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Have you found yourself falling into fitness comparisons not only with the people around you or that you know but in comparison with yourself and what you used to be able to do? If you are struggling with this concept or keep challenging the idea of coming back to exercise because you worry you won't be at the place you left off, this episode is for you. Key Takeaways If You Want To Stop Falling Into Fitness Comparisons, You Should: Let go of your ‘all or nothing’ mentality Choose movement practices that bring you joy Work towards developing a set of skills rather than a specific outcome Redefine your fitness goals and focus on mental and physical flexibility Letting Go Of Comparison-itis with Craig Zielinski Craig Zielinski is a USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach, a repeated LTYB guest, and my loving husband. Throughout the course of the pandemic, Craig came face to face with his ‘all or nothing' mentality and found a way to get over his ‘Comparison-itis’. Today he is here to share his story about how to get over your fear of judgment from others or yourself and start enjoying moving your body again. Get Out Of The ‘All Or Nothing’ Mentality For many people, their fitness identity in the past was tied to the exercise routines we used to do that are more often than not based on equipment that we simply don't have access to during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Craig originally got caught up in the ‘all or nothing’ funk, he realized that a lot of his reasoning was unreasonable and started to choose exercises that were based more on having a good time and making the best of what we had, rather than training super hard. Instead of engaging in movements that were comparison-based, Craig learned to focus on building his ‘skill tree’. You Don't Have to Specialize to Succeed The way that diet and fitness culture convince us that we have to specialize in one certain thing, even if it makes us miserable, is simply not true. When you are able to get back to the basics as Craig did, you can develop multiple skills and focus on the process than the all-illusive outcome. You never know where any exercise will lead or take you, so the point is to be open to trying new things during this time of uncertainty and continually check on what feels right for you. Looking for fun, developing new skills, and being flexible about what fitness is can help you enjoy different areas of your life and get back into the movement mentality without all that added pressure. What activity are you excited to get back into the routine of? How are you going to find healthy ways to limit your comparison-itis mentality? Share your thoughts with us in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode How the Covid-19 pandemic affected the way in which Craig trains (5:56) Tips for navigating the ‘all or nothing’ funk by choosing exercises that you feel are fun (12:20) Why you should stick to the basics when it comes to reintroducing yourself to movement practices (30:11) The issue with training for a competition and why Craig chooses to direct his fitness goals elsewhere (33:30) How to redefine your process to get closer to your fitness goals given the current circumstances (35:32) Quotes “I, for the longest time, could not get my head around what on Earth to do with myself [with Covid restrictions], so the answer was, in classic ‘all or nothing style’, was to do nothing.” (9:53) “The problem created by returning to training and doing the same thing and being all dejected about how I have lost strength or capacity is by doing training that is adjacent to the training that I did, and as also something that is fun and I enjoyed while I would do it. And the cool part is that because it is adjacent to the training that I used to do, I have got developed skills so I won't feel like a complete novice and just give up.” (21:25) “It is really basic, and it is a lot of fun. And it also, when you think about it really, it is more a skill tree.” (30:28) “We are told that we have to specialize in everything, and we end up plowing the same furrow, and that is just not very interesting. And there is also no point in doing that, it's not very fulfilling, at least for me. Being a specialist in one thing is my worst nightmare, but that was kind of what I did in the gym if you think about it.” (31:52) “The importance of developing what you can do as a project, is much greater than whatever the conclusion of the project is, right? (36:56) Featured on the Show Join the Tune-In Membership Here Strength Workout Mini-Course Rogue Fitness Website Magic Carpet Sled The EmPack Website The McGill Big 3 for Core Stability Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor The 5 Main Movement Patterns of Functional Movement Reel Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Related Episodes LTYB 165: How To Adapt Strength Training To Your Menstrual Cycle with Craig Zielinski LTYB 327: Getting Back to Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise

Have you been spending a few workouts a week lifting weights and trying to eat healthily but are still not seeing the results you are hoping for? There are three main common reasons that I hear over and over again in the community that is keeping you from seeing the results you want from your strength training efforts. The good news? They are easy to fix once you have empowered yourself with the knowledge and mindset shifts to do so! Key Takeaways If You Want To See The Results You Are Looking For From Strength Training You Should: Stop being afraid of calories, and under fueling yourself, and start giving your body the energy it needs to fuel itself Manage your stress to recovery ratio to give your body the time it needs to recover Improve your movement patterns and tissue outside of the gym so that you can avoid chronic injuries inside the gym Eating Less and Moving More Is Not the Answer A lot of us have a negative association with the word ‘calories’ because of diet culture. We have been told to put an emphasis on ‘eating less and moving more’, but that is not the magic cure. Your body needs fuel to move, and when you restrict that fuel, it can kill your energy and open you up to chronic energy.  All three of these topics, under-fueling, not managing your stress to recovery ratio, and not looking for ways to improve your movement patterns and tissue outside of the gym, have a huge impact on the results you see inside of the gym. Results Need an Active Listener Listening to your body is all about tuning into the signals that your body is sending you instead of ignoring them. If you are under a lot of stress, are not eating healthy foods or enough foods, or not prioritizing your sleep, it will all show up when you start to lift those weights.  While every exercise has its own risks, you can see the results you are looking for when it comes to strength training, but only if you are giving your body what it needs to succeed. Listening to your body, fueling it the right way, managing your stress to recovery ratio, and improving your movement patterns are the ways to help you achieve the results you are looking for in a healthy and safe way. Which one of these common mistakes rang the most true for you? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode The number one most common mistake I see over and over again when strength training (4:52) Why not eating enough creates the perfect storm to decrease your motivation to move (7:55) General ways to improve the way you think about food and get on track to make sure you are not under eating (12:08) How an inadequate amount of recovery time and your overall stress ratio can impact your results (16:12) The role of chronic injury when reducing the results you see from strength training (23:21) Quotes “If you are making this mistake, nobody is here to blame you. This isn't something to feel bad about, this isn't something to feel shameful for, it's a piece of information to take and tuck into your back pocket and be more mindful and aware of what you are doing in your daily life.” (4:38) “There is oftentimes a lot of negative self-talk or feeling like you are broken, or wrong, or bad, for your body physiologically responding in the way that it does. And a lot of that can be staved off by eating enough food and eating more consistently and introducing what I would call more of a relative balance of macronutrients.” (15:45) “What is to be aware of is, if you are not getting the results from your strength training that you want, is to take a look at how much other, especially higher intensity movements or exercise, relative to all of the other stress that is going on in your life.” (20:05) “If you are dealing with injuries or you are dealing with the effects of ‘life-ing’ and moving through life with these movement patterns, it is really important that you become aware of that and you work on them, and you start to become more tuned in to the signals your body is sending you.” (31:08) “If you are a woman who wants to get stronger and is lifting weights, you want your energy to increase, and you want to see performance in the gym, I am going to be here to help you do that.” (33:21) Featured on the Show Join the Tune-In Membership Here Strength Workout Mini-Course Work With Me Join my Texting Squad at 619-313-5948 Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Related Episodes LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise

When I look back at all of the work I have done over the years, it all comes back to the lightbulb moment where strength training helped me stop focusing on using exercise solely as a tool to make my body smaller. Strength training was the #1 thing that helped me make a shift in my life to having a better relationship with exercise, and in turn, my body and mind. Key Takeaways If You Want To Improve Your Relationship With Exercise Through Strength Training, You Should: Let go of the preconceived notions you have around functional fitness and strength training Try and focus on the benefits of strength training that have nothing to do with making your body smaller Stop making your worth conditional and start shifting how you Finding the Freedom To Have Fun With Exercise Having a free, fun, and filling relationship with movement can be a life-changing topic for some folks. I am feeling a sense in the community of people ready to get started or get started again on moving their body and improving their relationship with exercise.  While the way you relate to your body is a constantly evolving notion, strength training can help heal your dysfunctional relationship with exercise and give you the freedom to shift how you relate to exercise and your body. By giving yourself the space to enjoy exercise, you can stop being preoccupied with the notions diet culture has been feeding you and start breaking down the walls around you. The Many Benefits of Strength Training Lots of people view those who are interested in strength training or functional fitness as ‘meatheads’ or bodybuilders. This couldn't be further from the truth, as strength training has so many benefits, including improving your bone mineral density and blood glucose control, increasing your energy and metabolism, giving your more balance and stability, and enhancing your mood while decreasing your anxiety.  In addition to those fact-based benefits, strength training can help you stop viewing your worth as conditional and help you focus on what your body can do rather than how to make it smaller. Are you ready to have a better relationship with exercise? Have you ever considered or experienced the many benefits of strength training? Share your experience with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode Addressing the stereotypes that have come to surround functional fitness (4:36) Why strength training was critical on my journey to improving my relationship with food (9:41) The benefits of strength training and what to do if you feel called to get back to the weights (18:50) How strength training can act as a stepping stone to the way you relate to yourself and your body (22:15) Practical ways to improve your overall health through strength training and implement it into your daily life (26:23) Quotes “Functional movement is not just about competing at an elite level. If that’s your jam, that’s cool with me. If it’s not your jam, you might think ‘well functional movement, functional strength training, isn’t for me’. And I am here to tell you that that could be further from the truth.” (6:17) “For me, exercise for so long was a way to shrink my body, control the size of my body, and try to become smaller. And that was the only thing that I really got out of exercise or the only reason I approached exercise.” (11:35) “For me, strength training, in general, was the thing, the stepping stone, that allowed me to get on a better path with how I related to exercise, and then by default, my body.” (17:13) “When I think back to all of the work I have done over the years, it always comes back to that. To that moment or that period of time where I learned to focus for once in my fucking life, on something else other than shrinking my body.” (24:47) “You don't have to be a bodybuilder, you don't need to be a competitive level lifter to get the benefits of this, and you don't have to squat 400 pounds.” (29:47) Featured on the Show Food Freedom Mini-Course Made Strong Program The 5 Main Movement Patterns of Functional Movement Reel Shit That People Say To Women About Strength Training Reel Strength Workout Mini-Course Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Related Episodes LTYB 323: Why I’m Not Paleo Anymore

Society has taught us that emotional eating is bad, and we should punish and restrict ourselves for it. The issue with emotional eating is when we use food as our only tool to cope or celebrate, but it can be part of a normal and healthy way to communicate with our bodies. The truth is, sometimes your body needs to eat emotionally, but it is up to you to distinguish when you are emotionally eating for good and when you are using it as a crutch. Tapping can help you lean into this intuitively so that you can shift your focus away from restriction and towards listening to what your body needs. Key Takeaways If You Want To Try Tapping To Resolve Your Emotional Eating You Should: Shift your focus away from emotional eating being ‘bad’ and deconstruct what diet culture has taught you Become aware of the reason you are emotionally eating and start to trust the signals your body is sending to you Hold space for your goals, intentions, and what you truly want out of your relationship with food Practice tapping regularly to clear your anxiety and fear and address your unresolved issues around food Emotional Eating Isn’t Always Bad Jason Winters is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Intuitive Eating Coach, and Gold-Standard Emotional Freedom Techniques Coach. After overcoming his own battle with disordered eating, Jason pursued his passion to serve women and men still suffering from the emotional eating cycle. Now, Jason is on a mission to help empower and free you from the chains of emotional eating, diet culture, food obsession, and body hatred so that you can live your best life possible. How To Get Clear on What You Really Want The path of intuitive eating has changed many lives, including Jason’s, but that doesn't mean it comes without its fair share of struggles. Society has forced us to lose our ability to trust ourselves and what the right path for us is, which is why it is so important to get clear on what you are doing, what is working for you, and what isn't.  The first step is identifying what you really want out of your life. By holding space for your goals and intentions and doing it on your own terms, you can address your unresolved issues, learn how to acknowledge the negativity you are feeling, and most importantly, let it go. The Beautiful Marriage Between Tapping, Emotional Eating, and Intuitive Eating EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique, is a powerful stress-relieving technique that combines Chinese acupuncture with modern psychology to address the fear of rejecting diet culture and guide you towards a more intuitive relationship with food.  Emotional eating, intuitive eating, and tapping come together beautifully because they help you break down the fear, stress, and anxiety you may be feeling and clear out your emotions. Tapping can help you process your energy and help you feel lighter and more equipped to handle the anxiety and negativity plaguing you. By learning how to better understand your emotions, you can take back the control that diet culture has stripped you of and start listening to what your body needs. Have you ever tried tapping? How has it helped you on your intuitive eating or emotional eating journey? Share which of Jason’s nuggets of wisdom touched you the most with us in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode Breaking down all of the stigma surrounding emotional eating (5:12) The first thing that you should do when you want to change your relationship with food (13:56) Learn from a brief synopsis of EFT and tapping and why it is used (18:46) Why the marriage of tapping and your intuitive eating journey is so powerful and important (23:44) Engage in the short tapping session along with Jason and Steph (32:36) Quotes “To shift that normal behavior around food, and to then demonize it and to shame people for engaging in it, it is a restriction of something that you want and that you need. And then it just turns emotional eating into a theme.” (7:14) “What do you really want? I think that's the biggest thing is identifying what you want, and getting quiet enough to hear the answer of what you really want. Because intuitive eating, and intuitive exercise, and having an intuitive lifestyle, it is really about you.” (17:42) “Tapping allows you to come out of control and more into choice. And the way that that happens is when you are tapping on these specific points, you are breaking down the fear.”  (25:18) “It's not just what we put in our mouth, it is our belief system. We are in choice, our affirmations you chose. So if you use someone else's affirmation, make sure it rings true for you, make sure it is your choice.” (31:40) “When we are repeating or you are hearing these statements being made, this anxiety, this anxiety, this anxiety, you are addressing your specific anxiety, I am addressing mine, but we are all working together.” (41:52) Featured on the Show Food Freedom Mini-Course Strength Workout Mini-Course Food Freedom Tapping Worksheet Jason Winters Website EFT: Tapping to End Chronic Emotional Eating Facebook Group Follow Jason on Instagram | Facebook Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Related Episodes LTYB 278: Energy Tips For Empaths & Highly Sensitive People LTYB 284: How Neuroscience Can Help You Listen To Your Body with Alyssa Chang LTYB 290: Start Living Your Life By Design with Rai Henry

Listening to your body doesn't happen through a magic pill or a one-size-fits-all answer. It is about leaning into your self-trust and learning to embrace what makes you uniquely you. But how do we actually do that in a practical, hands-on way? The concept of self-trust is an all-encompassing one that considers a lot of different parts about who you are as a person, which is why it is essential to have the proper framework when diving into these topics. Key Takeaways If You Are Looking To Build Self-Trust You Should: Work on building up your consciousness, care, and compassion habits Acknowledge your privileges and how you can use them to help others in your community Lean into courage by questioning the things in your life that you may do out of habit Learn How To Build Self-Trust with Shohreh Davoodi Shohreh Davoodi is a self-trust coach who created her Three Pillars of Self-Trust Framework to help women overcome fear and self-doubt and become brave by conjuring up the courage inside of them. Her framework combines the three main pillars of self-trust, consciousness practices, care practices, and courage practices so that you can figure out who you are and what you value. The Three Pillars of Self-Trust The first step of self-trust is consciousness. This means having the awareness of the things in your life that you want to change, what is working for you in your life and what isn’t, and why. This usually deals with the systems in place in our society that are causing self-doubt, that really has nothing to do with you as an individual.  Next comes care practices. While we all know the importance of self-care, Shohreh takes it a step further and includes principles such as intuitive eating, intentional movement, sleep, and organization all as ways that you can care for yourself and let your body know that it can trust you to listen and take care of it.  The final piece of the puzzle is courage. Engaging with issues such as activism, setting boundaries, and having a more value-driven life are all ways that you can reconnect with your head, heart, and body, to do the things that make you feel good. It Takes a Village That Stands Together To See Real Change In order to engage more authentically with your own self-trust, you need to dive deep and look some scary stuff in the eye. We cannot self-trust our way into community liberation. It takes better community care and systemic changes so that everybody can have self-trust and a better relationship to food and their bodies.  There is no one right way to engage with these practices. By being more understanding and compassionate to the people around you, being in a community that lets you know that you are not alone, and dropping into your body in a time-sensitive way that feels good for you are the best ways to take steps to move closer to deeper self-trust. What is one way that you are going to lean into your courage and let your body know that it can trust you? Share which of Shohreh’s tips you're going to integrate into your routine with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode How the mentality of siloing everything you do is getting in the way of your ability to access body trust (9:12) Explore the three pillars of self-trust and the different parts of who you are that you need to consider (13:43) The role of marginalization and consciousness that play into the wellness space (19:32) Recommendations for advocating for the internal and external need for change on a systemic level (24:42) How to establish trust within your body through introspective awareness (27:55) Quotes “My niche is self-trust, but self-trust really encompasses so many different topics and ideas and ways of being in the world. So I can't just talk about self-trust, in talking about self-trust I have to talk about so many other things.” (11:10) “Each of these pillars are important and can stand on their own, but they are most powerful when they bridge together. And that is the foundation of self-trust for an individual.” (15:01) “Almost all of us have privileges in some places, even marginalized folks have privileges in some areas. So we can’t look at the marginalization without also looking at the privilege and how we contribute, knowingly or unknowingly, to the advancement of these systems.” (21:03) “So often when someone is struggling to trust their own body, it is actually because they have gotten messages about bodies like theirs, and what a body like theirs should be or should look like or should feel like.” (32:06) “For everyone who is interested in building more self-trust, the key to doing that is that you have to get to know you and what you want and what you value.” (35:08) Featured on the Show Food Freedom Mini-Course Strength Workout Mini-Course Follow Your Arrow Membership Program Shohreh Davoodi Website One-On-One Coaching with Shohreh Conjuring Up Courage Podcast Follow Shohreh on Instagram | Facebook | TikTok Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Related Episodes LTYB 305: Using Body Language To Understand Yourself and Others Better with Tiff Lee LTYB 262: How To See Value Outside Your Body & Overcome Self-Doubt with Summer Innanen

