The Captivatingly Confident Podcast

Do you struggle with body image? Do you look in the mirror and instantly critique what you see? 

In this episode, Kim shares her top 10 ways to stop the body hate and move into body acceptance. 

This isn't your normal "love your body" type of message. These 10 steps focus on practical and achievable things you can do to stop the flow of negative energy and turn it around into acceptance. 

Connie Baker LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) has been helping men and women find freedom from religious abuse, trauma and personal issues for over a decade. Her heart for people is encased in compassion and empathy. 

She shares her thoughts on how guilt impacts your ability to live life to the fullest and how shame can keep you held back from your best life. 

Connie Baker LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) has been helping men and women find freedom from religious abuse, trauma and personal issues for over a decade. Her heart for people is encased in compassion and empathy. 

She shares her thoughts on how guilt impacts your ability to live life to the fullest and how shame can keep you held back from your best life. 

Getting healthy is HARD!!! There are many facets to this process which has no final destination. It's a marathon many are trying to sprint and wind up feeling guilty, burnt out and discouraged.

Let's look at how to feel successful and purposeful in your journey toward health! 

There are many reasons you may struggle with sugar cravings, but today we will cover the top 4 most often discussed in the community. Understanding why you have cravings will give you the ability to learn how to overcome certain ones and work with others rather than trying to simply eliminate the source of your cravings. 

The 4 main reasons are:

1) Avoiding emotional feelings (boredom, sadness, anger etc)

2) A habit 

3) Feeling tired 

4) Moralizing Foods- labeling some foods as "good" or "bad", "healthy" or "unhealthy". 

In the show Kim breaks these down and gives some practical tips on how to work with your cravings to reduce their frequency and impact. 

It's easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information available about nutrition. In this episode, we are taking a step back to briefly go over basic macronutrients and how to balance a meal for maximum benefit. 

We also talk about:

Eat Right for Your Blood Type

Beyond Balanced: An Introductory Guide to Being Captivatingly Confident 

Metabolic Effect- Carbohydrate Tipping Point and HEC

Captivatingly Confident Facebook Group

It's easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information available about nutrition. In this episode, we are taking a step back to briefly go over basic macronutrients and how to balance a meal for maximum benefit. 

We also talk about:

Eat Right for Your Blood Type

Beyond Balanced: An Introductory Guide to Being Captivatingly Confident 

Metabolic Effect- Carbohydrate Tipping Point and HEC

Captivatingly Confident Facebook Group

99.9% of the females in the world have them (we won't even talk about the ones a lot of men have). They are the subject of our criticism, critique and loathing. We try to hide them with flowy shirts and dresses and high waisted jeans. We hate they way they jiggle and squish. Some are marked with lines, some are stretched and some bear scars. 

I am of course talking about our stomaches. The center of our bodies. The epicenter for amazing processes like digestion, nutrient absorption and carrying children. The place where our most precious organs are stored. The place we often hate the most. 

We use words like flabby, bloated, distended, squishy, jiggly, saggy and soft to describe it. We dream of a flat, hard chiseled surface that doesn't shake when we walk. We think eating less and moving more is the answer to getting a 6 pack. We think we just aren't trying hard enough. Maybe if we tried harder and had better willpower, we could have what our hearts desire most. 

Friends, I am here to say that it is HARD to get a flat stomach!! It take SO much EFFORT alllllll the time! Each persons nutritional needs differ, but it is true that you need to avoid carbs (including fruit and even some veggies, mind you), manage stress and work out- A LOT! It takes time, consistency and major dedication to having a flat stomach. Getting may not be so hard, but sustaining is the real issue here. If you have had children, you may have Diastasis Recti which causes a pooch (there is help for the that, btw) and you may have extra skin which makes it even harder. 

Can you reduce the appearance of the size of your tummy? Yes. 

Will it take a ton of time and effort? Yes. 

Will you have to give up things you love all in the name of Abs? Yes. 

Is it worth it? That's up to you. 

What if you made peace with your pooch? What if instead of criticizing it, you praised it. What if you turned from negativity to neutrality? From hostility to acceptance (not resignation). What if you focused on the factors that increase belly fat (hormonal disrupters, relational stress, the wrong kinds of exercise, lack of movement, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of quality sleep, inadequate fluid intake, emotional eating) and practiced awareness of those factors and tackled them one by one until you developed a new sense of self and neutrality (dare I even say appreciation). How would that improve not only your physique, but your quality of life?

Making peace with your pooch will give you the ability to cultivate appreciation for your incredible body and move you one step closer to having a body AND life you Cherish! 

You know how in life we all have roles to play? Well, food has roles too! And just like in life, those different rolls can take the power away from you, and makes you feel like you are unable to make beneficial choices that bring lasting change in your life. 

Food has four main roles in our life: Social, Emotional, Fuel and Nourishment. Each role is a power play where you can either come out on top, feeling empowered and confident, or be defeated, and feel guilty and powerless. Let's take a look at the four roles food plays:

1) Social 

It’s amazing how being with other people when we eat impacts our choices! Especially when it comes to holidays, special occasions and celebrations. Or if you have a job in an environment where food is brought in frequently (ie: hospital, office, school etc). So many of my clients struggle to make choices about food in social situations due to peer pressure or feeling like they have to eat something, or they will make someone feel bad. 

Another angle of this is the FOMO. Yup, the fear of missing out. “It’s the holidays!” you say. It’s so and so’s birthday, there’s cake!! It’s the fear of being left out of the party if you choose not to partake in the offering. 

It’s easy to see how your power to make the choices that you feel good about goes out the window in social situations. The good news is, you can take it back!! But before we get there, let’s look at the other three roles. 

2) Emotional

This is probably the most powerful of the three roles and the one that takes control most quickly. Emotional eating can include snacking out of boredom, chowing-down to hide uncomfortable emotions, “rewarding” yourself for a job well-done,  and everything in between. This is the role of food that we try to control, but often feel like we’re failing at. 

Emotional eating can be defined by eating when you’re more “head hungry” rather than stomach hungry. If you’re head hungry, it usually shows up in the form of eating when you’re bored, craving something or distracted. Some of these times are more habitual than others, which compounds the struggle to overcome it. 

3) Fuel

Food as fuel is the role that gets confusing and convoluted. Each body is fueled by different types of food. Some people thrive on carbohydrates and others on fat. You can start to feel powerless when you try and eat according to a diet or article saying what and when you should eat and it doesn’t produce the promised results. 

Food is used as fuel when eating after noticing you are tummy hungry, and getting that rush of grhelin (the hunger hormone that makes your tummy growl). We often still make unwise choices in deciding what type of fuel we put into our bodies however, and you can also feel powerless to control the hunger when it keeps coming back due to the wrong kind of fuel choice for your body. 

and finally 

4) Nourishment 

Nourishing foods are different from comfort foods. Comfort foods fall under emotional eating. The role of food as nourishment comes from a place where we eat “clean” or “healthy”- or what we determine that to be. For example, you know what foods you “should” be eating that are “healthy and nourishing” but those are the foods you crave and desire less often, making them harder to eat. Think chicken and broccoli. 

Part of the powerlessness here comes from not knowing what foods nourish your body and which don’t. Just because broccoli is deemed healthy does not mean it’s for everybody. Some people get extremely gassy and bloated when they eat cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage etc. Understanding what foods make you feel energized, pain free, and happy is part of the process of taking your power back. 

There is a 5th role that food plays and that is the role of enjoyment. There will be times where you eat food simply because it is pleasurable and enjoyable. I normally put this under Emotional, but I wanted to point out that just because something is yummy does not mean it needs to be controlling or take power away from you. This is also a whole other topic surrounding awareness and intuitive eating that we will explore next week. 

So, let’s get down to it! How do you take the power away from these different food roles and wield it to make empowering choices for yourself?

First, you have to be aware of what role food is taking for you in any given moment. Is it celebratory? Boredom? Stress? What emotions and thoughts are you having around your food? In the Captivatingly Confident Small Group we dive deep into understanding how to identify these thoughts and emotions and use them to better understand food roles. 

Once you are aware of what role it’s taking, you can decide if you are truly hungry or just eating from one of the roles. If you are truly hungry, then you can decide what food would satisfy the hunger and balance your HEC. 

HEC is your Hunger, Energy and Cravings (I borrowed this concept from Metabolic Effect). You can choose foods that fulfill your hunger (spoiler alert- carbs by themselves will not satiate you even if it is fruit or veggies. Put some protein and fat with those carbs). You want to aim for foods that give you Energy, not drain it. You should not need a nap after you eat. And finally, foods that help reduce your Cravings. Hyperpalatable foods (processed foods that are designed to be super yummy, like chips, fries, ice cream, candy, fast food) generally increase your cravings for them. 

Understanding how foods impact your HEC takes some awareness and practice, but the more you do it in the beginning, the less conscious of it you will have to be in the long run. It becomes second nature to choose foods that balance HEC and get you where you want to be long term. 

Identifying food roles (Social, Emotional, Fuel, and Nourishment) when you are eating is one of the main keys to unlocking health, weight loss, and having a body and life you cherish! 

Make sure you join us in the Captivatingly Confident Facebook group where we will flesh this out some more on Sunday for Captivating Convos LIVE! 

Welcome to the brand new Captivatingly Confident Podcast!! Kim Ludeman is your Confidence Connoisseur here to help you find freedom from the Shoulds, end body shame and learn to love being YOU inside and out! 

Todays episode is the pilot episode! Woohoo!! Kim gives a little bit of her back story and how Captivatingly Confident came into being. 

Diving deeper into what Captivatingly Confident is, she gives you ways to connect with her and others in the CC community. 

Captivatingly Confident Facebook Group

YouTube Channel

Captivatingly Confident Blog

Instagram 

You can also grab Kim's new guide, Beyond Balance: An Introductory Guide to Being Captivatingly Confident on the CC website. 

Remember to subscribe to the showThank you so much for being a part of the Captivatingly Confident movement and community!!!