognize around information that you're taking in on a daily basis, because we can take in a lot just from the outlets we have.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. In your experience, do you think a lot of the external food rules? Do you think they come more so from social media or more so from, maybe friends or parents growing up, or is it a combination really?
Speaker 3:I definitely think it can be a combination, but I also see that, depending on the age group, there's either a lot of food rules from growing up or in the millennial Gen Z age group, there may be a little bit more from social media because we have so much more access to that and, like I mentioned earlier, there's a lot just more different types of social media in our outlets as well. And I will say that there's a lot of fear mongering around foods on the social media realm about how we really shouldn't be eating foods at all and how, if you know how, if you know, they discuss how eating a food is going to result in X disease and unfortunately it's just a lot of things aren't accurate and it's just not a healthy approach either way. What, either way, to be putting fear against people with food when it's supposed to be something that's supporting our body. So I will say that it definitely is a combination, but the amount of whether it's from growing up or social media, it definitely varies on maybe just age group, how old someone is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I could see that Definitely. Like Marissa mentioned, the whole you know empty plate club. That was definitely more of. Our grandparents said that and it was like I don't think you understand that a child's stomach is smaller. You can't give me the same portion of chicken and think that I eat that if you're eating that.
Speaker 1:But I will say, bridget, because you know how we were talking earlier in the segment about. You know, when you don't have, you want right. I'm wondering. Some of our grandparents, depending on their ages, were during the Great Depression, right, so they didn't have, so maybe they were always worried about that next meal. That that's where they got that from, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely I think you're right there. It was more of a survival thing. They just never knew, you know.
Speaker 3:And that is a form of restriction as well. Just not knowing when your next meal is going to come, that's completely valid, but in those situations we just have to fact check that as well. Can you go into your pantry and see that you have food available to you, that you are not going to be going starving, and you have that accessibility to food? Maybe your grandparents didn't have, but it's super interesting how a lot of those things can be connected and intertwined Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So Annie did segue me perfectly into mental health and the aspect of mental health with eating she's mentioned. It could be an outlet for stress to eat and your behaviors around eating, and there's consequences of diet culture that are way more than just physical. They take a significant toll on our mental health as well. Research has shown a strong link between chronic dieting and increased risk of eating disorders, depression, anxiety and that's what Andy was mentioning, where it's good that they go hand in hand, right. Nutritionist and therapist, and you know what? Let's add even Bridget in. You know, get your primary care physician going. I think all three is very good and you know you're all getting information from different outlets and if they all work together, even better.
Speaker 1:Consuming processed foods on a regular basis has been linked to increased rates of depression, anxiety and cognitive decline. This inflammatory response triggered by these foods can disrupt neurotransmitter functions and impair our ability to regulate our emotions effectively, which is super important. I like that Andy was mentioning. You know, take a step back, figure out how it's making you feel From a therapist perspective, that's super important. Our emotions, our feelings, our thoughts they all go hand in hand. They're important to explore. Figure out what they mean to you and what you need in that moment and what's going to help you Absolutely 100% agree with. And also minimizing our intake of processed foods and prioritizing whole, unprocessed options can be great for better mental health and promote greater emotional stability.
Speaker 1:So there is a relentless pursuit, like the diet culture that we did mention here and there, that gives it unattainable ideal levels, and how does that make people feel and what are the impacts that's doing? It could leave you feeling depleted, both mentally and emotionally, and we can lose sight of our inherent worth, trading our well-being for a false promise of perfection. So it's definitely important to focus from weight loss to holistic well-being, I feel, and that way you can cultivate that positive relationship with food and your body. And also it's a form of self-care. I think Annie touched on that too. You know nourishing yourself is important and self-care is important, and that goes hand in hand with therapy and pushing you forward on the mental health aspect of things. And it's better than punishment and restriction, definitely a hundred percent better.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree with Marissa. I think it's so important to avoid thinking about how we need to change ourselves and just think about how we continue want to be the best version of ourselves.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and even outside of, obviously, us being on this podcast. There has been times you know you had said you needed a referral for therapy and I think it's like, as Annie has mentioned, it's important to understand that you definitely need a therapist that specializes in this. I am obviously not one of them. I specialize in other things, mostly related to trauma and anxiety and depression, but definitely find a therapist that will pair great with a nutritionist. They definitely go hand in hand super important.
