6 Things Your Nutritionist Wishes You’d Stop – Part 1 by Joan Kent, PhD

6 Things Your Nutritionist Wishes You’d Stop – Part 1

By Joan Kent, PhD

 

Most nutritionists have the client’s best interest at heart. We may not all agree on every nutrition point, but we do want you – our clients – to get the results you’re looking for and feel great.

 

It’s a safe guess that most nutritionists would not miss it at all if their clients stopped the following things – immediately and forever.

 

Here are the first 2:

 

1. Eating “Good for You” Foods You Hate

 

Deprivation can make us do strange things with food. Feeling deprived can result from eating so little food that you’re always hungry, always thinking about food, always ready to gnaw the legs off the furniture.

 

It’s definitely a binge waiting to happen. But there’s more to it.

 

Several years ago, during an appointment, a frustrated client stomped her foot at me and demanded, “Joan, do you ever enjoy eating?!”

 

My answer was an enthusiastic, “Of course!” True, we might need to give up certain foods – including some favorites – to get the results we want.

 

But the good news is plenty of delicious foods we can and do enjoy will fit into our food plan –  even if we stop eating junk.

 

The main point is to avoid eating foods you hate. Please. Don’t eat them because you heard they’re good for you. Don’t eat them because you read about the antioxidants they contain.

Don’t eat them because you’re worried about your health.

 

Chances are your nutritionist can find a different food with the same healthful nutrients. In a food you won’t hate!

 

Most importantly, if you don’t like what you’re eating, you’ll feel deprived – just as if you were skimping and semi-starving yourself throughout the day.

 

Eating food you hate is another binge waiting to happen.

 

2. Using Food as Entertainment or Reward

 

• We eat when we’re bored.
• We eat to take a break from tedious work.
• We eat to procrastinate on that work project we dread starting.
• We eat because we got through a killer workout that morning.
• We eat to celebrate that we had a great day.
• We eat to celebrate hitting our weight loss goal that week.

 

Feel free to fill in your own.

 

In one athletic training program for which I was the nutritionist, a participant refused to follow my guidelines. Why? She was working out hard and felt entitled to eat whatever foods she wanted. Who could argue with that? We all get to make our own decisions.

 

When her training coach took her weight and measurements at the end of the program, though, she was disappointed. Hers had all increased. It was a shame, too. She probably would have performed better in the program if she had followed the food plan.

 

It seems unusual that we’d eat more food – or eat junk – when things are going well. But, as just one example, endorphins (beta-endorphin) can be released when mood state is low AND when mood is “up” and positive.

 

Beta-endorphin “turns off” the satiety center of the brain. It makes us want to eat more. It doesn’t matter whether the original trigger was positive or negative.

 

When we’re already up, we want more of that up feeling. And we may end up eating foods that stimulate more endorphins. More sugar, please.

 

Be back here for 2 more things your nutritionist wishes you’d stop – don’t miss them!

 

I’m available to help with aspects of your health and wellbeing that are directly related to my specialties: diabetes, pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, persistent low moods, mood swings, cravings, ADD, and more. Just visit www.LastResortNutrition.com and grab your free Empowered Eating Consult. Find out how a few simple changes can make a big difference in your health and how you feel.

 

Brought to you by Dr. Joan Kent, best-selling author of Stronger Than Sugar:  7 Simple Steps to Defeat Sugar Addiction, Lift Your Mood and Transform Your Health.