Trusting Yourself With Food: How To Work With Your Body As An Any

Welcome everyone, happy Friday. Welcome Natalie, welcome Jennifer, welcome Laura. And as we settle in, let me know in the chat what your I'm grateful for today. Super cold day here in Ontario, but I'm grateful that it's sunny today. I'd rather have that than a gloomy day.

Yeah.

We'll just give our friends a few minutes to tune in. Jennifer says grateful for a warm home on a cold day. Tina says she's grateful for being here.

One more reminder in our group.

Natalie says, glad to have the flexibility to be here with you. Laura says, I'm grateful for my hot tea. Awesome. Hey, so we will get started here, and, uh, I want to introduce a very special guest that we have today. Her name is Gina, and Gina is a registered dietitian with a master's in human nutrition. And basically, Gina saw that many people tend to sabotage their health plans despite their best efforts. And this realization led her to explore the role of the mind and body in shaping our behaviors and attitudes towards health. And Gina founded the Mastering Mindfulness Institute, which aims to teach people how to achieve optimal health through mindfulness-based practices. The institute's methods have been taught globally at universities, conferences, and health centers and have been recognized for their effectiveness in promoting health and well-being. And through her work at Mastering Mindfulness Institute, Gina is changing the way we think about health and wellness. So I met Gina a few years ago at a conference called Mindshare. And, you know, I was just really intrigued by her work. And I feel like it's such an important piece to the health journey. You know, a lot of the times we focus a lot on the external things, right? But I think one of the most important aspects that we can focus on is the internal, the internal work, the internal dialogue that we have with ourselves, the connection that we have with ourselves and our body and our mind and our spirit and her soul, and, um, her work is so beautiful. So I really wanted to have her on. So thank you, Gina, for being with us today.

Oh, thank you guys so much for having me. It is for sure been a journey for me, and I think that, uh, I, I would love for a couple of minutes for people to pop off mute and just share, like, what are some of those really real moments and, like, challenges that we have? Because I think we start to look at the health journey as like, well, everybody's doing it, you know, it's, it's not a big deal. We start to minimize it. But when we're faced with those really real moments of where we find our attachments to foods and the things we don't want to let go of, and it is a shedding process and it's an evolution and it is so deep and it's so personal when we get into some of those really real moments where it is just nothing but us and our food. And it reveals everything. And it can be beautiful and it can be scary. And for me personally, like Deepa said, I'm a dietitian. And so I've gone through all the knowledge of like learning how to be healthy. But what I felt a little bit unprepared for was what happened in that really real moment where maybe it was after a long day and I was depleted and exhausted and it just felt like something was stronger within me than my willpower that took over, and I felt this loss of my own power and maybe going back to some foods that I didn't really want to choose and feeling really confused about like what was happening inside of that moment. And it really led me down a curious path of what she said of shifting my attention inward and understanding some of those experiences a little bit more. And I think there's a lot of those real-life moments of where it matters the most. And I'm just kind of curious, I'd love to get to know you all a little bit more. And if anyone's open to kind of sharing, like, what do you feel like is maybe the hardest part of moving forward, um, on your health journey, or some of those real-life moments that do feel challenging?

Yeah, just feel free to— yeah, feel free to unmute yourself or type it in the chat. The more you participate, the more you provide us with the engagement, the more we can kind of tailor this experience to you.

For sure. I'm definitely more than happy to talk your ears off for the next 45 minutes. But I do think where the magic is, is like, what are the things that you're sitting with that you're curious on, that you're exploring a little bit deeper? If, if you're open to sharing.

I can get started. So I think for me, um, you know, one of the things— so in the beginning of the year, I, uh, as you probably know, we have a program called the Living Light Metabolic Coach and, you know, every year or so I'll just kind of, you know, do the program, right? And so I did it in January and, um, the beginning of this, this year I, I did it for a couple weeks. And one of the things that I noticed is how many times I feel like turning towards food or thinking about food when I'm bored, right? And how it can be a distraction, right? And it was just interesting to notice, like, your thoughts around food and how much it consumes your day and how much time it consumes and just, you know, becoming more mindful of those thoughts was pretty interesting for me.

Anybody else relate to that? 100%. Yeah. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I think Natalie was going to share.

Cool.

