The ABCs of Food Freedom (Part 2): Awareness

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Transcript 

  You're listening to part two of a four-part series of how to stop tracking and learn to listen to your body. So if you haven't yet, go back and listen to part one, then stay tuned for the next couple of episodes.

As we explore this topic, I wanted to start with the A of what I call the ABCs of Food Freedom, or really any lasting change, especially around establishing new habits, or breaking old habits, or even weight loss. And the A stands for awareness.

If you listened to the last episode, you'd probably think that I would never recommend tracking your food, but I'm going to surprise you. I actually do suggest tracking your food, especially in the beginning parts of starting a new lifestyle or establishing new habits. And here's why.

Tracking helps build awareness and without being aware of the changes that you need to make, it's really hard to make those changes. Here's where my method of tracking is a little bit different though, than the tracking that you might be used to.

I suggest starting out by tracking what you're eating, the time you're eating, your hunger levels before and after you eat, your mood before and after you eat, and lastly, your energy before and after you eat. You can use a 1 to 10 hunger scale or just jot down little notes, like not very hungry or starving, whatever is easier for you. For your mood, this one is the trickiest one for most people, but I suggest going online to find like a mood chart or feelings chart. That can be really helpful with identifying how you're actually feeling before and after you eat. And then lastly, your energy levels. That is also probably easiest to just use a 1 to 10 scale. But again, if it's easier for you to just write down a short little blurb about your energy, that's okay, too.

But this information can help us determine if you need to add more food to your meals, add more proteins or fats or fiber or carbohydrates, drink more water, eat more frequently during the day, or just change up the timing of your meals to give you more energy. It can help us determine if maybe you're struggling with emotional eating, or if you'd benefit from adding more flavor or texture, or even treats during your day.

So again, tracking your food with the time of your meals and your hunger level, mood, and energy before and after you eat is so much more practical and helpful than tracking calories, macros or points. And it doesn't cause the psychological tailspin that tracking calories and macros and points would create, at least in my experience.

So anyway, the A of the ABC's is for awareness and we'll dive a little bit more into the B and C - the beliefs and consistency - part of this method in our next episodes.