Getting Back On Track

Transcript:

TERESA: Welcome to the first show and podcast of Dishing Up Nutrition for the new year of 2023. Many of you, like me, are ready to get back on track with your food choices, your exercise routine, your sleep, and your stress management. But maybe you're wondering, how am I going to get there? You got back into the sugary treats, or perhaps you chose special, fancy coffee drinks, had more alcohol than you typically do, either in festive holiday cocktails or wine or champagne for the new year. And now the fun is over.

And frankly, we've started to realize that we have less energy, more cravings, maybe our jeans are fitting a little tighter and just not feeling as great as we did before the holidays. My name is Teresa Wagner. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and I am here today with Leah Kleinschrodt, who is also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And we want to offer you some practical ways to get back on track.

LEAH: Yes. Well, good morning listeners. Good morning, Teresa. Good to be in studio with you again. And yes, we're definitely at that time of year where a lot of us, we’re still just trying to get our bearings about us again, you know, following those weeks of shopping, baking, social events, traveling. And I don’t know, for at least for us here in Minnesota, a couple of snowstorms that really shut things down for a while.

TERESA: And that, that frozen snap that we had.

LEAH: Yes.

TERESA: That was so cold.

LEAH: Yep. So cold. Then a bunch of snow. So again, it's, if your head is still spinning, you're not alone. Like you're in good company. So I did just want to actually bring up, Teresa, you mentioned the topic of our show about just kind of getting back on track and course correcting a bit. Monica, who's one of our, one of our colleagues, one of the other dietitians at Nutritional Weight and Wellness, she shared something on her social media that I thought I would just plop in here too was, you know, this is the time of year where people tend to feel desperate coming out of those holidays and okay, now the fad diet starts. Now you want to take those extreme measures to get back on track or to kind of, again, course correct.

TERESA: New year, new you.

LEAH: Yeah. New year, new you but just kind of undo some of that damage.

TERESA: Yeah.

LEAH: You know, “damage” that was done over the last, you know, six weeks or so. But this is more of that time where maybe we need just need to reframe that and think about now is the time to just do a gentle U-turn.

TERESA: Oh, I like that idea.

LEAH: Yeah. And just, you know, it doesn't have to be anything drastic or, or take extreme measures. It's just something that we're just trying to reverse course a little bit and get back to some of those habits and, and just try to get our actions back in line with the goals that we have for our health, for our weight and things like that so that, you know, as part of our show today, we want to share some doable ways to let go of some of those sweets and the sugars, how to substitute mineral water for wine and how to fill your plate with real foods so that you're not hungry and those cravings really start to loosen their hold.

TERESA: Yes. In today's show, it's brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. We are a company that helps people achieve better wellness and weight through eating real food. It is a message we have presented in classes, in nutrition counseling sessions and on this show on Dishing Up Nutrition for the past 20 years.

LEAH: Yeah. It's a longstanding message. And I want to point out that little switcheroo that you did, Teresa, where, you know, our company is called Nutritional Weight and Wellness, but you said we focus on helping people achieve wellness and weight through eating real food. And again, I think that's just a concept that we try to reiterate a lot with, like you said, the classes and counseling and on the show that when we start with the food and prioritize health and how you feel, you start to change your metabolism. You start to become healthy on a cellular level and then the weight loss tends to follow. And so I want to point out that I borrowed that quote from you from an earlier show.

TERESA: I thought that sounded familiar.

LEAH: Yeah, exactly. It was a show, I think it just replayed last week. So it was about your two clients who, who had some really great success with weight loss, but we're often told that that message of, well, if you lose weight, then your cholesterol goes down. If you lose the weight, then your knee pain goes away. Or if you lose weight, then X, Y, Z, where actually it's the flip side of things. So that message is still out there. People are told the only way to lose weight is to cut the calories, eat low fat and exercise one to two hours a day. And it's a message, it sounds logical in our brains, right? Like, we like to do that math, we like to get from point A to point B directly, but does it work?

So I'm going to, I'm going to propose that question out to the listeners. Did it work for you? Because I know a lot of my clients, and I'm sure yours too, Teresa, like they've kind of been through that rigmarole before. What does work in the long run is eating real food, good quality meat and fish, lots of vegetables, and adding in that tablespoon of natural fat at each and every meal and snack.

