Episode SIX - Episode 6 - Diet Culture & Calorie Counting -The unspoken sacrifices.
SHOW NOTES:
Nourish Yourself Ebook waitlist
In this episode I open up about my experience with counting macros and calories and what my health looked like when I was following that sort of plan.
I also spoke about
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Distorted eating vs sustainable eating
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Body image
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How I approach nourishing myself now
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Where to start
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Playing a long term health game
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Having structured flexibility in the way you nourish yourself
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+ so much more.
I know there is so much conflicting information out there as to what the hell is actually good for you, or what "diet" is the best.
Now there are defiantly many ways you can approach diet, and what works for some may not work for others.
Though one thing I do know to be true is that diet is a HUGE factor of health. It’s definitely not the only factor, but its definitely a major one.
And many people fail to realise how much of an intermit process eating actually is...
I'd say its even more intimate than sex, and before you think I'm a total weirdo let me explain.
When you eat food you're literally taking something from outside of you, putting it into your body and in return your body basically gets created out of those ingredients.
That's a freaking intimate and a sacred process if you ask me.
But soooo many people are still completely confused as to what they should eat or what diets is best...
Confused about what the F you should be eating?
I know there’s a lot of hype around calorie counting, macros, food logging etc, and I understand it, because I used to do it.
But I have to say, I don’t recommend it.
I know a lot of coaches will say it’s the way, and yes these approaches can work well in the SHORT TERM, though often I see them lead to issues down the road...
As it can make some people shift towards more processed, and artificially sweetened “diet foods”. Because these types of foods have a barcode, therefore they’re easy to log and track, lower in calories and have better macros.
And a huge mistake I’m seeing a lot of people fall into is believing that as long as they stick within their macros or calories they they will be healthy or lose weight.
Yes, calorie and macro counting can be a helpful tool for SOME people. Though, personally I’ve been down that road and it definitely didn't bring me HEALTH.
Yes I was able to cut a bit of extra fat, but the pay off was not worth it, because:
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I began to see food as just a calculation, and was constantly trying to manipulate the numbers to fit as much in as I could or get a specific result.
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I started choosing more processed foods over real whole foods because they were easier to track and the sugar-free and fat-free packaged products helped me stay within my macros.
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I would deprive myself of eating healthy fats like nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut and fruit because they would make me go over my macros or cals.
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I would get crazy anxiety if I didn't log my food before I ate it, so of course this affected me socially also. There was a time where I would even go out for lunch with friends, eat my chicken breast, broccoli, beans and carrots in the car and literally watch my friends eat. And the times that I did it I’d feel so guilty for breaking my diet.
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My digestive issues got worse from the constant binging and restricting cycle I was in.
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My hormones and mood was all over the place cause I was constantly HANGRY.
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I was completely consumed by my diet, the way I looked physically and working out.
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I was never satisfied after eating, I would literally be thinking about my next meal just after finishing my last cause I was always typically in a calorie deficit.
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I would restrict all week long, make a list of all the foods I wanted to binge on over the weekend then go to freaking town. I would literally walk out of restaurants hunched over in pain.
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I was also losing soooo much time eating and meal prepping constantly cause I believed I had to eat every 3 or so hours to keep my metabolism going.
This was not HEALTH or a sustainable lifestyle..
Yes on the outside I may have looked “healthy” but in reality I was starving, moody, anxious, I had no social life, I was the most insecure in my body I had ever been, constantly sick and had severe sleep and digestive issues.
But now, I know what TRUE HEALTH FOR ME LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE.
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These days majority of what I eat is made with love, from nourishing real whole foods.
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I don’t count calories, instead I go for the food that’s most nourishing for my body.
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But I also don't isolate myself from social situations, or avoid eating out with friends and enjoying whatever food occasionally in good company.
I have found a beautiful balance between conscious indulgences and nourishing my body.
For me being feeling healthy and vibrant is priority, and that's why I chose to eat more real food that was made by nature, kissed by the sun, and prepared with love, as I know 100% that that's what my body thrives off.
The truth is when you fuel your body with real food, your entire system works better, because your body knows what to do with it. ☀️
Because humans have been eating real foods like vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, meats, fish etc for hundreds of thousands of years, so your body knows how to utilise and break down those foods.
Though I can't say the same for man made processed foods that has only existed for less than 100 years or so, which I must say is a fart in the wind in comparison.
The fact is processed foods are still quite unrecognisable to your body, and because of this, it's more likely to get stored as fat, or even in your bones or brain because it just doesn’t know what to do with it.
And this storing of chemicals from processed foods can slowly manifest into all sorts of health issues as the toxic load gets bigger. As the eventually ware down your system, because your body can't possibly grow, regenerate and thrive from artificially made dead, processed, packaged food.
Yes it will provide you with calories so you won't starve, but your body will be starving for nutrients.
Which is actually one of the reasons people are stuck in a cycle of craving food, or needing to eat every couple of hours. Because their body might actually just be needing nutrients from REAL food.
And it’s my belief and experience that when you mostly fuel your body with real whole foods, your body will of course be able to deal with the occasional intake of processed foods. It only becomes an issue when you're eating these types of food daily, which can become taxing to your body.
So these day my philosophy is:
Simply enjoy indulgent foods occasionally, with good company.
Choose more real food over fake food.
Eat intuitively instead of calculating.
Count nutrients not calories.
& Eat to feel good rather look a certain way.
Now I know cooking and preparing meals from scratch can at times be time consuming and figuring out what to cook can be a pain in the butt for some people.
Trust me when I say cooking doesn't have to be complex, yes learning something new will have its learning curves but as with anything practice, patients and a little consistency will always be a recipe for success.
So I can't encourage you enough to start playing in the kitchen with more real foods, if I can figure out how to cook this way so can you!
But to help you I've decided to FINALLY put together a recipe e-book because over the past few months I’ve had a lot of people message me asking whether I had one.
and the reason I don’t yet was because I would post all of my recipes inside my membership site the Holistic Living Hub, plus a whole bunch of other info, course and resources to help women transform their health.
Though I’ve really noticed that there are some people who really just want to start with a simple recipe guide without all the extra resources that I offer in there.
So a whole foods recipe Ebook is COMING SOON.
I’m currently in the process of putting it together at the moment, so if you wanna get notified when I release it I have created a waitlist that you can sign up to. I’ll link it in the show notes. Otherwise you can visit