Yeah, I can share. And interesting, based on Deepa's share, so I did a round of the reset back in the fall, and I actually really enjoyed it. I find that if I'm on a plan, like, there's a bit of relief of, like, I'm just doing this, right? Like, I've committed to it, I'm doing this. Like, it was actually for me easy to do it that— in that way. But what I've noticed, the internal dialogue around certain things, like if I'm hungry and looking for a snack, is I'm not having dairy. So the food sensitivity test shows me that's not good, and I knew that before. And so I just kind of get frustrated, just like, because so many things have like just little traces of dairy. So I, I get— I seeing like, I can't have anything, like I can't have a snack, which is not true. But just that frustration when we're avoiding something that we know is good, like the logic is there, but still the like, that moment of frustration can be, feel kind of defeating, bring some emotions up.

Totally. Yeah. Maybe that mental internal dialogue and banter of I should, I shouldn't. Anybody relate to that? Yeah, totally. Yeah.

And then Jennifer put something in the comments. She put, um, time management. I don't always have the right foods ready when I'm hungry and can make, uh, sorry, when I'm hungry and can then make hasty choices. I meal prep a lot, but it doesn't always seem like it's enough. Yeah.

Does anybody feel that sometimes where like all of a sudden you get hungry and it's like, I could eat— you almost go into that like, I could eat anything right now. There's something stronger in you that's like, I need food. That feels powerful.

Yep.

Yeah, for sure.

And then Madhu put here how complicated food feels sometimes and the math behind macros to maintain a healthy lifestyle while building muscle and maintaining weight. I'm a vegetarian and protein is challenging and carbs seem so easy to eat.

I get that. It, it is definitely more challenging, um, getting in more protein and balancing that being vegetarian. I get that as well, for sure.

Yeah. Anyone else want to share? Uh, Natalie, Natalie, find my hand. Colleen, Colleen, you want to go first?

Go ahead.

No, Natalie can.

She's going to— I was just going to say Deepa sparked a— and Natalie both sparked an idea. It's just that when I realize when I work from home a lot or the boredom, and every time I go by the refrigerator, I open it and I look and I think, what am I really missing here? It's getting to that point where am I really hungry? And asking myself that question. And that was a long time coming. And I did the Living Light reset. I did it last year. And the foundation still keeps growing in me, but figuring out— and I try to help other people recognize this— is, are we really hungry, or what is it else? What else do I need at this moment? And that's— that seems to be a real key, because most of the time I'm not hungry, I'm just bored or thinking and just searching for something else to fill that moment. But having the the awareness to think, what do I need other than something to eat? And usually I can figure it out.

Yeah, isn't that cool how you can feel how strong that is when you have that foundation of the connection with yourself? You can, you can almost immediately feel, is this something that I need? And, and maybe it's not always clear and it's not always perfect, but you have that strong skill set that is powerful. Thanks for sharing.

Colleen, did you want to share?

Yeah, actually, everything everybody said, I can definitely relate to that. And I was wondering, when you do have a loss of power, what can you do? The other day, Tuesday, I do, I'm just getting back to the gym and I did 3 activity classes. They're really stretch, so it's not like cardio. And I ate a good breakfast, and I was delayed a little bit, and I just felt like a cavewoman, and oh, there's some food, and I finally get to feed myself. And I passed by the house because I knew I didn't have anything prepared, and I know that's the key to it. So I went to this little restaurant, and the ironic thing is I had to wait 30 minutes to get my meal, which I could have already made a meal at home, but I took it take-home, and when I got in the car, I was just so hungry, I just I just ate it and it wasn't healthy food. And I was just wondering if anybody has felt that way and how can you put the stop sign up and just try to relax when you're feeling that hungry? Or I don't know if ravenous is the right word, but I just felt so loss of power and sitting there while I'm eating it, I'm thinking, okay, it's okay, it's okay. You know, get back on track tomorrow. But that happens to me too many times. My rebooter is worn out.

Colleen, you asked the perfect question for our conversation. I couldn't have planted you better. It's like I couldn't have planted that question better because what, what we're actually seeing is your question actually isn't much different from a lot of the experiences of what people shared, which is I noticed that my body shifts and I start to lose my power. And it could be anything from a small, small experience, like I'm feeling kind of bored and I want to graze, but I know I'm not supposed to, and I want a snack, to the full-blown other end of the scale: I am not in my power and I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't stop. And so there's like completely a range of how— what a lot of us are noticing from our shared experiences is that our body can shift and change. And so in our conversation today, I want to unpack what is actually happening inside of that shift and what you can do inside of those moments. So this is not about controlling our food more and controlling what we eat. It's about learning about what's happening inside of here and how do I work with what my body is doing? How do I work with how it's shifting and changing? And that is where we really build this sense of connection and understanding what's happening inside of our bodies. Because all of these moments, while they look like they're a discipline problem that need more control, it's actually just not maybe realizing what our bodies are really needing. And that's the work that I like to do, to do some deeper digging. So we'll save some more time for for questions, but, um, I'm going to share a couple of visuals. I don't like to be too formal or anything. Uh, you're more than welcome to take notes or take pictures or whatever you'd like, but I think that sometimes visuals are a little bit helpful here. Oh, I just need a request to screen share.

