Jan. 17, 2024

How Do You Know if You're Eating Good Food or Bad Food? [Ep. 78]

How Do You Know if You're Eating Good Food or Bad Food? [Ep. 78]

Do you label your foods “good” or “bad?”

Honestly most of us do to some degree or another.

And if you don’t, you’ve surely heard your Aunt Nancy saying she couldn’t possibly eat a cookie because she had already been so “bad” today having eaten a donut earlier. Or perhaps you’ve said “I’ve been good because I  had a salad–I deserve that treat”

Any time you label your food, you inadvertently label yourself–and this is just not true.

You are neither good nor bad for eating certain foods. 

In this episode, I am going to tell you the three categories of foods you may want to skip–you don’t have to call them bad, but you’ll want to stop eating them.
I’ll also list all the good foods I eat!

HERE is the link to register for the Group Coaching Program! Sign up → HERE

More from Well with Lisa:

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.050 --> 00:00:01.189
This is the eight while think while.

00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:02.149
Well podcast.

00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:03.589
I'm Lisa Salsbury.

00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:05.150
This is episode 78.

00:00:05.330 --> 00:00:07.969
How do you know if you're eating good food or bad food?

00:00:12.053 --> 00:00:18.952
Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.

00:00:19.582 --> 00:00:21.143
I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.

00:00:21.533 --> 00:00:27.193
I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.

00:00:27.803 --> 00:00:33.743
I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.

00:00:36.670 --> 00:00:37.231
hi everyone.

00:00:37.771 --> 00:00:42.031
I am coming off a three-day weekend with a three-day volleyball tournament.

00:00:42.542 --> 00:00:46.112
Plus a little, a little get together a party for my youngest daughter's 16th birthday.

00:00:46.591 --> 00:00:51.301
She actually turned 16 when we were in Texas for my son's wedding at the end of December.

00:00:51.301 --> 00:00:52.981
So we didn't get to do a party for her.

00:00:53.432 --> 00:00:55.712
It's like the birthday that just won't quit.

00:00:55.741 --> 00:00:56.582
I love it though.

00:00:56.612 --> 00:01:02.551
I, I love having groups of teenagers over and cooking them all kinds of food that they love.

00:01:03.182 --> 00:01:07.561
So foods we love is actually one of the things I want to talk about today.

00:01:07.682 --> 00:01:14.971
One thing I noticed that a lot of my followers and potential clients say is that they wish they didn't think about food so much.

00:01:15.302 --> 00:01:18.421
They feel kind of obsessed about what they should eat.

00:01:18.781 --> 00:01:31.831
Part of this is due to a lot of past diets they've been on and possibly even what I call past diet trauma, which is probably a bit of an aggressive label, but at the same time, Some of those diets we've been on.

00:01:31.831 --> 00:01:35.251
Just keep on punishing us in our brains over and over.

00:01:35.251 --> 00:01:37.441
Every time we pick up a piece of chocolate.

00:01:37.962 --> 00:01:41.322
If you have an old diet narrative, that sounds something like I shouldn't eat.

00:01:41.322 --> 00:01:47.951
This has a lot of fat, or it would be better if you were eating dark chocolate because that has less sugar.

00:01:48.462 --> 00:01:55.542
You hear these things, even if you have the chocolate planned and even if you know, with your upper brain, that you absolutely can eat it.

00:01:56.141 --> 00:01:57.641
That's a little bit of trauma.

00:01:57.792 --> 00:02:05.501
Trauma is according to the Google, the lasting emotional response that often results from living through a distressing event.

00:02:06.072 --> 00:02:10.931
Deeply restrictive diets can absolutely feel like distressing events.

00:02:11.532 --> 00:02:22.752
I don't want to diminish anyone's experience of trauma that included bodily or emotional harm from another person or major life experiences or things of that nature.

00:02:23.111 --> 00:02:26.831
But these microtraumas can accumulate over a time.

00:02:27.521 --> 00:02:35.921
One way that this happens is by the diets that we've been on, or sometimes it can be our parents or our besties or the internet.

00:02:36.461 --> 00:02:37.991
Labeling our foods.

00:02:38.021 --> 00:02:39.312
Good and bad.

00:02:39.972 --> 00:02:43.542
You've been on diets with food lists that are like, eat these things.

00:02:43.572 --> 00:02:44.651
Don't eat these.

00:02:45.372 --> 00:02:53.651
All these narratives contribute to our obsessively, thinking about food and wondering, is this a good food or is this a bad food?

