Improve your Nutrition in a Simplistic and Holistic Way with Eva Rodriguez (Part 2)! Episode 012

Richard Conner 0:02

Welcome to Episode 12. This is part two of our interview with Eva Rodriguez, certified integrative nutrition health coach and host of the healthy, sexy, strong podcast. Today, Eva will share with us the 10 principles of intuitive eating, we will first pick up where we left off, where Eva was talking about intuitive eating, before she gets into the 10 principles. Hope you enjoy.

Eva Rodriguez 0:28

When you’re a chronic diet or right, or you’re always trying to, you know, jumping from one fat to the other, it puts you in this diet mentality that we need to get out of basically, because as we know, diets don’t work. So basically, it’s a process, right? It’s a process that you start to learn your signals, you start to really listen to your body, when am I hungry? When am I full? Is it time to stop eating now? Am I trying to eat to the point of just tasty or am I wanting to stuff myself, once you start to really understand those cues in your body, then you’re really, really able to fully get into intuitive eating, it took me a few months to actually get to that place. So again, it’s not something that like I’m gonna become an intuitive eater tomorrow, and I’m going to be great. It’s a process. And when I teach my clients this method, we use a workbook we we really go deep into something that’s called, like, where you track your you’re on a scale, it’s called the fullness discovery scale, where you’re tracking on a scale of zero to 10. At any given moment, how hungry are you? But again, it’s a you have to be really, really aware of the the cues that your body is giving you on whether or not you’re hungry. Are you hungry? Are you bored? Are you hungry? Or are you just thirsty? Like these are all things that you have to kind of ask yourself as you’re going through this process. So a lot of it is unlearning the behaviors that a lot of us have learned by listening to the diet industry.

Intro/Outro 1:52

Welcome to Inspire Virtual Runs Podcast, whether you are new to running or seasoned, get tips in the inspiration that you need to achieve your health and fitness goals. Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.

Richard Conner 2:12

So what are the 10 principles Now, I’m hanging on the edge of my chair.

Eva Rodriguez 2:19

Okay, so the 10 principles, basically. So we’ll start with number one. Number one is reject the diet mentality. It’s rejecting the diet mentality and the false hope that losing weight quickly and easily and permanently will happen by following a certain diet. So the diet culture has led so many people to feel like a failure. Every time that a new diet stops working, or you getting all the way back, it’s trained us to feel like, oh, man, I wasn’t able to stick with this, or, you know, I can never, I can never stick with anything, right? I hear that from so many people that have tried these different types of, well, it worked for a few weeks, and then you know, I fell off. It’s that diet mentality that actually keeps you stuck. And it keeps you feeling bad about yourself. And I’m a huge believer, I don’t ever want anyone feeling bad about themselves. And we need to love ourselves. First is reject the diet mentality. Number two is honor your hunger. And you do this by keeping your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. So what happens is, you know, someone will decide I’m going to go on a diet, first thing they do, they stop eating a bunch of foods, they start restricting, they take out all bread, or all carbs or all whatever the you know, whatever it is that you enjoy eating, you’re going to stop eating that tomorrow. So it’s like, I’m not gonna anymore, ever again, I’m never gonna eat white stuff again, right? So if we go into this, like really extreme thinking, what happens though, is if you don’t keep yourselves fed with the adequate foods, adequate energy, adequate carbohydrates, you’re going to inevitably trigger this primal need to overeat. So you’ll notice whenever you’re restricting yourself, like if you’re like, I’m not going to eat carbs, what are you fantasizing about, at five o’clock carbs. Like I would have like, like dreams about food when I was, you know, doing these crazy things. It’s just primarily, you’re going to be triggered to want to overeat, and so crave these things that you’ve cannot have. So once you reach this moment of excessive hunger, because oftentimes, when you go on a diet, the first thing you do is you cut your calories into like really drastically, and you’re under eating. Now you’re under nourishing yourself. Once you reach this moment of hunger, every intention you had of being like moderate and you know, conscious and all that, oh, that goes out the window, because now you’re hangry and now your body is like I want all the carbs. So by learning to honor your hunger as the first biological signal when you’re hungry when that first hits you, that sets the stage for rebuilding the trust in yourself and in food, which makes sense takes us to number three, which is make peace with food.

