Embodied Nourishment

Melissa Vasikauskas

Transforming your obsession with food so that your life can revolve around the important things. read less

Health & FitnessHealth & Fitness

NutritionNutrition

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19. The Most Important Piece of Body Image Recovery

19. The Most Important Piece of Body Image Recovery

I know you hate your body and you think that weight loss will make you love it, so you restrict HARD. But a malnourished brain is a brain that can’t perceive things accurately, so the image of yourself becomes increasingly distorted. And then whatever body changes you do experience might make you feel better in some ways, but deep down it doesn’t solve everything. So you might try a different diet...and then a different diet...and then a different diet...etc... All the while body image never really improves, or worse yet, it gets more dysmorphic. Rehabilitating your nutrition intake is the number one, most important part of body image recovery. As long as you fear adequate nourishment, you will continue to live in fear of your body. This might sound cliche BUT the only way to get over your fear is to face your fear. In the cases of severe eating disorders, nutrition rehabilitation is paramount in recovery. In hospital settings, work with a dietitian is prioritized even over the work with a therapist. There are some individuals who can fully heal their eating disorders without ever seeing a therapist, as long as they stay steadfast in their work with their dietitian. (Not throwing shade to ED therapists you guys rock and are totally needed! I know you know that some people are just resistant to therapy or decline it and they can still go a long way on their own). All of this to say, even if you don’t claim a full blown eating disorder, even if your relationship with food is just slightly disordered…you can not underestimate the power of adequate nutrition in feeling better on a holistic level. It is paramount in healing the mind, body, and soul all together. We can talk alllllll dayyyy longgggg about core beliefs and not feeling good enough or worthy or deserving of love and your childhood trauma and your trauma responses etc etc etc BUT Until you start to finally commit to adequate nourishment, the neurons in your brain that fire together to produce body dysmorphia will NEVER heal. They will NEVER rewire to a positive self image as long as you are engaging in restrictive thoughts and behaviors. This is precisely why I named my nutrition counseling program “Nourish to Flourish.” Nutrition is the most important step 💕 Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Join Nourish to Flourish here: 1:1 Coaching

Episodes

19. The Most Important Piece of Body Image Recovery

19. The Most Important Piece of Body Image Recovery

I know you hate your body and you think that weight loss will make you love it, so you restrict HARD. But a malnourished brain is a brain that can’t perceive things accurately, so the image of yourself becomes increasingly distorted. And then whatever body changes you do experience might make you feel better in some ways, but deep down it doesn’t solve everything. So you might try a different diet...and then a different diet...and then a different diet...etc... All the while body image never really improves, or worse yet, it gets more dysmorphic. Rehabilitating your nutrition intake is the number one, most important part of body image recovery. As long as you fear adequate nourishment, you will continue to live in fear of your body. This might sound cliche BUT the only way to get over your fear is to face your fear. In the cases of severe eating disorders, nutrition rehabilitation is paramount in recovery. In hospital settings, work with a dietitian is prioritized even over the work with a therapist. There are some individuals who can fully heal their eating disorders without ever seeing a therapist, as long as they stay steadfast in their work with their dietitian. (Not throwing shade to ED therapists you guys rock and are totally needed! I know you know that some people are just resistant to therapy or decline it and they can still go a long way on their own). All of this to say, even if you don’t claim a full blown eating disorder, even if your relationship with food is just slightly disordered…you can not underestimate the power of adequate nutrition in feeling better on a holistic level. It is paramount in healing the mind, body, and soul all together. We can talk alllllll dayyyy longgggg about core beliefs and not feeling good enough or worthy or deserving of love and your childhood trauma and your trauma responses etc etc etc BUT Until you start to finally commit to adequate nourishment, the neurons in your brain that fire together to produce body dysmorphia will NEVER heal. They will NEVER rewire to a positive self image as long as you are engaging in restrictive thoughts and behaviors. This is precisely why I named my nutrition counseling program “Nourish to Flourish.” Nutrition is the most important step 💕 Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Join Nourish to Flourish here: 1:1 Coaching

