Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the podcast this week. It is February. And right now, it is snowing all over the states. There are freeze warnings everywhere. I see pictures on social media of people ice skating, having snowball fights, making snow angels. And I really feel like I’m missing out right now. I live in Florida but I’m originally from Maryland and we got our fair share of snow every year. I grew up on snow days when I was a kid in school. And I never thought I would miss it. I moved to Florida to get warm, and now, all I want is to be in the snow. But many of you may not agree with me right now. If you’re in one of those states with a freeze warning. You guys probably wish you were in Florida where it’s 65 to 70 degrees right now. The grass is always greener, right? Anyways, today I want to talk about why healthy eating matters. And I’m kind of clapping my hands when I say this. Why. Healthy. Eating. Matters. Because there’s a lot of value to be gained from this topic. Because most people think healthy eating matters for very surface level reasons. And healthy eating matters in ways that most people have no idea about. In ways that are much, much deeper and more impactful. These are the reasons why clients leave my coaching practice not just with new results in their eating habits, but with new results in many, many areas of their life. And I want to share with you today, what those deeper results are when you commit to changing your eating habits and eating healthy. Because, it’s important that you’re aware of this, so you understand the impact that this work can have on your life right now.

So, first I want to share the reasons most people have for why healthy eating matters to them. And these are the reasons I had back when I was struggling with my eating habits. It was the reasons I had for trying to eat healthy in the first place. And the reasons are very simple. I believed healthy eating mattered because it was how I would be able to lose weight and better my health. Simple. Now, there’s nothing about this that is untrue. Of course healthy eating matters when it comes to weight loss and our health. Of course it does. But, these two outcomes of healthy eating are only scratching the surface. It’s only shedding a little light on what’s possible for you with this work. And, what’s so interesting, is these reasons are usually not compelling enough for people to dedicate themselves fully and completely to healthy eating. Because weight loss and better health is great. Don’t get me wrong. But, for most of us, this isn’t compelling enough. We need deeper, more impactful reasons for doing this work. Because it’s a journey. It’s a commitment. And it can feel hard. There are levels of growth that are necessary for you to become a naturally healthy eater. And these levels of growth are possible for you, always. They’re always available to you. But, what’s often stopping you from committing to that work? It’s you not having a compelling enough reason to do so. It’s you believing healthy eating matters only when it comes to losing weight and bettering your health. So, what I’m going to do in this episode is I’m going to share with you on a deeper level, why healthy eating really matters. And what this will do is it will give you a list of compelling reasons you can have for doing this work. And when I say a compelling reason, I mean a reason for healthy eating that brings up an emotion for you. So, maybe a compelling reason will be love, commitment, courage, empowerment – all of the deeper emotions that compel us to move towards a goal. These are emotions that will compel you to take the healthy eating journey and go all in. Because you’re providing compelling reasons for doing so. When weight loss and bettering your health are the only reasons for eating healthy, for most people, not all people, but for most people it will not be compelling enough. The emotion you feel from these reasons may be motivation. But that’s a fleeting emotion that doesn’t last. We want to bring out those deeper emotions that really sit with you and compel you to do this work. So let’s get into why healthy eating actually matters. And the deeper reasons that you will have for doing this work and going all in.

Now, to explain this, I’m going to walk you through the process I go through with my clients. We follow a very intentional timeline of how we work together to change their eating habits from the beginning of our time together until the end. So, first what we focus on is their past with food. We want to understand through and through exactly what brought them to the eating habits they have right now. And to do this, we’re deep diving into their past to see how they were raised with food, what eating habits they brought with them into adulthood, and how their eating habits were shaped in their adult life. This is very, very impactful work. That for many of my clients, is the difference between them getting results in my program, and them never being able to get results before. Because they were simply lacking awareness of how they were eating in the present. So, all in all we get a complete overview of their past with food. Now, why is this work important with healthy eating? It’s because we not only uncover deeper patterns with food that they have, but we uncover deeper patterns that they’ve been having in their life. I’ll share an example of one client I had. She was so dedicated to this work. And we found based on looking at her past with food, that she was raised in an environment where there was food scarcity. So, the mindset of her parents and family were that there was never enough food. And that food should never be wasted because chances are, they may not have enough of it later. And this food scarcity wasn’t only the mindset of her parents, but it also became her mindset well into adulthood. So, we found that she was always hoarding food and holding onto it subconsciously because of this past and mindset she had. She would overeat even when she was full because of the fear that she wouldn’t have enough food later. And the interesting part? This is a woman who had a very successful job. A very steady income. And there wasn’t real scarcity with food in her life. But, those scarcity thoughts and patterns with food were still there for her. And if we didn’t dive into her past, we wouldn’t have been able to work through these patterns and adjust them. And what did this do for her life? When we were able to move her out of scarcity into abundance with food? She was able to move out of scarcity in other ways. With money, with her relationships, and with herself. She became a new version of herself. And it all started by uncovering those deeper patterns. So, the first compelling reason why healthy eating is so important. It can help us uncover deeper patterns in our lives that don’t serve us. So so good.

