Just because your food choices work for you doesn’t mean you’re entitled to use your lifestyle as a club to bash anyone who doesn’t live by it. There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to achieving a better relationship with food. It is a highly personalized journey that varies with each person’s physical, mental and emotional needs. It’s when people get too hung up with the physical side of it all that they begin to feel the need to assert the superiority of their chosen lifestyle and disparage anyone who eats differently. Jason Wrobel and Whitney Lauritsen argue in this episode that aside from the physical aspect of food, the mental and emotional aspects of it are an equally, if not more important consideration. Listen in and share your thoughts.
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One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Honoring Each Other’s Food Journey
A little peek into the behind-the-scenes flow of our show. Sometimes I will get questions from friends and colleagues of how we select the topics that we discuss in-depth here whether it’s the solo episodes like this one with Whitney and myself or the guests that we bring on our Friday episodes. A big part of this is Whitney and I are voracious researchers in looking at articles, studies, and seeing what’s going on in terms of food, wellness, social justice, mental health and emotional wellness. We cover a broad range of topics. If it’s your first time here on This Might Get Uncomfortable, welcome. We are very diverse in terms of our topical matter. If you’re a longtime reader, you know that we cover a lot of ground here.
One of the things that we like to do in addition to spelunking the books, articles, and documentaries that we use for discussion topics here is we have two programs. One is called Wellness Warrior Training. The other is called The Consistency Code. These are our two flagship programs from our brand, Wellevatr. If you haven’t examined these two programs, they’re absolutely delightful. We’ve had the blessing of having hundreds of people enroll in these. What we do in these programs is we have assessments. We get direct feedback from students and colleagues who enroll in these programs. We had some fresh new assessments that came through from Wellness Warrior Training. We ask a lot of interesting questions to get people motivated and to tell us about their hopes, dreams, struggles and visions. Sometimes people will be deep, raw and vulnerable with their shares.
I was reviewing some of the new ones. When you start to review dozens of these assessments, you start to see themes and consistent things that pop up in people from different backgrounds, races, and genders. It’s interesting to see a lens through human psychology of what’s going on inside of people. One of the biggest things that I noticed was how many people in the program were struggling with some form of food addiction. They seem to be struggling with some form of either overeating what they classify as junk food. Sugar addiction and overeating come up a lot. Overeating to manage emotions is paraphrasing what I see come up consistently in these assessments.
Whitney, to piggyback also on a wonderful Clubhouse room that you invited me into where we were talking about the nature of food addiction and emotional compensation through food. I wonder, first of all, how being inside during a global pandemic has affected people’s emotional relationship to food. One of my favorite things that you and I dove into during the Clubhouse session was some more of the deeper traumas and triggers that go into people having these issues with food. It’s fascinating not only in the Clubhouse room but then seeing these assessments reflect what we talked about, the vast number of people that have some issue around feeling shame, guilt, or negativity around their relationship with food.
You and I certainly have talked about a lot of our traumas and struggles. I think that this is something in terms of the psychology of eating and why people eat what they eat, it’s a fascinating subject. I want to kick it off by reflecting on, what were your thoughts and feelings leaving that Clubhouse room? How do you feel like on a macro level, we can start to address this and support people in their struggles? It’s a more common thing than we might think it is. It fascinates me that as I opened up in the room, it’s almost like when one person opens up and shares their pain, struggles and trauma, for lack of a better phrase, gives other people permission to do the same. You realize how many people are wrestling with this.
Food Choices: There is a tendency in the food and wellness industry to tie one’s level of virtuousness to how they eat.
It’s interesting having done that room, reflecting on things like the impact of the food industry on our cravings and how are the guests that I had in the Clubhouse room, her name is Lydia. She is an incredible resource. There was also a woman that came into our room named Kim. They had a lot of knowledge. Lydia is a life and weight coach. Kim is an emotional eating coach. Having the knowledge and support of women like that was huge. We also had a Japanese woman came in who makes incredible gluten-free vegan Japanese treats that I’ve been wanting to try. Her name is Alissa. It might be based in LA. She makes these gummies that are shaped to look like crystals. They fill my heart with joy looking at them.
What was interesting when Alissa came into the room, she was talking about Japanese culture and how the Japanese eat. Lydia started talking about living in France at one point, how different it was to eat there. How people don’t eat standing up, for example, which was like, “I didn’t think about that in terms of my relationship with food.” It’s fascinating to reflect on how our food is made, the ingredients that are in our food, and how those are impacting our cravings, our relationship to food, and things like binge eating. It’s a complicated subject matter. That was my big takeaway from it. Jason, do you recall what Lydia’s final recommendation was at the end of the room? To be transparent, it’s distracting for me when I’m doing rooms because I’m a moderator. I’m often thinking about all the structure and not 100% paying attention to Clubhouse all the time. I’m curious if you remembered what she said.
The big final takeaway was to be kinder to yourself. It seems like such a simple, almost remedial suggestion in some ways like, “Be kind to yourself.” This is such a delicate, painful topic and a complicated one to your point, Whitney. You and I are passionate talking about shame, guilt, and the social dynamics of these kinds of things. That was very poignant for her to say to be kind. This isn’t something that gets solved overnight like a lot of complex psychological and biological issues. When we talk about the nature of food addiction, we’re up against a lot of forces here. We talk about what’s in the food supply. A lot of food manufacturers are putting addictive ingredients into their products.
It’s a thing if we look at something like sugar, how addictive sugar is, and how it lights up the pleasure centers in our brain in a very specific way. If we look at nicotine, caffeine, some of the artificial food additives, and dairy which has a powerful compound called casomorphins which lights up the same centers in your brain as if you were having an opiate like heroin. If we dig into the chemical compounds of what goes into a lot of our food supply, to your point, Whitney, the food manufacturers are very aware of what they’re putting in and why they’re putting it in. Of course, they are. They are in business to make a profit and be profitable.
It reminds me of some of the marketing too. It was Pringles back in the day. Their catchphrase was, “Once you pop, you can’t stop.” Once you pop open the can of Pringles, you can’t stop. Of course, you can’t stop because there’s a ton of fat, sugar, oil, maltodextrin and flavor additives. There are things that are intentionally put in there. They’re saying it like, “Once you open this can of food, you’re not going to be able to stop yourself.” They’re telling you upfront. That’s fascinating but we’re up against that. We’re up against chemically addictive ingredients that are put in the food supply. We’re up against, for some people, deep traumas from their childhood around safety, control and protection. I talked about in the Clubhouse that you said you had never heard me say. A lot of the lack of safety or the abandonment I felt in my childhood, I relied a lot on sugar, candy and junk foods to feel like I was in control because I felt like my home life was out of control.
The period of time when my mom and dad were dissolving their relationship, my father was addicted to drugs and drinking a lot of alcohol. There was a lot of emotional and physical violence in the house for a period of time. For me, food was the one thing that felt very comforting and familiar and I had some modicum of control as a small child over. It’s the chemicals in the food. It’s whatever lingering trauma, safety, protection, or comfort we feel from childhood. The third thing is the societal pressure of body image and looking a certain way and then attaching our self-worth, desirability and sexual appeal to what kind of food we eat.
The fourth thing is there’s a big thing that I’ve noticed over the years in the wellness industry and the food industry of one’s level of virtuousness being tied to how you eat. If I’m eating fully organic, eating raw, superfoods, I’m spending all this money, I’m keto, or paleo, there’s almost this game of one-upmanship of who’s eating more clean and higher-vibe ingredients. I see a lot of competition. I don’t know how to describe this but you can help me. Eating tied to virtue is what I’m trying to say. Have you noticed that people have this sense of self based on what their diet is, how elevated their style of eating is, or how “conscious” it is?
It's important for us to not be judgmental about what other people choose to eat, because we don't know why they're making those choices. Share on XDidn’t we address this in another episode? I’m sure that we did.
The breakdown of what I’m saying is it is a very complicated issue. To get to the heart of it for each individual person is critical. What we’re talking about right now is through food and eating, creating a much more intimate, self-aware, loving, and to Lydia’s point, a kinder relationship to ourselves. This isn’t easy because of all the dimensions and layers to it. My trigger around food might be different than your trigger. We’ve talked a lot about our individual struggles here. I’m curious if you’ve reflected on what we discussed and if there are any deeper layers that came up for you around your relationship with food either stuff around control, childhood, or whatever. If you want to talk about it, I don’t want to put you on the spot but I feel like it’s an opportunity for us to bring to the forefront our individual struggles around this.
It’s no secret that I have struggled with eating and had a past with disordered eating. In some ways, I still do. I don’t exhibit the behavior of binging and purging that I did when I was a teenager. Thanks to going to therapy which helped a lot. I found the roots where that were often related to my relationship with my mother. There were two things that would trigger my purging because I wouldn’t necessarily say that I binged. I was much more of a purger. Usually, binging and purging go hand-in-hand. The way that I was eating was normal for a teenage girl. I enjoy trying different types of food. I still do to this day. I still love snack foods. I love sweets and the experience of trying something new.
Going vegan, which I did a few years after I started therapy around my disordered eating, can be perceived as a restriction. For me, it gave me some more guidelines so that I could still get very excited about eating food but wasn’t eating foods that I perceived as being not so great for my body. I still try to check in with myself frequently to make sure that’s not coming from a disordered eating standpoint. It’s tricky. There’s only so much self-examination that you can do because we have many biases. When I started to learn about how plant-based food benefited not only my body but the planet and animals, I was like, “This feels like a good decision to make.”
I would indulge in a lot of vegan-processed food. I didn’t feel great about how my body felt and all of that. I started to learn more about organic, unprocessed foods, and all these different ways of eating within veganism and exploring them to see how I felt my best. No matter what the thread through or diet I’ve had within veganism like keto or paleo, I alternate between the two of those but still stay plant-based. Even within those ways of eating, there are still a lot of adventures to take. I get very excited about new vegan keto products or new grain-free paleo products. I have to give a shout-out on the subject matter to this brand called Catalina Crunch. Do you know about them?
No, but it sounds like some salad dressing company from the 1980s.
Food Choices: We need to have a lot more acceptance over food choices, within ourselves and for other people.
Let me double-check if that’s what they’re called because you’re right. It is such an old-school name. Let me talk about them for a moment. The tie-in here is thinking back to my history with eating food. To summarize that before I talk about Catalina Crunch, I don’t think I have ever been much of a binger. I’ve had times where I’ve used food to emotionally cope or got excited and ate a ton of food and then regretted it. My purging was the main issue. I did a lot of that because I felt unhappy about my food choices. I was trying to make up for them like, “Shit, I ate all this food. I’m going to gain weight so I better purge it. I better get it out of my system.” I would regret it. That was one reason.
The other reason is sometimes I would do that in moments where I felt emotionally charged as a coping mechanism. It was a sense of control that I didn’t feel I had. I was doing it because something or somebody said triggered me to feel bad about my body. The fastest way for me to feel better about my body was to purge. I thought if I take out the food that’s in there, then I will finally achieve the body goals that I have, live up to the expectations that my mother has of my body or other people have in my body. Those were the roots and the mentality that I consciously have around that food. I’m glad that I don’t have negative associations with what I might perceive as binge eating or restriction because I love food.
I want to talk about Catalina Crunch because it’s exciting to me. It’s exciting that I can enjoy something that also falls under plant-based, keto, and paleo. There are amazing brands out there that are making it easier to eat food without certain ingredients. You can still enjoy it. It’s not like the old days where if you were a vegan, you were stuck with a few boring options that tasted awful. Now, we’re very blessed to be able to eat food within certain dietary choices that are exciting. I will give a quick shout-out to Catalina Crunch on this note. Looking at their website gets me so excited because I forgot they have cookies that I haven’t tried yet. My friend, Liz, who is an amazing vegan keto advocate, told me about this. I lost my mind over the other day at Sprouts Market. Also, shout-out to Sprouts if you, the reader, have a Sprouts in your area. Please go there. It is constantly impressing me. Do you go to Sprouts often, Jason?
I don’t because I don’t have a Sprouts near my house. As an aside, I’m doing a lot less driving. I want to do the least amount of driving as possible.
Let me say that you do drive to an area approximately once a week that has a Sprouts right up the street from it. The next time you’re in that said area, you can easily go to Sprouts. I recommend it because they have a lot of exciting foods there including Catalina Crunch. Here’s the story. They make a cereal that they’re known for. Apparently, they also have smoothies and cookies which I have not tried. They are keto-friendly, gluten and grain-free, made with plant protein, low in sugar, 100% vegan, and contain nothing artificial. I’ve known about their products for a few years. I lost my mind at Sprouts because they have a new Fruity version. It is a vegan keto version of Froot Loops.
Now, they have Honey Graham which is also vegan. It might be a flavor. I haven’t tried that one yet. It says vegan so it must be some honey natural flavor. They use stevia. The reason it’s called Catalina Crunch is because it’s made from Catalina flour which might be their made-up ingredients. It’s a combination of pea protein, potato fiber, corn fiber, chicory root fiber, and guar gum. I’m not a huge fan of corn and gums but this is my occasional treat.
When I see some of their cool flavors, I often will buy them. They’ve got a Chocolate Peanut Butter that’s outstanding. The Fruity I just tried, I like. The Dark Chocolate which is good. I can’t remember if I tried the Cinnamon Toast. I think I did. Maple Waffle, I’m sure I tried. Three flavors I haven’t tried, Honey Graham, Chocolate Banana, and Mint Chocolate Chip cereal like, “What the heck? Who comes up with this stuff?” Looking at it gets me excited. I don’t know anything about their smoothies. Do you know what they look like? It’s like a version of the other big brands that are like smoothies in a cup. They’re frozen.
We need to honor each other’s journey and level of experimentation instead of trashing each other for what we choose to eat. Share on XDaily Harvest.
It looks like their version of that. Lastly, they have cookies that Liz was telling me about. Oftentimes, Liz and I agree on things because we’re both into the vegan keto diet. They have an Oreo, Peanut Butter cookie, Chocolate Mint, and Vanilla Cream. They look like the combination of Oreos and Girl Scout cookies that are vegan and keto. This is what I’m talking about. The whole reason I’m shouting them out is I love stuff like this. When I started to embrace my love for food and trying new things and my excitement, it felt so much better, Jason. I feel restricted these days when someone says, “That has guar gum in it. I’m not going to eat it.” I respect that choice. I understand that reaction. Coming from a history of restricting and blaming myself, checking every ingredient, and all of that stuff, it didn’t feel good for my mental health.
The important element of this is the constant restriction and analyzation. Another great example is Jordan Younger from The Balanced Blonde. She also has a great podcast. I was introduced to her years ago through our friend, Max Goldberg. When she came out with her book, which is called Breaking Vegan, it was incredibly controversial. People got pissed off because she wasn’t vegan anymore. It sounded like she was anti-vegan. Max introduced us and I met Jordan in person. She is such a lovely, compassionate person. She was so misunderstood. If you take the time to read her book, it is a story of orthorexia. She found that being vegan was a form of restricting herself, her diet, and obsessing over food and ingredients. I personally think that is awful for our mental health. I commend her for speaking out about it. I also think it’s incredibly important for us to practice not being judgmental about what other people choose to eat because we don’t know why they’re making those choices. We don’t know their history.
We’re also friends with Vani, the Food Babe. Vani is a wealth of information. She checks every single label. Vani has a very overall balanced perspective. She doesn’t strike me as being orthorexic but she’s critical of ingredients for a good reason. I have a friend who loves Vani’s work and is constantly thinking about her food choices because of someone like Vani. Sometimes, we can go to the extreme with that. If that triggers you into disordered eating, it’s probably not a good choice for you. My personal opinion, where I stand right now, is I consider all these factors. I take in information from people I respect like Vani and then I’d make the best decision for myself and my mental well-being. If I would like to eat something with guar gum in it that isn’t organic, I reflect on it, I have the awareness, I think about why it is and I still want to have it then I have it. If I want to eat something with certain packaging or on and on the list of things that we can use as criteria about whether or not to eat foods and the judgments we make on ourselves and other people for their decisions, I’m not there for it. We need to have a lot more acceptance over food choices within ourselves and for other people.
Since we’re talking about friends and colleagues of ours who are public figures talking about food and wellness, one of the things that concern me is when authors, speakers, influencers, celebrities who are in this field build their brand and reputation or expertise through, not exclusively, but as a part of their messaging, slamming other people who think, eat, and philosophize differently on the subject. Over the years, there have been people that, to one degree or another, I’ve considered friends, colleagues, or didn’t know them personally but I admired their work. When I started to see them get into a motive of slamming other people for how they ate and how they lived, it made me take a big step back from the work of a lot of people in our industry. I see it still happening a lot.
There are many sides to this. I see people who classify themselves as vegan doing it, judging, shaming, and trying to take down other people who eat and live differently. I see it for people, especially in the biohacking sphere right now. There are a lot of leaders and influencers in the biohacking world that slam how other people eat. It makes me wonder why people feel the need to either establish or maintain their sense of superiority over others by trashing how they eat. It happens a lot. There’s been people who, as you mentioned, Jordan, were vegan or plant-based at one time who no longer are and now either subtly or not so subtly shit-talk it and vice versa. Vegans taking the piss out of keto people or paleo people. I’m not about that stance and strategy to tear down other people to make yourself seem superior. We’ve talked about this before. The truth with a capital T, “Vegans are wrong, this is the way to eat. Paleo is wrong, this is the way to eat.” There are many permutations of this but there are a lot of people doing it.
I feel like this is a subject that would be interesting to talk about either on Clubhouse or on the podcast. Why do some people feel the need to trash or slam other people’s lifestyles to make it seem like they’re superior, have more knowledge, or wisdom? There are some prominent people doing this shit. I don’t understand why people feel the need to do it. Some people have done it to my face like the Longevity Now Conference or one I have gone to the Bulletproof Conference. People are making backhanded comments about how I eat and live. People have done it to my face, not like, “You’re an idiot because you’re vegan,” but the tonality of saying things like, “Don’t worry, Jason. It’s vegan.” I was like, “You can go straight fuck yourself with a broom.” I’ve been doing this for many years. I’m not dropping dead. I’m clearly not some decrepit unhealthy example of a vegan. I’ve noticed subtle and not-so-subtle ways that people will shit-talk each other. I have no desire to shit-talk keto and paleo people.
I have no desire for people that are friends or colleagues that are now eating the carnivore diet. That’s the new thing. That’s a big thing right now is people eating tons and tons of meat. It’s like, “Why are you pissing on vegans? Now, you’re on the carnivore diet and everyone else is an idiot?” Let’s honor the journey and level of experimentation and not trash each other. I know that was a rant. I’m getting over it on all sides. I would like to have a healthier discourse. I know you mentioned your exploration of having people on here to get super uncomfortable. It would be fascinating to have someone on to talk about the carnivore diet. That could be an interesting guest. Let’s bring someone on and be like, “Let’s know why you think it’s healthy, vital, and good for you to eat a ton and ton of animal products.” I don’t know why. I would be curious to find out as long as that person isn’t coming on here to slam us or be a dick about it.
Food Choices: We focus so much on the physical side of health, but the mental and emotional side is equally, if not more important.
I don’t even know what the carnivore diet is. Is it similar to paleo? Do you know anybody who’s on it? Tell me more about this.
I do. A significant number of the community that has migrated to Austin, Texas, is now on the carnivore diet. I know Joe Rogan is on it. He talks a lot about it. I’ve seen him talk about it in his podcast. There are several other mutual acquaintances of ours that are on it. It’s been interesting to track their food history. They’ve gone from raw food, vegan, plant-based, superfood, to carnivore and now feel the need to shit-talk things like kale, “You shouldn’t eat this because it’s poison.” It’s like, “For real? Organ meats are the way to go,” and posting things like, “What do you think are superfoods?” They’ll have images like blueberry, kale, coconut, and goji berries under what you think is a superfood. Next to it in the meme, there will be like, “What are superfoods?” They’ll have pictures of steak, eggs, milk and organ meats. “You think organ meats and steak are superfoods and now you’re trashing kale and blueberries. Why do you feel the need to do this?”
I don’t need to name names. That’s not how we do things here on the show. There’s an increasing number of people that I see posts. They’re out to prove they’re right. It’s like, “I know your history. Five years ago, you thought you were “right” about this. Five years before that, this was your holy bible of eating. Get the fuck off your high horse and stop trying to scream the truth from the mountaintops.” Truth is an evolving perspective. That’s all you need to say. Your personal truth is an evolving perspective, not like, “This is the way.” Five years later, “No, this is the way.” Ten years later, “I was wrong. This is the way.” They’re all the way. Honor your journey without shit-talking where you came from. I don’t get that mentality. These are the messages I see. It’s people moving into the carnivore diet and then trashing how they used to eat or how other people are still eating. It’s like, “There’s room for all of it.”
It’s not just about the carnivores, Whitney. My issue is not how people are choosing to live and eat. It’s the perspective of, “I have the holy bible of eating and living now. It’s written in stone and all you who don’t eat or live this way are fools.” There’s no one right way for everyone. I think taking that pressure off where we talk about this idea of virtuousness. This is the thing even with vegans. I’ve had a conversation where it was like, “I am a better person. I am more ethical because of the way I eat.” That’s a serious thing that people believe. That’s a very real thing for a lot of people. It’s like, “How do we quantify a better person? A more ethical, a more compassionate, a more self-aware? When someone says that like, “What do you mean? I’m a better person because of X.” I see that attitude a lot. It’s very much based on a mentality of superiority. I don’t think I’m better or worse than anyone else because of the way I eat. I want to say that, “I don’t think I’m a better person, a more ethical person, a more virtuous person because of how I eat.” I don’t ever want to put that on anyone. I don’t think it’s fair and kind.
It is interesting this whole idea of what is right or wrong, good or bad. As human beings, we look for that as a feeling of security. We want to convince ourselves and other people that we’re doing the right things for our health, animals, and the planet. It’s all done with a desire to survive. Food is crucial to survival. Many people are on an endless quest to find foods that will, hopefully, guarantee their longevity. I understand it fully yet. I am ultimately at this point in my life more about how I can feel my best from day to day, physically, mentally and emotionally. I would love to live a long life. I’ve let go of this idea, for the most part, as far as I’m aware, I am no longer of this mentality of, “I’m going to eat my way to longevity.”
I know that you wrote a whole book on that, Jason. I respect it. I believe that it’s part of my mentality, but it’s not this big obsessive focus is my point. I would love to live a long life. I would love to do my best to avoid cancer, other diseases like heart disease, and all these things that have been linked to the foods that we eat. I also want to be able to enjoy my life from day to day. I don’t want to get back to this mentality of being terrified to eat certain foods and the impact that they have. I have found that it takes a while to shift too. I remember when I first tried the vegan keto diet, it felt so magical. I was at a point where I was very heavy weight-wise. I wanted to find a way to lose weight and to feel better.
It worked well for me. I wrote a cookbook about it. I stand behind a plant-based low carb diet, not as the answer, but as one option for people, short-term or long-term, whatever they choose. I’ve also found in my life, I have been going more and more towards keto. I felt like I got a little too into eating processed foods in 2020. A big trigger for me is eating sugary foods. That’s why having things like Catalina Crunch are exciting. Having foods that allow me to have the experience of eating something sweet without the long-term effects of sugar on my body. I’ve also found that carbohydrates in general, I’m not even that into, except for rice. Rice is a carb I love and sweet potatoes. Potatoes are nice in general.
I’m more of a take it or leave it person, whereas I love greens, to your point, Jason. I love salad. I love rich foods that are high in protein and high in fiber. I love high-fat foods. That’s why I made those choices. I recognized in 2021 being heavier than I was a few years ago that it takes time for your body to change. That’s the important thing to think about. One food is not going to determine your weight or health. If you eat a doughnut like I did, another shout-out is to Sidecar Doughnuts that Jason and I have discovered in Los Angeles. They have an incredible gluten-free vegan diet. I thought, “That chocolate doughnut sounds good.” Now, I thought that a doughnut still sounds good. I’m going to get one and I did. I don’t regret it. It was very filling. I didn’t even want to have lunch because that doughnut hit the spot. I’m going to have a light meal or snack and then I’ll have a nice, nourishing dinner. It was like, “That was incredibly satisfying. I don’t regret it.”
I do recognize that it contains sugar and is high in carbs in general. It was not like I’m going to freak out and be like, “My diet is ruined. I’m going to gain all the weight back,” or “I’m going to ruin my life and longevity over that one doughnut.” It’s not so good for me mentally to think that way. Instead, I allow myself to eat those foods which is also in rhythm with intuitive eating. It’s like you listen to your body. Sometimes it’s nice to eat something that you’re craving. Sometimes it’s nice to eat comfort food. Sometimes it’s nice to eat whatever the hell you want. Think about how that makes you feel, then go back to food that maybe makes you feel like you’re thriving a little bit. Lastly, I would say there are different levels of health and thriving. We focus so much on the physical side of it. Thrive is often associated with living a long life and being in a great physical condition. What about the mental and emotional sides of it? We need to take those into account. They are equally, if not more important.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to achieving a better relationship with food. We need to honor that. Share on XFor each one of us, it is this deep individual journey that is beyond the physical. It goes deeper as we mentioned during this episode into some form of therapy, exploring our trauma around getting attention and feeling safe through food, feeling comfort, significance, superiority, or trying to get the proverbial gold medal for being the best eater in the world. There’s not a one-size-fits-all to this conversation. There’s not a system of, “Heal your food trauma,” or “Have a better relationship to food.” Whenever I see a group coaching program across the board, but generally speaking, around trying to heal someone’s psychology around this, I’m like, “I don’t think you can do a group program around this. This is such an individualized, intimate experience of trying to delve into a person’s psyche, physiology, and spirit around this. It’s going to be different. There are going to be subtleties with every single person.”
There’s no possible way we can cover every dimension of this in one episode. I do think it is, pun intended, food for thought for a deeper conversation. Whether that’s joining us in a Clubhouse room, or if you want to shoot us an email or a DM, Whitney and I always love those personal emails from you. We get personal emails almost on a weekly basis that are deep and open. We had one come through that moved me. People like you, dear reader, sharing your story with us, the struggles you’ve been through, or what you’re overcoming right now. We hope that these episodes serve as a jump-off point for you to go deeper within yourself. They certainly do for us where I feel constantly, whether it’s Whitney and myself reading your emails, or the guests we have here, doing a deeper exploration into some of the ideologies, concepts, or things that spark deeper explorations within us.
We always love to hear from you. If this topic of food addiction, all of the traumas, ideas of superiority and social status, and everything we’ve talked about on this episode has sparked a conversation within your mind and heart, share it with us. You can email us always. Our email address is [email protected]. That’s also our website, which is Wellevatr.com. Everything that you share with us is always held in confidence. We always respond to personal messages. It’s one of the things that keeps us going. As we’ve mentioned, it’s not always easy to bear our souls and put in the hours of work doing this show. Ultimately, getting those types of messages from you is the fuel that keeps us going when we know that we’ve struck a chord. If you feel compelled, shoot us a message. Shoot us a DM on Instagram. All the social media platforms, we are @Wellevatr.
As Whitney mentioned, we’re on Clubhouse. We do a weekly room called Dolphin Tank every Wednesday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM for people who work in the natural products industry. I’ve also jumped into many rooms where Whitney is talking about mental health. We talked about emotional eating the other day. If you want an invite, we can probably get you in. If you’re not on Clubhouse yet, shoot us an email. We will see what we can do to get you in. I think I have six invites right now. I’m not sure how many you have, Whitney, but we’ve got invites. If you want to jump on this platform, it’s a beautiful way to connect with us beyond the show and for us to integrate you into the community there, which is a wonderful way to make new connections. We’re all craving new connections right now. With that, we thank you for reading. We thank you for your support, emails and DMs. We’ll be back with another episode of This Might Get Uncomfortable soon. Thanks for reading and supporting. We love and appreciate you!
Important Links
*We use affiliate links in our show notes. This means we receive a small sales commission if you purchase an item based on our recommendation.
- Wellness Warrior Training
- The Consistency Code
- Lydia Pattison
- Kim Hynes
- Alissa Milky
- Catalina Crunch
- Breaking Vegan
- Sidecar Doughnuts
- [email protected]
- @Wellevatr – Instagram
- Dolphin Tank on Clubhouse
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