There you go.

All right, let's see if I can pull this up. So let's see if I can find this. Okay, can you guys see that screen? Okay, you can kind of see this?

Yep, we can see.

Okay, so I love seeing this kind of laid out because this has really helped my brain understand what's going on here, where a lot of us get this all right, I'm doing it, I'm eating healthy. And you know, sometimes when we tell ourselves that story, it feels so compelling and it feels so true. And we might start making a bunch of changes of like, I'm eating healthier, I'm doing really good. But then oftentimes what happens is we start to feel our body shift where we get some of those cravings or we get some of those thoughts. And it could be a little bit just like, mm, I want a snack when I'm bored. To like, oh my gosh, I need food right now. But this is really common and something that I really experienced a lot. And when we lose that sense of power, sometimes that comes with the guilt and criticism of like, you just had those goals, you just swore you were not going to do this, why do you always do this? And sometimes that guilt builds up so much that it propels us back into motivation. I'm curious how this lands with you guys. Do you— does this this at all? Anybody ever experienced this at all? Ever? Okay. Some people do.

Yeah. I think to a certain degree, almost everyone probably experiences some part of this cycle.

Yeah. To some, to some degree. I know I did. And, and, uh, very, very familiar with it. And I think sometimes we have a lot of motivation. A lot of the time, the motivation to get going might not be the issue. And a lot of the time we know how to make the changes, which is great. Like, you're all building the knowledge of like, how do I make the changes? And I love to get curious with like, well, what's happening right here? And I realized if I could figure out this piece, I wouldn't get stuck in this cycle and everything would kind of halt and it would feel a little bit easier. So I became really determined to understand like, well, what happens inside of this craving or self-sabotage. And I learned a lot. And here's what I realized. On a normal day when our bodies feel safe, we have really good willpower and rational thinking. And it comes down to the areas of your brain that are active. When your body feels safe and it's like, you might notice on a day when it's sunny outside and you hear a really good song and you're like, I'm motivated. And you're like, I'm changing forever. And it feels really easy. It feels easy to like eat the salad and make the healthier choice. And that's the area of your brain called your prefrontal cortex. It gives you good willpower. It gives you good rational thinking. And this area of your brain is active when you feel calm or you feel happy or you feel safe. And so I would notice that on the days I had really good motivation, this is how I felt. When we have a stress response, it shifts our body and the area of our brain that's working. And so it, It turns us into more of a primal-like state. And when you go into a stress response, it shifts the areas of your brain that are working for survival. So now there's this area of your brain, it's called your amygdala, that's more of your fight or flight protective survival response. And its job is to get you to eat to protect you. So when you have a lot of stress, or when you have a little bit of stress, You kind of have that like animalistic kind of prowl, like, hmm, I'm kind of craving some sugar. When the stress is high, it could almost be like a full hypnosis where you're like, I feel so controlled. And what happens is when your brain is in this state, it disconnects the part of your body that makes you feel full. So normally those signals that help us feel full and satisfied get disconnected, and this is the body's survival mechanisms. It's designed to protect you. So naturally we don't feel as full, we'll feel more hungry, and we'll crave sugar. And this is how the body protects us and gets us to eat food and sugar and sweets as a quick source of energy for protection. And so that stress could be anything from not eating enough food for a while. Like let's say if you have that low blood sugar dip that Colleen talked about, where you haven't had enough food for a while, you go to the gym, you work out, and maybe your blood sugar dips too low, and your body has been sending you this warning, this warning, we don't have enough food, we don't have enough food, we don't have enough food. And if the warning gets so pushed back for too long, then the body is like, I'm taking over controls, survival becomes more important. I don't care about your goals. We gotta get you to eat. And so the more that survival response builds up, more that the stress response builds up, the more that the body will take over controls and really cause you to lose control for your protection. And so this could be like a stress from not eating for too long. It could be a stress from restricting your food too much, getting a little too motivated to eat healthy and cutting calories too low. It could be from an emotional stress. It could be anxiety, fear, worry. Sometimes when we slow down and we feel bored, sometimes underneath that it starts to bring up a little bit of our stress and it creates a little bit of a stress response inside of our bodies. So the main takeaway here for this is that when we start to feel that loss of control, that's not our bodies trying to sabotage us, and it's not a lack of willpower. It's our body going into self-protection. And when we know it's our body going into self-protection, we start to relate to our body in a different way. So I might start shifting my inner dialogue from, why do you always do that? What's wrong with you? To, wow, there's, there's something going on. Like there's a stress here. I wonder what I'm feeling and what my body— I wonder what the safety that my body is needing right now. And so where the power came in for me was to start to notice when was my body shifting in between different states. And knowing that both states are normal, but learning how to work with those different states and what they're asking for. So this state feels different from this state. And if we try to have more discipline in this state, it feels impossible, doesn't it? It actually feels like there's a force that's stronger inside of you than what you have available, right? Like it's when we get to that point of where it's like, I know I shouldn't be eating this right now, but there's something else stronger inside of me that's like, this is, this is stronger and I'm going to direct your, your choices and your actions. So when we're in this primal state, it's a lot harder to make the healthier choice. So the key isn't to force yourself to make the healthier choice. The key is tuning into your own body and seeing how do I get my body back into the state where it feels safe. And so I just want to pause there and see like, how does that sit with you? Does this feel feel like a new idea, or did this bring up a new awareness or an idea for anybody, or leave you with any questions so far? Makes sense?