Next, what I focus on with my clients is their mind. This is where we dig deep and uncover their current beliefs with food. What thought patterns and emotions are compelling them to overeat. All of the fun things, right? And this part of the program is where I, as the coach, am able to learn so much about my client. And in turn, they learn so much about themselves. Because I am able to see exactly why they have the eating habits they do right now. Because your eating habits, first and foremost, are a reflection of your mindset. And what’s going on inside your brain. Whether that’s the thoughts you’re thinking. Or the emotions you’re experiencing daily. Our emotions are what compel us to take certain actions in life. And they’re what compel us to make our food decisions. So, this part of the program is where we get all of that out on the table. And, I’ll mention, that there is no skipping this work. Working on the mindset doesn’t sound super sexy to most people. Because in their mind they’re like, “Just tell me what to do. Just tell me what to eat. I want to just get this result right now”. And these people are simply lacking the awareness that you can’t take new food actions without working on the mindset first. You will end up sabotaging those new food actions without managing your mindset. And what this work will do, and what this work with healthy will do, is it will directly point you to where your limiting beliefs are. And it will show you where you need to begin managing your mind. So, I had a client who had the belief “I can’t be trusted with chocolate”. And she assumed this was a fact. Like, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and I can’t be trusted with chocolate. And was able to coach her and make her realize that this was just an optional belief that she had. And for those of you unaware, a belief is just a thought you keep thinking over and over. Until it feels true to you. And that thought “I can’t be trusted with chocolate” caused her to feel helpless much of the time. And it turned out this helplessness was affecting other areas of her life. She was struggling to trust herself to show up at work confidently. So, we worked on this thought. And overtime in our coaching, she began to learn how to trust herself with chocolate, and other foods. She learned to build that self confidence. And this affected every area of her life. Because she was able to shift that one belief. So, the second compelling reason for eating healthy, and why it’s so important, is that it will show us the areas of our mind that are keeping us stuck. And it will show us where we need to manage our mind to get the results we want. Now, if the concept of managing your mind sounds new to you, maybe this is the first episode of mine you’ve listened to, in that case welcome. But, you’re going to want to start from the beginning of the podcast and give every episode a listen. Because then, you’ll understand more of the mindset work that is involved to become a naturally healthy eater. It’s work that should never, ever be skipped to see results.

Third, I focus on the body with my clients. So, this is where I teach them how to develop that strong connection to their body so they’re eating healthy based on what their body communicates to them. In other words, they are learning how to access their body wisdom. So, they’re learning how to know when to start eating, stop eating, when they’re satisfied from food by checking in with their bodies natural cues. Super valuable. And, it’s interesting because this portion of the coaching feels very tactical, right? It feels very functional and direct. Like our body is a machine and I’m teaching you how to operate that machine properly. Which is in a sense, true. But there is deeper work associated with this that is more compelling. And I’ll actually share a personal example for this one. Back in the day, I, as you already know, struggled to eat healthy. I was always picking up healthy eating to put it back down weeks later. I would engage in binge eating episodes. And then try and get back on track the next week. I was totally inconsistent and I felt helpless of my eating habits. I felt like a victim of them. And I felt totally out of control with my body. I was the perfect example of someone who had zero connection or awareness with my body wisdom. I didn’t know when to start eating based on my hunger. I didn’t know when to naturally stop eating based on when I was full. I didn’t know when I felt satisfied from food. These were all things I was never taught. And when I felt out of control with my body, I had a very bad relationship with it. Because I didn’t trust it and I had no connection to it. Which means I ultimately wasn’t caring for it. So, over time I began doing the real work. I learned how to access my natural hunger. I learned how to stop eating based on my fullness factors. I really got in tune with what made me feel satisfied with food. And this did change the way I was eating. I was able to operate the machine that is my body with ease. I did get those tactical results. But what happened that was deeper and more compelling? I was able to create a nurturing, caring, and loving relationship with my body. Because I now knew how to care for it. And I now knew how I could trust my body to tell me what it needs. I completely changed my relationship with my body because of this work. And with this new relationship, my self image, or the image I had of my body changed. I became more confident. I began to genuinely love my body unconditionally. And this happened not because of a six-pack or from losing X amount of pounds. It happened because I increased the connection I had with my body from doing this work. So, the third compelling reason for eating healthy, and why it’s so important, is that it will allow you to create a nurturing and loving relationship with your body. That will change your body image over time. In a way that feels authentic to you.