TERESA: Yeah. This way of eating, it's simple, but it does work. It really does. And you know that, that episode that you had mentioned, those women were a great example of how it does work.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: We understand that you will not drop 30 pounds in 30 days, even though that's what we all want, right? We want those, we want that quick return. But what will happen is you'll have better energy. You'll have good moods, less digestive issues when you give up these processed foods, the junk food. And you know, Leah, it's, it's been really fun over these last few days in when I've been counseling some of my clients because after the holidays, a lot of times I get some of those stories about how difficult it was.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: And certainly I did have some of those and it's and it's real, you know, I kind of felt like I had some of those myself.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: But I did have a couple of clients who kind of sailed through unscathed. One client had a great holiday and really only indulged on New Year's Day, so not even on the Christmas holiday, but New Year's Day was her day and she's seven pounds down. And I know that that doesn't sound like a huge amount of weight, but she actually doesn't have that much weight to lose. She's more looking to just feel better in her body, feel better in her clothes, have more confidence. And now I think today she's on her way to Miami and she's feeling great and she's, you know, like those are just fun stories to hear.

LEAH: Yeah, that's amazing.

TERESA: I had another client who has dropped a more significant amount of weight and she sailed through the holidays as well, and she just got back from California. Her daughter was involved in the Rose Bowl parade, and she was telling me how she had like really grueling days from six in the morning to midnight almost.

LEAH: Oh my gosh.

TERESA: And that she was like, in the past I wouldn't have had the energy for it, but this time I had, you know, it was still tiring. That's, that's a tough schedule.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: But she, but she was able to manage that. And then she also told me this great story where when she was on the airplane, you know, walking through the aisles, that's kind of a tight aisle to get from your seat to the bathroom or wherever you need to go. And she's like, I wasn't bumping into people.

LEAH: Oh.

TERESA: And it was such like, you know, for some people maybe you, that wouldn't even be something that would even occur to you. But I bet people are, some of our listeners out there who travel who maybe have some weight to lose, can really identify with that feeling of trying to like get through those tight places. Sometimes it's, do I fit in this seat or you know, do I need a seatbelt extender? Or those kinds of things that are really huge wins.

LEAH: Mm-Hmm.

TERESA: You know, those are really great things.

LEAH: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I love those little stories too of like, sometimes those things, like you said, don't even occur to us or occur to our clients until it's either not there anymore or, or it shows up or like, whatever that case may be. But it is so fun to just hear those, those little wins, you know, non-scale and scale wins. It's just, it's so fun and makes this, it makes what we do really rewarding and, and helps us show up every day. Right?

TERESA: Yeah. And just to bring it full circle, both of these women, they're just eating real food.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: Nothing flashy. They're not change chasing that next shiny object, the fad diet. Just day after day eating real food.

LEAH: Yeah, absolutely. I, I love both of those stories; so great. And so as our, with our show today, rather than telling you those same old ways that the weight loss companies out there will, they'll recommend for getting back on track, we're going to look at habits, so why certain habits are developed and we're also going to look into some of the neurochemistry or like some of that biochemistry of dopamine and our neurotransmitters and things like that as we go through this show.

Harmful vs. helpful habits

So some of our habits that we have are positive habits and some are more harmful habits. If you develop the muffin and the fancy coffee habit for breakfast at the coffee house, then this is probably a more harmful habit. But on the flip side, if a more positive habit, it would be scrambling up a couple of eggs with spinach, you have that side of sweet potato, you cook it all in a little butter, maybe some coconut oil or something like that, that's a more positive habit. And so these are some of the things we're just going to lay out a little bit more as we go through our show.

TERESA: And on that note, we should go to break. You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. Today we are giving you some insight into how you can use your intellect to get back on track after the holidays. Stay tuned. We have some new thoughts for you to consider.

BREAK

LEAH: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. As nutritionists, we believe that as clients know better, they tend to do better. So we offer many classes both in person at all six of our locations and we offer many Zoom virtual classes for those of us, or for those of you out there who are not in the greater Twin Cities area. Starting the week of January 9th, 2023, so this is just actually in a couple of days, we will have several classes at all six of our locations and several virtual Zoom classes of our series called Ongoing Support and Education.

