Hosts Coach Jo and Coach Kim explore the challenges of maintaining healthy eating habits. They highlight how the struggle is not about a lack of knowledge or awareness but stems from deeper issues, including stress, habits, and emotional triggers. They emphasize the importance of understanding these triggers, rewiring unhealthy habits, and setting up the right environment and mindset for success. Coach Jo and Coach Kim cover practical strategies such as mindfulness, cultivating awareness of thoughts, and gradually replacing old habits with new, supportive ones.

Listeners are encouraged to prepare mentally and physically by being proactive—keeping healthy options readily available and creating a supportive environment. Coach Jo and Coach Kim also stress the significance of a balanced mindset, avoiding the pitfalls of all-or-nothing thinking, and recognizing that one mistake doesn't erase progress. Ultimately, they suggest listeners seek guidance, like working with a coach, to dive deeper into the underlying factors beyond just food choices. With the advice and awareness presented in this episode, you can allow for more sustainable, positive change in your life.

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Transcript:

Coach Jo 00:09

Welcome to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, the Iron Lab podcast with Coach Jo…

 

Coach Kim 00:14

…and Coach Kim…

 

Coach Jo 00:15

Where you ride shotgun with us as we have raw, real, unfiltered, and unfinished conversations about trying to eat, sleep, train, and live with some integrity in a messy, imperfect life.

 

Coach Kim 00:27

We're all about creating a strong support system, taking radical personal responsibility, having fun, and being authentic. And one of the most common themes you're going to find in this podcast is the idea that we create positive momentum in our life, by doing what we call b-minus work.

 

Coach Jo 00:45

We’re making gains and getting ahead and loving life without self-sabotaging our goals by striving for perfection. We get it done by moving ahead…

 

Coach Kim 00:55

…before we're ready…

 

Coach Jo 00:56

…when we aren't feeling like it…

 

 Coach Kim 00:58

…and without hesitation.

 

Coach Jo 1:00

Be sure to subscribe now on Apple or Spotify, so you don't miss a single episode. It’s good enough. Let's go.

Coach Jo 1:12

Hey everyone, welcome back to perfectly unfinished conversations. We're on Episode 10. Yahoo! Today we're gonna dig deep into something that I know resonates with a lot of you. Most of us already know what to eat. We've heard all of the advice, lean proteins, veggies, healthy fats, whole grains. Do the meal prep, plan ahead, and so on and so forth. It's being thrown at our faces daily on social media and in the conversation amongst your peers. But yet, for some reason, we find ourselves struggling to stay consistent, at an impasse, rebelling against all the things we know we need to do in order to feel good. The reality is, it's not the lack of knowledge holding us back. It's all the other stuff, the stress, the habits, the emotional baggage and how everything else in life comes together to impact our eating choices. This is a massive trigger for so many of us, and today, we want to spend some time unpacking how we can marry those two realities, which is the knowledge of what to eat and the everyday chaos that often derails us. So trust us, you're not alone in this journey, and today we're going to talk about how to make these two pieces of the puzzle fit together.

 

Coach Kim 02:38

So let's get real for a second when I first meet with Blueprint clients, and we deep dive into nutrition, and Jo and I, Amber, we all meet with clients and do a deep dive when we start working with them, and I usually tell them, I want to know what Monday to Thursday eating looks like, and then what Friday to Sunday eating habits look like, because we see this as such predictable behavior, you start your week strong. You have all the groceries, ideas, motivation to get it done, and even maybe you're a meal prepper. So you've done that on Sunday, and your fridge is stocked with healthy options, and you've got, you know, you have got the mentality that this is going to be the week that you nail it. And so Monday and Tuesday, we start start super strong. We're really structured that that's very, very typical. And by Wednesday or Thursday, things start to sort of go sideways, sideways. You've been worn down by the bullshit of the week, and your stress is beginning to accumulate. And so if you've had a rough day at work or the kids need attention. Suddenly that healthy meal doesn't sound so appealing at all, and pretty soon you're choosing to order skip the dishes or find a quick fix, fast food or the snack that's easy but not aligned with your goals. It happens to the best of us. You're only human, and it's not because you don't know what to eat. It's because life happens, and because our brains are really tricky. 

