Hello, my dear friends, welcome back to the Healthy Eating for Busy Women podcast. I’m happy we’re spending time together today, and we’re gonna talk about a very common topic in this area, right? And it’s the concept of feeling guilty for wasting food.This is something that can come up a lot when you’re trying to change your eating habits. And it’s something that’ll just pop up in your mind whenever you’re out at a restaurant or someone makes you food, or you’re cooking dinner at home for your family, whatever it is, and you have this kind of justification pop up in your mind that you feel really guilty for wasting food and that’s why […0.7s] you continue to eat it.And I’ve had this come up, so many women I’ve coached over the years has had this come up, right?So I want today’s episode, like all of our episodes, to validate you, for you to feel safe in this topic today, and to also be really honest with yourself because that’s what we do here.We don’t shy away from […0.6s] the areas of growth that we have, but we do it from compassion and kindness, not shame.So that is just the primer I want to set for today’s episode. And before we get into it, a very quick favor I want to ask of you. So if you have been a listener for a while or, this is your first time and you end up really loving this episode, if you could do me the most ginormous favor and leave a five star review on this podcast with a little snippet of something that helped you.This just lets the podcasting platforms know that this podcast is offering genuine value […0.5s] and that it is helpful and it helps reach more women who it could serve.So I appreciate you so much in advance, but let’s just get right into it and really we want to, address the concept of food guilt in itself, right? Because this is something that […0.5s] can come up not just, when we don’t wanna waste food, but also after we overeat or make certain eating decisions.And guilt is an emotion that […0.5s] makes itself known in a health journey, and it can come up in different ways.Today I specifically want you to consider though if you have ever felt guilty for not finishing what’s on your plate. Have you experienced the emotion of guilt or any discomfort for that matter?If there’s still food on your plate, and I want you to evaluate what about that feels wrong, what about that feels uncomfortable, and, it’s not something you can settle in. Because today’s episode, I feel like I say this every episode, you guys, it’s gonna be tough love, haha.But you always know I’m coming from the best place, and I am also sitting on the same type side of the table with you, because I have been there.But we’re gonna be very upfront today […0.5s] with why potentially you’re making these justifications to eat, because you don’t wanna waste food. And here is the justification trap with this that I wanna offer today. And I want you to just consider this with an open mind and be really honest.Do you actually feel guilty […0.4s] for wasting food? Is this really a moral dilemma you’re having? Or […0.4s] are you using that as a morally noble reason to justify eating more than you need? Alright. I told you we’re going right into it, but I’m gonna say this again so we can consider it and no shame, right? Do you really feel guilty for wasting food, or are you using that as a morally noble reason to justify eating more?And this is not to call us out, right? But it’s to maybe bring some awareness to a brain that will always give justifications for engaging in comfort. This is what a brain is supposed to do. It’s not us that’s doing it. It doesn’t mean we don’t care about, wasting food or not wasting food, right?I just want you to be able to understand when there is an actual […0.5s] value problem that is happening here that you’re faced with, or if you’re dealing with a surface layer justification to eat more than you need because your brain is seeking comfort, those are addressed in two different ways.I will have a host of clients that actually have a past with food, which will get into that has to do with addressing values and things with not wasting food. But I would say the majority of my clients, what they struggle with, I did as well, is a justification […0.6s] for eating more.That sounds morally sound, that sounds like a noble reason for eating more, right? Which is really common for, very ambitious, intelligent women.And I say that because those of you listening, if you’re very intellectual, like I am, you likely have a lot of values, you are a good person, you care about a lot of things in this world and you are an advocate for change.And, in different areas, and it’s gonna be really important to be able to, […0.7s] distinguish when your value systems are coming up versus justifications from your brain to engage in comfort, right?So here’s what I want you to consider. If you cared that much about not wasting food, and this is all of us, if we cared that much and that was what was on our mind, maybe we’d order a smaller portion, […0.5s] we box it up and eat it later. It’s not complicated. We can always solve for not wasting food in some […0.4s] way. We