Yeah, I think the nervous system is such a key element of our choices, the way we feel, and going back to that, the prefrontal cortex versus the hind part of the brain, which becomes reactive. Right. So I think the first step here is recognizing what's happening and having that awareness of the nervous system state.

Yes. And you perfectly set us up for where we're moving to next. So thank you for, for sharing that and saying that. You perfectly set us up for where we're headed to next. So first, it's like one of the biggest things is having this awareness that my body is not against me, and I don't have a lack of discipline or a lack of willpower in those moments. My body is shifting, and it's actually letting me know that it needs safety. And now the next So we have the foundational mindset that we need, and now the next step is to start to pay attention and notice, when does my body cue to me that it's shifting its state? And a lot of the time, our body will actually let us know long before we realize it. But a lot of the time, we don't realize it until we're like deep in it and we're starving and we're eating something and we're like, yep, I'm definitely in survival right now. Those are the moments that we're like, but, At that point, we're fighting our primal instincts, which is really hard. What I started to notice is if I could see my body as my partner that I needed to check in on, you can kind of see what lands with you. Maybe it's like, oh, this is my partner, or this is like my kid that I'm like, hey, I gotta check in on you, how you doing? Or maybe it's like my best friend, or sometimes I even like to like consider it like my pet, like my thing, its own separate thing I gotta check in on. And I could start noticing earlier in the day, what is the difference in these states? So our body will give us clues, but we have to really pay attention because the loud clues are when we're deep in it. The soft clues come earlier, and it's kind of like the body is whispering to us. So when we start to shift into that state of stress, what happens is usually our attention comes up into our mind, and this is like protective. All of our thoughts go up here, and we start to feel maybe numb to our bodies or disconnected. If you ever have a moment where you're thinking a lot, or you, you're stuck up thinking about food or cravings or just anything, and all the attention kind of comes up here. And when we go into that fight-or-flight state, we tend to hold our breath, and contract our neck. You know, we notice that when we get stressed, this tends to tense up, and it's like, "Ooh, why am I so tight all the time? Why is my jaw tight all the time? Why is my neck tight?" Well, that's the body responding. And so even on a micro level, tiny little contractions happen, and this is the body's natural way of protecting the skull and protecting the neck, are these little very tender parts when it's in fight or flight. So everything kind of tenses up. It's kind of like what a football player naturally does, where when they're about to sprint and go, they tense up into protection. And that's the same thing our bodies do when it goes into fight or flight. And we hold our breath and all the attention comes up here. And this is protective in many different ways, both on a physical level, but if our emotions are really intense, Sometimes it's hard to feel those emotions and be with them, and it can actually be a helpful strategy to move our attention up into our mind. But if we stay here for too long, what happens is we end up feeling disconnected from our bodies, and then it gets hard to feel, am I hungry? Am I craving something? It gets confusing. When we only live up here in the mind. And so our mind does everything for protection. So this is where we have cravings. This is where flavors are, thoughts about food are. Everything is up here. So as we practice moving our attention around, we can start to pick up different sensations. When our body goes into a safe state, you'll notice that it's almost like a baby breathing. Breathing gets a little bit deeper. You can see like a baby sleeping, like the belly expands and gets softer and deeper, and the neck relaxes. And when that happens, our attention starts to come down here into the body. So when we're under stress, it goes up. When we feel safe, attention comes back down. And so we can work with our bodies to create a safe state, safe state, to start feeling the sensations inside of our body, like hunger and fullness, and pick up those cues a little bit better, and to be able to feel what we're needing. It's hard to know what we need physically, emotionally, if all of our attention is trapped up here. So just something to reflect back to you guys. Notice— think about your day and how much of your day do you think you have up here versus checking in down here. Just kind of something like a question to get curious with, to think about, like, how much of my day do I keep up here versus check in what my body is telling me? So you'll notice it like the, um, The difference— I'll just kind of show you this really quick. This is a little bit helpful. So when my attention's up here, my mind is like always trying to keep me safe and protected. So if I'm always just thinking, the brain is doing everything for protection. So we tend to have more food cravings from here. We might not feel what emotions are happening, so it just kind of gets becomes a swirl of anxiety. And it's hard to tell, am I actually hungry or am I full? As we start to feel more safe to bring our attention down here, we pick up more of the signals of like physical sensations. Like, am I actually hungry? What does that feel like? Am I actually full? What emotions am I feeling? What am I experiencing? And that's where we create like a partnership with our body where we can feel what it's needing and we feel the sensations come back. Does that make sense? I know this is like, this is stuff that I know in my brain all the time. So Colleen, that lands with you?