18. When Intuitive Eating Isn’t Working

18. When Intuitive Eating Isn’t Working

If you've been trying intuitive eating and you feel like it is not working to bring you the peace and health you are looking for, I am going to tell you why right now... The practice and principles of intuitive eating are IDEALISTIC. They are the end goal. But the end goal is not always the means to that end. Yes it sounds IDEAL to trust your hunger and fullness and to not have any food rules, BUT if you have a bunch of internalized rules that dictate your life, it's damn near impossible to adopt intuitive eating just because you want to. Becoming an intuitive eater takes hard and challenging work. You have to actively and intentionally implement a nutrition practice that DIRECTLY challenges your food rules head on. For example, if you believe that you are only allowed to eat carbohydrates once per day, then you need a nutrition prescription that includes eating carbohydrates 3-4 times per day. And this must be followed every day for at least 6 weeks before your body starts to connect with carbohydrates and give you clear somatic feedback on how they make you feel. While intuitive eating sounds like a walk in the park, the process of getting there is anything but that. It's emotional, it's challenging, and the experience of coming back home into your body is vulnerable. But it's also the most empowering thing you will ever do. In today's podcast episode I dive deeper into why intuitive eating might not be working for you and I give you step by step instructions on how you can start to make it work for you, FOR REAL. Find me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Work with me 1:1 here

17. Body Discomfort

17. Body Discomfort

"I want to lose weight because I am just so uncomfortable in my body." Raise your hand if you've said these words! What if I told you that there was a way to learn how to be comfortable in the body that you are in right now? And what if I told you that your resistance to learning this comfort is not protecting your health like you think it is? I know what you are thinking. You're sitting there saying "If I learn how to be comfortable with the body I have right now then I'm afraid I'm going to continue gaining weight." I know you think that shame and judgment about your body are going to be the things that motivate you to lose weight or be healthier, but the truth is that shame and judgment are the very things that are keeping you stuck in the cycle of disordered eating. There is a way to be kind to yourself, feel comfortable with where you are at, AND achieve your health goals. In this podcast episode, I show you exactly how to do this. Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Work with me 1:1 by clicking here

16. Interoceptive Awareness, Fullness versus Satisfaction

16. Interoceptive Awareness, Fullness versus Satisfaction

If you don’t eat a 700 calorie cheeseburger because you think it’s unhealthy but then proceed to eat a bunch of “healthy” stuff devoid of the essential proteins, fats, and nutrients that your body was craving in the cheeseburger, bringing your total calorie intake to 1,200….why do you keep doing that? So many times people will express to me that they eat so healthy but can’t understand why they keep gaining weight. Well guess what, if you’re constantly denying your cravings, which is your body’s way of trying to communicate to you what it needs, and instead you’re forcing yourself to eat foods that your body actually isn’t look for and doesn’t need, then of course your weight and appetite homeostasis is going to be way off. You have plenty of room in your diet to get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs and still have room for something like a cheeseburger. Not everything you ingest needs to be jam packed with vitamins and minerals. Your body also needs major macronutrients like protein and fat (cheeseburger). Your cravings aren’t trying to deceive you. Your body is very smart. It regulates your heart rate, respiration rate, and body temperature, and it can also perfectly regulate your appetite and cravings as well if you decide to finally TRUST it. In this episode, I dive into your sense of interoceptive awareness and show you how to prioritize satisfaction so that you can stop obsessing over food, achieve health, and be free to move on with your life. Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Email inquiries to melissa@thesaltydietitian.net Work with me 1:1 by clicking here

15. Why You Don’t Trust Yourself With Food

15. Why You Don’t Trust Yourself With Food

Relationships that are characterized by control and manipulation stem from a lack of trust. When we are in a relationship with someone we don't trust, we tend to deploy our controlling side. This might look like creating rules to follow, invading the other person's privacy by going through their things, and picking fights. What does your relationship with food look like? Is that relationship also characterized by control and manipulation? Similar to controlling relationships with other people, controlling relationships with food ALSO stems from a lack of trust. But this lack of trust instead stems from a lack of trust for ONESELF. When you don't trust yourself with food you may deploy food rules and regulations such as: no eating after 7pmno more than 1,600 calories per dayonly one serving of bread allowed each daymust exercise at least 5 days per weekI know you think that one day you can food-rule your way into peace and freedom with food, but reflect...has following diets and food rules every brought you peace or has it only made you more obsessed and anxious? The way to actually arrive at peace and freedom around food is to work on the relationship that you have with yourself and to learn how to develop trust for yourself. Follow me on instagram @embodied.nourishment Work with me 1:1 by clicking here