Speaker 3:For sure.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I just want to touch on something that is all the rage lately, but I don't know if it's just because of my career. I hear about it all the time. People mention it to me all the time. So it's not something that is really endorsed by the medical world, but I've heard so much about it that I've had to do my own research about it. So it's something that everyone is calling the hormone diet. So if, gosh, you do a quick Google search, you'll see 20 million versions of it.
Speaker 2:So, basically, this so called hormone diet claims to treat things like infertility associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome. So PCOS is a very common syndrome whereby people have excess androgens and estrogen affecting their menstrual cycle. They often skip periods and therefore don't ovulate monthly. So without ovulation, pregnancy doesn't occur naturally. So one of the biggest risk factors for PCOS is having a higher weight. Hence how we have now gotten to this hormone diet. So the hormone diet claims that quote when your hormones are out of control, you feel tired all the time because your body is converting food into fat instead of fuel. You lose muscle tone and fat builds up. End quote.
Speaker 2:Unsure about the validity of that statement, but I just thought I would mention that I was like, hmm, that's an interesting. I don't know if that's accurate, but anecdotally people are very pleased with the results. So I was like, what does this diet entail? Actually not that crazy. So they do encourage 60 minutes of some sort of exercise, so that could just be if you go for a walk for a few minutes and then you go to the gym or you go for a run, so you can combine different movements throughout the day, but up to about 60 minutes daily. And they also encourage healthy sleep as a means to reduce stress, which, yes, I think we can all agree with. That Sleeping is so essential.
Speaker 2:And the diet involves taking vitamins, lots of vitamins B6, b12, zinc and DIM. So DIM is found in cruciferous vegetables like that's, like broccoli stuff like that leafies, leafy greens as well, and this stimulates efficient estrogen metabolism, which that is true. That is true. Sometimes, you know, people take that over the counter, just their own little you know, if they're going through menopause or something, people will take that and fenugreek.
Speaker 2:So the hormone diet includes three meals and two to three snacks daily. So you are eating enough. Definitely it encourages protein to stay fuller longer and it discourages processed foods. Vegetables, fruits and egg whites can be consumed in unlimited quantities. So I was looking through because they have like pages and pages of example diets. So like one of them would be like two egg whites in the morning with a piece of toast and like maybe some spinach, and then like a cottage cheese snack mid-morning, a nice big Greek salad for lunch, and then dinner might be like chicken, vegetables, rice, a roll on the side. So it is adequate food and three snacks daily. And I don't know if there's any validity to this quote hormone diet. It's more so that people are just eating whole foods and eating enough and getting more protein and feeling better about themselves and then, as a side effect, they are maybe shedding a few pounds and overall their symptoms are improving. So I think that's what's really happening.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what are the behaviors behind supporting your health right? Instead of, like you mentioned it, being weight loss focused, let's think about, like where is your overall lifestyle at and is there anything we can do to add a little bit more balance in there? And I will say that in specific in regards to, like PCOS, something that we do on a nutrition standpoint is making sure their blood sugar is really stable, because if their blood sugar is unstable, they might be releasing a hormone called insulin too much, which can affect their health outcomes, and so, in regards to keeping your blood sugar stable, we think about making sure you have enough protein. Generally, having protein and or fat every time you eat slows the digestion of your food down and can kind of keep your energy levels more stable and you feeling more fuller for longer, like Bridget was saying.
Speaker 2:Yes, definitely PCOS. I really feel for people who are struggling with it because they do have that hyperinsulinemia and a lot of them struggle. They might have a higher body weight and they always have and they struggle to take it off when your doctor's telling you you need to lose fiber in your weight or otherwise you know you'll never get better and these people are doing everything they can and it's just so difficult because of their hormonal imbalance. So it can be very difficult to treat because of that and it really does need like a holistic approach. So these, you know, these patients are getting adequate dietary information. They are definitely eating enough and they're not just restricting themselves because they're like well, you know, my doctor told me I need to lose weight and they are getting some healthy exercise, even if that's just going for a walk 20 minutes every day getting a little sunshine on your face. But I really feel for people with PCOS just because it can affect, you know, mind and body and spirit, absolutely.
Speaker 3:For sure. Do you find that, when looking at more of their behaviors day to day, that that can also support their outcomes with PCOS without the weight loss included in that?