Richard Conner 5:00

Before you before you jump into number three, Eva, let’s talk about your honor your hunger. And something you said there about, if you cut carbs out, you’re you’re going to create the carbs and you’re going to dream about it. So I want to share a personal experience and get your get your input on this. So I actually stopped drinking soda almost four years ago, I would think about it all the time. And it would want soda, but I wouldn’t have it and I’ve been successful all this time. But it wasn’t until I don’t know the last six, nine months, just like you said, literally, I’m having dreams about drinking soda. So it’s a little bizarre, but I want you know, I’m just wondering, is that similar to like, what you’re talking about? Like is it is my body saying, Hey, buddy, it’s been a long time since you’ve had soda. There’s no need for this, you should be drinking soda. How would I deal with that?

Eva Rodriguez 5:46

That’s, that’s really funny. And really interesting, too. I would say I similarly, I stopped drinking soda more like two years ago when I first started with my health journey. And, and I was I was probably worse than most people because I would drink diet sodas, and I thought I was doing something I was like, oh, listen, guys, it’s zero calories in here. Like, I really thought I was doing something special by drinking diet and not even realizing all the chemicals in there that makes it even worse and all the sugar. So I think in a case, like your case, right, where it’s been four years, and you haven’t, it might just be a matter of just like you, your body might just be like, I wonder what it tastes like now. And I would, I would venture to say that if you were to try soda, like tonight, it would probably be disgusting to you. And I think it’s because and that’s also happened to me as well with photos actually, especially because this happened maybe about a couple months ago where I don’t know where I was. But that’s all they had or something like that. And so I had like two sips. And I was like, This is so nasty. And to think and to think that I used to drink five, six cans of diet sodas a day. So I think it’s also a matter i don’t i don’t think your body is like, Hey, we want it like let’s let’s go back into this habit. I think it’s more just a matter of maybe you drink it so much in your lifetime that you know you did you did you cut it off Cold Turkey?

Richard Conner 7:09

I did.

Eva Rodriguez 7:10

Yeah. And so perhaps perhaps certain things have been triggering you also, let’s think about it. We’re in the middle of his crazy time. So you may just be getting triggered sometimes by all of the stuff that’s going on and soda in your body’s kind of your your body’s way of saying like, Hey, that was comfort food for us.

Richard Conner 7:29

Mm hmm.

Eva Rodriguez 7:29

You know what I mean? And we’re feeling some type of way right now maybe like, Huh, that soda might seem a little. And I think some people also kind of will feel this with whether it’s carbs, whether it’s alcohol, anytime you stopped doing something where you attached it to something, whether it was routine, or whether it was attaching it to a certain feeling that can sometimes get triggered into you then thinking that you want it again, which is why it’s really important to to It’s what we call deconstruct your cravings to really get to the bottom of like, why, like, why is this craving creeping up on me right now?

Richard Conner 8:01

Okay, all right. Well, that’s, that’s great to know. So I’ll still stay away from soda.

Eva Rodriguez 8:07

Yes, stay away. Unless you want to try like two sips and let me know if it’s nasty.

Richard Conner 8:13

We’ll see. I’ll have to think about it. I got to finish up my fourth year, and then we’ll decide after the after the New Year. Very cool.

Eva Rodriguez 8:20

Sounds good.

Richard Conner 8:21

Alright, so I interrupted you, you’re just rolling into number three. So let’s get back to that one.

Eva Rodriguez 8:26

Yeah, so number three is to make peace with food. For this, I always say, you know, stop fighting with food, stop giving food power. I think a lot of times we can make food out to be more than what it is. It’s not a scary monster. It’s not following you and stalking you, right? It’s just food. And food has one job. And it’s just the fuel was like, that’s what food does. That’s that’s the only purpose it has. But so many of us put so many extras on what food actually is and like what it represents. And we give it so much headspace and control over our lives. And we plan our lives around food. And it’s like, come on, like it’s just like, let’s just make peace with it. And also, again, if you tell yourself that you can’t have something or you shouldn’t have a particular food, unless it’s because your doctor said that you can’t or you shouldn’t have it, it can lead to like we just had these intense feelings of deprivation. And then that can build itself into these uncontrollable cravings and oftentimes binging. So number three being make peace with food, just just giving, just understanding that it’s just food, right? It’s just food and it’s what you make it, it doesn’t need to be this, this scary thing that that controls our lives. Number four is then to challenge the food police. So just because you eat a cookie doesn’t make you a bad person. Just because you eat kale doesn’t make you a good person. Right and oftentimes with this whole making food more important than it is that’s where the food police comes in. where it’s like, this is good. This is bad. This is good food, bad food, healthy food unhealthy food. The food police mentality just a Hold this, this unreasonable set of rules that the diet culture has created. And the police station is deep inside our mind deep inside our psyche. And this mindset is what leads us to feeling guilty or hopeless, if we fall off plan, or if we, you know, if we have a moment of weakness, and you eat a slice of cake, or whatever it is, then you’re, you’re you’re judging yourself instead of giving yourself grace. And then again, reminding yourself it’s just food. It’s just food, eating bad one day or quote, bad, one day is not going to set you off track for the rest of your life. It was just one day you get back on, you get back on whatever wagon you were on, and just keep it moving. But oftentimes, again, the mindset gets you stuck there and pulls you down. It’s like see, you see what see why you can’t right, you see why you can’t stick to anything. So we want to challenge the food police.