Recently I was asked about the place that alcohol has when connecting to your inner intuitive eater. Thinking about alcohol use in the context of connecting to your body and healing your relationship with food is intensely personal, which is why I want to share my perspective with you as someone who has been a non-drinker for 5 years and also as an intuitive eating and nutrition counselor. If you are struggling with substance abuse or are concerned about your relationship with alcohol, please contact 1-800-662-HELP. This episode contains my personal thoughts about alcohol, but at the end of the day, you have the freedom and autonomy to do whatever feels right for you. If you are struggling with substance abuse, please know there is support out there for you, and change is possible. Key Takeaways If You Want To Explore Your Relationship With Alcohol and Intuitive Eating You Should: Stop being afraid that you are going to want to binge drink if you decide to limit your alcohol intake Notice your personal relationship with drinking and assess how it makes you feel  Reach out for support and make the decision that feels right to you in your own intuitive eating journey The Difference Between Food and Alcohol A common misconception is that food is addictive. In reality, the food ‘addiction’ you may be familiar with is a result of restriction and the binge eating that follows. Alcohol is different from food in this way. Reducing the amount you are drinking will not cause the majority of people to binge drink because alcohol is not required for survival like food is. Often people are reluctant to cut out alcohol because they are worried they will crave it all the time. Binge drinking and binge eating have different mechanisms and experiences, and it is crucial to understand how restriction with food differs from simply choosing not to engage with alcohol. It’s Your Personal Journey, No One Else’s A lot of people are concerned about doing intuitive eating ‘right’. Intuitive eating is not a set of yes or no rules, it is a set of personal guidelines, and your relationship with alcohol is included in that. I want you to use intuitive eating principles to ask yourself the tough questions and help you gain clarity on your personal experience with alcohol. Do you have a diet mentality when you are drinking? Are you drinking mindfully? Is alcohol your primary coping strategy?  By noticing your relationship with alcohol and assessing it, you can understand your own unique relationship to alcohol and if it fits into your intuitive eating journey. Which of the questions I posed to you today got you thinking? How does your relationship with alcohol fit into your version of intuitive eating? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode Exploring my personal relationship with alcohol use and intuitive eating (3:30) How to approach assessing and analyzing your own relationship with drinking (8:16) Understanding the connection between restriction and bingeing when it comes to food and alcohol (10:34) Tips for using the principles of intuitive eating when thinking about alcohol (17:40) Why you should analyze the emotional coping aspect of your relationship with food and alcohol (21:30) Quotes “There are a lot of questions that come up for people with regard to understanding how restricting food works or bingeing on food works, and how restricting alcohol and binge drinking works, and the fact that those aren’t necessarily the same thing.” (8:01) “A lot of people will notice that if they start to cut down on their drinking, or they stop drinking altogether, they often don't notice an increased desire or preoccupation with drinking.” (13:11) “You may decide that you are making peace with food over here, but when it comes to alcohol, if you realize that you are not enjoying it, that your relationship with it isn’t super great, you would rather just take it out for a while, its okay to remove it from your environment!” (15:42) “It’s worth considering how these different principles of intuitive eating can apply to your relationship with alcohol and your drinking habits and know that the answers are going to be different for everybody.” (24:03) “I hope that this show has given you some questions to ask yourself. I can’t promise that it is perfect, I can’t promise that my thoughts here are going to be exactly applicable to you. But I think it is really important to go through the questions that I raised in this show and to think about things on a really personal level for yourself.” (27:40) Featured on the Show Food Freedom Mini-Course Overcome Emotional Eating Workshop Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 114: Alcohol + Social Pressure LTYB 205: The Great Big Sober Secret with Veronica Valli LTYB 326: Your Body’s Changed During the Pandemic… Now What? With Evelyn Tribole

Has it been a while since you've worked out, but you have a newly found motivation to get going? Are you diving into a fitness program only to be so sore afterward that it does not feel like it was worth it? Getting back into exercise after the crazy year we had is a great thing, but it needs to be approached in the right way to make sure it is sustainable for you. Key Takeaways If You Want To Get Back into Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked, You Should:  Commit to a daily movement practice rather than a super intense workout that hurts your body for the rest of the week Modulate both the intensity of your workout and the volume to meet yourself where you are at Take care of your tissues and allow for proper recovery to avoid getting hurt Ditch The ‘All or Nothing’ Mentality When getting back into movement and working out, the first step is to get rid of the ‘all or nothing’ mindset that fitness culture has ingrained in us. Instead of going so hard once a week that you have to ‘toilet trust fall’ for the rest of the week, focusing on a daily movement practice is a much more sustainable and enjoyable way to ease yourself back into exercise. Your body needs support when getting back into movement, which is why you need to integrate taking care of yourself into your daily routine. If you are ready to get reacquainted with a daily commitment to move your body, however, that looks and feels for you, a sustainable approach is the best way to honor your body's signals. Start Where You Are Now We are coming out of a whole year of the world being flipped upside down. The amount of stress you have been under, your daily routine, and your sleep can all affect how ready your body is to get active again. The high-intensity workouts that you may have done in the past might not suit your body's current needs.  It is essential that you modulate your intensity and volume of workouts and listen to the signals your body is sending you to properly heal your tissues and address the issues you are feeling. By listening to your body and taking the time to properly recover, you can get active again without wrecking yourself so that you can be more consistent, enjoy the benefits of your workout, and have fun while still challenging yourself. Physical activity can be a fun, challenging, and positive experience if you approach it the right way. By shifting your mindset away from the ‘all or nothing’ mentality, modulating your intensity and volume, and focusing on your tissue recovery through nutrition and awareness, you can harness your good intentions and get active again. Are you ready to take your motivation to get active again and implement it in a safe, healthy, and fun way? Share what your daily movement commitment is with me in the comments section on the episode page.   In This Episode Why you should focus on a daily commitment to move your body rather than ‘going hard’ (7:44) The importance of modulating your intensity and volume when getting back into movement (11:01) How to take care of your tissues and think about your recovery as you start to move more (17:12) What to think about when listening to your bodies signals in order to get more active again (21:58) Resources and recommendations to help you get active again and meet yourself where you are at (23:20)   Quotes “I want you to start thinking about movement being more of a daily commitment instead of a once-a-week smash fest which then you can't move for the next five days and your body is so painfully sore that every step you take feels super painful.” (9:02) “We have been taught by fitness culture in general that if it is not intensity level 10, that it was no good and we got no benefit from it. Which is absolutely not true.” (12:10) “You need to think about what is leading up to me getting more active again and are there things I should probably deal with with my body?” (21:08) “What I am seeing a lot in the community is still an under-eating situation. It's like an under-eating, under-recovery situation, and that is not going to help with your recovery.” (28:29) “Recovery is a part of the process, and if you are coming out of a period of less activity, it might be something you need to think a little bit more about.” (30:06)   Featured on the Show Food Freedom Mini-Course Join the CORE 4 Program Waitlist Doc Jen Fit Website The Ready State Website Rom Wod Website Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 319: Why Fitspo Needs To Die LTYB 129: How Mobility Can Help You Unlock Your Inner Power with Jen Esquer LTYB 055: How to Stand for Better Health Kelly & Juliet Starrett