Yeah, I think it makes total sense. I think we're so conditioned as a society to just like be so in our minds that it's hard for us to be in our body, right? And to detect those subtle changes. Or signals that it's giving, like the whispers, like you spoke about, right? I think some of, many of us are familiar with responding to the screams, but not so much the whispers, which is where we can kind of, you know, nip it in the bud, so to speak.

Yes, so that exactly, the whispers are where we learn to trust ourselves. It's hard to trust ourselves when our body is yelling and taking over. In a survival response, and then we think it's a flaw with us. What's wrong with me? Why don't I have more self-control? Natalie, thanks for sharing. Yeah, first thing, check in. That's great. That's a really great beginning. That's a great start. And I'm glad that this is helpful because the more that we can tune in earlier and feel, when does my body start to shift? That's the clue that my body is letting me know I need you. So when we've gone too long without eating and we feel that blood sugar drop of where we're like, I need something right now, I could eat anything, the practice might be to tune in a little bit sooner. Was there a moment where I felt my blood sugar start to drop and I started getting a little bit hungry, a little bit hangry, a little bit shaky, and where I might have been overriding those little whispers until my body was like, I'm taking over the controls. And that might not only be with food, but even with stress throughout our days. If our stress hormone continues to build up throughout the day and our cortisol is too high and our stress is too high throughout the day and we're not bringing it back down, neck starts to tighten, we start to hold our breath, and then we finally get home from a day and our nervous system is so overloaded beyond its capacity They were like, I just need something to feel better and unwind. And then that sugar or that food will help calm and reregulate. So sometimes we have experiences, like patterns like that, that repeat, and we start to make this statement like, oh, I'm addicted to sugar. And really it's like, oh, my body is trying to reregulate and I didn't listen. So, okay, so this is a great question. When the cravings come or when we feel stressed, we should pause and listen to our bodies and find ways to calm down. Okay, so this is what we're going to move into next. Now let's— way to set us up perfectly. Thank you for keeping us all— keeping us moving along. Okay, so now we go into strategy. Okay, so first it's, it's understanding my body isn't against me. It's telling me it needs something. The next is cueing in and feeling when is my body shifting and letting me know it's going into that safe, into that state. And then the next step is like, what do I do when I start to feel that? And there's two different things. One of the things we're going to focus on today is what do we do exactly in that moment that can really help us shift back into that safe state. So as we start to feel feel our body shifting and I can feel, oh, my state is changing. The first practice— this is the foundational thing I have all of my students practice— is to get in the habit of just pausing. When you pause, you create a space in between making that choice between you and the food choice, and inside of that space holds all the information. It's inside of that space is where you can explore your body and what's really going on. Yes, the power of the pause. So first, taking a pause, and then you want to take a really nice slow breath, at least one. And yes, a breath really works, but a breath is really nice and it's helpful. But on a physiological level, you can use your breath to get your body into that safe state. So you can take a slow breath in through your nose and even just feel it right now. When you take one breath, you might start to notice your body soften a little bit, and as you feel your lungs expand you might actually bring more of your attention into your body, and it's like you start to move your attention. And so it's inside of that pause that you can breathe, regulate your body. And when you start to bring your body into that state, cravings start to naturally settle as your body is shifting back into that safe state, and you'll start to have more awareness of what's happening in here. So where we get confused is when all of our attention is up here and we're thinking, I should, I shouldn't, I should, I shouldn't. This is what keeps us