Ep #63: Food Love

You are listening to the Weight Loss for Successful Women Podcast with Shannan. Episode number 63. Welcome to Weight Loss for Successful Women. A podcast for women who are ready to break the diet cycle and end their struggle with weight for good. Here’s your host, Fortune 100 Executive and Certified Life Coach, Shannan Christiansen.

 

Hello, I’m so happy to be back with you. I’m excited about part two in our three-part series on love and how important it is in weight loss. And today we are going to get into food. Love my love. But first I want to give a listener, shout out. This is where I’ll read a review of the podcast every week. And this week’s listener shout-out is to hoopsmama14.

 

She wrote “Another amazing podcast. Every time I listened to one of her podcasts, I feel as if Shannon is speaking directly to me. She always seems to know just what I’m struggling with and how to face it and in a way that’s easy to do. As I’ve been struggling to do it all, she reminds me that I don’t have to. I can make decisions ahead of time on what I want to do, what will serve me and make me happy. She reminds me to keep things simple, don’t overwhelm myself with trying to do all the things. As I’m feeling discouraged that my progress isn’t as fast as I’d like, she reminds me not to compare myself with others and that as long as it takes it’s okay, because it’s the last time I’ll have to lose those pounds. I know I’m learning to transform my thoughts, but sometimes I slip back into my old way of thinking. For sure Hoopsmama14. Listening to Shannan makes me pause to reflect on my thoughts and feelings. She brings a sense of calm to my life and makes me feel as though I can conquer anything. I’m so thankful that I joined the Transform Society and can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.”

 

Hoopsmama14, I loved that review. It was so thoughtful, and you know, really did nail so many of the concepts that I teach and I just loved it. And I really appreciate it. Now, my loves if you have not left a review of the podcast, please do so. You can leave one anywhere that you listen to podcasts.

 

Now, if you listen on Apple or iTunes, if you leave a review, just make sure that you email support@bflycoaching.com because we are doing a giveaway for $150 gift card. Ooh, so good. So, love as I’m recording this it is Thanksgiving weekend. It is Saturday. And I have to tell you, my birthday landed on Thanksgiving this a year and I had the most fantastic Thanksgiving and birthday. I received so much love from all my ladies, my family, my friends and I just, my heart could not be more full.

 

You know, a couple of weeks ago, I had a lot of mind drama around Thanksgiving because it was going to be different and I was going to miss some of my family, you know, in person that I always spent it with.

 

But it was so interesting because you know, in doing this work and changing my mindset, I went into Thanksgiving Day, just full of gratitude and love. And, you know, I did FaceTime my family.  And you know, my grandbabies and my son and daughter-in-law, they came over for dinner and we had this beautiful dinner and I really enjoy cooking. I do most of my cooking the day before and prep. And so that   Wednesday I spend the whole day really prepping and cooking and just having so much fun with it. When I do those things, it reminds me of my mom, and I spent many years in the kitchen with my mom prepping Thanksgiving dinner.

 

And I have to tell you, it brought back so many good memories. And when I went into Thanksgiving, I just, honestly, my heart was just bursting the whole day and it was the best time. And even though this year was a little bit different and my fingers are crossed that next year, me and my family will be all together again, under one roof, I have to say, I just really counted all the many blessings that I have and my birthday was fantastic. I love my birthday. And I had an amazing birthday and I celebrate it. My daughter-in-law’s birthday is the day before mine and so we kind of always blow out candles together. And, you know, we did it again this year and it was just so fun.

 

So, I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, even if it was a little bit different this year. Because you know, love it’s all in the way that we think about it and everything that I have learned in my own journey and my own growth is that so many things will happen that I can’t control that I can do absolutely nothing about.

 

And the only thing that I have control over is me and the way that I think and the way that I show up. And I just, you know, I’m a human too. I have to remind myself of it, but loves, It’s just one of those things that I think we just have to keep reminding ourselves of that we can control the way that we think about whatever is happening in the world.

 

So today is the second part of the three-part series on relationships really. And the first part was on your relationship with yourself and self-love and how important it is in weight loss. And today we’re going to get into our relationship with food and we have, you know, if you’ve been on the diet rollercoaster, you have a long history with food.

 

And I remember very early on tying emotion to food, thinking that food brought me comfort, that food brought me love that I loved food that I know I’ve said this, you know, like food’s always around, no

 

matter what happens, food is there for me. I remember thinking that and believing that, and, you know, so many times I would, you know, put food above all my other relationships.

 

Now I know loves, that’s hard to even think that we do that. But when I was in the throes of pushing my emotion down, the throes of, you know, obsessing over what the next food thing I was going to eat, it really did outweigh my other relationships. This relationship that I had with food was a love, hate relationship because I would love it and I would want it, I would desire it. And then I would just beat myself up. I would feel so guilty about what I ate. And then I would just say, I hate it. I hate food. I hate sugar. I hate cookies. And the next thing you know, I was looking for my next fix, and this was really the epitome of the diet roller coaster.

 

It was just this, you know, very difficult relationship with food. And, you know, I have to say my loves learning, how to have a different relationship with food is very important in your transformation to lose weight. Learning what food really is that it’s an innate object and it doesn’t love us back. And it only brings us about 30 seconds of relief of comfort.

