Hello, my friend. Welcome to Episode 1 of the Healthy Eating for Busy Women Podcast. My name is Kat Rentas, and in case you’re new here, I am going to be your healthy eating coach during our time together on this podcast. I am so looking forward to spending this time with you every week. Teaching you all of the many wonderful ways you can begin changing your eating habits for the better. Now, in case you’re not already familiar with my work, I specialize in helping women make healthy eating sustainable and enjoyable. So, in a nutshell, I truly believe that changing your eating habits should feel very natural and effortless for you over time. And that this can be achieved in a simple way, without any restriction of suffering, when you have the right tools. Now, unfortunately for us, the health industry is notorious for making empty promises. If you’re here it’s likely you’ve heard a number of them before. “Lose X amount of pounds fast”. “7 meals you’ll love under 300 calories”. “The 1200 calorie diet that will get you to shed fat fast”. These are the quote unquote solutions in the health industry that will lead you to feeling miserable when it comes to eating healthy. Like, literally it will bring you on the path to suffering. Where you feel like healthy eating is impossible. That it’s not enjoyable. And that it’s just a waste of time for you.

I’ve have been there many, many times in my own health journey. I was actually going to spend this first podcast introducing myself and explaining my story. But I really want to give you what you genuinely want here, which is value that you can apply to your life. So, if you want to learn more about my story right now you can go to katrentas.com/about. But, I will be referring to more about my story and my experiences as episodes go on.

But, the point here, is that it’s okay if you don’t have complete trust in this promise I’m making you. That healthy eating and getting the results you want with your body can feel easy and enjoyable for you. I get it. The health industry we’ve been indulging in for the past however many years has left us with some serious trust issues, right? But, my mission in our time together here, is for me to teach you everything you need to know to change your eating habits for the rest of your life. And convince you that it doesn’t have to feel so damn hard. And really, the reason why it feels so hard is because so many of the methods in the health industry don’t work for you. It’s not you that isn’t working. It’s the methods that you’re attempting. So, know that. When you’re given a set of tools and methods that actually work, I promise you, healthy eating doesn’t feel nearly as hard or miserable. It’s work. And growth is involved. But it doesn’t feel miserable. It actually can feel productive, enjoyable, and easy for you as time goes on. Where you’re growing every week and actually making positive changes in all areas of your life along the way.

Now, let’s get into the point of this episode so I can give you the value you came here for. I want to talk about one of the most foundational concepts of this work. Which is why you’re not eating healthy. It’s really important that I clear that up for you here.

I’m constantly getting emails from frustrated women because they feel like they’re just unable to eat healthy no matter how much they want to. They try to change and they can’t get themselves to feel motivated or disciplined enough to change the way they eat long-term. They wonder why they can’t just eat only when they’re hungry. They wonder what’s been stopping them from reaching their ideal weight. They wonder why eating healthy feels really boring and restrictive for them constantly. And, most women, even when they begin working with me, think they’re not eating healthy for a bunch of complicated reasons that are all very messy. There’s not having enough time. Not having enough willpower. Not being capable enough. All of the reasons I hear for why someone doesn’t eat healthy are all based out of this sense of powerlessness and lack. Like, they’re just not enough and that’s why their eating habits haven’t changed. Well, I’m here to release all of that right now and let you know that this is never the case. If you don’t eat healthy right now, or have the results with your body that you want, it’s not because you don’t have enough willpower or discipline. It’s not because you don’t have the ability to eat healthy long-term. It’s not because of your demanding job, your unsupportive partner, or your crazy kids at home. It’s because of your brain.

So, to help you understand this, I’m going to introduce you to the basics of how the world works. And how the world works is made up of 5 components. The first component is your circumstances in life. And your circumstances are the things that happen outside of you and things that you cannot control. So, these include the actions of other people, what happened in your past, or anything else that’s happening outside of you in the world. These are the only things you cannot control in your life.