So these are for our students who have taken our 12 week series: Nutrition 4 Weight Loss, and they're looking for that extra support, that next level of a little bit more learning, but more discussion and just more real world “how am I going to keep doing this in the long term”? Then starting the week of January 16th, 2023, I mentioned Nutrition 4 Weight Loss. So here is our signature kind of 12 week series for people who just want to start learning a little bit more and getting into that real food balanced eating world and kind of getting a great foundation there.

So you can check out these classes online at weightandwellness.com and if you have any questions after that, give us a call: 651-699-3438. Our front desk staff are so wonderful and knowledgeable and they can help point you in the right direction and let's get you back on track.

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So before we went to break, I was just introducing part of our concept here at for our show of getting back on track today of habits and what are some of the positive habits that we may have that help us towards our goals and what are some of the harmful habits that detract us or distract us from the goals that we want to achieve?

So I gave the example of a more harmful habit may be if you are the muffin and fancy coffee drink kind of person, and you're doing that say several times a week or even on a daily basis versus starting off with a well-balanced breakfast of some eggs for that protein, cooking it up in some good fat like coconut oil or butter and making sure you get some real food carbs in there, like some spinach, some greenery, or have some sweet potatoes there on the side. So those are just some two examples of what would be a good habit versus a more harmful habit.

Dopamine: a feel-good neurotransmitter

TERESA: Mm-Hmm, and developing either a good habit or a harmful habit involves the release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. Dopamine is sometimes called the feel-good neurotransmitter. It is the neurotransmitter of desire and motivation. And the first time you do something like say it's you've never had a muffin and fancy coffee before, the first time you have that and, and, and, and you enjoy the experience, dopamine is released. And it's highest after that first sip, and you feel great. So it's more of a, it's a reinforcing neurotransmitter where it's released after something good happens, so then you want it to happen again.

LEAH: Right. You're seeking out that action or that behavior or that experience again. Right?

TERESA: Right. Yep. Exactly.

LEAH: Yep. And so maybe you've noticed, again, each time you order that muffin, the coffee drink, you feel good because dopamine is being released. I mean, you're getting that little sugar rush too, right? Because it, again, typically those coffee drinks are not, not super low in sugar. You might rack up even 25 teaspoons of sugar depending on what you're, what you're getting or the size of the drink and things like that. And as time goes on, just actually thinking about the muffin and the coffee, you get that little bit of dopamine release.

So Teresa, you mentioned the first time you do something, the strongest kind of action of that dopamine is after it's happened, after you've done the coffee and the muffin, but then your body that that dopamine makes you want to do it again. So the next time you do it or the third time or the hundredth time, you are actually getting that bit of dopamine release before the thing happens, which makes you, which makes that urge to do it even stronger. So it can be that's where like you get into that area of addiction or like we might say, I'm addicted to sugar or I'm addicted to alcohol, or whatever the case may be. So we do, this is where again we want to course correct and start making those U-turns and forming those healthier habits. We need to find that better version of breakfast for you or for the person that's in front of us in the counseling room. So maybe that does look like a couple organic eggs, some spinach and a bowl fruit.

TERESA: Yeah. And just to reiterate what you're saying, you know, after, you know you enjoy something, particularly high reward things like sugar, dopamine is released even before the action because of our thoughts.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: Simply thinking about a coke or a candy bar releases dopamine if you are drawn to those things, right?

LEAH: Yep. Yep.

TERESA: Releases that dopamine and drives you to go buy that Coke or candy bar. Our thoughts are very powerful. And like we are, we're talking about, dopamine is the neurotransmitter of desire and motivation. It gets you to do things. You think about the action you want to take and the dopamine release is actually highest right before you do it, right before that bite of the candy bar or the sip of that soda. So dopamine is not only released when you experience pleasure, but it's also when you are anticipating it or even higher in that anticipation. And it gets you to do that thing again and again, hence the sort of addictive quality of it.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: And if you want to know more about dopamine, there is a great book called Dopamine Nation. And it's written by Anna Lembke and it is such a great book. I mean it's non-fiction, but it reads like a novel. It's just so interesting and it's just a page turner, so if if, if dopamine is something that interests you, I highly recommend that book.

LEAH: Yeah. So, and then, so let's think on the other hand, on the other side of things, you know, a salmon dinner with your favorite vegetables, this also does release some of that dopamine. It helps us build up actual dopamine over the long term. We will, we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a few minutes. But then when you get that same dopamine kind of kick from good protein, some veggies, some good fats, that's what helps us reinforce making good food choices as well.