disconnected and confused and in a battle. When we take a breath and instead of thinking about what I should and shouldn't eat, I take a breath and I move my attention down here And instead I ask a different question. Not should I, should or shouldn't I. I ask, what am I feeling and what am I experiencing? Or what am I needing? And this is really the foundation of where trust lives, of where we can feel inside of ourselves My body needs something. What is it that I'm really needing? And our body becomes our ally where our body tells us, this is when stress becomes too much and I need your attention. And the more I can listen to the whispers, the more I'll feel like I'm giving my body what it needs. It's so simple. It's so simple. And it's the one simple thing that holds all of like the depth of connecting with ourselves, of feeling like, what is my heart really needing? So now let's look at the difference. Let's look at the contrast. Let's say you get home after a long day. Let's, let's say you get, or you finish a long day of work and you're like feeling depleted and exhausted. And what might normally happen is it's like this checkout. I go to the cupboards, I grab these chips and then I'm like, man, why would I do that? I don't have enough discipline. But then that pattern repeats. Now let's say I go through that exact same experience with a different lens. Let's say I finish my workday and I notice and I'm feeling, oh, my body is tense. I'm holding my breath. I'm thinking about chips and I pause and I breathe I breathe with my body and I'm like, okay, there's exhaustion here. It's been a long day. I'm actually really wanting to feel good. I'm feeling kind of alone. And I'm feeling like I want to feel good. I want to feel better. Okay, how do I want to do that? And I might choose I'm actually going to have some chips and let myself taste it and receive it and feel good from it. Or I might choose, okay, I'm trying to feel good right now. Is there another way that could fill that part of me of what I'm really deeply craving? And I can feel what it is that I'm really craving from that food. What I want it to fulfill for me. Is it a deeper sense of connection when I feel lonely? Is it to help me feel better when I feel overwhelmed and stressed? And that's what I get to discover when I pause. Does that make sense?

Mm-hmm.

Okay. So how does that land with you guys so far?

Yeah.

So, okay. Yeah. And I love that you said a self-inquiry practice, Natalie, because what is so cool is we take something that we've tried to control and avoid. And we actually— now I can use this experience to learn about myself. What are my deeper unmet needs? Where are my emotions actually reaching out and telling me I need something? I need you. I'm overwhelmed. I like— I actually need something. And so I, I see this relationship that we have with food in this moment of pausing as one of the most incredible ways to learn about myself and discover myself. Oh, cool. Familiar thing from when you stopped drinking alcohol. I would totally see that. Okay, Michelle, do you want to share?

Yes. Thank you, Gina, for your work. This is wonderful. And yes, everything that everyone a saying I resonate with. And, and I found that when I finally started just to slow everything down in general, my whole life, slow it all down, um, and, you know, that relationship I've had with food all my life has always been, um, that has been, you know, like as a kid, you know, the emotions that were pressed down or that were never felt, or like nobody showed emotion, so food was, you know, I was sad, here's a cookie. Um, so, you know, when I look through my life— I'm sad, I'm depressed, I'm angry, I'm excited— everything was food related. There was always food for either reward or just, you know, I don't know what to do with this, oh, here. So I've always used the word cookie. Um, and so for myself now, and I can kind of giggle with it because I can say, is it cookie or connection? Like, what do I need?

Oh, I love that.

Yeah, and, and a lot of it is that a lot of times it is the connection, um, peace. And, and again, you know, sitting and just naming it. Like, I'm sitting on the couch, like, I'm sad, I'm by myself, um, and at nighttime especially.

I'm—

the day, I, you know, I've got my groove and everything, but it's at nighttime, um, and the, the nighttime snacking still continues to be something that I have to continuously be mindful of. Um, so, so yeah, like, it, it is continuous, um, that checking in with myself.