Richard Conner 10:49

So for the food for the food police. This is an interesting one. So tell us a little bit more about that. I’m thinking in the cookie example if I have a cookie, and now I feel bad about it. Because my internal internal food police is saying you shouldn’t have done that. Oh, well, you know, well, it’s all over now. I might as well eat more right? One more the whole bag whatever the case is. So. So is that is that what you’re saying? Is like if you don’t don’t feel guilty about having one or two cookies. So you don’t start to I guess go overboard or like how does that work?

Eva Rodriguez 11:21

Yeah, absolutely. Otherwise, you sabotage yourself, right? Otherwise, you sabotage your progress, you sabotage yourself. And then you’re again you’re you’re in and then you are in food jail, right? And then you’re sitting there, you know, on the floor, looking at your hands, like, Ah, man, right? Like, I messed up like, no, it’s not, it’s not that serious. It doesn’t mean Oh, screw it, I’m just gonna eat the whole sleeve of cookies. Now, it doesn’t mean that because that’ll take Well, we’ll address honoring your body at a little while. Because that wouldn’t be honoring your body. But it’s just saying I had a cookie or I had three or whatever, you know, it’s fine. I’ll get back on track tomorrow, instead of living in that negative headspace of now I messed up now I’m going to sabotage my progress. Now I’m just going to eat not only am I going to eat the cookies, I’m also going to eat the ice cream and the brownies and a soda to gulf it down with you know what I mean? Like, in some people will go there because they because if you’re a very if you want to see what happens follow very strict guidelines, once you falter, or once you get off track, it’s really difficult to get people back. It’s really difficult to be like, okay, you had a bad day, you had a bad you can have a bad week, and I still won’t judge you I will never judge you. It’s just don’t give up. And that’s what ends up happening. Oftentimes, when people fall into the diet mentality, the food police mentality, it’s like, oh, F at All right, I’ll start to get on Monday. But it’s Tuesday, right? Except it’s Tuesday, so that you’re giving yourself six extra days. So you know, EFF off your diet or your your plan, right, whatever it was that you you committed to doing for your health. And then now you have a whole week of catch up to play. So it’s not falling into that self sabotage. It’s not falling into that guilt into that hopelessness into that judgment zone that a lot of us do to ourselves. And sometimes unconsciously, sometimes we don’t even realize that we’re sitting here judging ourselves, and the decisions that we’re making with our food or with whatever else until I have someone do an exercise on mindset. And it’s like, let’s talk about all of your limiting beliefs. And then these things come up. Oh, this is why I believe I can’t do this. Because every time XYZ happens, I fall off, you know, or every time, you know, every time I have a bad day, I want a pint of Ben and Jerry’s like that used to be my thing. And I was.

Richard Conner 13:38

what flavor?

Eva Rodriguez 13:38

Oh my gosh, I’m either Cherry Garcia, okay, or the one the double one, the one with the cookie dough and like the brownie. Okay. But yeah, it you know, it becomes, you know, we fall into these patterns, right? And it’s like, that’s just my pattern. That’s just what I do. Right? And then it goes back to, again, how I address the limiting beliefs? Is that a fact? Or that a choice you’re making? Is that a fact? Or is that just a thought you’re having? Right, and then giving ourselves the grace of bad days will always come? Like that’s the whole thing as much as I’m about positivity and affirmations and all of that. And I live that lifestyle. I don’t live in denial. And I’m not this, you know, Pollyanna, where it’s like, everything’s always going to be great. We are going to have bad days, we’re going to have bad moments, you’re going to have a bad week, a bad year. I mean, it could be any of these things. It doesn’t mean that you give up on yourself. And it doesn’t mean that you give up on your health. And that’s why mind body spirit. It’s all very connected.