14. Stop Stepping on the Scale

14. Stop Stepping on the Scale

I know you think that stepping on the scale is giving you control over your body and your food intake. But what if I told you that stepping on the scale is the very thing that is making you out of control? It goes a little something like this: 1 - You step on the scale 2 - If the number is higher than desired, you eat less. If the number is lower than expected you continue eating less to “continue your progress” 3 - Your food intake in controlled by the number, not your intuition or your body’s actual needs 4 - The restriction is unsustainable leading to chronic episodes of overeating 5 - anxiety takes over and you step on the scale again repeating numbers 1-4 I know you think that stepping on the scale is going to one day be the thing that connects you with your body. I promise you, it will never be the tool that does that for you. In fact it is the very tool that is preventing you from connecting with your body. I know it’s scary to think about ditching the scale. And it’s a very normal human reaction to want to ease the anxiety right away. And you may feel a relief temporarily when you step on the scale but continuing to step on the scale is just deepening the void of this cycle. The only way out is to stop stepping on the scale. Only then does the journey of reconnecting with your body and making peace with food become possible. Good news for you, you don’t have to try this alone! ⚡️ MARCH 7th - 28th I am hosting a FREE 21 day challenge to DITCH THE SCALE ⚡️ What’s included in this freebie? ⚡️ a workbook to guide you through 3 weeks without the scale ⚡️ a private Facebook group for communal support to help cheer each other on ⚡️ some other surprises 🤫 Click this link and enter your email to join us! Ditch The Scale Challenge

13. My Birth Story, Sex, Kink, Divesting from Systems

13. My Birth Story, Sex, Kink, Divesting from Systems

This episode is a little different today. I talk about my unmedicated birth story, kink, sex, divesting from oppressive systems and somehow tie it all together back to diet culture. I understand this episode may not be for everyone, it sure is a little "out there." If you're a kinky freak, you'll certainly love it. Regardless of your sexual preferences, I recommend that everyone read the book that I referenced in this podcast, Existential Kink by Carolyn Elliott, PHD Find me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment

12. Food Allergy or Just Anxiety?

12. Food Allergy or Just Anxiety?

I can not count the number of times I've met people who have confused anxiety for a food allergy or food sensitivity. Serotonin is a mood regulator and is responsible for helping us to manage our emotions. Most of our serotonin is created in our guts. In the case of anxiety, extra serotonin is produced which can cause stomach discomfort and ruin appetite. Many people will bounce between gastroenterologists and functional medicine doctors trying to find the root cause of their stomach pain. This is where the spiral of elimination diets begin. If you have tried elimination diets with no relief, the reason is because elimination diets can disrupt the microbiome in your gut making stomach pain even worse. Additionally, elimination diets in it of themselves can cause stress and anxiety. More stress, more anxiety, more stomach disruption and on top of it all, no answers for a way out. Has your pursuit of finding which foods upset your stomach completely destroyed your relationship with food? Have you been left feeling more confused and more out of touch with your body? In this podcast episode I discuss how easy it is to confuse the symptoms of anxiety for a food allergy and how the pursuit of finding a food allergy when there is no evidence to support one, ends up destroying the composition of the gut even further causing more pain and anxiety. I also show you how to break this cycle and how to eat in a way that will make you feel good again. Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Find my services here: https://embodiednourishment.net/

11. Exercising for Health

11. Exercising for Health

Meet exercise culture - diet culture’s fraternal twin sister.⁣ ⁣ Are you under the impression that unless you’re doing a bootcamp 7 days a week and you’re sweating for an hour straight each time, the workout doesn’t count?⁣ ⁣ What if I told you that that’s not what’s necessary to reap the health benefits of exercise? I can bore you with the research…”exercise is beneficial for health…”blah blah blah, yes, yes it is beneficial for health. But how much? The research certainly does NOT suggest that your workout needs to be a bootcamp to “count.”⁣ ⁣ The research shows that any movement beyond sedentary improves health outcomes. This means that if you are sedentary most of the day and you add just 10 minutes of walking to your routine, you get to reap the cardiovascular and muscular benefits of exercise!⁣ ⁣ ALSO, if you do a kick ass workout and then eat fries and a milkshake afterwards, guess what? You STILL get to experience the health benefits of exercise. Food in fact does not “cancel out” your workout.⁣ ⁣ Does your relationship with exercise go hand in hand with your relationship with food? Do you have really big plans of starting an intense workout routine along with a really strict diet? And then once you come off your diet, your exercise plans go in the trash as well? How long have you been stuck on that cycle only to grow more and more frustrated in your attempts to get healthy? ⁣ Here’s some more research - people who do not push themselves to do workouts that are uncomfortable, end up moving and exercising more over the course of their lives than those who are stuck in the diet/exercise-binge/sedentary cycle. In other words, people who practice joyful movement end up exercising more than people who subject themselves to intense, unsustainable workouts. Are you scratching your head? Ironic, I know.⁣ ⁣ This doesn’t have to be your story anymore. You can break this vicious cycle. In what ways do you enjoy moving? In this episode, I explain how you can start to build a healthy relationship with exercise. Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Work with me 1:1 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit Book Referenced: Intuitive Eating. A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