could give it to someone in need, we could let whatever it is, there is always a solution to not waste food 99% of the time.That 1% it does […0.5s] suck to have to waste food because values wise, that is something that comes up for me as well. But if we cared that much about not wasting food, there is a solution for that.So most of the time, what’s really happening here, you guys, is we’re just looking for a justification to eat more, even though on the surface the reasoning looks like I don’t wanna waste food and that makes me feel guilty.What I want us to look out for here is the helpless victim thinking we can have with this, right? Because when we have really noble stories for […0.4s] overeating that sound really morally sound will protect it a little bit.And I want you guys to notice, maybe it applies, maybe it doesn’t, but what I’m saying here, notice if you feel some defensiveness, no cat, I really don’t wanna waste food. And this is something that matters. And here’s what’s going on in the world.And I hear you, I promise I care about all of those things, but I don’t want you to step out of responsibility of how you actually could work to not waste food and really resourceful ways right now that maybe you aren’t because what if this is justification to eat more?I had all the same things come up, so if this relates to you, I want this to be a resource for you.And what’s also really interesting and this is something you guys that took so long for me to address is the concept of […0.6s] not wanting to waste food, but then putting that food inside my own body, which was like wasting my health.And my results, which is the most interesting thing will say, well, I feel guilty for wasting food. And then we’ll use our body like a waste basket, […0.5s] and it doesn’t solve the problem of the waste, it just transfers the waste […0.5s] into our health and it sacrifices our health in the process.So I just wanna get really real with this value system. We can all acknowledge because we have good values for good people that we do not want to waste food. And this is a bigger problem going on in the world.But […0.5s] careful for the justifications for treating your body poorly because of this moral reason. Because there is nothing more dangerous than a moral reason for treating your body in unhealthy ways.There is nothing more risky than having this reason for overeating that makes you feel morally better. And it actually sacrifices your health because those are the reasons for overeating that you’re gonna hold on tightly to because you think there’s a moral reason […0.5s] for doing it.And I am in the business of helping you get really familiar with your brain that tries to trick you. That’s really what we’re addressing here. So we wanna call this what it is. And there’s two possibilities that we can be aware of here.And this is the real, the first possibility is that there is actual trauma that is happening with scarcity around food. This is something I have also coached on very heavily, and, this is something that can occur, and it’s very common.So you may have grown up in a home where food was scarce. You may have been punished for not finishing your plate, right. This can cause your nervous system to flare up when food is left unfinished.That’s where you’ll feel that fight or flight happen. Perhaps when you feel like a plate has things left on it, and you don’t wanna waste that food. This is real, and this is longer term healing.You can do, we do this in my membership all the time, but what most commonly happens is that emotional discomfort masked as food morals.Haha, right, so we’re having emotional discomfort from stress on our day, and we want emotional comfort by overeating, but we’re masking that as morality around food.So most often, what I want us to understand is that the waste gill is a disguise. It’s actually just the brain justifying its need for comfort, and it’s not about waste when this is happening. It’s about avoiding the discomfort of saying no to the food when you’re emotionally triggered. So knowing that sometimes the guilt […0.6s] isn’t genuine in terms of your value systems, which we do care about.Sometimes the guilt is a bypass or a filter or rationalization for just eating more. And both can happen at the same time.So almost all clients that I’ve coached through their healing […0.5s] from their past with not wasting food, right. Maybe they had a harsh upbringing, whether, they were punished for wasting food, or, they didn’t have a lot of food available.This can happen with your nervous system, and your brain can use this as a justification. I just want you to know the two parts of your brain. Does this make sense?And this is, kind of an advanced concept, but I really want to make you guys aware of it, cause I know you can handle it that. There are two different sides to this, and both are valid.Now here’s how we can be honest with ourselves, and how to know if this is true for you. You […0.4s] can acknowledge if it’s food that isn’t comforting to you, you might not care about wasting it. So I’ll explain what I mean.I actually had