We are now over one year into the global pandemic. While there is a sense of excitement and hope around seeing friends and loved ones who we have been absent from this past year, there is also a lot of anxiety around seeing people after your body has changed. Today the living legend Evelyn Tribole is here to share some of her best advice on these topics and help you navigate the world and your body in a post-pandemic situation. Key Takeaways If You Are Anxious About How Your Body Has Changed Throughout The Pandemic, You Should: Set boundaries within your bandwidth to focus on things other than bodies with relationships that may have been built on diet culture Embrace the opportunity to change the narrative and establish new social norms Normalize that it is okay to not be productive and just to survive You Are More Than a Body Nobody in the world has more experience in intuitive eating and the anti-diet space than Evelyn Tribole. Co-creator of the Intuitive Eating Framework, which was introduced into the world 25+ years ago, Evelyn is a wealth of wisdom when it comes to connecting and honoring our bodies. Surviving Is Something To Be Proud Of The first thing Evelyn wants you to remember is that regardless of your body changing over the last year, your body also survived a pandemic, which is an amazing accomplishment. As we start to navigate the new social norms, it is an opportunity for us to change the narrative and move past the body objectification that has been a toxic part of our culture. You are so much more than a body. When it comes time to reconnect with those we have not seen in a while, it is essential to set boundaries within your bandwidth and focus on the connection we have been missing from others, not the judgment of other people’s bodies. By being consistent and reinforcing your boundaries around conversation, you can normalize the accomplishment of simply surviving the global pandemic. Being Kind To Your Body Going Forward When was the last time you asked yourself if you have been kind to your body on a biological level? While it is instinctual to use food restriction as a means of control when so much of our world is out of our control, dishonoring your hunger through restriction disrupts your cells on a biological level and ruins their trust in you. Being consistently kind to your body in acts of predictable nourishment can help you cultivate trust between you and your cells.  Diet culture tells us that we need to outsource our nutrition decisions. Evelyn wants you to challenge yourself instead to tune in to how your body responds, which can be a beautiful adventure. You can stop the legacy of diet culture at your own kitchen table and take back some of the agency and hope we have been missing to bring your family and community into a healthier and more supportive post-pandemic world.  How do you feel about the potential to see people again and reestablish connections once it is safe to do so? Which of Evelyn’s tips are you going to integrate to ease your anxiety and nourish your body with consistency? Share your thoughts on how your body has changed throughout the pandemic with me in the comments section of the episode page.    In This Episode Addressing the anxiety of seeing people after your body has changed throughout the pandemic (7:20) How to move out of the backswing of ‘fuck it all eating’ when struggling with control issues (17:29) Why the diet culture industry co-opting the word ‘intuitive eating’ is intensely problematic (24:50) The importance of looking at the legacy of body lineage in your family of origin (30:55) What you can expect to see in Evelyn’s new book and which book you should dive into first (34:41)   Quotes “Looking at yourself and that there might need to be some grieving that needs to take place. For this relationship and how it used to be, grieving for the time spent in pursuit of things that are no longer serving you, that you have found actually hurt and harm you. There might be anger with that, there might be sadness with that. And it is giving yourself the space and time for that.” (14:04) “Our biology has a mind of its own, and it disrupts trust every time you mess with hunger.” (20:05) “They can say all these sweet words of compassion and self-love, but at the end of the day, if you are still cutting your calories, your cells at a biological level are going to have a reaction to that.” (27:52) “Intuitive eating is not pass or fail, it is a journey of learning and discovery.” (38:15) “You need to go through the wobble to discover the connection with your body. I can guide you to some practices to help you figure it out, but it is going to take you connecting and checking in.” (45:16)   Featured on the Show Enroll in the Free Food Freedom Mini-Course Here Intuitive Eating for Every Day by Evelyn Tribole Intuitive Eating 4th Edition by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole, Elyse Resch, and Tracy Tylka Join the Intuitive Eating Online Community Here Follow Evelyn on Instagram Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 275: The Anti-Diet Approach To Eating with Evelyn Tribole

One of the most common questions I receive is how to actually put intuitive eating practice into your real life. We can often get hung up on the rules and restrictions of diet culture that we feel lost without them and unsure of how to move forward on our intuitive eating journey. Today I am here to give you practical advice for implementing intuitive eating into your everyday life. Key Takeaways If you are looking to include the practice of intuitive eating into your life you should: Relearn how to listen to your body and brains signals instead of outsourcing your decisions Become more mindful about the way you are eating and separate from your food distractions  Tackle one intuitive eating principle at a time and find a solid support network to help you through them Plan your meals in a way that serves and excites you and will fit into your regular life with ease You Were Born an Intuitive Eater Intuitive eating may sound simple, but it’s not easy. In short, intuitive eating is just eating! You were born an intuitive eater, sensing when you are hungry and what satisfaction feels like. However, the way you have been socialized has shaped how you interact with food, to the point where many of us don’t know how to trust and listen to both our brains and our bodies. Intuitive eating is about simplifying your eating habits and guidelines so that you can find the overlap between listening to your brain and your body to make intuitive eating decisions. Practical Advice for Implementing Intuitive Eating in Your Life Building healthy habits is the key to changing your internal landscape when it comes to food and learning to listen to your body’s signals. You don’t need to be mindful 100% of the time, but even a small amount of awareness can be powerful when embracing intuitive eating.  Starting from a place of mindfulness, taking it one principle at a time, and planning your meals in a way that fits in with your lifestyle are all great ways to start checking in with yourself and selecting your food choices based on a more internal approach. Which of my tips have you tried? What have you noticed? Share your thoughts and experiences with me in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode Why you need to unlearn what you have been taught about food and get back to basics (3:48) How I choose to define and explain intuitive eating to others (9:07) Tips for changing the framework in which you interact with food on a daily basis (16:25) How to make intuitive eating more practical for your everyday life (20:55) Cooking advice to help you simplify your eating and make intuitive eating work for your schedule (29:18)   Quotes “We have become so accustomed to interacting with food in that way, that when we present intuitive eating as eating without all of the rules, and restrictions, and regulations, and calculations, and computations, and logging, and everything, it kind of breaks your brain a little bit.” (6:08) “Here is how I sum up intuitive eating. It is where you use both your brain and your body to decide what to eat.” (10:29) “In mindful eating, what we are really trying to do is to build awareness of what we are doing, because a lot of our eating is very automatic.” (22:53) “You are not a short-order cook… and you shouldn’t have to be one in order to make intuitive eating work for you. Remember we are trying to simplify things.” (30:47) “It is okay to repeat meals, it is okay to use convenience items, it is okay to use dry goods from your pantry, it’s okay to use frozen foods. We have to let go of some of the stigmas around that stuff.” (35:41)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Mindful Eating Tool Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 324: Is It Wrong To Want To Lose Weight?

