Nobody Wants a Fat Nutrition Coach
This is a thought that overwhelms my psyche on a somewhat regular basis. It’s crazy how much baggage so many of us have with the idea of health, which we often translate to just “food and exercise.” A lot of us were taught that to be healthy, “just eat less and exercise more!”
Not sure about you, but as a woman, I grew up thinking, to be “healthy” is to be skinny. To eat less, that foods with fat are the devil, and that somehow, taking smaller bites of food was a brilliant hack to mindfuck yourself into feeling full from eating less. What the actual fuck.
We don’t consider how deep real health goes. So many of us will find ourselves striving for this idea of “health” through endless yo-yo dieting, restricting foods we actually enjoy, and kicking our asses physically, thinking that the right kind of exercise should leave you feeling a breath away from throwing up and so sore you can’t move for a week. Again, what the actual fuck.
Real health is our mindset, our stress, our sleep, our strength, our relationships— SO much more than just food and exercise.
I’ve been on my own lifelong journey to rebuild my health, and while I’ve overcome a lot, those old bullshit ideas of “health” still haunt me. For years, on paper, the numbers would show you I was “healthy.” But what you couldn’t see from the lower number on the scale was, the mental distress, the attempted suicide, the fear of food and disordered eating, the lack of sleep, the abusive relationship—the complete lack of real health.
It may have taken a lot of pain and suffering, but the beautiful thing about building real health is that it’s a lifelong journey. It’s about learning to accept that version of ourselves we feel like we’re constantly trying to run from. Rather than beat yourself up for not being “healthy” yet, have some grace for yourself and make it your focus to enjoy the fucking ride.
Every choice you’ve ever made has led you to where you are in this exact moment. And you are exactly where you’re supposed to be. You now have the choice to see your health differently and start rebuilding.
Steps to Start Rebuilding Your Health
Start Small
Rebuilding your health requires developing new practices that will support you in this journey for the long-haul. Health is not about doing what it takes to lose 10 pounds by your vacation next month. This is about sustainable change to empower yourself to feel strong and energized in your body.
This is a journey that you need to develop compassion for and that you will be nurturing for the rest of your life, so we’re in no rush— start small.
Start by setting ONE focus for yourself to work towards this week. Stay zeroed in on that focus each week until you feel its impact. From there, build upon that focus by adding or making a small change to work towards the following week. Aim to make 1% changes week-over-week.
By only focusing on small incremental changes each week, you’re slowly and sustainably developing new skills and practices to build a solid foundation for long-term health. You’re building confidence within yourself that you CAN do this and that you are capable of feeling great in your mind and body, one step at a time.
Self Talk
Before we can even begin to go deeper into the food and movement side of building real health, it’s critical to look at what’s going on internally. So many of us move through life so disconnected from our minds and bodies.
Start to observe the thoughts that go through your mind at each meal. Invite a sense of curiosity rather than judgment. This is a beautiful part of the process where you’re getting to know yourself on a whole new level. Developing this new relationship with food, your mind, and your body will enable you to make new connections with how to fuel your body to feel good.
I challenge you to reflect on the following questions and write out your responses to look back on. The process of writing out the thoughts within your head will help deepen that relationship and understanding of yourself to create a solid foundation needed to rebuild your health.
Ask yourself:
How am I feeling physically today?
What thoughts and emotions are present for me today?
What are my beliefs about my relationship to food?
What would my life look like if I were to fulfill my goal of feeling better in my body?
How can I create new habits that will sustain me?
Drink Water
Symptoms of severe dehydration are rapid heartbeat, rapid breathing, lack of energy, confusion, or irritability…so drink your water! You might feel better instantly and make a huge impact on how you feel day-to-day.
A general guide for water consumption is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. So, if I weigh 150 lbs, I will aim to drink 75 oz of water each day.
But remember, start small.
If you’re currently drinking around one 22 oz water bottle each day, this week, just aim to drink 2 of those water bottles. Keep taking those small incremental steps to work towards hydrating your body. You might feel a big difference from just a small effort!
Stress Management
Scientific studies consistently show that chronic stress can have detrimental effects on the body, contributing to conditions like cardiovascular disease and compromised immune function.
When we stress, it’s easy to reach for coping mechanisms like alcohol or food to numb ourselves from the uncomfortable experience that comes with stress.
Having effective stress management techniques, such as mindfulness and deep breathing exercises, can significantly reduce the production of stress hormones, mitigating these potential health risks.
In addition, your mind and mental health reaps immense rewards from stress management, as it helps prevent conditions like anxiety and depression.
Next time you experience stress, try out some of these coping mechanisms:
Breath
Take a deep inhale through your nose for 4 counts, hold your breath for just a second, then slowly exhale out your nose for 6 counts. Repeat.
Walk
Get some fresh air and a dose of nature to ground you back down to a more balanced state.
Stretch
Throw on a 5-minute YouTube stretch or mobility video to move some of that stress throughout your body.
Journal
Don’t hold back! Allow your stream of consciousness to flow right through you and get all that stress onto paper and out of your head.
Yoga
Pairing breath and movement through yoga is a great tool to deepen that understanding with your thoughts and the impact they have on your body.
Sleep
A poor night of sleep is a slippery slope.
You start your day feeling like absolute shit, you don’t have the physical or mental energy to do the things for yourself that you need to feel good, then out of your exhaustion and cloudy thinking, you’re vulnerable to make poor choices to fuel your body that leave you feeling even more shitty and more exhausted. You NEED to sleep.
Sleep is not just a passive state; it actively contributes to the restoration and rejuvenation of our bodies. Mentally, a good night's sleep is a non-negotiable foundation for optimal cognitive function, memory consolidation, and emotional resilience. Physically, it plays a pivotal role in immune system function, muscle repair, and hormone regulation.
If you suffer from poor sleep, start to implement a bedtime routine and practice winding down before you get to sleep.
Set the phone on “do not disturb” and pop it on the charger in a different room.
Grab a journal or a book and hop into bed about an hour or 45 minutes before you plan to go to sleep and enjoy this wind down time for yourself.
Practice easing yourself into sleep every night around the same time to help teach your body that it’s time to rest and recover.
