My Personal Health Journey and Mission

You're listening to Reset Your Health. I'm your

host, Mary, and with me is my co -host, Steve.

Thank you for tuning in. If you'd like to share

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media. And as always, comment on the episodes

in your desired method and let us know what you'd

like to hear next. Today's topic is going to

be on food addiction. That's a huge area in my

life that I've struggled with. Of course, I covered

a little bit on the last episode of how I was

overweight. And honestly, I was as overweight

as I was because I ate food. Yes, different people

have different metabolisms, yada, yada. There

can be different reasons that it's harder for

somebody to lose weight or easier for somebody

to gain weight than the other. But when everything's

said and done, it's because we're taking more

calories in than we're giving out. And a lot

of that can be because of food addiction. So

there's a show that I. um have watched and I'm

sure many of you have heard of is my 600 pound

life and it's funny because the doctor on there

um even though I'm very sensitive to those people

and the ones that are on there because I can

only relate because had I not changed my life

when I did I would have been one of those people

the road the road I was going down But the doctor,

he tells them, he's straightforward with them,

and he just says, look, you're overweight because

you're eating too much. You know, when these

people that are 650 pounds tell them, no, I'm

going by your diet, but yet they gain 30 pounds.

Well, to be realistic, just to maintain 650 pounds,

I didn't do the math on this. So I may not be

exact, but that takes about six or 7 ,000 calories

a day just to maintain that weight. It might

even be close to the 8 ,000 mark, but I'm not

exactly sure. That is a lot of food. Now, it's

a lot of food, but at the same time, we can get

those calories very easily with today's society,

with going to... You know, whatever the fast

food, I want to say McDonald's. But honestly,

McDonald's isn't even where people are going

anymore. It's more Chick -fil -A and in and out

burger, things like that. And one meal, just

one meal at those places can easily be fifteen

hundred and two thousand calories, possibly even

more. depending on what you order, if there's

a drink with it, there's a milkshake with it,

how big the fries are. I mean, whatever. So many

different things. That's as many calories as

you need in one day. And what's sad is when you're

done within an hour, you're hungry again. And

we can always go into that in a future episode

and how that how that food is broken down, unlike.

Beans that is 2 ,000 calories. It's just broken

down totally different than a Burger and fries.

That's 2 ,000 calories. Of course, it's more

food too, but we can go on to that in the future

So something that I brought up to you actually

earlier today was the fact that Like I have access

to snacks I have access to all kinds of goodies

stuff that tastes good, but it lacks the proper

nutrition and calories that Honestly, you don't

need because, again, there's nothing there of

substance. It's literally crap that you are eating.

And it's to fill that void of like, I like this

food or I'm hungry, but it's not actually it's

not actually achieving the goal of filling that

hunger because you continue to go back. Well,

so putting on that, we have two boys ourselves.

We have a 12 year old and a nine year old. My

rule always after a meal, let's say dinner, if

I've given them a sufficient amount of food and

they should be good, then the rule is they can

have veggies or in between meals, they can have

veggies. So I always have things like celery,

carrots, cucumber, things like that are always

cleaned, cut up and ready in the fridge. And

I don't mean veggies with with, you know, dips

and all of this stuff. I mean, just plain veggies.

And I say, and my son, my oldest is really bad

with always wanting something sweet. So he'll

say, can we have, you know, this or that after

dinner? And sometimes I allow in the summer some

watermelon after dinner or maybe an apple or

pineapple, whatever it is. But I always say.

A lot of times I'm saying no, because when we

just want a craving, I'm like, no, if you're

still hungry, go ahead and go get some of those

cucumbers out of there. Well, no, I don't want

any of those. Well, honestly, a craving doesn't

always mean hunger. And so trying to figure out

that difference between actual hunger, because

here in the U .S. very few people go hungry.