We have been told for our whole lives that our weight equals health which equals our worth. Have you ever stopped to ponder how this diet culture mentality has been engrained into our relationship with our bodies and our health? Just because diet culture tells us that thinner equals healthier, it does not mean it is the truth. Key Takeaways If You Want To Start Asking Yourself The Important Questions, You Should: Acknowledge what your relationship with the scale is like and how it is serving you Shift your focus away from weight loss and towards the many other benefits of gaining health Ask yourself what expectation you are comparing yourself too and when it is going to be enough Focus on how you want to feel and the additions health gains will bring to your life Fuck the Scale I used to let the number I saw on the scale completely dictate if I had a bad day or a good day. Like so many women out there, I had a toxic relationship with the scale, and I thought that if I could achieve my ‘goal’, I would be happy. This obsession extended into how I viewed other people, and I was buying into the story that intentional weight loss via restriction was the only path. Weight loss can be a beneficial byproduct of improving your health, but it is not the only measure that matters. Gaining health is about feeling better in your body at whatever size, instead of the number on the scale. How To Find Sustainable Health When people prioritize their health, they often assume that it is the weight loss that makes them feel better. In reality, it is the habits, behaviors, and changes you are making in your life that make you feel better, and weight loss can sometimes be a byproduct of those healthy habits.  It is not inherently wrong to want to change your body; you have the autonomy to do what feels right for you. But to make health changes work for you, think about how you can stay focused, how you want to feel, your deeper why, and the habits you can commit to consistently. Instead of forcing yourself to stay motivated based on the number on your scale, focus on how you want to feel in your body, and you can gain truly sustainable health. What did you think when you read the title of today’s podcast? Share your gut reaction with me in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode Why the way our society views body weight leads to us judging other people (8:33) All of the ways that improving your health can make you feel better without weight loss (11:20) How to ask yourself what you are truly seeking and when it is going to be enough (15:45) What to do if you want to make body changes in a way that feels right for you (23:30) Questions to ask yourself to start unraveling the nuances of wanting to lose weight (28:30)   Quotes “When I criticize the diet industry and diet culture, I am not criticizing the individual dieter, the person who goes on the diet. Because they are simply trying to exist in a system that is constantly reinforcing that weight loss is ‘the path’.” (10:41) “It's not even normal in our world to think about 'well, what else is there besides weight loss?’ because that is the only thing that is ever presented to us from the diet industry.” (15:22) “There are often times lots of changes that people were making, but they go back to it being the weight loss that helped them feel better. When in fact, a lot of the time it was the behaviors and habits they had changed that were actually making them feel better and improving their quality of life.” (23:01) “We need to connect to how we want to feel because feelings drive actions.” (25:26) “We need to consider that when we gain health, weight loss is sometimes, but not always, an outcome. And losing weight doesn't always automatically confer better health.” (35:57)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here 1-1 Intuitive Eating Coaching Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 304: What is Gentle Nutrition? (Intuitive Eating Principle 10)

Do you remember when I used to be ‘Stupid Easy Paleo’? A lot of you are curious as to why I am no longer paleo and the complete rebranding I did in 2018. So, I decided to share my real, truthful, nitty-gritty story with you all for this week's episode. Key Takeaways If You Are Starting To See The Cracks In Your Own Relationship With Food and Diets You Should: Be honest with yourself about your disordered eating habits and how diet culture perpetuates them Be gentle with yourself when unlearning what you have been taught by diet culture and discovering what foods you actually enjoy Get rid of the all or nothing mentality when it comes to food and stop restricting yourself How I Got Here In 2018 I had a realization. I realized that I had been carrying my disordered eating and relationship with my body through the various stages of my life, masking it with different diets and exercise regimes.  When I first heard about paleo in 2010, my most significant thought was ‘will this help me get smaller?’. While I did learn some good things from paleo, over time, the rules, restrictions, and arguments I had with people about whether or not something ‘is’ or ‘isn't paleo was making me exhausted. That’s when I realized something had to change. Restriction Isn’t Helping Anybody The more I learned about the origins of diet culture and the harm that comes from approaching ‘taking care of our health’ in a way that is restrictive and an all-or-nothing mentality, I knew I had to burn what I thought I knew down to the ground.  When you are able to take the guilt and shame out of your relationship with food and stop thinking about food 24/7, you can come back to yourself. You are always and have always been worthy no matter your body size or appearance, and my mission is to help you get back to being the intuitive eater that you were born as. Do you see yourself reflected in my story? How is your story different than mine? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode Why I do what I do and care about the work that I am doing (12:29) Acknowledging the positive things I learned from paleo (19:10) How to stop letting your relationship with food keep you scared and complacent (28:40) The signs that made me realize that paleo was not for me and something had to change (32:02) Why I decided to rebrand myself and my company and embrace another way (35:55)   Quotes “We always have a choice. We are faced with new information all day, every day, and we get to decide how and if we want to incorporate that information into our new viewpoint of the world and our perspective.” (3:32) “I feel like I wasn't living my life because I was so invested in dieting, and shrinking myself, and making myself smaller.” (12:41) “This is when I started to become aware of the fact that my thinking around food was occupying a lot of my time. Prior to that, it was just something that happened, I didn't have that outside looking in awareness of ‘this is kind of fucked up’.” (23:53) “I started to learn about bigger issues, things like diet culture. And then it all started to make sense.” (33:38) “I think that is my biggest point to you today, is learning to find the wiggle room, removing the guilt and the shame, recognizing that some of these smaller dietary choices are not going to cause you some kind of crazy significant harm.” (44:42)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Instead of Weight Loss, Focus on This Blog Post Mindful Eating Tool Emotional Eating Workshop 1-1 Intuitive Eating Coaching Jamie Scott P3 Athletica Website Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 321: Is Body Positivity for You?

I want you to think back to 2011. What were you doing a decade ago? I was unhappy with different aspects of my life, feeling restless, and starting to think I should do something else. It took me two years, but in 2013 I changed my career and haven't looked back since. If you have an inkling that something isn't quite right in your life but are getting stuck on the road to making that change, this is the episode for you. Key Takeaways If You Want To Get Out Of the Information Overload Stage You Should: Do your research but know when you have done enough  Be honest with yourself about where you are at in the stages of change Meet yourself with grace and compassion Challenge yourself to take action Finding Your Intuitive Eating Sweet Spot When making a change in your life, big or small, there is a tendency to get caught up in the learning phase. Often we don't want to jump into something until we feel 100% ready, but the truth is that if you wait to feel completely ready, you will be waiting forever.  Diet culture tells us to outsource our health decisions which creates a ‘one size fits all’ approach to our bodies. This is simply not the case, and intuitive eating encourages you to find the sweet spot between those external values and your own body's attunement. While information can help you prepare for this next phase of your life, it is important to remember that you need to find the middle ground between preparing and actually taking action. The 6 Stages of Change Consuming information makes us feel like we are doing something when it is really aiding us in procrastinating on making the change we are contemplating. There are six stages of change, and it is important to be honest with yourself about what stage you are at and remember that after every speed bump comes a new cycle.  Doing your research is great. But when you are able to take the information you have gathered and challenge yourself to take action, that is where the real magic happens. Intuitive eating is a combination of active learning and experiential learning, and it's up to you to get out there and do the thing. What stage of change do you feel that you are at with your relationship with food? Let me know in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode How to move from gathering information to practicing and taking action (5:40) Discover the sweet spot of authentic health and how to achieve it (10:30) The stages of change and how to gain insight on where you are in your journey and what next steps you should take (14:00) What to do if you are ready to take action but are getting stuck in the preparation phase (21:55) Why you shouldn’t wait until you are 100% ready to start your intuitive eating journey (30:12)   Quotes “There are so many places that you can get stuck, and one of them is information overload.” (2:02) “How can we find that middle ground? How can we find the overlap? That is really why putting intuitive eating principles into practice is so important, because it helps to combat only loading yourself with information.” (13:22) “Where are you at with your own relationship with food and coming to a kinder place that isn’t so ‘all or nothing’? I want you to think about that.” (21:48) “At the end of the day, you can read the book, you can read the workbook, you can listen to all of the podcasts, you can read all the anti-diet books, you can do all of that. And some things may change...but intuitive eating by its very nature is an active experiential process.” (24:42) “Give yourself grace, it is a process. If you feel like you are going to wait until you are 100% ready, you are going to be waiting forever.” (30:28)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 304: What is Gentle Nutrition? (Intuitive Eating Principle 10) LTYB 257: Taking A Good Look At Your Relationship With Food with Rachel Dash-Dougherty LTYB 242: Limiting Beliefs with Allegra Stein

