The Top 5 Eating Habits That Destroy Body Confidence
& Why There Are No Good or Bad Foods, Only Bad Habits
By Ali Novitsky, M.D.
Life Coach for Women Physicians
Triple Board Certified in Neonatology, Pediatrics, and Obesity Medicine
Are you worried about what not to eat when you’re trying to lose weight? Are you still labeling foods as “good” or “bad” choices?
What if I told you that you can still eat all the foods you love and become fitter even if you don’t technically lose weight?
That’s right, you don’t have to eliminate foods you love for the sake of losing weight or feeling good in your body, you just have to become more mindful of how your body feels before and after eating and adjust accordingly.
If you’re used to trying diet after diet with no lasting results, focusing on mindful eating for weight loss sounds too simple, right?
The thing is it is simple, but it also works!
In this blog, I show you how small changes make a BIG difference in how confident you feel in your body.
Below are the top 5 daily eating habits that are silently sabotaging how you feel in your body:
1. Following Diet Plans That Aren’t Tailored to Your Body Type
Nothing is more frustrating than spending hundreds of dollars on a diet plan only for the weight to come right back and those expensive supplements to go to waste. But, when we take a prescribed plan that wasn’t meant for our specific body type and try to force it to work for us, it is sure to fail. That’s because everybody has different needs and a generic plan won’t work for everyone.
This is why, as a life and wellness coach for women physicians, I focus on developing individual body confidence, rather than trying to force our bodies to fit into the same molds. We all have different genetic make-ups and learning to work with your body instead of against it to set realistic body goals, will reduce frustration and stress.
The main problem is we don't trust what our bodies are telling us, or we aren’t listening. And when we don't we are cut off from the innate knowledge our body has to share with us about what it needs. A generic “get skinny quick” fad diet will never fit everyone’s unique, individual needs.
When we learn to eat for our body’s natural balance we start to see the results we want, rather than trying to fit into a one-size-fits-all diet plan that was never really achievable anyway.
2. Eating Too Much or Not Enough Caused By Lack of Awareness
Where are you on the restrictive eating spectrum?
There are two ways we self-sabotage our diet — one is by eating too much and the other is by not eating enough. Both of these destructive eating habits work against you because restricting what you eat is no healthier than overeating.
What’s usually the main culprit? Our emotions.
We tend to overeat when we are sad, indulging with friends on weekends, or procrastinating something that makes us anxious. We also tend to restrict our eating when we feel shame, embarrassment, or boredom. But we shouldn’t ignore our emotions either, they are there to teach us something.
So, if we can work on regulating our emotions we won’t have to worry so much about regulating our food.
3. Not Being Mindful About When and Why We Eat
Are you eating when you’re hungry or are you eating because of an emotional response to something?
Many of the women I train in my life coaching programs come in completely unaware of the reasons why and when they choose to eat each day. As busy physicians, it’s understandable why this happens when we are so busy running around, making rounds, and cramming meals or snacks whenever we can into our day.
When eating on the go, or not even sitting down to eat, becomes the norm, you become disconnected from your body. And when we are not connected to our bodies it puts us at risk for over and under-eating.
4. Not Paying Attention To What Your Body Is Telling You
Knowing when to say “yes” and when to say “no” to eating can be one of our biggest challenges.
This article from Harvard Health, “What is Mindful Eating?,” also makes a great point, that often we are too distracted with the TV, electronics, or work to even notice how much or what we’re eating.
How can you pay attention to your body’s natural sensors when you aren’t paying tuned out?
For example, if you are on your phone or computer while eating a meal, you may be too detached from your body to even know you are full. This leads to overeating more than you need to be satisfied. Instead, you can learn to say “no” to another bite when you realize you’re full.
Mindful eating has many benefits, including not eating more than your body needs because you’ll notice sooner when you feel satisfied. This naturally helps with weight loss, as you tend to eat less when you are paying attention to your body’s cues for “I’m full” and “That’s enough” when you are more consciously watchful.
5. Restricting Foods You Love & Not Eating Mindfully
In my physician coaching programs for women, I don’t believe in cutting out foods you love, or restricting ingredients, because we don’t need to.
When you restrict food you love you feel deprived, which most often leads to overeating something later on. When you feel you missed out on something, you almost always find a way to make it up to yourself with a much higher calorie substitute later on.
But, if you follow the principles I based my group physician life coaching program, G.O.A.L.S. Society on, you can’t go wrong!
Here is what the first three letters stand for in G.O.A.L.S:
G = Get Hungry First
O = Observe for Fullness
A = Allow Feelings
See it’s really pretty simple — wait until you’re hungry then stop when you’re full. Feel the feelings that arise, but try not to eat to cope with them. If we are too busy or not tuning into our bodies, these signals are so easy to miss.
Once we start following our body’s natural cues, we start seeing results more easily.
These mindful eating techniques will help you lose weight and feel better in your body easily over time. Plus, they are also easy to implement. We JUST NEED TO DO THEM!
For example, the next time you head to the fridge, just ask yourself this simple question — “Am I actually hungry right now?” If not you may need to ask yourself if you are engaging in emotional eating, ie. eating out of boredom, stress, or avoidance of tasks. If the answer is you truly feel hungry — go for it! Just make sure to stop when you’re full.
Join your fellow women physicians for the ultimate whole-person wellness program and feel better in your body immediately!