And then kind of even thinking a little bit more is stepping on a scale. Maybe it's a week or two later after you've done the balanced eating thing: three meals a day, two snacks a day, day for a couple of weeks. You step on the scale and then you see that smaller number, that will also, that is another nice little dopamine hit. And then it reinforces it again, it motivates you to stay on program and continue to eat balanced. Cause now we're, you're getting that pleasurable experience or like that, that feedback and you want to stay on the program.

TERESA: Well, on that note, we will go to break. You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. I want to read a few comments that participants from our new Ongoing Support and Education class series have shared. One participant said, “I didn't know I needed the classes in the Ongoing Support and Education series until I took it.” Another client shared, “I like the conversation discussion style of sharing and learning from each other.” And finally another client said, “I feel so supported being a part of a weekly group. There are so many temptations, but this weekly class helps me stay on track.” If you signed up for the January classes, great. If not, call 651-699-3438 to have your questions answered or to sign up.

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BREAK

LEAH: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. It may surprise you that weight loss losses usually not strong enough to give up pizza, cereal, rice crispy bars or whatever it is that calls your name. It takes a more serious goal such as less pain, better sleep, more energy, or being less irritable. So what is your reason to know and then to do? We can help you change your thinking. So rather than thinking about, you know, the ice cream that's left over in the freezer or Sweet Martha's cookies at the State Fair here in August in Minnesota, you know, we're many months out from that, but some people plan all year round for that kind of thing.

Maybe we can change that thinking so that you'll be thinking about homemade delicious chicken and wild rice soup, and we help clients practice thinking about healthy foods and suddenly they're in their kitchen and they're cooking great healthy meals. January is a great time to refocus and to join one of our classes and you can do all of this online at weightandwellness.com or again, call us at (651) 699-3438 if you're just looking for a little guidance or a compass to point you in the right direction.

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So we were, Teresa, before break, we were chatting, we talked, talked a lot about dopamine so far about that kind of motivating neurotransmitter and those things that release dopamine for us and make us want to do things again and again and again.

What causes dopamine releases?

TERESA: Right. And both good and bad habits can activate the release of dopamine, but high reward habits can lead to addiction. For example, sugar, our favorite topic, right?

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: …releases dopamine, which for many then leads to a sugar addiction. Wine releases dopamine and so for some people wine becomes addictive.

LEAH: Yep. Yep. Sugar, alcohol, drugs like cocaine, scrolling social media.

TERESA: Yeah. That like button.

LEAH: Yes. That like, those hearts, all of that stuff. Like that's one of those things that just lights up that you get that little hit of dopamine every time, processed carbohydrates, and gambling. And these are all just, this is not a complete list, but these are examples of all things that will release that dopamine.

TERESA: Yeah. They're high reward.

LEAH: Yes. High reward. And so engaging in these, again, more harmful habits or like these distracting habits can lead to addiction; not for everyone, but for, for some people. And on the other hand, a salmon dinner with your favorite vegetables, that also kind of releases and helps you build that dopamine over time. And in the long run it helps you make those good eating choices.

TERESA: Right. Which, when you say it helps to build that dopamine, it's because protein provides the building blocks of our neurotransmitters.

LEAH: Yeah, absolutely.

TERESA: Neurotransmitters are made out of amino acids. Amino acids come from proteins. So, and like you were saying, you know, good habits, like eating healthy meals can result in dopamine release because stepping on the scale and seeing a positive number releases dopamine and you feel happy. So good habits release dopamine and of course like we've been saying, bad habits also can release dopamine and usually in, in a higher amount. And like we've said, sugar releases dopamine, which can lead to sugar addiction and we see this how sugar is addictive all the time when we are working with clients and in classes.

If you have a behavior you wish you didn't have and can't find a way to stop, that looks like addiction. If there's a food you don't want yourself to eat and when you start you can't stop until it's gone or until you feel sick, that looks like addiction. If you hide foods or eat large amounts in private and you feel shame about it, that looks like addiction, right?

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's, yeah, I think I love the way you said that. I think it, again, just some of those behaviors, it helps people conceptualize like, okay, how do I know is this something that is a problem for me or is this something again like, then I need to start changing my habits and behaviors around? Yeah.

