LF 073: I binge on vacation.

Are you worried about your bikini body? Does vacation food make your anxiety spike and start the inner dialogue of self-loathing? Is preoccupation with your body getting in the way of you enjoying time spent adventuring? Listen now to hear my tips from a previous Love, Food Podcast episode on how to start living in the moment.

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Episode's Key Points:

• Food should help us enjoy life MORE, not detract from the experience.
• The best way to keep yourself bingeing while on vacation is to restrict before, and plan to restrict after. A lack of permission throughout the year leads to "indulging" while away!
• When you're on vacation, you're there to enjoy the food and experience life the way another culture does... not to obsess over what you're eating and how it may or may not be impacting your body size.
• How do we work on permission to help prevent this kind of preoccupation about food and body during vacation?
  • Think about a pendulum (courtesy of Maria Paredes)... if we don't interrupt the calm sway, the highs and lows stay pretty even-keeled. This is what an intuitive, normal relationship with food looks like! If we eat past fullness for any reason, the pendulum adjusts and we eat less at some point in relation to our intuitive hunger signals to make up for it. This is how our body takes care of us! BUT if we look at the pendulum another way, with a disordered relationship with food, we can see violent swings back and forth between restriction and bingeing. SO the only way to stop it from moving violently in the bingeing direction is to STOP pulling in the direction of restriction!
  • Take a hands-off approach!!
  • Check out my blog post to learn how to slow down that pendulum!
• It's ABNORMAL to have a competent relationship with food in our culture!!
• Being human is about following rhythms... the seasons, hunger... we can't contain these rhythms, but we should trust them!
• When we step away from diets, it's NATURAL to experience a feeling of rebellion. The best way to bypass this rebellion is to immerse yourself in this "vacation brain" while you're at home.
• Eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full is simple, but it's NOT easy!
• Unconditional permission is FUNDAMENTAL to food peace and intuitive eating.
• Restricting food will only lead to bingeing, and if you want to have a vacation experience free from food preoccupation and filled with cultural immersion, it's time to take away the food rules and diet talk during your regular, everyday life.
• Always remember to reach out to an eating disorder dietitian to help you on your food peace journey!

Show Notes:

• Link to subscribe to the weekly FREE Food Peace Newsletter. It is sent out every Tuesday morning and no spam EVER. By signing up, I will also send you Love Food's Season 1's Food Peace Syllabus.
• Start your private practice! Click here and use code BOSS to get 10% off Jennifer McGurk's Pursuing Private Practice Masterclass!
• Maria Paredes' Love, Food Podcast episode
• Aaron Flores' Love, Food Podcast episode
• "When relying on hunger is too scary" by Julie Duffy Dillon
• Eating Disorder Dietitian
• Julie Dillon RD blog

Do you have a complicated relationship with food? I want to help! Send your Dear Food letter to LoveFoodPodcast@gmail.com. 

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