I'm not saying absolutely nobody in the US goes

hungry because there are people that do, but

most of the time that's by choice. Even a homeless

person, the one thing that they can get is a

meal. It may not be the most nutritious meal

and everything else, but there's so many places

that they can go to get food. And that's also

the thing that a lot of people will stop and

either pick them up something from fast food

or or they'll have something in their car and

give it to them, those type of things. So very

few people in America are going to go without

food. So we have to know when it's the right

time to stop and we need to know what our triggers

are. So I have never been an alcoholic, so I

do not want to down anybody who has been. But

the difference between alcohol and food addiction

is alcohol. You can completely give up. 100 %

never touch it again. Obviously, that's not going

to be an easy thing for people who struggle with

alcohol, but they don't ever have to pick it

up again. Somebody with a food addiction, guess

what? You have to eat. So you also have to find

out what things are triggering. For me, I had

learned years ago that something that's very

triggering for me is Reese's. It must be that

combination of peanut butter and that milk chocolate

because I can have a healthy smoothie that I've

prepared with maybe a little bit of almond butter

and some cocoa powder and it just gives me a

different reaction. It doesn't take me down the

same rabbit hole even though it's still that

pretty much chocolate peanut butter. It doesn't

have the same chemical reaction. It doesn't give

me the same dopamine hit or the serotonin hit.

That's going on and I know when I have Reese's

or I have that peanut chocolate It takes me down

a rabbit hole and that's when I just go into

excessive overeating and I'll start with multiple

Reese's but then it leads in for the next few

days into all of these other foods. So it's just

something that I know if I decide to have a Reese's,

which is every once in a while, I know I have

to be very careful. Is this going to send me

or I just need to say no to it? So there's also

the fact that we recently got a ninja device

which allows us to make healthier ice cream because.

One of the earlier triggers that Mary and I both

had were we would eat a gallon of ice cream every

couple of days. Now this was back when I was

very large before my weight loss days and everything.

Yeah, I mean, I couldn't eat that if I tried

now. Like I eat maybe, I think what's the smallest

size, like a pint or something. Yeah, I think

so. Anyways, I can't barely get through one of

those anymore without being I'm done. I'm good.

But it also it creates that same chemical reaction

in your brain where the milk and the sugar and

the everything how it's hitting like you just

constantly crave more or you really need salt

after you're done and it sends you down another

different rabbit hole. Whereas when we use the

ninja device, we're able to make it healthier

with like almond milk and with protein powder

and maybe a couple of like littler mix in type

items that are. You know, for the most part,

I mean, it's it's mostly healthy, but it tastes

consistency wise about the same as ice cream,

but it doesn't give you the same dopamine hit

that ice cream does. And you feel fulfilled afterward

because you're getting that protein instead of

getting a bunch of sugar. So the ninja device

he's talking about is called the Ninja Creamy.

And I bought it earlier this year and we've used

it. We used it more over the summer while it

was hot than we are now, but we use it maybe

once a week now. But when I first got it, I had

to do a lot of playing around. I had to because

the recipes that come with it actually are. not

very healthy recipes in the book I'm sure they

taste fantastic but if I'm going to mix milk

sugar and all that stuff into it then why not

just go do the easy thing and buy it from the

store so what I do is I put in almond milk and

then I do ours we have the deluxe version. And

so the deluxe version is a bigger container.

And so I put two scoop two servings of protein

powder with my unsweetened almond milk, mix that

put it in the freezer. And then when we're ready

for ice cream, I pull it out and I mix it. So

literally all we are eating in that one container,

it's a quart. And so that container gives two

people a serving. And so I can either mix just

the top half just the bottom half whatever or

usually for us since there's four of us I mix

two containers we each have half of that container

and we're good. Literally all we are having is

a little bit unsweetened milk, almond milk and

some protein powder and so really it's no different

than having a protein shake so maybe that serving

that we're having is 200 calories and it's 25

grams of protein. Now what I do allow my family

to do with that and this is where that food addiction

and that that letting yourself have some things.