10. Science is Limited but Your Intuition is Not

10. Science is Limited but Your Intuition is Not

The research behind nutrition is very limited. I’m not talking about cold hard nutrition facts such as “Vitamin C helps in the production of collagen.” Not that. I’m talking about hypotheses that are studied. Hypotheses such as “a diet high in cholesterol leads to high blood cholesterol levels.” Those studies are super limited. And the conclusions that are drawn from them are often debunked after several years. I mean, remember when they used to tell us that eggs were bad? Old, fake news! When it comes to nutrition and human metabolism, there are so many factors to be adjusted for that are very difficult to adjust for. These include environmental factors, socioeconomic status, gender, age, and DNA. Some are easier to adjust for than others but when we are talking about factors such as DNA, there are factors that we don’t even know to adjust for. And this is why the “science” behind nutrition is constantly changing. This is why the information that’s put out on google and social media is so confusing. No wonder we get pulled from the mind-body connection and feel chaos and disorder when it comes to making food choices. In this episode I talk about your intuition being the guiding light and the most accurate truth for guiding your food choices. I also talk about how the USDA dietary guidelines are inherently oppressive and designed to rip you from your intuition and how you can start reconnecting to the energy today. I even accidentally dabbled on the vaccine conversation. Whoops! Follow me on Instagram: @embodied.nourishment Work with me 1:1 - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit

9. It’s Not About the Food

9. It’s Not About the Food

How many times have you ever said to yourself "why can't I just eat a sandwich without thinking about calories and carbs and just move on with my life?" Why can't you, do you think? I know you want to be free from food rules and dieting. Maybe the questions we need to start asking ourselves is "why do food rules even exist?" Where did they come from? Why are they even here? What is the goal of them? And for what purposes? I have a few theories. For one, we live under capitalism. We were born into a world where our worth and value has been measure by efficiency, production, and bottom lines. This overarching structure and framework doesn't go away when we walk into our kitchen to pick something out to eat. Maybe this system is responsible for making us feel like we need to eat in certain ways and any missteps deeply threaten our sense of self-worth. In this podcast episode I dive deeper into the larger systems and structures in place that could be keeping you stuck in a chaotic relationship with food. It's not about the food. It's about something so much more. Follow me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Work with me 1:1: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit

8. Shame is Not an Effective Motivator for Behavior Change

8. Shame is Not an Effective Motivator for Behavior Change

Shaming yourself doesn't work to break toxic cycles. You can not shame your way into make better choices for your life. How many times have you overate a food and then resorted to speaking meanly to yourself? "I'm such an idiot." "What's wrong with me?" "I have no self control." "I hate myself." We all know the cliche saying "would you speak to your friend the way you speak to yourself?" And of course you wouldn't talk to your friend in these ways. And yet you continue to talk to your own self in this way. Did you know that you shame yourself in these ways because your brain is actually wired to do so? The limbic system is the part of the brain that associates emotions with memories. When your brain perceives your own behavior to be a threat to yourself, the limbic system gets activated and tries to make you feel a negative emotion to associate with the behavior in the pursuit of convincing you to never perform that behavior again. But the thing is that it doesn't work. In fact, psychologists call the limbic system the "prison of the survival brain." When you are caught in a cycle, there are cultural, genetic, and environmental factors that put you in the trap of that cycle. Shaming yourself doesn't actually do anything to get you out of that trap. Shame just berates you for being in a trap that you had no part in creating. The cool thing about being a human though is that we have something called a prefrontal cortex and we can use this part of our brain to evolve in a different way. We can use our brain to stop shaming ourselves and to get curious about why we are caught in the trap to begin with. Only then can we gain control and make the behavior changes that we are trying to make. In this podcast episode, I dive much deeper in these little nooks and crannies of the human brain and I show you exactly how to break out of these toxic cycles so that you can make the behavior changes that you're looking for. Find me on Instagram @embodied.nourishment Click the link below for nutrition counseling: Work with me 1:1