So how do we use this information to get back on track? Let's focus, so let's just take that sugar and the wine examples, like how do you build up your dopamine levels? One thing you let go of that sugar habit or you let go of that wine habit, but I can, I can already hear, I can already hear people's thoughts turning in their heads of, okay, well that's great. How do you let go of these addictive habits? Now for the brain to have adequate dopamine, you need to and, and to make those good food choices, Teresa, you said it like adequate protein. That is a huge place where I start with almost every single one of my clients.

Protein is key for maintenance of adequate dopamine levels

Start your day, especially breakfast, like that's a huge key part of the day, right? The way you start your day sets you up on a good foot for things to go well the rest of the day. So start your day with three or four ounces of protein. So that might look like a couple of eggs, you know, that might, that would be three or four eggs if you're an egg person. If you're not kind of, if you like eggs but not that much it might look more like, you know, one or two eggs, but maybe some like our turkey breakfast sausage. I love that as an add-on next to a couple of eggs or or you might, you know, might even have like a, a half of a burger patty or just, you know, something else or like, or some smoked salmon or something like that to get that little extra bit of protein in in the morning.

Then for lunch you do it all over again. You have three or four more ounces of protein, maybe some chicken on a salad or, or I have still leftover turkey that I just pulled out of the freezer from Thanksgiving when we needed to fill in some meals. And then you do it again at dinner: three or four ounces of, of protein at dinner. That's where that salmon can come into play.

TERESA: To get back on track, we need to decide what thoughts or situations are causing dopamine release and remove those triggers. Remember dopamine release is highest before the reward, not the fulfillment of it. And that's what gets us to do that action. That's what gets us to eat that food or drink that high sugar drink or alcoholic drink. Here are some common dopamine triggers: ads for junk food, the candy dish on your desk, bars and desserts displayed at the restaurant or at the grocery store, happy hour with friends or the smell of popcorn at the movies.

What dopamine trigger could you avoid? You might evaluate your common behaviors and think, well why do I do the things I do? A simple question might be, do I go to the movies to see the movies or is it for the food there? You know, and the truth is, is that movie theaters know that, that it, that dopamine is, is a part of this or at least they know that that smell of popcorn results in sales. Right? And, and actually they make more money on the food there than they do on the actual movie, which is really interesting.

But how can you protect your environment. That's a part of this avoiding that trigger. Protect your environment so that you don't even see or think of that food or beverage that gives you trouble. How can you do that? Protecting your environment is all about making the healthy choice, the easy choice and the unhealthy choice difficult.

LEAH: Yeah. No, I love what you said there of like, okay, it's that seeing or smelling can start triggering that dopamine release. So how can we circumnavigate some of those experiences so that we don't even have to decide whether we're going to indulge in that or not. It's like, it's not even a part of our brain chemistry at that point.

Tips for getting back on track

So to get back on track, we're eating, most people are probably eating at least four times a day, like those three main meals, at least one snack. Some people need more snacks than that too, and that's fine, but we need to make sure we get that protein in there so that we have those building blocks for dopamine. We get our vegetables in there, lots of antioxidants, keeps our blood sugar nice and steady, helps with our digestion, and then we need that good fat in there, rounding things out to steady our blood sugar even more. So in the long term that builds our supply of dopamine. And then we have a lot easier time avoiding those foods or drinks that give that intense dopamine rush.

TERESA: And that's the trick. Right? Avoiding habits you want to change that give you that rush.

LEAH: Yes.

TERESA: Salmon doesn't give you a rush, but sugar sure can.

LEAH: Yep.  

Steps to change behavior: pay attention to your thoughts

TERESA: What are some steps to change behavior? Well, you know, we suggest you pay attention to your thoughts. We encourage you to actively engage your brain and focus on the positive. Isn't that kind of an interesting idea? Like do we really think, I mean our brain is constantly working, but, but really actively engaging our brain; focusing on that positive. Have you noticed that when you are disheveled or stressed, you are not paying attention to your eating plan and suddenly you're back eating the chocolate chip cookies or you find yourself at the bottom of a pint of ice cream?

LEAH: I think the stress part definitely will resonate with a lot of people.