There is a big difference between feeling positive about your body and the body positivity movement, but it can be a very nuanced topic to understand. While diet culture is part of a more extensive set of oppressive systems to people with marginalized identities, the body positivity movement has moved so far away from how it started. Social justice and body positivity are heavily intersected, and it takes some time to unpack just how deeply that runs in our society. Key Takeaways If You Want To Understand The Difference Between Body Positivity and the Body Positivity Movement, You Should: Educate yourself about the history of the body positivity movement Understand the systemic ways that people in marginalized bodies are oppressed  Unfollow anyone who is co-opting the body positivity movement with disproportionate motivations The Difference Between Body Positivity and Systemic Oppression The body positivity movement has started to center around people who don’t represent the individuals that this movement was really created by and for. Although originally created for people in marginalized bodies, we have seen a change in the ‘face’ of body positivity shifting away from marginalized bodies and towards others that are co-opting the movement.  While it is still totally possible and common for people in straighter size bodies to dislike their bodies and relationships with food, it is not the same as experiencing the kind of systemic discrimination and oppression that people in larger bodies experience every single day. What You Can Do To Stop the Co-Opting There is still judgment for people in larger bodies who embrace the body positivity movement in the same way that people in non-marginalized bodies do. By being clearer and discerning with the terms that we use on social media and in real life, we can stop the systematic oppression found in the body positivity movement and start including the people who might not look like you.  With some learning, some listening, and some questioning, you can start to peel back the layers of the body positivity onion and understand the time and place of these hard things. How are you going to dig deeper into the differences between body positivity, fatphobia, and the systemic oppression of marginalized bodies? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode A brief history of the body positivity movement and why you shouldn’t co-opt it if you are in a straight size body (5:54) How social media has impacted the body positivity movement and plays into oppressive narratives (14:35) The difference between systemic oppression and discrimination because of the body that you are in (17:58) How movements aimed at people with marginalized bodies are being subsumed by people who they were not designed for (20:20) Suggestions to help you be more clear and discerning around your understanding of body positivity (24:27)   Quotes “It is kind of important to bring up this idea of co-opting, and how it removes the emphasis away from the people or the concepts that it was really designed to support.” (7:52) “You start to see that predominantly thin, white, young, cisgender people who are being featured as the ‘faces’ of body positivity. And that is so different from the origins of the fat acceptance movement.” (15:46) “What I am trying to say in this episode is that yes, you may have negative feelings about your body. Even if your body is very thin, you may still have body dysmorphia, you could still have an eating disorder, you could still have disordered eating, you could still not like your body. But it’s still not the same as experiencing the kind of systemic discrimination and oppression that people in larger bodies experience every single day.” (19:10) “There is a difference between feeling bad about your body and experiencing systemic discrimination.” (22:23) “I don’t want you to just listen to me; I want you to really go seek out and follow and listen to people who are in larger bodies as a start.” (27:44)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Fearing The Black Body by Sabrina Strings Fat Is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 313: How To Stop a Bad Body Image Day in Its Tracks with Brianna Campos LTYB 320: Why You Can’t Shame Yourself Into Changing Your Body LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene

Are you feeling shameful around your body and trying to use that shame as a motivator to make changes? I have some bad news for you; it is not going to work. Shame not only has a profoundly negative impact on our mental health, but it is also harmful to how we see ourselves as people and our ability to make long-lasting change. Key Takeaways If You Want To Stop Shaming Yourself Or Letting Others Shame You, You Should: Block and delete any negative talk or energy out of your life Get curious about where your shame and where your self-judgment is coming from Start to notice what is truly coming from inside of you  Get clear on your personal values and your 'here and now' motivators Why Shame Doesn’t Work Shame comes from a very internalized place of believing that you are inherently flawed. Shame is different from guilt, which is a contextualized feeling about something you did rather than who you are.  Shame is scientifically proven to be a debilitating emotion that can come from external and internal narratives that are systematically pushed upon us. Shame, especially when it comes from the outside, negatively impacts how we see ourselves as people, and makes us hide, get smaller, and remove ourselves. How To Create Sustainable Change Shaming yourself or hating yourself into change simply does not work and can greatly impact how you see yourself and others. Social media and the patriarchy are only exacerbating this issue, which is why it is essential to treat yourself with kindness and approach change in a way that feels good to you. Instead of operating from a place of shame, challenge yourself to create change in a way that feels sustainable and good. Block that body-shaming Instagram account, stop engaging with ‘concern trollers’, and get curious about where your thoughts are coming from. When you have patience with yourself and stop linking your self-worth to your body size or shape, real change can happen. Are you ready to stop using shame as a motivator, only to end up feeling worse about yourself? Share how you are going to tweak your mindset away from shame with me in the comments section of the episode page.   In This Episode How guilt and shame play out in how you feel about yourself and changing your body (9:03) Scientific examples of how shame and guilt can impact your physical and mental health (13:15) The difference between guilt and shame and why shame is harmful to who we are as people (16:50) Why concern trolling is a serious problem for those in marginalized bodies on social media (23:20) Simple tips if you are falling into patterns of shame for yourself and negative self-talk (30:55)   Quotes “Shame is a normal human experience, but this chronically feeling shameful can be really harmful for our health, especially the mental health aspect of our overall health.” (14:30) “That was so powerful, and really put it into perspective of why shaming people for their bodies does damage, and why shame for ourselves is really something to investigate and heal if it is persistent.” (16:47) “Guilt may be more powerful in terms of helping us make change, and maybe less harmful to us if we are really able to make things right. But shame, especially when it comes from other people, is so damaging to us, and it can be really harmful to our health, really harmful to our mental state, and really harmful to how we see ourselves as people.” (20:59) “Thoughts affect feelings and feelings drive our actions. So if you feel guilty, or shameful or shitty, generally speaking, how do you act or react? It is typically not going to be a change you feel really great about.” (30:24) “Getting clear about a motivator in your life that is coming from a place of expansiveness, possibility, curiosity, growth, and transformation is far more powerful than hating yourself into change.” (34:59)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Mindful Eating Tool The Scientific Underpinnings and Impacts of Shame Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 318: How Diet Culture Fails Us LTYB 313: How To Stop a Bad Body Image Day in Its Tracks with Brianna Campos

When you think about diet culture, do you think about how it has affected your relationship with fitness? Often times we focus on how diet culture impacts our relationship with food, but it also has a profound effect on our connection to exercise and fitness.  The fitspo mentality promotes a narrow ideal that is widely unachievable, keeps us stuck in the patriarchal system of having to prove our worth, and harms us by taking us further away from listening to our bodies. Key Takeaways If You Are Ready To See Fitspo Die You Should: Get curious about how diet culture shows up in your life in a non-judgemental way Redefine what fitness means to you and how you can enjoy it without trying to change your body Reject the ‘no days off’ mentality and start listening to the signals from your body telling you what it needs The Real Meaning of Fitness Dan John defines fitness as your ability to do a task. That’s it. Nothing about the way you look, the amount of muscle you have, or your ability to look like the ‘fit’ people you see on Instagram.  Society has adopted coded language around fitness that seeks to limit and control a woman’s ability to show up in a certain way when it comes to fitness. In reality, you can include movement in your life in a way that is healthy for you right now and has no connection to the way you look. Your relationship with exercise should bring you satisfaction and make you feel good in your here and now body without the pressure of intentional weight-loss or body changes. How Fitspo Harms Us Fitspo harms us in more ways than one. Firstly, it promotes a narrow and privileged version of a certain ‘look’. It also promotes a ‘no days off’ mentality, that scares us into believing that if we rest, we are not worthy, are not strong, or are going to lose our gains. This is simply not true and keeps us stuck in the mentality of proving our worth and exercising solely to change the way our bodies look. One of the biggest ways fitspo harms us is by preventing us from listening to our bodies. Your body will tell you if it needs rest and if it is enjoying the type of movement you are engaging with. While getting to know your body in the physical exercise capacity is very personal and takes time, listening to your body’s signals is the only way that you are going to get over the fitspo mentality. Are you ready to embrace a version of fitness that is accessible, inclusive, and doesn’t focus on changing your body? Share how you are embracing movement for the sake of movement and rejecting the fitspo life in the comments section of the episode page.   In This Episode Defining what fitness really is and why we need to broaden our understanding of it (3:55) Why the words used around fitness and fitspo promote a narrow ideal look (9:36) How the ‘no days off’ mentality continues to keep us stuck in proving our worth and value based on our fitness (13:40) The role of social media when promoting fitness as a weight-loss tool (18:56) How fitspo is harming us by preventing us from listening to our bodies feedback (22:44)   Quotes “Diet culture doesn’t just impact your relationship with food, it also has a prevalent impact on how we see fitness talked about, displayed, and some of the mentalities that are related to fitness.” (3:01) “Dan John says fitness is your ability to do a task, so right there, your ability to do a task, your ability to complete a specific physical task typically is what fitness really is. And yet we as a society constantly reduce fitness to a look.” (7:49) “If you are pursuing a specific type of fitness because there is a promise of a specific aesthetic look, is that actually 1) realistic for your body type? And 2) is it actually really bringing you a sense of fulfillment?” (12:45) “It’s worth thinking about how pushing through and saying ‘I can’t take any days off, I am not allowed a rest day if I take a rest day I’m lazy, I’m a loser, I’m a slacker, I’m going to lose all of my progress’, how does that mentality keep us from really tuning in and listening to our bodies?” (24:00) “The other way that fitspo harms us is it takes the emphasis off all of the other reasons why exercise can be fun and beneficial that have really nothing to do with weight loss or body size control.” (28:55)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Chrissy King Article Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 318: How Diet Culture Fails Us LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene LTYB 295: Changing The Way You View Fitness with Simone Tchouke LTYB 162: Toning