 

Coach Jo 04:09

Here's where it gets interesting. Food, for many of us, becomes more than just fuel. It becomes a comfort, a reward, a stress reliever, or even a way to escape like your coping mechanism. Food has also been tied with you know, family friend get togethers. You're always bringing something to the potluck. We celebrate, we eat, we die, we eat. We eat, not because we're hungry, but because it serves a purpose in the moment, a purpose that has nothing to do with actual nutrition. How many times have you reached for food, not because you were physically hungry, but because you were emotionally drained, or how many times have you poured yourself a glass of wine after a long day, not because you wanted to celebrate, but because you needed to unwind? How often have you found yourself mindlessly snacking in front of the TV, and not because you were hungry, but because it felt comforting after a stressful day, or it's just what I do at the end of my day, right? Maybe it's boredom, maybe it's stress, or maybe you're just craving some comfort after a long day. That's what we like to call emotional hunger. It's different from physical hunger, and it can be a lot harder to manage.

 

Coach Kim 05:24

So, it’s really important to remember that the human brain is actually wired evolutionarily for three things. It wants to avoid pain, it wants to seek pleasure, and it wants to take the path of least resistance. It wants the easy road. It is a survival mechanism, and it's the equivalent of the installed software that is running on your supercomputer, like we this is the way everybody's brain works, and this is what makes it so difficult to stay 100% true to your best laid plans, because it's your primitive brain that's telling you, I just want to make it feel good, make it easy. I don't want to suffer anymore. Ooh, look, cake. And it's not impossible, but it's difficult to get what you want once you know how to manage your own brain.

 

Coach Jo 06:11

Example, let's say you've had a stressful day at work. You know that when you get home, you've got a fridge full of healthy meals that are waiting for you, but instead of reaching for that balanced dinner you find yourself grabbing chips or getting a pastry off the counter, or just last minute I'm going to order pizza. Why? Because at that moment, the food isn't about fuel. It's about numbing the stress. It's about relief, and that's the tricky part. When we use food as a coping mechanism, we're not solving the real problem. We're just soothing ourselves in the moment. But that relief is only temporary, guys, and in the long run, those choices don't serve us. They might feel good at the moment, but they don't support our goals. So here comes the million dollar question, how do we break that cycle, or how do we move from knowing what to eat to actually following through, even when life throws us curveballs? The first step you got to understand your triggers, and we're talking about more than just recognizing that you eat when you're stressed or bored. We're talking about digging deeper, asking yourself, like, what's what's really going on here? Why do certain situations push me towards food choices that they just don't align with my goals? It could be anything, you know, a long day at work, a tough conversation, right, that you had to have with somebody, feeling unappreciated, unappreciative, feeling disappointed in the mirror, or just simply being overwhelmed by everything that you have to juggle, food becomes a way to cope with those feelings. While we can't always avoid stress or change the things that trigger us or change our schedule, we can change how we respond.

 