7. Self Assurance

7. Self Assurance

Hi friends! This podcast is a little different today. The first 6 episodes were more "professional" sounding and "containerized" if you will. But I didn't quit my clinical job to continue being containerized. You see, the standardized practice of care doesn't let practitioners go below the surface of "what are you eating?" And yet, all of the things that cause disordered eating and negative body image are found below the surface of "what are you eating?" Because disordered eating and negative body image is never about the food. It's about your individual life experience and the thoughts, feelings, and childhood conditioning that you bring into the conversation of food and body. In childhood you may have learned that you were responsible for everyone else's emotions. Your emotional needs perhaps weren't met and/or they were invalidated. In the child's mind this lays the ground for a negative self image. This negative self image is the foundation on disordered eating is born. The constant seeking of approval is the only way you may have learned to deserve love. And this is the seeking that you will continue to mutilate yourself for until you fill that void within yourself. So in this episode, I let the fire come out a little stronger. There are expletives and tough love, and also a hell of a lot of inspiration to start becoming more self confident and self assured in who you are, right now, in the body that you are in, in this very moment. Find my services here: https://embodiednourishment.net/

6. Cleaning Out the Closet

6. Cleaning Out the Closet

I know you think that keeping clothes that are too small for you in your closet is motivating you to "eat healthy" or to "lose weight." But what if I told you that keeping these clothes in your closet is actually destroying your relationship with food and is making you unhealthy? In this podcast episode I talk about how important it is for your health to acquire clothes that fit your body, how to grieve those old clothes, and I finish with some tips on how to get started in the "Cleaning Out the Closet" journey. Work with me here: 1:1 Nutrition Counseling

In this podcast episode I talk about how major corporations do a really good job of making us feel personally responsible for their waste and corruption and how this also plays out in generational family patterns. I also talk about PEOPLE PLEASING and how being afraid to hurt people’s feelings may also be causing us to eat beyond our fullness cues. And finally at the end I show you how reconnecting with your body and learning conscious eating practices can help you to decrease food waste in your everyday life, putting more money in your pocket. Work with me by filling out this form! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit?usp=sharing

4. Cope with your emotions without using food.

4. Cope with your emotions without using food.

The first step to healing your relationship with food is being adequately nourished. You can not deal with your emotions from a place of hunger. Only after you are properly nourished can you then move on to practice coping with your emotions without using food. This episode will show you how to do that! Click the link below for 1:1 nutrition counseling! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit

3. You’re not addicted to food. You’re addicted to dieting.

3. You’re not addicted to food. You’re addicted to dieting.

Trying to combat bingeing with more restriction is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. If you want to stop experiencing the lows and depressions of bingeing then you must learn how to cope with life without the high that comes with restriction. The only way to stop this madness is to deal with the problem at the SOURCE and the problem is NOT the food. It is NEVER the food. The problem is the restriction. Whether that’s physical or mental restriction, the binges will never stop until you quit dieting. In this episode, I show you how to break the cycle of "food addiction." Find me on Instagram: @embodied.nourishment Apply for nutrition counseling with me using this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit

2. It isn’t willpower, it’s survival. Stop dieting today!

2. It isn’t willpower, it’s survival. Stop dieting today!

In this episode I talk about what survival mode is and why your physiology hates intentional weight loss. Your DNA won’t let you keep intentional loss off and neither will your brain stem. At the end I give you a meal plan framework to help you begin restoring trust with your body so it can feel safe and nourished. Apply to work with me 1:1 here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-4HeEBh1eJ3ujUYt0QiIWEA3TsaLn0F98rwYcAngCK4/edit

1. Introduction

1. Introduction

Welcome to the Embodied Nourishment Podcast. My name is Melissa and I help individuals transform their obsessions with food and body so that their lives can revolve around the important things.