00:02:54.581 --> 00:03:01.451
We constantly wonder if something is good for us specifically, if it's going to lead to weight loss or weight gain.

00:03:01.812 --> 00:03:10.602
And I think that's the basic definition we as chronic dieters give to quote good foods, we decided to say good food.

00:03:10.632 --> 00:03:12.701
If it will lead to weight loss.

00:03:13.211 --> 00:03:15.252
This is absurd.

00:03:15.701 --> 00:03:24.461
You can eat a vast variety of foods, way more variety than was ever included on those good and bad food lists and still lose weight.

00:03:24.758 --> 00:03:29.288
The problem with labeling our food is that when we label our food as good.

00:03:29.618 --> 00:03:30.609
Or bad.

00:03:30.938 --> 00:03:37.088
We as women inevitably become good or bad for eating that food.

00:03:37.899 --> 00:03:42.609
You are not bad for eating cake and you are not good for eating chicken.

00:03:43.149 --> 00:03:44.199
You are a woman.

00:03:44.618 --> 00:03:45.489
Eating food.

00:03:46.118 --> 00:03:49.989
This is a really important concept to consider, as you are trying to lose weight.

00:03:50.408 --> 00:03:58.269
The reason is that you will never hate yourself then I know because I tried and I'm guessing a lot of you have tried as well.

00:03:58.538 --> 00:04:03.068
If I just talk meanly enough to myself, I will be motivated to stop eating and get to the gym.

00:04:03.098 --> 00:04:03.519
Right.

00:04:04.359 --> 00:04:06.699
How is this the way that we always tried to do it?

00:04:06.699 --> 00:04:14.109
For some reason, we thought that if we criticized our thighs and our stomach enough, I wouldn't be tempted to eat the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge.

00:04:15.128 --> 00:04:20.408
And the thing is the more we label our food bad and then ourselves bad for eating it.

00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:28.509
The deeper we get into this hate and these narratives and we damage the relationship that we have with ourselves.

00:04:28.749 --> 00:04:29.199
Okay.

00:04:29.588 --> 00:04:34.329
So let's talk about foods that are actually bad.

00:04:34.838 --> 00:04:41.478
Not really bad, so much as these are the foods we want to skip in our regular nutrition.

00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:43.129
Number one.

00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.129
Foods that don't work in your body.

00:04:46.699 --> 00:04:47.928
What would that look like for you?

00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:52.098
Well, first of all, this is yet another plug for food journaling.

00:04:52.338 --> 00:04:54.048
You've not heard me say that in a while.

00:04:54.499 --> 00:04:59.869
Either planning ahead, like my clients do, or just writing down what you eat after the fact.

00:05:00.348 --> 00:05:09.199
Either way we want a record of what you are eating so we can actually start seeing some patterns in what you've eaten versus how you feel.

00:05:09.619 --> 00:05:21.499
My clients and I have discovered causes of heartburn, diarrhea, and joint pain by simply keeping track of the foods and the symptoms we reduce or eliminate foods that don't work well for them.

00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:23.059
All bodies are different.

00:05:23.418 --> 00:05:24.949
It's not the same for everyone.

00:05:24.978 --> 00:05:31.369
So some foods that are quote good for some people are actually bad for others in this context.

00:05:31.968 --> 00:05:34.579
An easy example here to think about is dairy.

00:05:34.999 --> 00:05:37.459
Dairy is controversial and the diet and health world.

00:05:37.459 --> 00:05:42.079
And I think it could be because lactose intolerance is actually quite common.

00:05:42.408 --> 00:05:45.139
So dairy doesn't actually work for a lot of folks.

00:05:45.168 --> 00:05:53.209
There's other reasons, some people claim it's inflammatory, all kinds of reasons, but if you just think about, Hey, this just doesn't work for all bodies.

00:05:53.238 --> 00:05:56.749
I actually found this on the U S department of health and human services.

00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.988
It's a lactose intolerance is a condition in which you have a digestive symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, and gas.

00:06:03.468 --> 00:06:06.365
After you consume foods or drinks that contain Lactose.

00:06:06.833 --> 00:06:10.629
And lactose intolerance, digestive symptoms are caused by lactose malabsorption.

00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:17.500
Lactose malabsorption is a condition in which your small intestine cannot digest or break down all the lactose you eat or drink.

00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:25.810
While most infants can digest lactose many people begin to develop lactose malabsorption, a reduced ability to digest lactose.

00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:27.189
After infancy.