Coach Kim 07:54

And here's another thought, sometimes it's not that deep. There are times that humans use food to feel comforted or to decompress or connect with somebody or even numb out. But it can also be as innocent and insidious as thoughts. Like, I want more. It tastes so good. I'm addicted to food. I need a snack. I need Starbucks. I need something sweet after I eat. Like these are thoughts that create desire or drive, and your brain is looking for something that feels good, but food, remember, is an inanimate object that sits on your counter, and then you have thoughts about it. It's not making you do anything. And the amazing thing about our brain is that it is thinking thoughts all day long. It's a renegade. And when you think about this, it's actually sort of trippy. Your brain's job is to keep you safe, and so it's narrating your world all day long, and it's also remembering the past. So your narration sounds like, don't forget this. Remember about that? Remember what a bitch she was? I got really good results at one time. I counted Weight Watchers points, and I need to do that again. Or, hmm, salmon and broccoli for supper. That sounds so boring. I worked so hard today. I should order pizza and I'll have a glass of wine while I wait for it to get here. Like we take our thoughts, our brain's gonna offer this up as avoid pain, sleep, pleasure, take the path of least resistance. We think it's the truth, but it's just thoughts. And so we're being led by our brain every day, and most of the time, on autopilot. And this is where you've probably heard Jo. And I talk about awareness. Jo talks about it as meditation and being onto her brain and listening to her thoughts. I talk about it as awareness, staying aware of what I'm thinking. And it's a very similar thing. It is about becoming aware of the thoughts that your brain is always offering up to. All day, every day, and again, we think that they're the truth, just because our brain is saying them. So we don't question them. We're like, oh yeah, pizza instead of salmon. That's a great idea. But instead, we have to be able to be onto ourselves and our brain. You've got a primitive monkey brain that wants ease and fun and reward, and you have a higher evolved brain that you can use, strategies, tools, habits and make choices ahead of time.

 

Coach Jo 10:31

Here's a tool you can use when you realize you're being pulled towards bad choices, even when you know better. Next time you feel that emotional pull toward food, I want you to pause for a second ask yourself, am I actually hungry, or is something else going on here? That moment of mindfulness can be an ultimate game changer. Just taking that one second to breathe and acknowledge what's really actually happening can help break that automatic response turn to food.

 

Coach Kim 11:03

We've recently been talking a lot about the ability to tune into our own hunger and fullness cues, and about how years of Diet Rules have totally screwed up this ability. And even worse, I think it is that it creates so much distrust in ourselves, like we can't possibly trust our own body to be able to tell us someone else probably knows better than me because my body and my brain aren't cooperating. I'm not able to get the results that I want. I'm not able to follow through. So am I hungry? Can be a difficult question to answer if you've spent the majority of your life eating when you weren't hungry, or because you should eat something, or because you need to hit a protein target. And I think this is a really important thing to add, which is this is yet another reason why this work we do with clients is so meaningful is because it's layers. It is complicated, you guys, it isn't just the food, and yes, it's food. And yes, we prioritize protein, yes, fiber, colour, water, yes to workouts, heavy lifting and walking, stress management mindset. But at some point you have to tune in to your own unique body.

 

Coach Jo 12:22

Another piece of this puzzle is your habits. And I'm sure you've probably heard the saying we are what we repeatedly do, and when it comes to eating, this could not be more true. Most of our choices we make around food aren't conscious decisions. They're just habits that we do. You wake up, maybe you grab a coffee and a pastry on the way to work because it's easy and it's what you've always done, or you sit down to watch TV at night and automatically reach for a snack, not because you're hungry, but because that's just part of your evening routine when you watch Game of Thrones. These are deeply ingrained habits, and over time, they just become second nature. 

 

Coach Kim 12:58

And the habits that we have, that we choose or chose they we have them because they felt good to us. They feel good to us. And truthfully, that's whether they've set us up to win or to struggle.

 

Coach Jo 13:11

Changing habits. It isn't about willpower. Truthfully, it's about rewiring your brain to make different choices, and the key to that is repetition, boring ass repetition, consistency, doing it when you don't feel like it, showing up when your brain says no, again and again. That's resilience, guys. You've got to train yourself to reach for something different when those triggers hit. So instead of grabbing a bag of chips or a glass of wine when you're stressed, maybe just go for a walk or sip some herbal tea. Like it's not about depriving yourself, because that's not what we believe in here. It's about replacing those old unhelpful habits with new supportive ones. How can you add value to your life instead of subtracting things, which is obviously restriction.

 

Coach Kim 14:02

We, you know, as humans, we're always looking for magic answers like it. It has to be this perfect macro blend of protein, carbs and fats to get weight loss. Like someone, just tell me the secret. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. And the secret is, it's a process, and it's practice, all of it. And I love what you said about training yourself to reach for something different. And sometimes you don't have to reach for anything else at all. Actually, this is the magic of following through, whether you feel like it or not. We've talked about this before. We do it, whether we feel like it or not, and it is that practice of becoming aware of the urge to give up or give in, and you notice the thinking I should order pizza instead of having my salmon, and then you just fucking follow through on the salmon, no matter what your brain is saying. Like, the biggest part of this is that the magic is in just actually doing it. The biggest part of this is what you learn about yourself when you begin to ignore your brain, like at first, it might freak out a bit, and this will teach you something about yourself, like you're not going to die without pizza, but your brain is going to tell you it's a crisis. Your, your brain is going to think it's a crisis to have the salmon and not order pizza, and it's not a crisis. And what your brain does with those choices is going to tell you so much about your coping strategies and your habits and how to support yourself. Your brain is perfect, right? Like nothing has gone wrong here. It's just what brains do, and you have a higher self brain that can choose something else.

 

Coach Jo 15:39

It's kind of like that quote I've heard, you know, where they say you've come too far in life to take orders from a cookie, right? True. So let's talk about strategy. We've talked about emotional triggers and habits. But what about the practical side of things? How can you help yourself stay consistent when life gets crazy, and you know, one of the biggest game changers is preparation. I know you've heard this before, but bear with me, because preparation it's more than just meal prepping. It's about preparing your environment, your mindset and your daily routine in a way that's going to set you up for success. So for example, let's say you know that by the time 4pm rolls around, you're always starving and tempted to reach for whatever's easiest. And a little preparation here can go a long way. Instead of leaving that decision to chance, plan ahead. Have a snack ready, something healthy and satisfying, maybe some nuts, hard boiled eggs, veggies and hummus, etc. This way that when 4pm hunger hits, you've already got your solution in place, you've taken the guesswork out of it. And the same goes for your environment. If your kitchen is filled with junk food and counter pastries from the bakery at the grocery store, that's what you're going to reach for when stress hits. But if you fill your space with healthy, nourishing options, you're more likely to make those choices when the time comes.

 

Coach Kim 17:03

So this can be kind of controversial or debatable, but for me, this is the discussion. Are you a moderator, or are you an abstainer? Like, do you have good limits and self-control, or do we need to practice that? Or are there certain things that you just know yourself to overeat or over drink, for example, potato chips or ice cream or alcohol that you would just have an easier time leaving at the store. Like, if you can't trust yourself yet with that food, why are you bringing it home to your environment? Why are you bringing it home to the house, to the pantry? Like, if you cannot avoid the lure of animal crackers, why are you putting animal crackers in your shopping cart? And a lot of times, what we have is people who say, Well, my kids need stuff for lunch, and that's got to be a future podcast, because current health and obesity statistics in school age children should scare the shit out of parents. Like, ain't nobody need animal crackers, not every day. You know we like them. They make us feel good for about five minutes. But if a serving of animal crackers is 11 animals, and we're grabbing five or six handfuls while we're making dinner, or over the course of two days, because we're getting close to our period and we can't resist them, like, why not just make your life easier and don't have easy access to them, keep them out of your cupboards. 

 

Coach Jo 18:26

Let's talk next about mindset. A lot of us fall into this all or nothing thinking when it comes to eating. Well, if we slip up and we have one bad meal, we'll write off the whole day. But listen, one bad meal doesn't undo all of your progress. Actually, I just sent this right. You've heard it before. When you have one tire flat, you're not going to walk around and slice all three tires on your vehicle, right? So instead of falling into that mindset of, well, I've already blown it, might as well eat whatever I want. You could try this. You can acknowledge the choice that you made and move forward the next meal. It's a fresh start.

