Heal Your Diet Mindset to Heal Your Body

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Do you find yourself feeling trapped in a diet mindset or trying diet after diet after diet without seeing the results you desire? This is a common feeling as diets promote what is called the ‘Restrict Binge Cycle’ which causes discourse in your mental health but also can damage your hormones and metabolism. Let’s dive deeper into this cycle. 

What is the Restrict-Binge Cycle?

Diets promote restriction as a means for weight loss. This restriction causes you to look at foods as good and bad and then obsess over avoiding those “bad” foods. This obsession drives you to eat, usually in a chaotic overindulgent way- which can be one definition as a binge.

Bingeing usually produces feelings of guilt and shame. These feelings of guilt and shame then lead you right back to where you started- restriction. See how this can keep you trapped in an endless cycle of shame, guilt, and deprivation? ‘

Obviously, with ingredients like shame, guilt, and deprivation- one is not crafting a recipe for success but instead a recipe for frustration and stagnation. 

How can you escape this cycle and find true peace? 

Release the restrictive mindset by ditching the diet (it’s really about lifestyle change) and adopting the mindset that all foods fit into a healthy lifestyle. 

Ditch the diet.

Start releasing the restrictive mindset by dropping the labels “good” and “bad” around food and adopting the mindset that all foods fit into a healthy lifestyle. Getting out of the yo-yo diet cycle of being ‘on a diet and off a diet’ is really helpful here. Instead shift to a mindset of making small lifestyle changes over time instead of becoming overly restrictive for a short amount of time. 

Ditching the diet can be really difficult on your own as talk about diets and diet information is everywhere! I recommend working with a professional to get support and accountability on dropping the diet lifestyle. 

What professional is the best for this journey? A Registered Dietitian (RD), Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), or a therapist or social worker who is specialized in Intuitive Eating (IE) or Health at Every Size (HAES) would be the most appropriate professional to help guide you through these changes. 

Adopting a mindset that all foods fit into a healthy lifestyle.

When you start to look at all foods as fitting into a healthy lifestyle, you will find balance in your food routine and your life. You will also start to appropriately fuel your body and focus more on eating more mindfully. Working with a professional will help you identify what foods work best for your body and your goals and what balanced eating looks like for you. 

Resources: https://mainlinenutrition.org/disordered-eating/the-restrict-binge-cycle/

Healing the Gut with the Rule of the 5 R’s

Gut health has been a popular topic in recent years and for good reason. 70-80% of our immune cells are housed in our gut. Immunity is something that affects us systemically and with most of these cells living in our gut it is safe to say that gut health will impact our overall health. 

Unfortunately, many of us today struggle with gut issues such as irregular bowel movements, bloating, distention, upset stomach, and gas. If you struggle with some of these symptoms, it is recommended that you share this with your healthcare team. These symptoms are your body’s way of telling you that something is off or not working correctly.

As a Registered Dietitian, specializing in gut health, hormone health, and immunity; I often walk clients through a gut healing protocol to find relief from the symptoms listed above and more. I call this protocol the 5 R’s protocol. Let’s break it down.

The 5 R Protocol for Better Gut Health

Remove- Remove foods that are causing your gut issues. Figuring out what foods are causing you issues can be really tricky. There are many protocols for eliminating foods to reduce or eliminate symptoms and then reintroducing foods in a controlled way to see what specifically is causing your symptoms. I recommend working with a Registered Dietitian (RD) or Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) to help identify these foods as there are so many protocols out there that are too restrictive and not evidenced based and can cause more harm than good.

Replace- Replace any depleted nutrients and replace the offending foods noted above with foods that make you feel good. Again, working with a professional is a game changer for this piece of the protocol. Finding out if you are depleted in nutrients can be done through nutrient testing (a functional test that I offer as part of my services) and reviewing the specific symptoms you are experiencing. A professional can walk you through this testing and then create a food and/or supplement protocol to help you replenish these nutrients.

Repair- Repair the gut. Time is your best tool for repairing the gut- time away from offending foods and focusing on eating foods that safely and effectively fuel your body. Some supplements could also help maximize repair of the gut as well. 

Repopulate- Repopulate healthy bacterial strains in the gut through eating pre and probiotics or taking probiotics that fit your individual needs. If dysbiosis (overgrowth of non-beneficial bacteria in the gut) is present, it is imperative to kill off this non-beneficial bacteria while encouraging growth of beneficial gut bacteria. This is where functional nutrition testing can be helpful- to determine the makeup of the bacteria in your individual gut microbiome. 

Reduce Stress- Reducing stress is not emphasized enough when it comes to gut health! You can be doing all of the protocol steps above, but, living with unmanaged high stress can undo all of your hard work and keep you stuck with unwanted gut symptoms. Deep breathing, yoga, meditation, therapy, and any activity that helps you get in a flow state are fantastic options for reducing stress.

If you are struggling with gut symptoms that are starting to affect your life, I hope this blog has given you some ideas to help find a resolution from these symptoms. If you want to discuss your individual symptoms more in-depth, let’s connect through a free consultation!