The Empowered Eating Series: Redefining Food and Fitness
Welcome to the Empowered Eating series! Over the course of four episodes we dive into the complex and often conflicting messages surrounding diet and fitness. From the rise of diet culture in the 20th century to the current popularity of intuitive eating, we explore how these extremes can influence our relationship with food and our bodies.
Key Points:
Diet Culture:
Rooted in the idea that certain foods are "good" or "bad."
Emphasizes the "thin ideal," promoting thinness as the ultimate goal.
Can lead to obsessive behavior and an unhealthy focus on appearance over well-being.
Intuitive Eating (IE):
Encourages individuals to trust their bodies and eat according to internal cues.
Values all foods equally, aiming to remove guilt and restriction from eating.
While effective in reducing food-related obsession, it can lack clear nutritional guidance.
The Middle Path - Empowered Eating:
Combines the best of nutrition science with intuitive principles.
Focuses on health and well-being rather than appearance.
Encourages a balanced approach where food is enjoyed but not used as a primary coping mechanism.
Are you ready to transform the way you think about food and fitness?
Whether you're tired of the endless diet cycle or curious about a more sustainable, fulfilling approach to health, this series is for you. Join us as we dive deep into these topics and give you practical tools to redefine your relationship with food and fitness.
In the first episode of the series, we unpack three signs you're an Empowered Eater:
Flexibility with Food: You have a strong understanding of nutrition without obsessing over it, allowing for flexibility in your diet.
Stable Biomarkers: Your weight and health markers, like cholesterol, remain stable, and you avoid extreme weight fluctuations.
Healthy Coping Mechanisms: While you enjoy food, it's not your primary way of coping with emotions. You have a variety of other coping strategies.
For the second episode of the series, we explore the critical difference between empowered exercise and obsessive exercise.
Understanding these distinctions is key to developing a healthy relationship with movement, ensuring that fitness enhances your life rather than controls it.
Signs of Obsessive Exercise:
Rigidity: Strictly adhering to a workout plan, even in the face of illness, injury, or significant life events.
Anxiety: Feeling intense anxiety or distress if unable to follow the exercise plan exactly as intended.
Excessive Exercise: Engaging in extreme amounts of exercise without allowing for necessary recovery periods or off-seasons.
Ignoring Advice: Disregarding medical advice or concerns from coaches or loved ones about overexertion.
Frequent Injuries: Suffering from recurring injuries that do not heal properly due to insufficient rest.
Hormonal Imbalance: Experiencing problematic hormone changes that affect sleep and other aspects of health.
Signs of Empowered Exercise:
Flexibility: Adjusting the exercise plan when necessary due to life events, illness, injuries, or psychological burnout.
Calmness: Maintaining composure when workouts are missed, understanding that rest is just as vital as movement, and recognizing that consistency is more important than rigidity.
Balanced Plan: Following a balanced exercise plan that allows for ample rest and recovery, including off-seasons when needed.
Heeding Advice: Listening to and following medical advice as well as input from coaches or loved ones regarding the need to slow down.
Injury Recovery: Allowing injuries adequate time to heal, prioritizing long-term health over short-term gains.
Healthy Hormones: Maintaining healthy hormone levels with no negative impacts on sleep or overall health.
Need more support?
Let’s dive deeper into the step-by-step process, and science backed techniques, of empowered eating in my program The Empowered Eating Method!
In the third installment of the series, we discuss the dilemma of being stuck between dieting, and wanting to give in and give up on a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. We dive into these key points:
1. Reduce Extreme Thinking
Move away from rigid categories of "good" and "bad" foods.
Understand that while some foods may be healthier than others, viewing nutrition in black-and-white terms can create unnecessary anxiety.
2. Learn About Nutrition Without Perfection
Educate yourself on nutrition, but remember—no one eats perfectly all the time.
Focus on balanced and sustainable eating rather than striving for perfection.
3. Listen to Your Body
Practice eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.
If you’ve been going long periods without eating and then bingeing, aim to eat regularly every 3-4 hours.
Start noticing your fullness cues and honor them by stopping when you feel satisfied.
4. Practice Mindful Eating
Slow down and savor your food. Be aware of how it tastes and feels in your mouth.
Enjoy the experience of eating without distractions—just be present with your meal.
5. Embrace Self-Compassion
Your worth as a person isn’t tied to perfect nutrition or having the "ideal" body.
Show yourself kindness and compassion, especially when you feel like you’ve fallen short.
6. Identify Moderate Eating Behaviors
Moderate eating means flexibility, not rigidity. If finding balance is challenging, consider seeking help from a dietitian or therapist.
Professionals can assist you in defining what moderate, healthy eating looks like for you.
7. Focus on Whole Foods, But Enjoy Your Favorites
Prioritize whole foods that are close to their natural state—like whole grain bread over highly refined options.
However, it’s important to leave room for treats and your favorite foods too. Unless medically advised, there’s no need to cut out entire food groups.
In the fourth episode of the series, we discussed one of my favorite topics, how to be healthy without the hurt and stop bullying yourself into being healthy. When people are trying to get healthy, they may desire a body that feels more energetic or more fit, and while that's a great goal to work towards..
..how empowering would it be to be able to enjoy the current body you are in now.
Bodies of all shapes and sizes can look great, and no matter the current body you're in, you can express yourself in a way that helps you feel more confident and motivates you to prioritize your own self-care.
If you're ready to develop a healthier relationship with your body, tune into episode four of the Empowered Eating Series where we discuss the five points on how you can stop bullying yourself into becoming healthy.
Need more support?
Let’s dive deeper into the step-by-step process, and science backed techniques, of empowered eating in my program The Empowered Eating Method!
This podcast is here to support you weekly, but it only scratches the surface. For more info on how you can become an empowered eater grab my FREE MASTERCLASS on how to become confident in your body without obsessing over food at jessbrownrd.com.
Don’t forget to join me right here every Monday - where I can’t wait to fuel your awesome.
Cheers, and happy eating!