Speaker 2:Possibly. The thing is I work in a hospital so I don't do enough like follow-up with patients because I'm not in a clinic, so unfortunately I don't really get to see any of that follow-through. But usually if you can correct certain behaviors then, yeah, it's all kind of interlinked that way and they start feeling better about themselves. So then they actually start maybe wanting to have more nutritious meals and taking care of themselves because they're feeling better and it's all just kind of linked that way in a sense. But it is something that is so difficult to tell because a lot of these patients are on medications from a very young age, so they can be teenagers diagnosed with PCOS and then they're on, you know, like a combined hormonal birth control pill for years and years and years. So we don't actually know what their body is doing off of these medications, sometimes until they're trying to become pregnant and then they stop taking them. Interesting, yeah, so we mask a lot of symptoms, unfortunately. I also want to talk about Ozempic. That is wow. Everywhere on social media you might know someone taking Ozempic. It is just so common. Obviously, we've heard about the shortages for people who actually need Ozempic because everyone is just buying it up. So we are seeing an unprecedented number of unplanned pregnancies from women who are taking Ozempic. We're calling them Ozempic babies. So Ozempic is a GLP agonist. It does now come with a warning because they can reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills, mostly combined birth control, so with estrogen and progesterone. So women are being told to use IUDs, condoms or other long-term progesterone or copper methods to prevent any unwanted pregnancies.
Speaker 2:And the other theory is that weight loss itself is correcting years of anovulatory infertility seen in things like PCOS. So a lot of times, first-line treatment for PCOS, if you want to start ovulating, is to lose 5% of your body weight. So even if you're not a larger bodied person, if you fall into the average category for BMI, a small amount of fat loss can correct your hormonal imbalance and improve symptoms. So it's only making sense that women suffering with being larger bodied and they have type 2 diabetes are using ozempic. So this is causing a significant weight loss over a short amount of time. It's their periods are now returning suddenly, meaning they're now ovulating monthly, and this is obviously going to lead to pregnancy if you have sex during ovulation with adequate sperm.
Speaker 2:So I've read stories of couples who struggled to conceive for six or more years, only to wind up unexpectedly pregnant when they were not trying, because the female partner is recently taking Ozempic for her diabetes. So it's very interesting, and I mean a lot of the stories. Obviously they're only going to publish the good ones, but everyone was like overjoyed, they didn't, they weren't trying for years because they just it was completely ruled out for them, but I find that so interesting. So now these ozempic babies are just popping up all over the place and yeah, so it's just a bit of a combination of possibly some excess fat loss and the ineffectiveness of some birth control now because of these GLP-1 agonists.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've seen the negative impacts in my practice alone. I've had some clients that had to get off of it because their depressive thoughts were increasing and they were actually had, like, done so much work in progress with me, then started Ozempic and then maybe a month, month and a half in they were like I feel like I haven't even started therapy at all and they were listing out all the things they were thinking and their symptoms and I was like I could be wrong. But I feel like they are connected. So we had them try. They would stop, they wouldn't go for their next shot or whatever their next appointment was and all of a sudden they were back to the previous client I was seeing. It was like a complete night and day, wow.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have read a little bit about mood symptoms, but I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I didn't think I was going to see it. And then I started to and I was like, wow, yeah, absolutely yeah, absolutely, super Jinx you owe me a soda.
Speaker 2:I'm concerned that Ozempic is going to become yeah, oh my God, same brain. But I'm concerned Ozempic is just going to become this like new gold standard shiny object that everyone's chasing because they think it will solve all of their problems. Yeah, got to be careful.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Everybody, as always, thank you for joining us on this journey through the impact of diet culture on our mental health and intuitive eating and hearing all three perspectives. We are so thankful to be able to have Annie on our podcast today with us. She's amazing. If you've enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with your friends and family and, obviously, until next time, take care of yourselves and remember you are enough. Thank you for joining in.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, bridget and Marissa, for having me on and talking about intuitive eating and how that can support your overall health. I hope that there was some snip of information that helped you in your health journey. If you're looking for more one-on-one support and would like to do nutritional counseling, my business name is A to Z Wellness Solutions. My website is atozwellnesssolutionscom and you can follow me on Instagram at atozwellness, underscore. Thank you so much.