2482: Don’t Respond Emotionally to Health and Fitness Slip-Ups by Nia Shanks on Restrictive Eating & Workout Guilt

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[00:01:09] This is Optimal Health Daily Episode 2482. Don't respond emotionally to Health and Fitness

[00:01:15] Slip-ups by Nia Shanks of NiaShanks.com and I'm Dr. Neal.

[00:01:20] Hey there, happy middle of the week Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily,

[00:01:25] where I read some of the best health and fitness blogs to you and always with a little bit of

[00:01:29] my commentary at the end.

[00:01:31] And today is Wednesday and like I do every Wednesday, I like to share a little bit of

[00:01:35] inspiration with you.

[00:01:36] So here we go.

[00:01:38] Quote, do what you love or love what you do.

[00:01:43] George Burns. Alright, and with that, let's get right to it and

[00:01:47] start optimizing your life. Don't respond emotionally to health and fitness

[00:01:56] slip-ups by Nia Shanks of NiaShanks.com. Being consumed with guilt after overindulging and then making extra restrictions with food for the next two days

[00:02:08] Feeling like you didn't work hard enough in your workout because you were unable to improve your performance

[00:02:14] So you squeeze in an extra workout to make up for it

[00:02:19] Feeling discouraged when the scale doesn't budge for a week straight

[00:02:22] So you add extra cardio to your weekly routine

[00:02:26] and make food restrictions.

[00:02:28] What do all of these scenarios have in common?

[00:02:31] An emotional response.

[00:02:33] You've done it. I've done it.

[00:02:35] Everyone has done it.

[00:02:37] Responded to a day of less than ideal eating

[00:02:40] and drinking choices or a lackluster workout

[00:02:43] with guilt or frustration, then we

[00:02:45] make an emotionally fueled response to those events.

[00:02:49] What's wrong with having an emotional response to such situations?

[00:02:52] You may be wondering, well to be blunt, a lot.

[00:02:56] Let's explore a real-life example of what can happen when a bad food choice or missed

[00:03:01] workout or stagnant scale weight is treated with an emotional

[00:03:05] response.

[00:03:07] The problem with responding emotionally.

[00:03:10] A trainee made great changes to her eating habits a few weeks ago.

[00:03:14] She decided it was time to start eating mostly real, minimally processed foods.

[00:03:19] To get even better results, she vowed to not simply eat mostly real foods, she was going

[00:03:24] to eat nothing mostly real foods, she was going to eat nothing

[00:03:25] but real foods.

[00:03:27] After all, if eating real food most of the time and enjoying not super healthy foods occasionally

[00:03:33] and in moderate amounts was good, then eating them exclusively was much better.

[00:03:39] For sake of the example, we'll call this eating clean.

[00:03:43] She managed to turn down dirty foods for a few

[00:03:46] weeks and was proud of her discipline and willpower. But then, she just couldn't take

[00:03:51] it anymore. She was craving the Girl Scout cookies, a self-professed guilty pleasure

[00:03:56] food that had been in the pantry for weeks, so she decided to have a few. After eating

[00:04:02] a few she rationalized, well, I screwed up and ate something dirty,

[00:04:07] so what does it matter if I eat more? And eat more, she did. She devoured the whole sleeve

[00:04:13] of delectable cookie goodness. Immediately she was stricken with guilt. I was doing so

[00:04:20] well, how can I make up for this slip-up?" was her response. Her choice for an appropriate

[00:04:25] course of action was to make tomorrow's workout tougher and longer, and eat less tomorrow

[00:04:32] too to compound the damage control efforts. You can, hopefully, see the problem, but it

[00:04:38] doesn't stop there. This emotion-based response will soon become habit. Anytime she slips up

[00:04:44] or doesn't have a good workout, her proceeding actions will be determined

[00:04:48] by emotion, not objectivity. These emotion-based responses accumulate over time and could lead

[00:04:55] to obsessive eating habits, binge eating, and basically revolving your life around food and the gym.

[00:05:02] I know, because I've experienced it. Revolving your life around food, the gym. I know, because I've experienced it.

[00:05:05] Revolving your life around food, the gym,

[00:05:07] and chasing a specific body image,

[00:05:10] causes the ugly side of health and fitness

[00:05:12] to rear its grotesque head.

[00:05:14] But this can be prevented if we remove emotion

[00:05:17] from how we view our eating choices, our workouts,

[00:05:20] and things like the number on the bathroom scale.