TERESA: Yes. You must engage your brain to achieve your goals. Being in a class, like one of our class series can help you to learn to engage your brain to develop these healthy habits. When you focus on your goals, you can start to override those cravings that you might be having. By using your brain power, your intellect, you can make those habits weaker in your brain.

We want you to realize that, that the power you have over the habits you want to change, that you really do have that power. You can turn your brain on to be successful. And this helps you to develop self-control. It's a very, it's, it's, it's developing those new neural pathways. You know, we have these roads in our brains and some of them are very deeply, you know…

LEAH: Grooved.

TERESA: Grooved, right? Like you can kind of imagine a, a gravel road where the, the grooves are deep.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: And then we have some flat roads too. And so we've got to get out of those grooves and up onto the, that flat road and start making some new grooves in our brain that help us think in that way that's more positive.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: And this will help you develop that self-control. One technique you know, you can use is to write down what you're going to eat. And if that food is not on your list or in your plan, then you simply don't eat it. It's just, I'm following this plan until this plan becomes natural.

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like you're making that roadmap ahead of time of, okay, how am I going to do this so that again, some of those other little distractions or little things that come up in our day don't sidetrack us. So it's a way to again, just kind of stay the course and not get distracted or, or sidetracked too much.

TERESA: Right. And I think we've talked about this in, in shows before where a good majority of what we do, we don't even have a conscious thought about.

LEAH: Yes.

TERESA: It's just automatic.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: And so now we have to change some of those things that are currently automatic that maybe aren't serving our goals and make some new pathways that will and then they will become more automatic.

LEAH: Yes, exactly.

TERESA: Well, you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. Sometimes changing your food habits can take many months for those new habits to become established, like we've been talking about. We offer nutrition counseling and nutrition education, but did you realize that we offer many classes that help you get back in the kitchen? Coming up on January 25th at 6:00 PM we are offering a Zoom cooking class called Delicious Nutritious Soups. Marianne, our nutrition educator and culinary expert will inspire you to cook and eat real food. This class is only $25 and you can sign up online at weightandwellness.com or if you have questions call 651-699-3438.

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BREAK

LEAH: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. As Teresa said before break, it takes time to change your behavior. You often know, but it can be so hard to do. It's believed that about 10% of people kind of run with it. They know and they do right away. But 80 to 90% of people know, but they have trouble with the doing part for whatever reason. There can be lots of barriers to actually implementing and doing the thing. Our Nutrition for Weight Loss classes, that 12 week series, these are designed to help you know and to do. Some people have heard this message, not once, not twice, not three times, but on the fourth time, their behavior changes. And I remember one of the first times I taught Nutrition for Weight Loss, or maybe it was the Weight and Wellness series. It was one of the two. I had a client exactly like that.

She shared, “I took Nutrition for Weight Loss twice. I didn't do anything. I just learned. I just tried to absorb that information like a sponge. The third time through I implemented. And then, then, so now she's doing it again, like either a fourth time or it was Weight and Wellness again. She was taking classes. So this was kind of like her fourth time and by then she had lost, it was over 50 pounds I think.

So again, sometimes it just, everyone does it on their own time, on their own schedule and when they're able to do it. But you take that knowledge and with these classes and with the support of the people around you and the instructors, you start, you know, you stop and actually eat meals and snacks. You know, you don't just rush your way through lunch. People start sleeping seven, eight, even nine hours at night.

They drink eight to 10 glasses of water. So it helps you with that commitment to your health. If this is something that's interesting to you or something that you're just really willing to jump right into, come and join us in January. This will help you make those changes to your health that you want to make. Call us at (651) 699-3438. We have the time to answer your questions.

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All right. So bringing us back into our topic of getting back on track after the holidays, Teresa, you were mentioning just again our, we have such power over our habits. We have power over our environment. We can develop some of that self-control. I love that tip that you said about like actually writing out what you're going to eat the next day or for the next three days. A lot of people will use like a meal, like a tracker to track what they've already ate, but using that technique to actually plan ahead.

Use positive self-talk to create healthy habits

I know I have some clients that just love that idea and they have a lot of success with that. So we encourage our clients to just again, engage that thinking brain, get off autopilot and start trying to course correct. And using that brain, using that intellect to change how you consciously think about your life, your health, your weight. Self-talk is actually very important. So I did want to linger on this for a moment. Talking to yourself is a way to be successful. Plan to be in charge of your foods and using positive self-talk to avoid slipping back into poor food choices.