I will break down like a Oreo and it has a mix

in setting that where you can just have that

Oreo crushed up and it mixes it right through

the ice cream. And so it's like there's one Oreo

mixed into the serving. Or for me, every once

in a while, I will get a Reese's and I'll let

a Reese's be mixed into that setting or into

that ice cream just to give me that taste. That's

something that I had to learn as I fought, because

I'm not sure if I covered this on the last one.

But after I lost my weight, I struggled a lot

with binge purge disorder for at least five or

six years quite severely. where I would binge

on five to seven thousand calories and nobody

knew I was doing it. It was closet eating. It

was when I was alone and it was on just anything.

It was the granola bars in the basement. It was

the cereal. It was the whatever it was because

remember, I'm not holding a bunch of cookies

and things in my house anymore and I haven't

been. but then I would fall into these huge binges

where my stomach would literally hurt because

I had eaten so much and I didn't know what to

do but I was working out six hours a day. And

it's like it was my payoff. I would work out,

which I love working out and I love exercise.

I mean, I am a personal trainer, so of course

I back exercise and working out and everything.

But six, seven hours a day where I'm working

out for two hours early in the morning and then

the kids are napping or they're, you know, doing

something and I'm working out again and then

I'm working out again in the evenings, going

to a couple classes. I mean, that's just. obsessive.

And now I, I work out, you know, I do work out

six days a week. And, but I have my certain things

that I do to make sure I work all the muscle

groups and everything, but I don't have this

unhealthy way about anymore. It's, I'm no longer

at the time I was subconsciously, I was working

out to be able to have these binges and not gain

my weight back. And I didn't even realize I was

doing it. And so now I'm aware of that. And I

have to and I find myself to this day. I find

myself starting to go in the basement. That's

always kind of a starter point to me. And OK,

if I grab a snack because I actually need a snack,

most of what's in our house is pretty healthy,

then that's fine. But then I can grab another

and another and another. And I just stop challenge.

Choose. I stop. I think about what I'm doing.

And then I make my choice. OK, do I actually

need this granola bar? Do I actually need these

mango slices? I like the dehy or freeze dried

mango they sell at the store and things like

that. Do I really need these? And if I do, then

I'm going to let myself have, you know, two or

three mango slices. That's fine. But if I'm sitting

there eating half the bag of mango slices, it's

not because I'm hungry. It's because I'm letting

my food addiction take over. So yeah, I mean

And I I was shocked to find out how much you

were actually eating when it kind of came down

the pipe of of that But also like I I can get

into it too. I mean, I don't have the same metabolism

issues you do No, I show on the outside. He doesn't

yeah, so I mean like me it affects me internally

It doesn't affect me externally. So externally

I look the same Beanpole size that I have since

high school on the inside however I'm dealing

with it from a totally different perspective

because I've destroyed my insides by eating the

junk for years And I also can go down the same

rabbit hole of just eating and eating and eating

and I actually noticed that I was starting to

do that somewhat at work because I didn't have

enough food that I packed that was of quality

to take with me. That's because I work full time

and I don't pack every single one of his lunches

anymore. I've also learned that I need to pack

more of the healthy food when I'm packing it

so that I'm not as hungry throughout the day.

So I'm not running off to the work kitchen and

not that I don't mind the occasional snack in

there when I'm actually like I need a little

bit of a. a snack, but it can get down to the

rabbit hole where I'm like, I just want to keep

eating this particular item because it's here.

And it's also because I'm trying to hit that

hunger. But at the same time, I'm not fulfilling

that need with quality food. And so it's not

it just keeps me going down the rabbit hole of

trying to eat the same thing to fill that void.