Now, the rest of the components we’re talking about are things you can control. So, these are your thoughts, feelings, actions, and results. These are all within your control in your life. So, again, circumstances are things outside of your control. And your thoughts, feelings, actions, and results are all within your control. Now, as the humans, we love to focus on trying to change our circumstances. We’ll try and change other people, events from our past, and a whole other host of things that are out of our control. Which leaves us feeling very frustrated, powerless, and unfulfilled much of the time.

Now, unlike your circumstances, your thoughts you can control. What you decide to think on a daily basis is always under your control. And this is the part that most of us are neglecting. Especially as it relates to the way you eat. In fact, most people are totally unaware of what thought patterns they’re having on a daily basis. And this unawareness is such a problem. The reason it’s such a problem, is that your thoughts cause your feelings, these feelings produce your actions in life, and the actions you take in life determine the results you have. So, all of the results you have in your life, is due to your brain. So, the results you have with your body, whether that’s your weight or general state of health, is due to the actions you take with food, which is due to your brain. It all always starts with your thoughts.

Now, knowing this, let’s backtrack a bit. Because I want to answer the question of this episode. Which is why you don’t eat healthy. Your thoughts cause your feelings. And your feelings cause you to take certain actions with food. Knowing this, we know that the reason we do anything in life is to feel a certain way. Every single thing you do is because you want to feel better. This simple fact, and having this knowledge right here, will change your life if you let it. Everything you do or don’t do is because of how you want to feel. Meaning every action you take with food is because of how you want to feel. And as we know, the actions we take with food determine the results we have with our body.

So, all of this being said, it’s safe to assume that it’s probably important that we have an awareness of what we’re thinking daily. So, we can understand what we’re feeling, how we’re eating in response to that feeling, and the results that those actions are producing with our body.

And the big, crazy problem with all of this, is that this is not being taught anywhere you guys. You will not find any weight loss program, diet regimen, or meal plan telling you that your brain is what ultimately determines your eating choices. What those typical weight loss programs will often do, is they will give you advice from the A line, or action line down. Meaning, they will give you specific actions to take with food, so you can change the result with your body as quickly as possible. But, now knowing what we know here, which is that our thoughts lead to our feelings, which cause our actions, will give us our results, we know that someone giving you the actions only covers half of the equation. And if you’re trying to change your eating habits from the action part of this equation, it will never workout long-term.

Because here’s what’s going to happen. If you attempt to change the actions with food, to see different results with your body, you will still be working with the same thoughts and feelings you’ve always had. Meaning, you’re going to be working against your current brain. And your current brain is responsible for your current actions with food and the results you have with your body right now. So, when most people attempt healthy eating in this way, where they’re forcing themselves to take certain actions with food, and eat a certain way, they’re going to try and harness willpower. They’re going to attempt to punish themselves to healthy eating habits so they can finally see those results they’ve always wanted with their bodies. So, they can finally lose the weight and feel confident. And this doesn’t work. At all. You cannot hack your way to healthy eating habits. You cannot skip the work that needs to be done with your mind. For many of you, if you’re anything like I was, you already know this firsthand. I attempted so many restrictive diets in my past, it would make your head spin. And I failed every time. And the result actually did vary for each. There were diets where I could sustain my willpower longer than others. But, the end result was always the same. Every time I self-sabotaged my eating habits and found myself in a worse place with my body than before. And this always occurred, because I didn’t have this knowledge that I’m teaching you here. I didn’t realize that my thoughts and feelings, or my brain, was responsible for the actions I was taking with food.

So, knowing this is so eye-opening. Every action you take with food is because you want to feel a certain way or because you’re avoiding feeling a certain way. Meaning, feelings are the literal fuel for every food action you take. This applies to everyone. And every feeling you experience, whether that’s excitement, worry, fear, stress, all come from a thought you’re thinking. So, when you think to yourself, why am I not eating healthy? Why am I not eating the foods that I planned for myself? Why do I keep eating the same foods that I know aren’t healthy? It’s because of the way you feel. You’re either using food to seek comfort and feel a certain way. Or you’re using food as a means to suppress a feeling you don’t want to experience. That’s it. Then, from there, your actions with food create your results with your health and body.