Diet culture is a symptom of an oppressive system that underpins so many of the ways we show up in the world. It prevents us from being present, enjoying the people we love and the things we enjoy, and stops us from caring for ourselves. Although we do not consent to diet culture, we have to deal with the fallout of generations of both men and women playing into the ‘rewards’ of diet culture, while ignoring all of the risks. Key Takeaways If You Are Ready To Reclaim What Diet Culture Has Stolen From You, You Should: Filter your feed and the messages you receive to stop perpetuating the cycle of diet culture Stop living your life based on what you think is okay or not okay with your body Acknowledge the ways diet culture has stolen your life experiences and step away from that oppressive system Find a support system that will encourage you to reclaim what diet culture has taken from you What Diet Culture Steals From Us Diet culture keeps us small in every sense of the word. It keeps us striving for an unattainable and constantly changing body ideal, it keeps us distracted and dulled from using our power, and it keeps us from enjoying life experiences and the people we love.  We were not put on this Earth to achieve a perfect body and then die. Often we don’t even realize what diet culture is stealing from us because we are so immersed in it. I guarantee that when you look back at your life, the people you love will not remember if you have cellulite, they will remember how you made them feel and the memories that you were able to enjoy together. The Real Risks of Diet Culture Diet culture doesn’t just make us play small or hold back on our dreams and chase impossible body ideals; it can actually take our lives from us in every sense of the world. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness out there, but the corporations and companies that fed us this swill only focus on diet culture benefits, not the downsides. Unpacking and unlearning diet culture takes time and requires self-compassion and connection. While it is not going to happen overnight, just understanding the risks that are very real if we continue to let diet culture perpetuate our lives is a great first step. Are you ready to stop letting diet culture steal your zest for life? Share which of my suggestions you are going to implement to step away from diet culture and reclaim the things that diet culture has stolen from you in the comments section of the episode page.   In This Episode Breaking down what diet culture is and what it has taken from us (5:40) A shortlist of the ways that diet culture has stolen from us as a collective whole (14:00) Understanding why diet culture promotes an ideal that is not attainable for many of us instead of health-promoting behaviors (23:40) Why you shouldn’t mistake body bashing for bonding (30:45) Statistics explaining the toll diet culture is taking on us around disordered eating and eating disorders (33:10)   Quotes “I think we need to name how we are harmed by diet culture in these ways, how diet culture has failed us.” (13:59) “Diet culture makes us play small and it makes us hold back on our dreams.” (17:39) “Diet culture steals our life from us, it makes us pull back from having the experiences and participating in all of the things that we love, the people we want to be with. And those are really the experiences that stick and that matter.” (21:34) “When you decide to start unpacking diet culture and start moving away from these practices in your own life, you need support. Do not do this on your own because you will quickly become overwhelmed and subsumed by this larger dominant system.” (32:17) “The toll that diet culture is taking on us is heavy, and the corporations and companies and diet industry, they are not forthcoming about the risks, they are not forthcoming about the downsides.” (34:06)   Featured on the Show Join the Tune In Membership Here Mindful Eating Tool National Eating Disorders Association Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 317: Diet Culture and the Patriarchy  LTYB 316: What Food Freedom Is (And Isn’t) LTYB 298: How to Show Up More Authentically with Grace Edison

Have you ever stopped to consider that dieting and the diet industry work to keep us busy and distracted as a result of the patriarchy? The constant pursuit of body perfection tries to keep us spinning on a hamster wheel so that we do not have the time or energy for anything else, and that needs to stop now. Key Takeaways If You Want To Start Uncovering How Dieting and the Patriarchy You Can: Stop equating healthiness to weight Accept that you have a skewed perception of your body Challenge yourself to think about how you perpetuate diet culture in the patriarchy Take steps to actively put your time and energy into something different than body perfection The System Was Built To Make Us Fail When we are preoccupied with the scale and food restrictions, we shrink ourselves literally and metaphorically. The ideal body comes from decades of the patriarchy that is reinforced by everything around you. The system is designed to oppress women-identifying folks, while the ideal body keeps changing. The time, resources, and attention that pursuit of body perfection takes is just simply not worth it. It is about damn time that we get off this hamster wheel and focus on something other than our bodies. Reinvesting Your Energy How often do you compliment someone on their looks as the first thing you say about them? Can you imagine how much time and energy you could get back if you started questioning the influence of the patriarchy on our endless pursuit for body perfection?  Instead of focusing on what could go wrong or what you could miss out on if you start feeding into this internalized intersection of diet and the patriarchy, think about all the things you could gain if you stopped focusing on controlling the way you look.  I truly believe that we were not put on this planet to work ourselves to achieve the perfect body. Your energy, your spirit, and your magic could all be being wasted on the patriarchal view of body perfection, and you are worth so much more than that. How are you working to stop internalizing and perpetuating the intersection of diet culture and the patriarchy? Let me know how your challenge went this week in the comments section of the episode page.   In This Episode Examples of ways that diet culture keeps us distracted from the world around us (6:10) The role of the patriarchy and how it is woven into oppressive systems (11:50) Why we need to tease apart health and weight and accept body diversity (17:42) The problem with BMI and how it plays into body dysmorphia (20:00) A special challenge for you to take away from this episode (23:23)   Quotes “Dieting for the sake of body perfection keeps us distracted from everything else going on in the world because it is all-consuming.” (6:15) “We have this constantly being reinforced to us from a very young age that if we look the part if we look a certain way like these body ideals and beauty ideals, that we will be more worthy, that we will be better people. And it is absolutely a tool of the patriarchy.” (11:58) “Because of body diversity, some people in larger bodies are in great health, just like some people in smaller bodies are in terrible health.” (19:06) “We live in a patriarchal society, we live in a fatphobic society, we live in a white supremacist society, where all of these things are consistently reinforced. So it is not our fault.” (22:42) “How can you take your idea of worth, your own worth or what you appreciate about someone else, and expand that? What energy would that buy you back?” (27:14)   Featured on the Show If you're ready to get free with food and fitness, check out the Tune In Membership Mindful Eating Tool More Than A Body by Lindsay Kite & Lexi Kite Body Image With Bri Instagram Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 316: What Food Freedom Is (And Isn’t) LTYB 214: 6 Reasons BMI is Bullshit LTYB 313: How To Stop A Bady Body Image Day In Its Tracks with Brianna Campos