Richard Conner 13:42

Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing that. So that was that was number four right, challenge the food police.

Eva Rodriguez 14:19

The number five is discover the satisfaction factor. Oftentimes in our compulsion to comply with this diet culture, we overlook the pleasure and the satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience. So part of this part of number five is just slowing down and actually enjoying your meals. For people that eat really fast, sometimes that is what I’ll tell them. And you may have heard this said before, is eating with your non-dominant hand, because it forces you to slow down, it forces you to pick up the fork, actually pay attention to how much you’re putting on your fork, then you put it down, and then you’re chewing. But anything that you can do to just slow down and actually enjoy your meals, not only does it help you actually enjoy, like what you’re actually eating instead of gulfing it down. But it also helps you to discover when you’ve had enough, because when you’re eating really fast, you’re bypassing your, your fullness signal, because you’re just eating right, you’re just eating, your stomach is still in the middle of processing, and you’re eating even more. So when you slow down. It allows you to really get more in tuned with your body and in tune with your signals. And you’ll realize oftentimes, you’ll realize that you might just eat less food than you thought you are, because you were just eating slower. That’s why it’s important to just, you’re also eating for enjoyment. Otherwise, what’s the point? Otherwise, you know, if you’re just going to just like golf it all down? And then you’re going to give you some heartburn because you ate too fast, right? Like what? What is the good and bad? Like? Why are you why I always say to people as well, don’t make it more difficult for yourself. Again, life is hard enough. So anytime we can make something a little bit simpler, a little bit easier, or a little bit less, just like pushing a boulder up a hill, let’s do it. Let’s do it small changes. Sometimes it’s sometimes it’s just a really, really small habit changes. But that can be a big little change, I say, for people is try to slow down when you’re eating and just think about how you’re feeling and think about what you’re eating. People are always extremely right. It’s like, Oh, am I gonna sit there and like, really think about it each bite. No, you don’t have to do that. Like, let’s be extreme, let’s not go, let’s not go there. But just slow down a little bit. And your senses, your other senses start to kick in versus when you’re just rush, rush rush, you know, trying to rush through this sandwich or whatever it is that you’re eating.

Richard Conner 16:58

Okay

Eva Rodriguez 16:59

So that brings us to number six, which is feel your fullness. So again, we’re listening to our body signals are signals that are telling you that you’re no longer hungry. And by observing these signs that showed that you’re comfortably full, then you’re not stuffing yourself. Because with if you’re just eating and you’re completely not paying attention, and you’re just eating really fast. Next thing you know, you’ll look up, and you’re busting out of your pants, because you ate so much so fast, you missed the signal, you missed your body telling you were good. That’s enough, because you just kept eating through it you ate through that signal. So by pausing in the middle of your eating and asking yourself, oh, how does this food taste, just kind of just taking a moment, at the same time, you’re also assessing your hunger level. So you’ll start to notice again, that’s what I’m saying at the process. Because if you start to do this tomorrow, you might be like, I still ate the same amount, it’s gonna be a process or or you might say I still ate, I still was too full. If that’s the case, it’s just because you’re not used to your signals yet. Because if you’ve been ignoring all of your internal signals for your whole life, it’s going to take a little bit of time to really get back in tune with how it’s supposed to be. And oftentimes, this is something that, you know, the author is talking about, they Akin this whole thing to toddlers, like toddlers know when they’re hungry and whether or not in your father to you try to feed a toddler when they’re not hungry. What are they gonna do? Right? Right. And then when they’re full again, they’ll turn their face away. It’s like I’m done, I don’t want anymore. That’s how we are innately created. But as we get older, right, as we’re exposed to the diet world, and this whole diet mentality and all of that, we start to forget what our body’s actually telling us, we start to forget our signals. So that’s why taking the time to feel when you’re full. And then when you’re full, you stop eating, you don’t keep eating to the point where now you’re stuffed. That’s why there’s a scale zero to 10. So you don’t want to get to a full 10 where it’s like I’m so full, I have to unbutton my pants.

Richard Conner 19:07

Mm hmm.

Eva Rodriguez 19:08

You ate too much. You shouldn’t ever feel that way. If you do that, just because you’re eating too much. And you’re ignoring your your hunger signals. Oh, and your fullness signals.