So something I want to cover I kind of vaguely

covered is a little bit of what's causing the

food addiction so One the main thing about the

food addiction is the feel -good chemical Which

I'm sure you've heard of serotonin and the dopamine

hit it is literally giving you This hit this

I feel good it only lasts a short time While

we're eating that little bit maybe right after

and then it goes away And then you need it again,

and you need it again. It's Actually sugar is

just as addictive they say as cocaine I believe

it and So I'm not saying never ever ever heavier

sugar But really pay attention. Are you going

I? I'm a coffee drinker and I used to love going

to the coffee places and getting frappes. Okay,

frappes for my coffee drinkers out there, frappes

are not coffee, they're dessert. And of course

they taste fantastic, but they're literally,

again, Milk and sugar. Look at a lot of those

things that you're being led back to the milk

and sugar reaction actually causes you to have

this sensation that brings you this happiness

and this, you know, chemical reaction. And that's

why you keep coming back to get more and more.

Now, that's what I used to do. I slowly I do

like to have my coffee. Alright, and so what

I usually do is I make my own iced coffee now

my ninja creamy it does have a crema Chino Setting

to it and so what I'll do is I'll do unsweetened

almond milk Because I do like some almond milk

in my coffee. I don't know there's something

about the creaminess for you guys Like I know

a few of my clients you all about the black coffee

awesome job That's the best way to do it, but

I'm not quite there So I will go ahead and put

my cold brew that I make myself and then I put

a little bit unsweetened almond milk and then

I'll do like a tablespoon of pudding mix. Or

if I know I'm not going to have a lot of time

in between clients to eat, I'll put protein powder

in it and I mix that whatever I freeze it. And

then I mix it so it stays nice and cold all day

long. And it it gives me my coffee. It gives

me just a of sweetness and when I need it it

gives me that protein as well that's only when

I know I don't have time to get an actual some

food in but so what I'm saying is pay attention

to what what is causing that feel -good reaction

for you and then start taking yourself away from

it. Everybody can struggle with food addiction

and it's becoming more and more common and more

prominent because of how processed the foods

are anymore and how much of this we're doing.

People don't realize things like white bread.

White bread actually gives you the same reaction

as sugar because it breaks down right away and

turns right into sugar and insulin. Sugar comes

in a lot of sneaky forms. And certain things

that are signs of food addiction are things like

cravings, as I've already mentioned, restlessness,

irritability. I mean, if you're getting irritable

because you really want a chocolate bar or you

really want this or that, I mean, those are all

signs that you're struggling. And I'm sure many

of you are struggling with food addiction. And

I think a lot of times we can be struggling with

that addiction and not even realize that we are.

So for me, the best thing I could do trying to

overcome that is first, I had to take those things

out of my diet completely, which is hard. You

can do it right away. Some people are strong

enough to do it, and other ones may have to do

it more in a a slow process, you know, take,

take if you're eating, I don't know, a bowl of

ice cream every night, take it down to three

a week and then slowly until it's gone. Some

of you who can handle it, take it out. Period.

End it. That's the best way, in my opinion, to

be able to overcome it, get it out of the house,

get it gone. But I know that's not realistic

for everybody. So I'm just trying to be realistic

here. And that is the first thing because you

need to detoxify your body. So once you get it

all out, you're no longer having it. Give yourself

time to detoxify. That does mean that you may

have to go through headaches and withdrawals

of some sort through this. And then after that,

then you'll want to start keeping track, start

paying attention. You know, once I Once you're

completely done with that detoxifying, what is

it that you should keep out of your life? Kind

of like me with the Reese's, I like to have one

from time to time, but it's not something I buy.

It's maybe if we're somewhere and there's a little,

I really like the Christmas tree ones and the

pumpkin ones. They have the right, I guess, depth

of peanut butter. I don't know. I love those

ones. I do not buy them. Because if they come

into the house, I know where that's taking me.

So if I'm somewhere and somebody offers me one,

I might take one because it's just not very often

that they're around. But figure out what you

can have and what you can't have. And then keep

it out of your life. If it's something that you

know is going to set you off and send you down,

you've got to take it out. And it's OK. You may

have to go through some sadness. through it.