So thank you for— yeah, thank you for sharing. And I— you brought up something so, so important, which is, look at all throughout our lives, every person creates a relationship with food. From the minute that we're born and we're crying and we're frantic and we're like, oh, what's happening? Like the second that we're born and it's so terrifying. And then you start breastfeeding and it's like, oh, I'm safe, I'm okay. And then we learn that it's celebration and love and we get all these moments to create an association. And so it's not a bad thing if you think about how food has been our ally. It's a beautiful relationship where food has been our ally to help us feel love when we don't know how to feel it, to feel connection when it's missing, to help us when we're scared, when we're overwhelmed, and we're exhausted. It's really a beautiful ally. And when we look through the lens of curiosity of this is a lifelong journey I have between me and my food, and there's no rush, and I'm going to stay open and curious, and I might feel in every moment like, okay, today, tonight, in this moment I'm really feeling like I'm needing connection, and maybe I'll feel the gratitude that food is helping me do that. And I might also go on a deeper exploration of how do I feel more love inside of me and within my heart, and maybe something that I needed when I was a kid that wasn't provided and I didn't learn on my own. How do I feel love when I'm alone? And it kind of sends us into like even a deeper journey of now I'm exploring what does it look like to feel the love inside of me that I'm seeking, or ways to feel safe, or ways to— where have I been cut off from pleasure because I've been so busy working and food has been my source of that? It gets to be like a really beautiful and loving mirror for us to grow and deepen the relationship with ourselves. So thank you for sharing that, Shel. I just want to see some of these things here in the chat. I definitely see what you're saying, Susan, about the programming with food. Yeah, it does. It gets confusing and it gets like all the programming around food. It does. It creates tension and push and pull. For sure. Yeah, the breath we talked about. When you say succumb to your cravings and have a taste of that chip, is that an okay course of action for those moments? Okay, this is such a good question. Yeah, so, um, yeah, and I love that there's no right or wrong around food choices. Okay, so this is how I navigate it. When I, um, when I'm on my path, because I do care about my health and I do care about my body, um, the way that I navigate decision-making is everything starts with being aware of like, why are you making the choices that you make? Having that self-inquiry and that pause. And I don't want to eat perfectly healthy all the time because then we're not creating a life. We're creating a box. But if we're working towards goals, we might want to eat healthy most of the time. And when we do want to indulge, it's understanding, like, do I trust myself to indulge, hit that satisfaction spot, and then move on? Or am I losing my sense of power because I'm disconnecting, going up into my mind, fulfilling an emotion that I'm not really aware of. And when I do indulge, I might still want to make a healthier indulgence. I might set some boundaries. I might say, you know what, Snickers isn't gonna honor me, but like something that is a little bit better ingredients, it feels indulgent. I might feel empowered to choose that, and I might set some boundaries around like, you know what, Doritos don't honor my journey. That's not the direction I'm going. So I think it's not about eating perfectly healthy all the time, but when I am in those moments of where I do want to indulge, there's a huge difference between checking out and disconnecting and being like, this is bad, this is wrong, why are you doing this? And then I tend to lose control versus like, I'm tuning into my body, I'm slowing down, I'm feeling, is this the right choice for me? And if the answer is yes, I'm going to do my best to let myself really receive what I'm looking for, which is probably like to feel good, and give myself that permission. So I don't know if that, if that makes sense for your question there. I think that's a really great question.

Um, Colleen, and just real quick, and I hope this doesn't throw your thought process off, but, um, right before you were talking about pause, uh, create space and explore your body, you said said that there's 3 things, and I, I was trying to write those down.

Um, it, um, it was probably, it was probably the, the 3 steps. What I was probably saying is the 3 steps. What I like to do when I'm exploring a craving is I call it the 3 Rs, and the first one is to reconnect, where you're just reconnecting with yourself, because usually we get lost in our mind and our cravings. And so reconnect. I like to bring my hand to my heart, take a breath, reconnect. I can start to feel what's happening. The next R is I like to reset. And so it's hard to feel what you're wanting and making a good choice and decision if you're inside the kitchen in the cupboard trying to decide what to do. And so I like to move into just like a different space where at least when I'm beginning to practice, like early on, to be in a different space of where I can connect with myself a little bit more. And then the last one is the reflection. And this is really great if you're trying to understand your cravings and what's underneath them. And so regardless of whether you had the food or it was something you felt good about or not good about, The reflection piece is where you understand and ask, what was I experiencing in that moment? What am I feeling? What am I needing? What's underneath it? And you can start to understand how every craving, every moment can teach you something. So those are the 3 steps that I like to take, is to reconnect, reset, and reflect. Yeah, I probably didn't really break it down like that, but No, but that was better.