Richard Conner 19:16

So So do you have any advice like feeling your fullness and maybe you do eat too fast? you have any advice to try to get ahead of that, like portion sizes or just things to think about ahead of time, so you don’t overdo it right right out of the gate.

Eva Rodriguez 19:31

Yeah, the main thing that I advise to do for anyone who’s even just even trying to get a little bit more mindful with their eating, is start with half of what you would normally eat. So as you’re serving yourself, or if you’re if it’s takeout or whatever, you know, eat half, eat half and then pause for about 15 minutes or so. So take a pause and see how you feel. And if after 15 minutes, you’re like yeah, no, I’m still hungry. I’m so hungry. I could eat the rest of this. Then Can you then continue and keep checking in with yourself, but I think that’s a, that’s a good way to just kind of start testing your cues on just like just start a little bit smaller, or serve yourself half of what you normally would or just even put a line through your plate. I’m just going to eat this first half right now. And then I’m going to take a break. Let’s see, I’m gonna see if I want the rest of it as you continue, because again, it just takes a little bit of time. But as your body starts to realize, oh, okay, he’s doing something different today. All right, all right, you know, like, our bodies are so smart. And I always say this to people, our bodies are so smart, their job is to keep us alive. And to keep us functional, your body wants you to be healthy, it wants to feel good. It wants to it, you don’t want to feel stuffed, you don’t want just like you don’t want to feel hungry, you just want to be satisfied. Start with that start with slowing down your eating. And also just like start with half of what you would normally do, and then come back and give yourself some time to just digest it. And then if in 15 minutes, you’re like, yeah, I’m still hungry, I’m gonna eat the rest of this meal, then go for it. No judgment, no judgment, you give yourself grace, you’re listening to your body, your body says I’m still hungry. So you feed it until it’s not hungry anymore.

Richard Conner 21:11

All right.

Eva Rodriguez 21:12

So number seven, is cope with your emotions with kindness. And I love this because again, it’s especially if you’re a stress eater, or emotional eater, or whatever you whatever the case may be. But finding ways to comfort yourself and nurture yourself and distract yourself. And resolve your issues without food is really, really important. And this is also on the opposite end as well. I know that there are people who like, I think there’s a quote, like, Don’t reward yourself with food, you’re not a dog or something like that. But it’s true, because a lot of people will say like, oh, when I, when I reached this milestone, whatever it is, I’m gonna buy myself, whatever, you know, an ice cream or whatever, right? And then they celebrate. A lot of times we celebrate things with food, and that’s okay sometimes. But just like it can be, it can go very, it can get to an extreme when you’re either doing it because you’re like, I’m celebrating this, I want to eat something and I want to attach my celebration to this food. It’s similar to what emotional stress eaters do when you’re an emotional eater or a stress eater, or binge eater you are eating to not feel something or because you’re feeling something so strongly that you don’t want to feel it anymore. So by eating, you’re numbing it. You know, by eating, You’re distracting yourself, right? So finding ways to cope with your emotions with kindness. And I also say I love to say with loving kindness, right? Because we want to treat ourselves with loving kindness, but find ways to deal with your emotions. That was the biggest, one of the biggest things that I had to really really come face to face with when I was healing. My emotional eating was I was just escaping all of these things. I didn’t want to feel I didn’t want to feel it. It was too, too much too painful, too deep, too intense. So it’s easier to eat Ben and Jerry’s than it is to sit down and journal on why this hurts so much. or journal on why my day at work sucks so bad, you know, or journal or process through these feelings. Yeah, right. It’s easier to just sit in front of a show that’s gonna make you laugh and eat something that’s gonna make you temporarily feel better, but after the fact, you’re not feeling so great. So learning to cope with your emotions with with kindness is number seven. Number eight, then is respect your body. So it’s really hard for us to reject the diet mentality if we’re unrealistic and overly critical of our body shape or our size. And so I say this to everyone all day every day. All bodies deserve love, dignity and respect. I don’t care what you look like what size you are, I don’t care how healthy or unhealthy you are. You still deserve love, dignity and respect. And your body does too. And one way to love yourself is by nourishing yourself properly. So that’s ties into this idea of you know when I tell people I eat what I want when I want when I’m hungry I eat when I’m not I don’t write they’re like oh like the whole pizza and ice cream thing right? I respect my body. And I love myself. I didn’t always but I do now. And because I respect my body and I love myself I would not eat pizza and ice cream every single day. Because that’s not healthy for me. Right because I know that there is not enough nutritional value in pizza and ice cream if there were, lord knows that’s all we would be eating.