[00:05:23] Let's replay that scenario, but instead respond objectively, with no emotional component.

[00:05:30] The Power of Responding Objectively

[00:05:33] Our trainee decides to start eating mostly real, minimally processed foods.

[00:05:38] She ruins something good by taking it to an extreme when she vows to eat clean exclusively.

[00:05:44] After a few weeks, her willpower

[00:05:46] vanishes and she puts down a whole sleeve of Girl Scout cookies. Rather than getting

[00:05:51] upset, she stops, looks at what happened, and figures out why it occurred. Here's what

[00:05:58] she discovers. She ended up eating a whole sleeve of cookies because she set a rigid,

[00:06:04] restrictive rule,

[00:06:05] eat nothing but clean foods.

[00:06:07] She realizes this was silly because there's no way

[00:06:10] she could follow such a rule long-term.

[00:06:12] Problem successfully identified.

[00:06:15] Then, discovering what led her

[00:06:18] to eating a whole sleeve of cookies,

[00:06:20] she remedies the issue.

[00:06:21] Going forward, she's not going to use

[00:06:24] the clean or dirty food labels,

[00:06:26] and will instead choose to eat mostly real,

[00:06:29] minimally processed foods most of the time,

[00:06:32] and will enjoy her favorite foods

[00:06:34] like Girl Scout cookies on occasion in moderate amounts.

[00:06:39] And she needn't do an extra or harder workout

[00:06:43] to punish herself for eating too many cookies.

[00:06:45] Rather, she's going to move forward making food choices that make her feel great, and

[00:06:50] she's going to get stronger in the gym.

[00:06:53] Our trainee objectively observed the scenario, what caused it to happen, and chose a simple

[00:06:58] solution going forward to prevent it from happening again.

[00:07:02] No guilt, shame, remorse, or frustration required.

[00:07:07] Better yet, when she faces another challenge,

[00:07:10] she'll be equipped to handle it with the same positive attitude.

[00:07:14] For example, if she hops on the bathroom scale

[00:07:16] and it reveals a two-pound increase,

[00:07:19] she won't respond with an emotion-fueled attitude, like,

[00:07:23] what the f***? I gained two pounds.

[00:07:24] Now I'm going to do an extra workout and eat less today. won't respond with an emotion-fueled attitude like, what the f*** I gain two pounds,

[00:07:25] now I'm going to do an extra workout and eat less today.

[00:07:28] I must get this off as quickly as possible.

[00:07:31] Instead, she'll be objective and say things like,

[00:07:34] so I gain two pounds.

[00:07:36] It makes sense because I have skipped several strength

[00:07:39] training sessions this month,

[00:07:41] and my eating habits haven't been great.

[00:07:43] Instead of packing a lunch for work, I've been getting fast food multiple times per week.

[00:07:48] I'll start packing my lunch again, and keep the kitchen at home stocked with minimally processed foods I enjoy.

[00:07:54] And I'll take a protein-rich snack to work, so I have energy to go to the gym after.

[00:08:00] I'll get back into the habits that make me feel great, and I know I'll be moving in the right direction.

[00:08:06] How you eat, how you work out, and the number on the scale shouldn't have the power to

[00:08:10] affect your mood for the day.

[00:08:12] When things don't go as planned or you get off track, don't respond to the situation

[00:08:17] emotionally.

[00:08:19] Choose instead to do something that can help you in the short and long term.

[00:08:23] Be objective.

[00:08:30] You just listened to the post titled Don't Respond Emotionally to Health and Fitness Slip-Ups

[00:08:34] by Neashenks of Neashenks.com

[00:08:36] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:09:49] Dr. Neal here for my commentary.

[00:09:52] One great way to stay objective is to journal write down what you ate, how much, and when

[00:10:00] it can be helpful to note how you felt before and after you ate, like if you felt full, anxious,

[00:10:06] tired, stressed, bored or guilty. Researchers have found that one of the best ways to get back on

[00:10:13] track after a slip up or a setback is to go back to making note of your behaviors. This is because

[00:10:19] it refocuses our attention on these behaviors. After all, in order to change something, we must first pay attention to it.

[00:10:28] And taking notes and keeping track is one of the best ways to force ourselves to pay

[00:10:34] attention.

[00:10:35] Alright, that'll do it for today.

[00:10:37] Thank you so much for being here.

[00:10:39] Thank you for listening all the way through to the end.

[00:10:41] I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you back here on tomorrow's

[00:10:45] show where your optimal life awaits.