Teresa, you and I were talking about this on the break that so many, so many of us, I think we all probably do this on some level, but some just struggle a little bit more than others about negative self-talk. And how can we course correct? How can we make that U-turn with our thoughts and start reframing things into positive self-talk? So like one example would be, you know, I'm choosing to buy quality food or like maybe I'm choosing to buy the organic eggs this time because my body and my brain deserve the best. You know, it's, it's telling yourself, as silly as it might sound, it's telling yourself I deserve health. I deserve to be happy. I deserve to get what I want out of this life. And saying it until you believe it.

TERESA: Yes. And, and, and we all have the tendency, maybe we don't all have the tendency, but many of us have the tendency to have that negative self-talk and that is something that you can change. You know, our thoughts are not, or what goes on in our brain is not something that's just that we have no power over. We really can start to redirect those thoughts or reframe those thoughts so that if we catch ourselves in that negative thought process, we can redirect it and switch it to the positive. And the more we do that, the less often those negative self-talk conversations happen. But it takes work.

LEAH: Oh yeah.

TERESA: I mean it really does take work and it's one of those things that nobody knows you're doing it, but you.

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. That is kind of funny.

TERESA: And another way that you could positively talk to yourself is, you know, say I have no interest in fast food French fries because I know the refined oils that they are fried in can damage myself. I will eat the small real potato and put butter on it. You know, really thinking about the positive thing that you want; focusing on the real food potato. Think on your, on the foods that you want yourself to eat and avoid ruminating on the things that you're looking to avoid. There's a saying that go that I really like that says, where your thoughts go, your energy flows.

LEAH: I like that.

TERESA: So if you're really focusing on, well, I can't have French fries, I can't have M&M’s, I can't have ice cream, I can't have all, you know, all these highly palatable, palatable yummy foods. I mean no denying they're delicious foods. If that's what you're thinking on, that's what you eventually are probably going to have. Rather, redirect it. I love the taste of a juicy strawberry.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: I love eating an apple and putting some natural peanut butter on it. I love a really good steak. I love the salmon dinner you're talking about. You know, and really focusing on those thoughts and putting that positive spin on it so that where your thoughts go, your energy flows and your energy is flowing towards those healthy habits.

LEAH: Mm-Hmm.

TERESA: Putting your energy toward eating real foods that nourish your body and brain redirect the thoughts of junk food to those healthy alternatives.

Manage stress to get back on track

LEAH: Yes, absolutely. It takes practice. It can be done. And another piece of this about kind of getting back on track, you may need to find ways to manage your stress.

TERESA: Yeah. Especially if you're a stress eater right?

LEAH: Right, exactly. And, and who doesn't have some extra stress coming out of the holidays and things like that? But, you know, sometimes we get into these bad habits or these bad grooves in the road, as you were saying, Teresa. This is a, it's a coping mechanism for the stress. So maybe, and I know I've had a couple clients like this recently, that you just tend to work through lunch because okay, you're, you have such a high workload or you're trying to play catch up. You work through lunch and then, you know, mid-afternoon hits or you get home from work and that's where you grab the M&M’s, the potato chips or the Coke.

To get back on track, we need to just, again, engage that intellect or, or actively start thinking about, all right, how am I going to change that automatic behavior that, that groove in the road to make the decision to actually stop and eat my lunch that I brought from home? And maybe that lunch is, maybe that's that chicken wild rice soup or leftover salmon, broccoli and a bowl of fruit. But how can you take care of yourself so you can get back on track?

You know, we're living in a stressful time and we need to use food as our number one stress management technique because food, our food choices actually play a huge role in how we experience stress. So it makes sense that food can be one of our top priorities in terms of relieving that stress.

TERESA: Yeah. And I would say that, just to summarize for today, some of the suggestions that we're, that we are, we've talked about is to get back on track is to eat real food four times a day, emphasis on adequate protein, controlling our thoughts, redirecting those negative thoughts and putting them to a positive, protecting our environment, making the healthy choice the easy choice and the unhealthy difficult.

Watch those dopamine triggers and manage our stress. Our goal at Nutritional Weight and Wellness is to help each and every person experience better experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple yet powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. Thank you for joining us today.