Finding true food freedom is a nuanced discussion that has roots in many important conversations. The patriarchy, race, gender, body autonomy, and diet culture are just a few of the systems involved in bringing awareness to the food you are eating and how you are treating your body. Key Takeaways If You Want To Find Food Freedom You Should: Lean into your bodies wisdom and give yourself permission to shake off diet and exercise extremes Relearn how to connect with yourself and what you enjoy through mindful eating Question the voices of the food police and start embracing nutrition from a non-diet perspective Focus on health-promoting behaviors instead of intentional weight loss Listening To Your Body’s Signals I want you to feel the freedom to question what we have been taught about the ‘right way to eat’. Mindful eating is a great place to start, and it can help you relearn how to connect with yourself and what you enjoy. Nutrition from a non-diet perspective may seem like a strange concept, but it is only by raising your awareness and opening the door that you can stop pursuing perfection and start listening to your body’s signals. What Is Food Freedom? Food freedom does not mean restricting yourself, going back to eating ‘regularly’, and then if you begin to feel yourself ‘falling off the wagon’ or ‘losing control’, that the solution is to go back to the restriction.  Food freedom is embracing the freedom to eat foods that make you feel good, that are enjoyable and satisfying, and are without unnecessary restriction. Food freedom means eating in a way that enhances your life, and that is helpful to your mind, and body, and emotions, and spirit, and culture. Health Over Perfection Young girls should not be growing up in a diet culture, fatphobic world. You are inherently worthy and valuable no matter what, and we deserve better than a lifetime of hating our bodies and thinking we are worthless because we don’t fit the mold.  Instead of focusing on intentional weight loss, I challenge you to focus on embracing health-promoting behaviors. The pursuit of perfection isn’t getting you anywhere, and it is time to stop denying our own magic just because we don’t fit the mold diet culture has laid out for us. What conversations are you excited to have in 2021? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode Defining what I mean by ‘food freedom’ and the importance of nuance when discussing it (6:31) The role of intuitive eating and mindful eating when incorporating food freedom (10:37) Why food freedom is not an individualist pursuit and instead is about the larger community (14:50) Breaking down the reason why I do this work and why I feel it is so important (19:25) The problem with intentional weight loss and the complex world of body autonomy (27:15)   Quotes “The freedom to eat foods that make you feel good, foods that are enjoyable and satisfying, the freedom to eat without extremes, the freedom to eat without unnecessary restriction, the freedom to eat in a way that is enhancing to your life and not detracting from your life, the freedom to eat in a way that is helpful to your mind and your body and your emotions and your spirit and your culture, the freedom to eat foods that are important from your culture… that’s what I mean by food freedom.” (9:31) “No matter what body you are in, no matter your health status, no matter your size, no matter your ability or disability, you f*cking deserve respect, and you need to give other people respect in return.” (12:25) “Can we individually think about our food behaviors and practices and what we eat, while also holding that there is also a larger context? That is going to be really important going forward.” (15:18) “We only get one shot at this life, as we are right now, and to live with such dissatisfaction of our own magic, and our own gifts and talents and worthiness because we don’t have perfect bodies, crushed me. And at that moment I said, ‘you know what, this has to change’.” (25:52) “If I am critical on this podcast of diet culture and the influence of the patriarchy on how we live our lives, especially as women, it is not a criticism of you as an individual.” (29:53)   Featured on the Show If you're ready to get free with food and fitness, check out the Tune In Membership Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

With the new year here and 2020 in the past, I'm looking both back and ahead. In this solo episode, join me as I share three lessons I learned during the challenges brought by 2020, the top five episodes of last year, and a sneak peak of what's to come in a new season of the podcast starting next week. Key Takeaways 2020 brought demands to shift and pivot; to embrace the both/and; and to ask a lot of questions and get curious The top five episodes of last year centered around non-diet intuitive eating and body image A new season of the podcast starts next week with a bit of a shift...stay tuned Top 3 Lessons from 2020 There's so much to be said about 2020. A year of so much unexpected change, upheaval, loss, and sadness. I learned a lot about having to be flexible, the challenge of holding competing emotions simultaneously, and the importance of creating meaning based more on what comes from inside when I ask questions. It was not easy. By no means did I shine at these lessons like a star pupil. Quite the contrary. It's all messy.  My hope is that these lessons will resonate for you or at the very least, help you see things from a different perspective. Dismantling Diet Culture The top five podcasts of last year definitely had a theme: diet culture...specifically looking at diet culture from many angles and seeing the need to move toward a kinder, more compassionate, and more inclusive version of nutrition and fitness. Between guests and solo episodes, we shared many aspects of moving away from dietary and exercise extremes and toward an approach where we listen more to our bodies and let our inner wisdom lead.  The top five episodes were: 268 - 5 Ways to Build Body Respect 275 - The Anti-Diet Approach to Eating with Evelyn Tribole 287 - Top 5 Things to Know Before You Start Intuitive Eating 289 - How to Ditch Dieting (Intuitive Eating Principle 1) 313 - How to Stop a Bad Body Image Day with Bri Campos A Look Ahead to the Podcast in 2021 I'm excited to share that a new season of the podcast is kicking off next week with episode 316. There will be a refreshed content focus, new guests, and maybe even a new look.  Stay tuned for the unveiling! Share your key takeaways from this episode with me in the comments section of the episode page. In This Episode Celebrating a major milestone  3 lessons I learned in 2020  The top 5 podcast episodes of 2020  What's coming in the new season of the podcast  Featured on the Show If you're ready to get free with food and fitness, check out the Tune In Membership Follow me on Instagram and join the conversation about food, fitness, and letting your body lead. Angie Jordan - podcast strategist Subscribe on iTunes Related Episodes 267 - My 2020 Theme + Meditation

With the new year rapidly approaching, you might be thinking about your goals for 2021. What if those goals had nothing to do with your pant size? I challenge you to reframe how you are working on your health without directly connecting them to your body size. Key Takeaways If You Want To Set Health Goals That Don’t Include Weight Loss, You Should: Reframe your mindset by unraveling diet culture and embracing what feels true to you Approach your mental, emotional, and spiritual health in the same regard as your physical health Work toward a mindset of self-care on all levels and focus on total body health rather than weight loss Creating Goals That Aren't Based On Your Size A fellow Steph is here to help me unpack what it means to set health goals that have nothing to do with weight loss. Steph Dodier is an intuitive eating coach who went from being culturally embedded in diet culture to radically reframing what it means to work on your health without it being connected to your body size. Steph is passionate about helping women live healthy without being on a diet and sharing her techniques for living a healthy lifestyle separate from society's desire to fit into a smaller body. Unraveling Diet Culture Change is only possible when it happens at the core of who you are. Unraveling diet culture can genuinely shake the foundation of who you are or what you thought you believed in. While this can seem daunting, it is important to see this new mindset as an opportunity to analyze where your previous thoughts have come from and whether they truly align with what you want. Viewing your mindset as an opportunity to break away from the definition of health that diet culture has co-opted and instead embrace your own definition of health is the first step to understanding what true health really is. Freedom From Food in 2021 How do you define health? While advertisements tell us that your health is solely physical, it is truly a combination of the four bodies, including mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. By redistributing your energy to all four components of your overall health, you can work towards health in every aspect of the term. 2021 is the year that you can work towards freedom and focus on being healthier rather than just smaller. Steph’s voice is the voice you need to ring in the new year and can help you reject diet culture, set goals that don't include weight loss and help you feel better outside of your physical body. Are you ready to enter into the new year focusing on what makes your body feel good? Share your key takeaways from this episode and this year with me in the comments section of the episode page.   In This Episode How to liberate yourself from diet culture through feminism (7:46) Dismantling the possibility of rejecting diet culture while still desiring to be in a smaller body (13:21) How to set goals for your health in a new and different way (17:40) Discover how your mental health, emotions, and spirituality play into your physical health (23:55) The difference between moderation versus abstaining when it comes to your food choices (26:19)   Quotes “I teach it from that place of feminism, and that place of empowerment. And that connects with a certain group of women that are willing or at that place in their life where they are seeking power and seeking power for their own life.” (10:13) “Remember, it is a thought, it is not a fact. And I think that is where the power lies, is recognizing that your desire to lose weight is just a thought, and you don’t have to believe in it, grab it and entertain it. It does not have power over you.” (15:10) “The World Health Organization defines health as both mental, emotional, social, and yes, physical. Yet we are trained through tv advertising, marketing, even through my own medical training, to see health as just physical.” (19:48) “There is physical restriction and there is psychological restriction, and moderation to me is a psychological restriction. It may have to be where you live at until you are willing to trust yourself more until you do the work to trust yourself more, and then gradually moderation will go away.” (27:52) “I can help you be healthy. Here are all the things that you can do to be healthy, and none of it is going to give you a smaller body, but you are going to be healthier. You are going to move your body easier, you are going to have less inflammation, you are going to have all the things! Do you still want to lose weight?” (33:55) “What if, in 2021, we focus on everything else but the size of your pants. What would happen? That’s my challenge to people.” (36:40)   Links Join the Tune In Membership Here  Going Beyond The Food Podcast Stephanie Dodier Website Conquer and Thrive Community Program Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!   Related Episodes LTYB 294: How To Unf*ck Your Brain with Kara Loewentheil