 

And it’s a false pleasure and learning how our brain, how dopamine works in our system and how, you know, we get this quick dopamine hit, but then it’s gone and then we need to eat more, desire more so that the dopamine hits can have the same impact as they did before. And so I really want you to think about your long history with your relationship with food and you know, what have you desired about food?

 

When have you put, you know, getting food or thinking about food or just feeling horrible above all of your other relationships? I remember so many times being so sick. I mean, physically sick because I had eaten so much and I was just feeling so horrible and I would get grumpy. I would take it out on my husband or my family.

 

And again, because of my relationship with food. So, I just really want you to think about it because I’m going to give you some key things on how to start to change your relationship with food. And you can have an amazing relationship with food. And I’m going to give you a few of those steps. So, the first thing to do when you want to start to change your relationship and how you think about food is knowing what your food history kind of has been. What has your relationship with food been?

 

The second piece is to start to eat when you’re physically hungry, not emotionally hungry and learning to reconnect with your body, learning what physical hunger actually feels like in your body. And, you know, starting to stop eating when you’re satiated, instead of stuffed, these are the tips that will start to change your relationship with food.

 

Now, the fourth one is starting to enjoy the food that you’re eating. We say, we love food, we can’t wait to eat it, and then when we’re, you know, eating it, we’re standing at the counter, eating out of an ice cream container with a spoon, and we’re not even paying attention. We’re on our phone or we’re watching TV.

 

We’re doing everything, but enjoying the food that we’re eating and to change the relationship with food, paying attention to what you’re eating, how it feels in your mouth to make a beautiful table setting, eat out of a really beautiful table setting or a beautiful glass when you’re drinking. It’s really starting to change the way that you think about food.

 

If you’re going to enjoy it, especially in non-fuel food, you want to pay attention. If I’m going to eat Tiramisu, for example, I love it. I want to enjoy it. I want to see how it tastes in my mouth. I want to feel it. I want to really enjoy it. And for so long, I can tell you, I would like eat a bag of Reese’s and not even really pay any attention.

 

And then be like, Whoa, I just ate like 10 Reese’s. And I would be so shocked. Or I’d be at the end of a bag of chips and I would have eaten the whole bag and not even not enjoyed one bit of it. So again, the fourth tip is really to stop and enjoy the food that you’re eating, pay attention to it.

 

And then the fifth tip really is to eat more fuel food than non-fuel food. I want you to really stop and think about how food fuels your body and what it tastes like and change your thoughts about fuel food. I love food that fuels me. When I, you know, eat a good salad with a beautiful piece of protein that is seasoned well, and that tastes really good. And my body just comes alive.

 

Or, you know, when I eat, one of my favorite meals is from this company and it has like chicken and rice and veggies and every time and we put a little cheese over it and every time I eat it, I feel so good. My body it just loves it.

 

And really as much as I think about a sugar cookie, I think more about food that fuels me when I go to eat that meal with, you know, the rice and the veggies and you know, the piece of protein, I love it. And I really have changed the way that I think about food that fuels me. I love the feeling of eating, feeling satiated and feeling energized.

 

I can’t tell you how many times I ate food and had to go and take a nap. I wanted to lay down because I felt physically sick. I no longer, I don’t love that feeling. And I’ve paid a lot of attention to not loving that feeling. And because of that, I’ve put more attention to loving fuel food, loving the feeling of feeling energized.

 

When you’ve been on the diet roller coaster for so long, you have really stopped paying attention to food. And I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it is true. You really are eating so fast and you’re, you’re trying to push down your emotion and you’re in this swirl of worry and guilt and all the things. But now when I sit down to have a meal like Thanksgiving, I really enjoyed all of it.

And I enjoyed a birthday cupcake, and I enjoyed a piece of pie and I ate until I felt satiated. I didn’t eat until I was so stuffed I couldn’t move. I really enjoyed it. And so, changing your relationship with food, you will actually enjoy food more. You will actually start to change the way that you think about food.

 

This is how you lose weight for good. Again, it’s all about stepping into the next version of yourself. So, I want to give you the five tips again. So, number one, you want to really look at what your relationship with food is right now. Number two, eat when physically hungry, not emotionally hungry. Number three, stop. When satiated instead of full. Number four, really enjoy the food you’re eating, pay attention, slow down and really taste how it feels in your mouth and how you feel after you eat. And then number five, eat more fuel food than non-fuel food and start to change your thoughts around fuel foods. Ooh, my love. So, changing your relationship with food, it really is how you get off the diet roller coaster.

 

So, the transformational question today is, there’s two of them actually, number one, what is your relationship with food like today? And number two, what do you want your relationship with food to be? Ooh, so good. My love.

 

Oh my goodness. You can text me. Yes. My personal number. I am so excited about this. I have just rolled this out and I am a loving at texting my ladies. I really do text and my ladies text me. So, all you have to do is take out your phone right now and you can send me a quick hello text at (480) 605-3506 and then add to your contact list. And then I’ll add you to my address book. And then at least once a week, I’ll send you a weekly inspirational text.

 

I mean, so fun. Right? So, grab your phone and text me. Hello at (480) 605-3506. Bye for now. Love Thank you for listening to this episode of Weight Loss for Successful Women. If you love what you heard today and want to learn more, come on over to bfly.coaching.com. That’s bflycoaching.com. See you next week.