And, you know, here, we’re talking about why you don’t eat healthy. But looking at these components, of thoughts, feelings, actions, and results can be applicable in every area of your life. It is true all of the time. There’s a ton of personal development teachings, and psychology teachings, and while authors and experts are saying it in slightly different ways, this is what they’re always teaching. They’re teaching you that your thoughts are responsible for your results in life. And they’re teaching you that what you think really does matter. So, it’s important that you’re aware of what you’re thinking before you eat anything.

Now, to observe what you’re thinking you’ll need to practice being the observer and the watcher of your own brain. Which is what most mediation practices are for, right? Mediation is simply watching your brain think while observing what’s going on there. And this practice of observing your daily thoughts can be a little surprising to most at first. Because, the fact is, most of us are completely unaware of the thoughts we’re allowing ourselves to think regularly. And there are even thought patterns that you may have had since childhood which are currently affecting your eating patterns in your adult life. I tend to find with my clients that the thoughts they’re having about food and their body are way more damaging and punishing than they realized. Which is why the practice of observing your own thoughts requires courage. You’ll need to harness some courage for you to observe the not so pretty thoughts that you may be thinking about yourself.

And I want you to really understand how much power you have in this knowledge. In knowing this, you can understand that the key is never to force yourself to eat in a way that is inauthentic to your current brain. You can understand that punishing eating patterns, restrictive eating, or willpower is never necessary to change the way you eat. And this concept is the foundation behind why healthy eating can feel manageable and easy for you over time. You will become someone who naturally eats healthy when you’re thinking the thoughts, and feeling the feelings, of someone who naturally eats healthy with ease. By focusing on your brain and how that produces certain actions with food, you can work to become someone different. Who feels like healthy eating is second-nature to them. And of course, there’s some tactics to healthy eating that I’ll be helping you with and covering for you in this podcast. But those healthy eating tactics are completely useless without focusing on who you’re being when it comes to healthy eating. And who you’re being are made up of the thoughts you’re thinking and the feelings you’re experiencing. This is why you will observe people who eat healthy very naturally and effortlessly. It’s not that they were born that way. It’s because they are having the thoughts and feelings of someone who eats healthy with ease. And we know this is true, because healthy actions with food aren’t difficult. It’s not the food actions that are stopping you from eating healthy. It’s your thoughts and feelings about those actions. And you have the ability to think and feel like someone who naturally takes actions with food that serves you, your body, and your overall health. And this is what I want for you. It is possible. And it’s inevitable if you do this work. So, as we build our relationship in this podcast together and I continue teaching you all of the things, you will learn this for yourself. And start seeing how these concepts apply to your relationship with food and body daily.

And here’s a rule when you start doing this work. You’re not allowed to beat yourself up and indulge in self-pity or blame. You’re going to want to indulge in self-pity here when you’re looking at those sneaky thoughts about food and body that you’re having. I promise you. Your brain is going to want to feel like a victim of your current results with your body and your current actions with food. But this will get you nowhere. What I want you to do instead, when observing your current thoughts, feelings, actions, and results with food is to just be really compassionate with yourself. Have a level of understanding for yourself that you would have with a loved one or friend. Be your biggest supporter and friend during this practice and be genuinely curious about what makes you tick here. Have a complete fascination with how your brain determines the way you eat right now. And how these life components have led you to the results you have with your body. Make it a practice of asking yourself before you eat, what am I feeling right now that is causing me to eat this food? And what thought is producing this feeling in my body? It will reveal so much for you. And I’m so excited to introduce you to this work. Alright, my friends, I’ll talk to you next week.