right but there’s not enough nutritional value in certain foods. And that’s why you don’t eat them every single day. And that’s why you don’t over indulge in those those types of foods. Not to say you can never have them. It’s just you have them in moderation. You have them when the time is right you have them if my body really really wants it then I will listen to my body and give it ice cream. But your body doesn’t want ice cream every single day. Your you do you might have But your body doesn’t because, again, it’s how do you feel afterwards? That’s another big part of like doing intuitive eating is journaling is a big part of it as well. How do you feel after you eat certain foods, that’s how you start to determine, right? Again, listening to your body’s cues. That’s how you start to determine certain things. And you’ll start to learn as much as I think I love this type of food, it’s not good for me, because I don’t feel good afterwards. Or because I feel you know, sleepy after I eat this thing, or I feel XYZ after I eat this thing. And again, we’re respecting our bodies. So when you’re respecting your body, you don’t want to feel bad. Once you learn that part. Once you learn that whole part of like, love, respect dignity of yourself in your body, you don’t want to put unhealthy trans fats, right, you don’t want to put excess sugar, you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to expose yourself to things like hypertension and diabetes, because you love and respect your body.

Richard Conner 25:55

That’s great. I love that. I got to hear the next two. This is one of my favorites so far. And you know, I’ve gone through this personally, there are certain things that I stopped eating, probably initially, because I just thought they were unhealthy. But over time, I started to realize also that they would impact me in a negative way. Like I wouldn’t feel good. So So now, if that topic comes up about good eating certain foods, I’m like, No, no, no, it’s not only about not being healthy, but it’s also the way I feel. So now I kind of know and understand, you know why based on these principles, so thank you for sharing that.

Eva Rodriguez 26:29

Yeah, absolutely. So number nine is movement. So and this is, you know, very fitting for your show, doesn’t matter what you do, whether it’s running, walking, dancing, just make it a point to move your body every day. And it’s important, not just physically right, but it’s also what moving your body does mentally, it’s moving the energy and I will get to booboo because I can be Whoo, I will get to we will but it’s moving the stagnant energy out of your body is very, very important. That’s why runners get that runner’s high, the endorphins, it’s this feeling this feeling of just like, oh, like I did it, I accomplished something. And what we want to do so we want to move the body, move the energy out of your body move anything that’s stagnant, if you’re feeling something, if you’re feeling uncertain, or if you you know, a lot of us will hold tension in our shoulders, or neck, some people hold tension in their, in their abdomen, right. So that even that causes digestive issues. Moving, you’re actually moving, your body will help to move a lot of that along, and help you kind of get getting that fresh, just fresh air, just new fresh air by moving your body and by by being active. But also, by moving your body every day, you want to shift your focus to how it feels to move your body. Right. So again, we’re going into feelings, listening to our body listening to those cues, how does it feel when you move your body for example, you go run, you feel energized. Focus on that, that feeling because when you focus on the feeling that you get, you feel more energized, you feel more productive, you feel accomplished, whatever it is, this is what helps you on those days when you don’t want to. This is what helps, it’s similar to kind of remember your why these are the things that these are the little tools, right that I always say you go to your toolbox, but what makes you feel bad or what’s going to make you feel good. You want to go for that feeling. So that when you don’t want to do it, when you don’t want to get out of bed, when you don’t want to go put your shoes on, right when you don’t want to do it. remind yourself of how you’re going to feel afterwards and why it’s worth doing it. And that’s the shift to there. The shift is move your body and focus on the feeling that you get when you move your body. Ideally, you’re feeling better, you’re going to feel better after you’ve done whatever it is you’ve run, you’ve walked whatever, right you’re going to feel way better. After that. Then if you would have stayed home, in your bed, watching Netflix or whatever,

Richard Conner 28:55

eating ice cream

Eva Rodriguez 28:55

so its focusing, eating ice cream, while you watch Netflix, Ben and Jerry’s.