Fourth, we focus on the organization side of healthy eating. So, these are what I call the tactics. It’s where they’re learning how to manage their time, plan their meals, and organize their lives around their intentional eating habits. So, this is less of the emotional work and more of that technical work, right? It doesn’t seem all that exciting. But the reasons for doing this work and why they are compelling are because when you’re learning how to plan meals and eat what you have on your food plan, you’re elevating your concept of yourself. You’re learning how to show up for yourself. And how to trust yourself to be accountable to your goals and what food you plan on eating. And I don’t even need to give a specific client example here, because this applies for every single one of my clients. When they master this, every area of their lives changes. Because the issue, they realize, was never finding the right food plan. It was never finding the right diet. It was them learning the skill of self accountability. And them learning how to move through the resistance and keep promises to themselves. And what this does over time, is they develop this self-trust, where they know they’ll eat what’s on their food plan – no matter what. Like, of course they can trust themselves, right? It becomes second-nature over time. And this changes how accountable they are with relationships, the workplace – everything. Really imagine. What would change if you always did what you said you were going to do? What? Really think about that. This is non-negotiable work when it comes to changing your eating habits. Especially in my practice. And the fourth compelling reason for eating healthy is that it will teach you how to show up for yourself and become accountable to yourself. Where you’re building unshakable self-trust. This may be one of the most compelling reasons for doing this work. This can completely transform every aspect of your life. And changing your eating habits is a perfect way to do this.

Lastly, my clients and I focus on who they’re becoming with food. And this sounds a little woo-woo, but it’s simple. Before my clients begin working with me, they have this concept of themselves. They see themselves as someone who has no control with food. They see themselves as someone who can’t get it together and make the right food decisions. They see themselves as kind of a hot mess. Let’s be honest. We’ve all been there. And what they learn with this work, is that they get to intentionally decide who they want to be. Not in a “be all you can be” cheesy way, but in a way where they’re noticing the concept they have of themselves. And they’re deciding whether or not they keep it. And it’s at this stage, that they realize that a woman who naturally eats healthy may have a different self-concept than they have right now. So, they learn to rebuild a concept of themselves that supports the eater and the woman that they want to become. This is how they take everything they’ve learned, and they incorporate it into who they’re going to show up as. They’re going to practice being the version of themselves who isn’t’ a hot mess. But who intentionally makes healthy decisions with food with ease. This is really the art of becoming someone new. And not just with food. This work, and all the work mentioned in this podcast, will trickle into all areas of your life. If you let it. Being open to the transformation is the key. The compelling reason for eating healthy here, is that it will reveal to you who you want to be in your life. From a place of intention and love.

The purpose of me sharing these compelling reasons to you is to open you up to the possibilities with this work. Of course we want to eat healthy to lose weight and improve our health. That goes without saying. But, I want you to feel so compelled to do this work. From a place of knowing how impactful this work really is. When you show up for yourself, or you show up in my coaching, I want you to be all in. Because you have those compelling reasons for doing so. So, sit with these compelling reasons and ask yourself, “What in my life would be possible if I really committed to the work? And the transformation that’s waiting for me with food?”. Alright, my lovely, beautiful, friend. I really hope you have a wonderful week. If you’re in snowy weather right now, make a snow angel for me. And I’ll talk to you next week.