So thank you very much.

I'm going to throw you off, but no, that's great. No, no, no worries.

You have great wisdom. I'm appreciating you.

I'm so, so glad. I'm so glad. Is this helpful to kind of look at our body through this lens or these experiences through this lens a little bit differently? This curiosity can really take you the whole way there. Now you're, you are making the healthier choices, you're building your knowledge, but you're also bringing in this attunement to what's my body telling me that it needs. And so I want to do a short practice, a short meditation practice with you all if you'd like to, to kind of take everything that we've learned today and kind of bring it into an experience with our own bodies. If you're okay with that, it'll be maybe about 5 minutes, not very long.

Let's do it.

Okay. So if you'd like to follow along, if you're not comfortable with it, you can always just watch or you can just listen. If you do want to go for it, you can close your eyes and let your body get a little comfortable. Let it rest a little bit. Okay. And take a slow Slow breath in through your nose. And with your exhale, just letting your exhale fall. You don't have to force it. Don't worry about breathing right. It's more like using your breath as something to anchor back to board. When your mind starts to run away, it can give you something to focus on, to bring back to. I think of this as like training a puppy to sit. Come on, come back, sit down. And so just noticing your breath in your body breathing And noticing where your body meets the chair that you're sitting on—under your legs, your back—and notice how it feels to let your body just be totally supported. Sometimes we might not even notice where our bodies are holding everything all in in, like we're holding everything together. Notice if there's anywhere that your body feels like it wants to soften a little bit as it feels held, maybe even a little bit safe. And notice your body breathing. And you're observing your body as if it's just like something that you're getting a little bit curious with. You're observing it without reacting. And notice how it feels just to have this curiosity, almost like this childlike wonder. And if this is the first time you've checked in with yourself today, you might bring your attention inward to your body. Just say, "Hey body, how are you doing?" There might be a closeness. It also might feel like a stranger that you're meeting for the first time. And just noticing what your body might be feeling without judging it. The body might say, "I'm tired." If you want to connect with your body a little bit deeper, you can bring your hand anywhere to your body. It could be your legs, it could be around your arms, or it could be even bringing a hand to your heart where you can feel a little bit of pressure of your hand on your body. And letting your body feel that pressure of your hand. That might feel like, "I'm here for you." I've got you, even when I don't always understand. And take a slow breath in, maybe noticing a a little bit more what you're feeling today, maybe for the length of one full breath. And just notice how it feels to check in with your own body this way. I'm here for you. I'm listening. I might not always be perfect. I might not always do that exercise or eat 'Everything right.' And just notice how it feels to talk to your body that way. And this relationship right here is the longest relationship we'll ever have. So at any time, we can always go a little bit deeper, listen a little more, And only you know what you and your body have been through. So you can feel your hand somewhere on your body. Noticing how that feels to your body, to be held, to be felt. And you can always come back to your breath, to your hand, to your body, and just letting your body know, I'm here for you. I'm listening. And whenever you feel ready, you can gently open your eyes and see if you can hold on to this little bit of a deeper connection that you may have felt with your body today. And thank you all so much for having me here. Thank you, Natalie, and for all the really great questions. Thank you, Gina. Yeah, I hope you guys continue to use some of these little practices, and it can be really powerful and take us on a deeper experience with our bodies. And yeah, thanks so much for having me here.

Thank you so much for being here. That was such a beautiful practice, great way to close it out, and something that people can do themselves throughout the day, right? It doesn't take much to check in with your body and what it's telling you and catching those whispers before they become screams. And I'm gonna put in the chat just, um, a free training that Gina has if you want to go a little deeper with her work. And you can also follow her on Instagram. She's always providing such powerful value and deeper insights. So if you're interested in going a little deeper with her work, please, please, please explore the links that I've put in the chat.

Thank you so much, Deepa, and everybody. And feel free to reach out anytime. You're more than welcome to send me a message as this this is all sinking in and settling in, and you're more than welcome to reach out and stay in touch.

So yeah, and she sends a beautiful newsletter every Sunday as well, so make sure you subscribe to that as well. So, ah, there's a lot of wonderful, um, comments in the chat, so take a moment to take those in. Thank you again for being here, Gina. Let's all show her some love.

I for sure did. Thank you all for the messages. I appreciate you all.

Bye. Awesome. Bye everyone.