And then number 10 number 10 kind of like sums A lot of it up in one but honor your health is number 10. Again, you want to make food choices that honor your health and your taste buds while making you feel good. So you’re honoring your health and your taste buds while you feel good. I say this so much. It’s like a broken record for me. But like don’t do things that don’t make you feel good. Don’t I say this to my son, I say this a client, I think it’s a friend. If it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it. If it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it. Oftentimes we do things or we try to force ourselves to do things that we just don’t want to. There’s a difference between I don’t want to do it because it’s not enjoyable. And I don’t want to do it because I for another reason. It should make you feel good, right? It should make you feel intrinsically good. And remember that you don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy. You’re not going to suddenly get this like nutrient deficiency or become unhealthy from just one snack right or one meal or one day of eating poorly, you know, in quotes, we were talking about the cookies, you’re not gonna just all of a sudden become unhealthy because you had too many cookies yesterday. It’s a cumulative thing, right? So, so oftentimes, we will get stuck on this one thing that we did, where it’s like, no, it’s all cumulative, you had a bad day, that’s all right, that’s okay, you’re not just gonna, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all the progress that you’ve made for the past six months of your health journey doesn’t just fall apart, because you just had one bad day. So it’s what you consistently eat over time that matters. It’s progress, not perfection. And also, again, like we were saying a little bit ago, not forcing yourself to eat things that you truly don’t like, just because you think it’s healthy, I always encourage people to try new things. And to use something that I call the crowding out method, which is kind of like you focus on like, you know, if you’re going to eat vegetables, and protein and whatever, eat vegetables first, like eat the things that are considered, you know, the, the more nutrition the nutritious foods first, so that you can still eat other things later, but you may be just won’t over indulge, if you’re not quite, you know, paying attention. And that’s, that’s what we call crowding out. But, you know, I encourage people to to try different things, and to keep an open mind when it comes to their food choices. But if you just don’t like broccoli, don’t eat it. You know, it’s like people try to force themselves to fall into or to follow these really strict guidelines of like, you must eat this, you must not eat that you can’t do this, you know, and if that works for you, great. And if that’s sustainable, and you can do that for the rest of your life, do it, more power to you, I will support you, and I will applaud you. But if it doesn’t, don’t force yourself to do or eat or work out or do something that you are going to dread doing. Because when days get hard as they do, that will make it that much easier to be like Nah, not doing it. Nope, nope, not working out today, cuz I hate it, you know? Or, you know, I’m not gonna eat a salad. I hate salads. You know, it’s like, do you really hate salad? Or maybe you haven’t had a good salad? Maybe you haven’t tried? You know, different things? Or maybe just eat something else?

Richard Conner 32:05

Or maybe you don’t have the right running shoes.

Eva Rodriguez 32:07

Right. Exactly. Exactly. So So yeah, so honor your heart. That’s number 10.

Richard Conner 32:14

Very cool. I learned so much from this, I mean, just even these 10 principles. And I wrote all of them down, I’m reflecting on on each one, as you’re talking about that this, this is really, really helpful. And I’m sure that our listeners are going to get a lot out of this. because like you said, I mean, there are some folks that need to follow a plan they just need to have and then there are others that following a plan is really hard. So I’m hoping that with these principles in what you’re sharing today, we can really kind of motivate and inspire people to really look into this.

Eva Rodriguez 32:46

Absolutely.

Richard Conner 32:47

For our listeners who are like, I hear you, Eva, but it’s so hard to get started like what would you say to that could help them?