 

Coach Kim 19:03

I suspect that many people approach this journey from the lens of like, hard ass, short term pain, restrict things, like, I have to suffer through this in order to get there. But that doesn't work. Like that mentality sets you up to fail. That strategy is unsustainable. You can choose a mindset that supports the outcome that you want. Like mindset could be I focus on one meal every day that nourishes and satisfies, and I listen to my body cues. You know, mindset could include I'm done doing it that way. I've sabotaged and deprived enough, or I've over eaten and binged enough for one lifetime, and I'm ready to change who I am and how I do this. Mindset evolves, like choices, habits and our bodies evolve.

 

Coach Jo 19:53

That's right, and let's discuss balance, because this is so important. No one is perfect and you don't have. To be perfect to be healthy. It's about boring ass consistency, not being perfect all the time. And you know, we've often said, and you've probably heard that one salad doesn't make you healthy, just like one burger doesn't make you unhealthy. It's what you do most of the time that's going to matter. So if you have a day where you know, things go off track. Please don't beat yourself up. What's more important is getting back on that track, like we said earlier, with your next meal, your next decision, eating well should support your life, not restricted. And yes, we want to make smart choices, but we also want to enjoy life. It's about finding that sweet spot where you're fueling your body, setting proper instructions to your body in a way that makes you feel good, gives you all the energy, but it also allows you to live and enjoy the things you love, like Hello ADLs = activities of daily living.

 

Coach Kim 20:53

So, let's sum all of this up. You already know what to eat. You know how to make a healthy meal, and you know which foods aren't supportive of your goals. The work we have to do is marrying that knowledge with your real life, your thoughts, your emotions, habits and your environment. That's where the work is, and again, shameless plug, that's where the gold is when working with a coach, it's solidarity, it's support, it's ideas, and it's helping you to look at more than just food. It ain't just a meal plan. Food is important, for sure, but equally important is all the layers around you as a human that is just trying to set yourself up to win.

 

Coach Jo 21:39

So here's the good news. By understanding your triggers, rewiring your habits, and preparing yourself mentally and physically, you can create a sustainable relationship with food that works for you, not against you. So we hope today's episode gave you some insight into how to do just that, and maybe even helped you see that you're not alone in this struggle, we all have triggers, our habits and our moments of weakness, but with a little awareness and a lot of consistency, you can make those two pieces, knowing what to eat and actually doing it, come together. If this

 

Coach Kim 22:13

resonated with you, don't forget to download this episode or share it with somebody else who you think might need to hear it or save it for yourself when you're feeling stuck. And also, is there anything that you want us to talk about? Is there a subject that you have thoughts or questions about? Because you can always send us a message via our social channels or send us an email to info@ironlabinc.com 

 

Coach Jo 22:39

And if you're loving our podcast, take a moment to subscribe and leave us a five star review so we can keep bringing you content that supports your health journey. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you next time bye.

Coach Jo 22:49

You probably got a sense of who we are by now and what our personal approach is to developing a lifestyle that creates really great health and strength. Using a relational common sense coaching approach that is backed by knowledge and personal experience

 

Coach Kim 23:07

There are a couple of ways that you can work with Jo or I, one on one, remote or you can actually train here at Iron Lab. 

 

Coach Jo 23:15

The first is the Metabolic Blueprint, personalized coaching program, which is customized for your life and your body. 

 

Coach Kim 23:22

We work together very closely either in person or remotely to help you conquer old diet drama and to get lasting results. 

 

Coach Jo 23:31

Ideally, we'd love to teach you how to never buy a quick-fix diet program or app again. 

 

Coach Kim 23:39

Next, there is the Accelerator Academy, which is up to 12 months of self-paced weekly bite-sized lessons and journaling exercises, that we’ve created to help you create the lifestyle habits that generate a true transformation. 

 

23:53

Find out more on our website: ironlablacombe.com/metabolic-blueprint