I know that sounds crazy to some of you, but

honestly, food becomes a relationship to us.

So it's almost like we're giving up a relationship

or a love of ours. And that's okay if you have

to mourn over it. Now with me being a Christian,

I have to lean in, lean into God. I had to a

lot going through my recovery in the beginning

and Now, it's just like sometimes I have to pause

and just be like, OK, Lord, please help me to

not do this. And then I'll find a scripture that,

you know, is about not giving in to self. And

that's what it really is doing is when we're

doing that, we're giving in self or I read. I

just remember that my body is the Holy Temple

and I'm hurting it by putting these things in.

So those are all kind of things that. One of

the things that I did in the very beginning too,

was when I did a, I wish I would have done more.

I really wish I would have done more of these

journal entries, but when I was first, first,

first recovering, I wrote down a, I wrote down

a binge of mine. When I binge, I went and wrote

a letter to myself. My coach had told me to.

I said, Dear Mary. So I wrote this note. I had

had a huge binge, put it in a drawer, forgot

about it. It sat there. Well, fast forward about

six months and I had fallen into a binge. I was

home alone. I don't know why I headed to the

basement. I ate a couple of granola bars or something.

And then I don't remember exactly what I ate

100 percent, but it was a few old things. And

I go in my office and I sit there and I start

crying. And I was like, really? I did this again.

I thought I had recovered because it had been

months since I had had a binge. And I was just

down on myself. I'm like, you're never going

to overcome this. This is just who you are. And

I was just it was just devastated. Well, something.

And this is I believe it was God. Something made

me open up my drawer. And I see this notebook

in there and I pull it out and know what was

in there. And I find that letter I had wrote

to myself. And what that letter said was, Dear

Mary, I've eaten 38 granola bars and 42 cookies.

My stomach is killing your my herb. My stomach

is killing itself. Whatever it was. Why won't

you just love yourself? And those words to this

day stick with me. Why won't you just love yourself?

Why won't you just love yourself? And for me,

that was huge because of looking at the binge

I had had that day. I had eaten about two granola

bars and like a bowl of cereal. So, yes, had

I had a binge, I wouldn't even say it was a binge.

It was a little bit of overeating, right? I had

eaten, what, 600 calories maybe compared to.

38 granola bars and 42 cookies or whatever. I

mean, it was tremendous amount. I think the other

one had been about 6000 calories compared to

maybe 600. So I guess look at those steps as

you go. Don't expect yourself to be perfect overnight.

Don't expect yourself five years from now to

not have a mess up, but give yourself credit

for the steps that you're taking. I think that's

all great information that you've relayed. I

appreciate you sharing your story and being vulnerable

about it because it is a difficult thing for

a lot of people to deal with. I would like to

see questions. We'll see if that happens. So

like, is this something that you struggle with?

Is this something that maybe you need like an

accountability partner or somebody that you can

be like, hey, how did you deal with this? And

I'm willing to get something going. Maybe we

do an email chain or social media, whatever.

If this is something that you need help with,

please be willing. To reach out and let me know

so that I can help you because this is very difficult

to do alone and you can I think you have a Facebook

group still somewhere floating around of like

fit ready go That you were running for a number

of years that you were doing some of that when

we had the website going It was years ago. But

anyways, if people want to get a hold of you,

they can either do that or they can reach out

feedback at geekcastradio .com and I'll forward

the information along. I would also like to know

what you would like covered. Please give me some

input of what you would like to hear. You know,

I'm not an absolute expert, but I do have quite

a bit of training in nutrition and also on the

fitness side. So remember, there is this fitness

side. So just tell me what you would like to

hear about. So I think that's about it on this

episode of Reset Your Health. So I want to thank

everybody for listening to the episode. And you

can, of course, interact with us on this podcast

episode on GeekCastRadio .com and listen on your

favorite podcatcher. So until next time, we'll

see you again on Reset Your Health. Thank you.

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