Eva Rodriguez 32:56

I would say first start with sounds so cliche, right? Start with your why. I think he will say this all the time, but it’s so true. Start with your why start with why do you want XYZ, right? So if you’re interested in learning how to do intuitive eating, it sounds complicated. It can be you know, it can be a process. Why is it because you just don’t want to follow these strict rules anymore. And because it hasn’t worked for you. Great. That’s your why. So we’ll always remember that. And that’s always come back to that when the times get hard. When you don’t feel like journaling about how this food made you feel right. Or when you have a moment where it’s like I just over a and now I feel bad right now I’m feeling it in my body. When those moments come along, we can always just go back to but I’m doing this because this, and that’s why Tomorrow, I will show up again. And I will show up for myself, and I will honor myself, I will honor my body, I will honor my health. So that’s number one, I would say start with start there. The second thing would just be trying to become more mindful. It’s a process again, I highly encourage everyone to journal and I know people like scoff at it are like Oh, less time for that journaling doesn’t have to be a big thing. It doesn’t have to be this big drawn out food journal. Like today I ate this. And that’s how I felt right? It doesn’t have to be any of those things. But just become more aware, could literally just be keeping post it notes for a week of like, what you ate and how it felt right, you can start there, you can start really, really simple with journaling. And what I love about journaling is not just with intuitive eating, but just in general when it comes to your mindset is once you get something on paper, or just out of your mind, you’re able to approach it much more logically and a lot less emotionally. Because when it’s in your head, all you’re doing is is recirculating it inside your head. And that’s where we go into the limiting beliefs and all of these stories and the merry go round of thoughts that we have. So putting whatever you’re feeling at any given moment on paper will help you process through a lot of things because intuitive eating is very much intrinsic. A lot of us have gotten used to extrinsic and getting external validation from The diet industry, from the outside world, from the fitness industry, all of that, you’re getting your information from them what they tell you what they’re saying, intuitive eating is all about how you feel, and what your body is telling you. So in order to understand, you have to go within, instead of without. So when you’re going within, oftentimes, some stuff will come up, and it’s a little scary, you’ll start to notice patterns. And you’re like, Whoa, I didn’t know I did that, you know, you’ll start to see different things. And it’s, and it’s, that’s why it’s important to treat yourself with kindness, and give yourself grace, and take your time with it. Really, really take your time with it. Because once you start listening to your, the cues that your body tells you, it’s not just with eating, it starts to manifest in other areas of your life as well. Once you really start to like, go within yourself of like, how am I really feeling is, am I really feeling angry? Or am I just like, you know, you start to really, you’re really start to think through every other thing that impacts your life. And again, that’s where, again, holistic health comes back around, and why it’s really, really important to approach our health holistically. And not just strictly on nutrition strictly on your running plan strictly on any of these things. Everything impacts the other things, once you get your nutrition to where you want it to be once you become more intuitive, once you start listening to your body, once you even when it comes to working out movement, listening to your body is just as important when you’re running. And a lot of runners that I know over run, they’re overtraining, they don’t know when to stop, right? Because it’s like, again, you’re ignoring those little signals, again, your body saying things to you, at every moment, your body’s always telling you, you’re doing too much, you’re not doing enough, this doesn’t feel good, we just ate this. But guess what, now, my stomach hurts. Once you start to really pay attention to those things, it will transcend across your entire like holistically across your whole life. So start there, I would say start with with those few things of just like taking a moment becoming more mindful taking just mindful pauses when you’re eating, eat a little bit slower. Think about how the food tastes. Think about your other senses. How does it smell? How does it taste? You know what’s, you know, let’s look at the colors, right? Think about different things. And then that will kind of trigger your mind, just again, to start looking at other other kinds of correlations. And it all like a mosaic very beautifully starts to come together. Just don’t give up on yourself. Don’t give up on yourself.

Richard Conner 37:31

Wow. Eva, thank you so much.

Eva Rodriguez 37:36

Thank you,

Richard Conner 37:37

The work that you do is amazing. You’re amazing. I love everything that you share today. How can the community find you? How can they learn more? How can they follow you?

Eva Rodriguez 37:47

Yeah. So my website is Eva dot fit. So it’s quite easy. I am currently in the process of doing a little bit of rebranding. So it might look a little bit different by the time this airs. But I also have my podcast so they can subscribe to a healthy, sexy, strong podcast. It’s available on all platforms. And I am on Instagram at it’s Eva Rodriguez. I don’t post as much as they should, but I will be I will work on that. But um, but they can find me there and anyone has any questions, they can feel free to DM me or send me an email. My information is on my website. But yeah, I would love to be a resource to your listeners as well. And thank you so much for having me on your show. It’s been so much fun.

Richard Conner 38:25

Oh, no, thank you. And we’ll post all of this in the show notes so it’s easy for our listeners to find. So once again, thank you so much, Eva.

Eva Rodriguez 38:33

Thank you, Richard.

Richard Conner 38:36

That was Eva Rodriguez. I learned so much from Eva during this interview about nutrition and intuitive eating and I hope you did too. I will share with you three things that I took away from the conversation both from part one and part two. Number one, the importance of taking a holistic approach to health and wellness, even mentioned a few times about mind, body and spirit and not only focusing on one element of your health and wellness. Number two, mindfulness and listening to your body. Whether it’s nutrition, running or other aspects of your life. Your body will try to tell you things and you need to listen. Write it down and journal each day as he recommended. Number three, follow what works for you. Eva believes that intuitive eating will work for most people, especially if you have challenges following a specific diet. Take a moment to check out Eva’s website at Eva.fit and I will include her information in the show notes. Hope you enjoyed listening to today’s episode. And with that, have a great day.

Intro/Outro 39:53

That’s it for this episode of Inspire Virtual Runs podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a review. Also be sure Click the subscribe button so you don’t miss an episode. Thanks for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai