Are you a foodie?

A foodie is a term invented in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook. The term is used to describe someone who seeks out and enjoys new restaurants, foods, and wines. is a term used to describe someone who seeks out and enjoys new restaurants, foods, and wines. A foodie delights in the total sensory experience of food. For example, at the grocery store, a foodie will joyfully find the perfect plump fruit, squeezing it gently, smelling it, and noticing the ripeness and color. A foodie has a lust for new food experiences, and enjoys the entire experience of eating – which includes exploring food, shopping for food, preparing and cooking food, and of course eating great food.

Foodie Qualities. Below are 14 questions that can help confirm if you are a true lover of food:

1. Do you love to explore new recipes?
2. Do you have a passion for the taste of food?
3. Do you appreciate the wonders of fresh food?
4. Do you smell food, inhaling the aromas, and filling up with the joy of scent?
5. Do you shop for the perfect culinary tools?
6. Do you know the difference between Wusthof and Kershaw Shun knives?
7. Do you eagerly await the newest Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma monthly mailing catalog?
8. Is the Food Network your obsession?
9. Do you love finding new recipes to test?
10. Do you savor food, but stop when your taste buds or body tells you the experience is no longer satisfying?
11. Do you choose the very best food available to you?
12. Do you eat food that your body, senses, and intuition guides you toward?
13. Do you eat the types of food that make you more alive and invigorated?
14. Do you eat food that supports your health and vitality?

If these questions already have you dreaming about gourmet eating experiences, then you just might be a true lover of food!

Are You An Emotional Eater?

Many emotional eaters don’t know they are eating for emotional reasons. They will say, “I don’t eat because I’m bored or sad. I just eat because I really love food.” However, if you look closely, an emotional eater doesn’t enjoy the entire process of eating at all.

Emotional eaters often have “forbidden” or “bad” foods. They feel guilty about eating certain food. This have lists of what they should eat and what they shouldn’t eat. And they often obsess about when to eat or when not to eat. Overall, there are many rules and restrictions around food.

Do you really love food as much as you imagine?

One way to easily tell if you love food as much as you say you do, or if you’re eating to cope with life is to notice your style of eating. Below are 14 questions you can use to easily identify when eating is something other than just a love of food.

1. Do you inhale your food, eating in a hurry?
2. Do you wolf down your food because you’re starving?
3. Do you heap mounds of food on your plate?
4. Do you put another bite into your mouth before finishing the last one?
5. Do you shove food in quickly, often using your fingers and often standing up?
6. Do you often have an urgent, panicky need to eat something right away?
7. Are an unconscious eater (eating while doing something else and unaware of eating)?
8. Are you a chaotic eater (over-scheduled life, haphazard eating, or eating whatever food is available)?
9. Are you a free food eater (eat in the presence of free food such as buffets, candy jars, office food, candy bowls, etc.)?
10. Are you a waste not eater, or a member of the clean plate club?
11. Are you a careful eater, analyzing every morsel for calories, weight, and health?
12. Do you skip breakfast and other meals, and then eat all night?
13. Are you a professional dieter?
14. Do you forbid sweets, but then eat them with a vengeance?

If you recognized yourself in one or more of the eating styles listed above, you might be surprised to notice that enjoying your food isn’t the motivating factor for your eating. You don’t need to become a food connoisseur, but an easy way to add more joy to your life is to take action and make your individual eating experiences more enjoyable. The more you enjoy your food experiences (cooking, shopping, creating, eating, and digesting), the more you enjoy life. And you just might lose weight in the process!

Binging. Whether it’s a whole bag of skittles in one sitting, a few glasses of wine too many, or a day of indulgence far beyond satiation, binge eating is may leave you feeling out of control, tired, and depressed.

If you are feeling like you are the only person that suffers from bouts of binging, trust me, you are not alone. Binge eating as a clinical disorder affects 1 to 2 million people in the United States. This number does not appear to include people with chaotic eating patterns not formally diagnosed. The shame, guilt, and isolation that go along are are difficult topics to bring up in casual conversation so it is no surprise that women rarely discuss binging openly. Instead, discussing the newest diet or exercise craze is much safer in hopes that this time, THIS TIME, things will be different.

“Why is it that even though I know what I should be eating I still overeat and fall victim to all the wrong foods?”

The way I see it, binging can be caused by two main factors:

1.) A deficit in the diet and the body screaming for nutrients or calories or
2.) A non-food need that is not being fulfilled

Let’s examine the first with the following examples:

Being in a semi-starved state, skipping meals, or excessive dieting.
When the body perceives that food is not accessible when it feels hunger, it will (whether your willpower lasts one day or one month) get the calories it needs and them some. You cannot outsmart this one.

Sense of deprivation
The moment you tell yourself you are not allowed to have something, you will want it, eventually eat it (maybe lots of it), and then feel pretty bad about it.

Low blood sugar levels
What is breakfast looking like these days? Are your meals spiking and crashing your blood sugar? Your body will go into emergency mode and try to get the quickest fix possible-often low quality foods that break down to sugar in the body fairly quickly.

Inadequate balance of macronutrients
Be wary of cutting food groups out of your diet. No carbs? No protein? No fat? Your body craves what is needs. Restrict a food group and just see what you have a hankering for!

Too many low quality foods
You may have heard the phrase “overfed but undernourished.” It is much easier to overeat processed foods over whole foods. Processed foods are fragmented pieces of the whole and won’t fill us up as quickly. Manufacturers love this and make good money convincing us to buy these products. “Betcha can’t eat just one.”

Once food deficiencies are examined, it is wise to explore:

Coping mechanisms
Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired? Bored? Couple an evening of boredom with a sense of deprivation and you have created a minefield for chaos in the kitchen. Are you using food to fulfill a need for companionship, energy, or boredom? I talk to clients about Primary Foods, the non-food stuff that fuels us beyond broccoli or ice cream ever could. What’s missing for you these days?

Belief Systems
Our beliefs may play a huge role in our relationship with food. Do you believe you must diet to maintain or lose weight? Do you feel it is wrong to leave food on your plate? Do you feel you deserve to be healthy and happy? Do you enjoy or thrive off of struggling? It is challenging but powerful work to examine personal beliefs. These can either move us closer to or further away from our goals.

Expectations
Are you and all-or-nothing thinker? Do you think one week of exercising and eating salads is going to result in a 20 lb weight loss? You are not the exception. It is time to re-frame expectations. Wouldn’t it serve you better to promise yourself to move your body everyday rather than vow to run 1.5 hours 24/7? I’m pretty sure you’d feel less stressed with the former.

“Shoulding”
“I should eat more vegetables. I should go do an extra workout.” When you feel you should, it is more like punishment. When you WANT TO it is empowering. Find things that actually make you feel good. (Not because they SHOULD) A matter or simple semantics can make a big difference. Quit shoulding on yourself!

Self-Sabotage
This may tie into belief systems. People resist change sometimes (even positive change) because something new can be threatening. It can be threatening to the identity you have created as well as threatened to those around you who would prefer you not change. Perhaps you may feel more is expected of you, or you feel you would rather fit in than “fit out” Self-Sabotage keeps us stuck where we are.

I typically find it best to begin with adding in wholesome real foods to one’s diet to see if there is a nutrient imbalance. Often times, however, any type of chaotic eating pattern is serving a non-food need that needs to be addressed.

If you feel you need more support unlocking food behavior that no longer serves you, please contact me. laurakburkett@gmail.com

If you have high stress levels, you may find that it is difficult to lose weight. In fact, stress tends to cause weight gain. Why does stress have such an effect?

The stress hormone “cortisol” is released when you are under a lot of stress. It tends to slows down your metabolism and increase cravings for foods that are very starchy. These types of foods are usually high on the glycemic index and are automatically stored around your mid section as fat.

Sometimes stress can lead to binge eating. This, of course, is counter productive to weight loss. If you are so stressed out that you find yourself binge eating, you need to stop, think and get away from the food. In other words, do you really need to eat that bag of cookies, or are you just upset about something? Sometimes if you put it into perspective, you can see that you are about to do something you will regret.

The best way to counteract stress is to reduce it, whenever possible. Here are some ways that you can do that:

o Get regular exercise. Exercise is a great stress reliever and helps you to relax and to sleep better. Getting enough quality sleep is very important in counteracting stress.

o Do relaxation exercises and deep breathing techniques. These can help you to relax and reduce your stress levels.

o Take some time out for yourself. Many of us are surrounded with situations and people that cause undue stress. Having some time to yourself is essential. Have a nice relaxing bubble bath with candles and a glass of wine. Read a good book in peace. Anything to separate yourself from your day.

o Try to regulate your blood sugar – by not eating refined processed foods and excess sugar. These types of foods can increase your cortisol levels and cause weight gain instead of loss.

o Cut down on the coffee and beverages that contain caffeine, instead, drink green tea. Green tea contains anti oxidants and is said to help with weight loss. Try to drink two or three cups per day.

Being stressed out makes you feel tired, drains you of energy and generally affects your overall health. It is important to identify your sources of stress and then take the steps to reduce them whenever possible. Too much stress is one of the main factors in a person not being able to lose weight.