00:06:27.670 --> 00:06:34.089
Experts estimate that about 68% of the world's population have lactose malabsorption.

00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.730
Lactose malabsorption is more common in some parts of the world than in others in Africa and Asia.

00:06:40.029 --> 00:06:42.519
Most people have lactose malabsorption.

00:06:42.939 --> 00:06:52.029
And some regions such as Northern Europe, many people carry a gene that allows them to digest lactose after infancy and lactose malabsorption is less common.

00:06:52.509 --> 00:06:57.129
In the United States, about 36% of people have lactose malabsorption.

00:06:57.939 --> 00:06:58.240
Okay.

00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:00.339
That's a lot of information on lactose.

00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.120
But I think it's an important example for a few reasons.

00:07:04.420 --> 00:07:08.259
Number one, lactose intolerance can develop over your life.

00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:13.779
You may have been fine as a child, but as an adult find that you have trouble with milk products.

00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:17.709
It can be confusing if you don't know why you aren't feeling good.

00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:22.060
Again, keeping a food journal can give you a lot of information here.

00:07:22.569 --> 00:07:25.959
Because this is not the only food that can, this can happen with.

00:07:26.529 --> 00:07:33.399
So this is a food that you may have labeled good at one time in your life, but is bad now.

00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.490
See how that doesn't really make sense.

00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:40.750
It's not a bad food, but just a food that doesn't work in your body.

00:07:40.990 --> 00:07:43.120
So then we get to just call it a food.

00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:43.990
We're going to skip.

00:07:44.589 --> 00:07:45.730
So, yes.

00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:52.000
It's bad for you in this context, meaning it doesn't work for your body, but it's not bad for everyone.

00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:56.529
The other thing that stands out here is there is a genetic component.

00:07:56.529 --> 00:08:00.519
So it can also depend on where you or your ancestors came from.

00:08:01.149 --> 00:08:07.930
All bodies are different and therefore your own food journal is the most important nutritional study you will ever read.

00:08:08.769 --> 00:08:12.910
B O K with eliminating foods that don't work for your body.

00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:15.699
You don't have to label them as bad.

00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:19.870
You just are skipping those foods because they don't work for you.

00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:23.769
If you love the taste of them, but not the way you feel when you eat them.

00:08:23.889 --> 00:08:25.899
Hello, that's ice cream for me.

00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:30.759
You may need to get some help, like coaching on how to work with those cravings.

00:08:31.089 --> 00:08:35.919
Our lower brain doesn't seem to bother to remember that ice cream feels terrible in the stomach.

00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.759
It just remembers how much dopamine it created when it hit the taste buds.

00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:42.639
This is tough to manage with willpower alone.

00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:44.440
In fact, almost impossible.

00:08:44.769 --> 00:08:52.419
You'll need some tools and help with this Many of which I've given you and other episodes of the podcast, but you may also want to consider some coaching for that.

00:08:53.169 --> 00:08:53.500
Okay.

00:08:53.529 --> 00:08:56.289
The second category of foods that you want to skip.

00:08:56.710 --> 00:08:59.230
Our foods that are stale or have mold.

00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:00.100
Okay.

00:09:00.250 --> 00:09:06.789
Obviously that's dumb, like who eats foods with mold, but in all seriousness, still things can really be an issue.

00:09:07.308 --> 00:09:09.318
How many times do we elect over baked?

00:09:09.318 --> 00:09:09.589
Good.

00:09:09.589 --> 00:09:10.489
That has dry.

00:09:10.788 --> 00:09:19.908
And really just not that good, but you eat it because it's there or you don't want it to go to waste or you hardly ever get this thing.

00:09:20.688 --> 00:09:28.578
Foods that are not tasty to you because they are a day or several days old can be labeled as bad or foods you want to skip.

00:09:29.208 --> 00:09:35.688
I think we have a tendency to worry more about wasting food here than if the food is actually enjoyable.

00:09:36.298 --> 00:09:43.288
I think we prioritize the money that we've spent on that food rather than if we really enjoy it.

00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:45.749
I do this with leftovers for lunch.

00:09:45.808 --> 00:09:48.168
Oh, No one really liked the soup I made.

00:09:48.198 --> 00:09:50.298
So I guess I'll eat it for lunch.

00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:52.458
Like, no, I don't have to do that.

00:09:52.458 --> 00:09:53.808
And neither do you.

00:09:54.739 --> 00:09:55.038
All right.

00:09:55.038 --> 00:09:57.918
The third category of food that we can skip are foods.