someone reach out to me when I talked about this on social media. And she said, oh my god, this is so me, I am […0.5s] using, not wasting food as a moral justification. Because when it’s food that I don’t like or I don’t wanna eat, I don’t care about wasting it. If she said, if my husband order something that I don’t like and isn’t, doesn’t taste good to me, then I don’t feel compelled to eat it, and I don’t care about wasting it.Right. So sometimes this is the case and this is a way to tell that your brain is tricking you. Also, […0.7s] if you were already planning on overeating and comfort eating and then the waste reason shows up, that is also just a justification.That is not about not wanting to waste food. And the brain has no malice. We don’t wanna see the brain as an enemy. We just wanna understand its functionality.So there are some reframes here that can really help. These are all things that I have taken on and have took on when I was struggling.One is that […0.6s] your body is not responsible for the poor food systems of this world, […0.7s] right? And this is really important when you’re someone like me and you guys who really cares about people, you care about things, you care about causes, right? And we have to make sure we […0.4s] have that regard that our body is not the one at fault for those things, right? We are not at fault and our body is not responsible for what’s happening in the world.We can both hate food waste and stop using our body as the solution to solve for that.That is key. We need to understand that we wanna protect our body, and hold our health in high regard, and treat ourselves with proper care, […0.6s] and want to do better in terms of food waste. You can always still be resourceful […0.5s] with food waste. You can use smaller portions, freeze leftovers, you can plan ahead of time.There’s always a solution to not have to sacrifice the results you want and not waste food. And this is really important to assert with yourself because your brain will try and helplessly justify that you have to eat more because you don’t wanna waste food, which is never true.Y’all, when we really get in our responsible brain, we can always see the logic in that eating the food that we don’t wanna waste isn’t never the answer, and it never makes sense.So I hope this resonates, but if you’re having the justification piece come up, you have to be really honest in that at that moment, it’s not about morals, […0.5s] right?You do care, but in that moment, it’s not about the morality of it. It’s about emotional discomfort and we’re wanting to emotionally comfort because of the stress of a day.And this doesn’t make us wrong for having this come up at all. It doesn’t mean anything’s gone wrong, but we wanna acknowledge what’s coming up and narrate it correctly. And really when we feel stuck in a body we don’t love, we really want to make sure that we’re putting it in the conditions to lose weight and to feel […0.4s] healthier.And so it’s gonna be really important that if you have a weight loss goal, you really assert things like this with yourself, not from harshness, but from firm kindness and say, you know what?Here’s the facts of the world. And the facts are […0.5s] I can care about moral things, and I can have values, and I cannot wanna waste food, and I wanna lose weight.So here’s what I’m gonna do. Notice that clarity and responsibility that happens, because really what’s gonna happen is it’s gonna require you to become a woman who no longer accepts justifications […0.5s] for eating unhealthy.That’s all it is, just don’t accept any justifications from your brain, even when it’s compelling you with moral value. So I know this is very direct, and I’m not sure if there’s a time when I’m never direct, but I really want you guys to know this is coming from the most love.It’s coming from the highest regard for you, and I’ve been through all of it, so there’s never any judgment. And I know you are not here for fluff. You are here to actually solve this.And your results that you can have are way too important to, have these moral justifications for not creating them.And so if this is something you want support with, if you’re like cat, I’m having all this come up and I have no idea where to start, how to solve for it and it’s feeling like a lot.Come join me inside my membership. We have a whole community in there of ambitious really, intellectual women solving this problem. And it is a very real, honest space where we be honest about where we’re at, right? But we do it from so much kindness and so much love.So highly recommend you join us. There are women who have gone through this process that have lost up to 100 pounds. It’s incredible. You can go to Cat runtas. Com forward slash membership to join today. And I’ll be so excited to support you.But my love, I hope this was helpful and I hope no matter where you’re at, it gave you some new perspective and food for thought. No pun intended. But let this episode be a pivot for you so you will learn to not justify again from things you care about. Alright? I love you so much. I will talk to you very soon.