00:09:57.948 --> 00:10:05.178
You don't like, again, this feels obvious, but have you ever eaten something because everyone else likes it.

00:10:05.688 --> 00:10:10.578
I tried sushi several times before I just decided this is not a food for me.

00:10:10.698 --> 00:10:12.469
I will order teriyaki chicken.

00:10:13.249 --> 00:10:13.938
Other foods.

00:10:13.938 --> 00:10:15.198
Everyone seems to like that.

00:10:15.198 --> 00:10:16.879
I'm just really so, so on.

00:10:17.298 --> 00:10:21.558
Pumpkin pie, avocado toast, goat, cheese gnocchi.

00:10:21.769 --> 00:10:23.389
Do not like gnocchi people.

00:10:23.568 --> 00:10:24.469
I tried it in Rome.

00:10:24.528 --> 00:10:25.759
I still don't like it.

00:10:26.568 --> 00:10:27.769
I just feel fine.

00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:29.089
Skipping these foods.

00:10:29.269 --> 00:10:31.999
I don't necessarily label them as bad.

00:10:32.359 --> 00:10:38.178
But if it's a struggle to skip these foods, because you don't like them, but feel pressured by others to eat them.

00:10:38.568 --> 00:10:41.149
Then go ahead and label them as bad foods for you.

00:10:41.538 --> 00:10:46.339
I just want you to start getting comfortable with the idea that the only bad foods out there.

00:10:46.818 --> 00:10:50.568
Our foods that don't work for you, foods that have actually gone bad.

00:10:51.048 --> 00:10:52.548
And foods you don't like.

00:10:53.298 --> 00:10:54.828
The list of good foods.

00:10:54.859 --> 00:11:00.318
On the other hand, again, I'm putting all those, that, all of that in air quotes, good foods.

00:11:00.889 --> 00:11:06.349
It's endless the list I wrote for an old social media post included these foods on the good list.

00:11:06.589 --> 00:11:09.109
Apples cake, green beans tacos.

00:11:09.649 --> 00:11:12.078
Potatoes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

00:11:12.109 --> 00:11:14.839
Salmon, coconut oil, French toast, butter.

00:11:15.139 --> 00:11:17.839
Foods you like to eat foods you enjoy with others.

00:11:18.168 --> 00:11:24.438
Foods from your heritage foods, your mom makes foods that keep you satisfied foods that give you energy.

00:11:25.219 --> 00:11:26.839
I hope you see where I'm going here.

00:11:26.869 --> 00:11:36.499
I want you just to get honest with yourself about foods that don't work for your body and your tastes, and then choose foods that you actually like.

00:11:37.068 --> 00:11:43.558
If we go back to the beginning and go with the definition that good foods are foods that lead to weight loss.

00:11:44.038 --> 00:11:49.798
Then remember the food that lead to weight loss, our foods, we don't overeat.

00:11:50.489 --> 00:11:51.149
That's it.

00:11:51.808 --> 00:11:53.788
All foods can be an option for you.

00:11:54.178 --> 00:11:59.278
If you listen to your body and your hunger scale, you absolutely can include foods.

00:11:59.278 --> 00:12:01.109
You've previously labeled as bad.

00:12:01.469 --> 00:12:03.989
Because you thought you might gain weight if you eat them.

00:12:04.472 --> 00:12:10.533
You just are learning, hopefully with me as you've listened to this podcast, that your hunger scale reigns Supreme.

00:12:11.072 --> 00:12:16.832
You absolutely can eat foods from your heritage that you used to love, that someone told you aren't healthy.

00:12:17.192 --> 00:12:21.003
Just eat them and the amount that works in your body with your hunger scale.

00:12:21.722 --> 00:12:29.222
If you wait to eat until you are hungry and then eat foods, you like just until you are a positive three or feeling that enough feeling.

00:12:29.673 --> 00:12:32.253
Remember, this is well before the full feeling.

00:12:32.822 --> 00:12:34.503
You will be able to lose weight.

00:12:35.312 --> 00:12:36.182
One last thing.

00:12:36.543 --> 00:12:38.883
It is easier to go longer in between meals.

00:12:38.913 --> 00:12:42.393
When your meals consist of good proteins, fiber, and healthy fats.

00:12:42.932 --> 00:12:50.822
These are the components that help your blood sugar feel stable and keep you at that neutral, not hungry, but also not full feeling for the longest amount of time.

00:12:51.423 --> 00:12:52.712
I challenge you to see.

00:12:53.102 --> 00:12:57.633
What you can add to some of your favorite good meals to meet these categories.

00:12:58.052 --> 00:13:03.393
Rather than telling yourself that that food is bad or something you need to skip because it doesn't meet those requirements.

00:13:03.783 --> 00:13:07.442
Or maybe you even notice that when you eat it, you feel hungry again in an hour.

00:13:07.832 --> 00:13:09.783
Look for ways to add to the meal.

00:13:10.173 --> 00:13:12.602
If you love a bowl of packaged ramen.

00:13:12.993 --> 00:13:13.802
But maybe.

00:13:14.163 --> 00:13:16.202
It doesn't sustain you for very long.

00:13:16.623 --> 00:13:18.993
Add some chicken or sauteed vegetables on top.

00:13:19.592 --> 00:13:26.732
If you really want something sweet instead of several cookies, crumble up one cookie on top of a Greek yogurt and add some berries.

00:13:27.513 --> 00:13:36.003
If you love cheese enchiladas, but find it's just too heavy feeling after you've eaten, eat half and then supplement your meal with a green salad or some fruit.

00:13:36.722 --> 00:13:40.682
Look for ways to add to the thing you want to include to balance it out.

00:13:40.982 --> 00:13:44.013
So you have some protein, fiber, and fat at each meal.

00:13:44.763 --> 00:13:51.903
I think a lot of times we can alleviate the gross feelings in the body that some meals give us by simply cutting back on the quantity.

00:13:52.413 --> 00:13:58.503
Whether that's just the quantity of a specific item like that cheese enchilada or the quantity of the whole meal.

00:13:59.072 --> 00:14:04.863
A few months ago, I was being interviewed on a podcast and he said, I have a burrito bowl at this restaurant.

00:14:04.863 --> 00:14:08.043
And the ingredients like singly are good ingredients.

00:14:08.043 --> 00:14:10.533
Like you got the rice and the protein and the vegetables.

00:14:10.893 --> 00:14:14.883
But when I combine all of them, I feel like crap for the next few hours.

00:14:15.212 --> 00:14:20.852
So even though I love that meal, I'm very calculated about when I eat that meal because of how it makes me feel.

00:14:21.962 --> 00:14:24.332
And then I said, let me ask you this.

00:14:24.753 --> 00:14:27.332
Do you feel bad because of the ingredients?

00:14:27.692 --> 00:14:29.312
Or because of the quantity.

00:14:30.062 --> 00:14:31.592
And he was like, whoa.

00:14:31.712 --> 00:14:34.503
Yeah, it's probably just the quantity.

00:14:35.192 --> 00:14:41.043
So as a bonus category of foods, we want to skip it's those second helpings, the clean your plate bites.

00:14:41.373 --> 00:14:49.503
The, I don't want to waste it bites all the excess food that is pushing us way past enough and into that very full feeling.

00:14:50.222 --> 00:14:52.952
Many foods are good, meaning they work for you.

00:14:53.462 --> 00:14:56.673
Until you overeat them and then they become foods.

00:14:56.673 --> 00:14:58.503
We want to skip next time.

00:14:59.312 --> 00:15:03.182
Getting really good at feeling your hunger scale and getting in tune with your body.

00:15:03.182 --> 00:15:06.513
And that way is really at the core of my coaching.

00:15:07.052 --> 00:15:13.503
If this sounds good to you and something you'd like to be better at being able to include all the foods that you like and still lose weight.

00:15:13.863 --> 00:15:15.903
Be sure to check out my group program.

00:15:16.293 --> 00:15:18.873
The best way right now is just to get on the wait list.

00:15:19.202 --> 00:15:25.682
There is a link for that in the show notes, more information is coming out this week, actually tomorrow, I think by email.

00:15:26.219 --> 00:15:27.568
So get on that list.

00:15:27.568 --> 00:15:29.849
If you want to be the first to hear about it.

00:15:30.239 --> 00:15:34.259
The next round of group coaching will be starting February 7th.

00:15:34.859 --> 00:15:36.958
Let me know if you have any questions about it.

00:15:36.958 --> 00:15:45.808
And until then you can always schedule a free strategy call with me to see if group coaching or my one-on-one program, which I still will be doing is right for you.

00:15:46.229 --> 00:15:49.408
Link for that again, of course is also in the show notes.

00:15:49.798 --> 00:15:50.399
As always.

00:15:50.428 --> 00:15:51.808
Thanks for listening to the eat.

00:15:51.808 --> 00:15:53.908
Well think, well live well podcast.