0:00

Hello, and welcome to

0:00

another episode of beyond the

0:02

bench. My name is Mo, I'm

0:02

registered dietitian and

0:05

behavioral Training Specialist

0:05

and every episode, I do my best

0:09

to help you get to a point where

0:09

you're free of benching, so you

0:12

can live your best life and stop

0:12

worrying about all the

0:16

complications that Brendan

0:16

brings into your life. And

0:18

today, we're going to talk about

0:18

restriction, whether restricting

0:22

is something that works or not.

0:22

And my goal for today is to

0:25

actually not tell you if it

0:25

works or not, but to potentially

0:28

help you understand if this is

0:28

something that would work for

0:32

you why it's potentially worked

0:32

for others, if you know anybody

0:35

who has tried it, and it's

0:35

worked for them in the past, and

0:39

whether it can work long term or

0:39

not. I know some of you are

0:42

wondering, is he going to share

0:42

one of his stories today, and I

0:46

have a design and amazing wrote

0:46

a wonderful story that I love

0:50

and for you, for most of you out

0:50

like new listeners out there. I

0:54

love writing short stories, I

0:54

often try to relay messages

0:57

through it. And I have written

0:57

in a story that I can't wait to

1:00

share with you, but not today.

1:00

Today, we're going to dive right

1:02

into it. We're going to discuss

1:02

restriction, whether it's

1:06

something that would work for

1:06

you what you should be doing.

1:11

And then hopefully you can have

1:11

a solid understanding of what to

1:16

do moving forward now. But the

1:16

question is like why restrict?

1:19

So why is it something that we

1:19

even start to ask with, with

1:24

when it comes to binge eating.

1:24

Because with binge eating

1:27

specifically, there are two

1:27

specific problems whose two

1:29

specific goals. So we're trying

1:29

to achieve. Number one, we're

1:32

trying to stop benching. And

1:32

number two, we're trying to lose

1:35

weight. So that's like a dual

1:35

goal problem, which is, which

1:40

makes it much more serious

1:40

number one, and also makes it

1:45

some makes it more attractive

1:45

for us to go to bed restriction,

1:48

because it kind of sounds like

1:48

it solves both, right solves

1:52

both at the same time. Two birds

1:52

one stone, you restrict, you're

1:56

no longer Benji, and you're

1:56

going to lose weight. Because if

1:59

you're not changing, you're not

1:59

gaining weight. And also, if

2:01

you're restricting, you're

2:01

probably doing a diet that is

2:05

going to help you lose weight.

2:05

So this is why many asked this

2:10

question. And a lot of lot of

2:10

people come to me with this

2:12

question, initially, should I

2:12

restrict? Or should I not

2:16

restrict or what should I do?

2:16

Specifically, when I'm, when I'm

2:21

talking to people about the

2:21

possibility of joining my

2:24

program, they will stop for a

2:24

second, it will say you know

2:27

what, this sounds amazing. Like,

2:27

I really like the sounds like it

2:31

would work for me. But what if I

2:31

go on a diet for a while I keep

2:34

doing what I'm doing, because I've been doing this for like three, four weeks, and actually

2:36

losing some weight. And then

2:40

after I lose the weight, I can

2:40

come and see if if I if if I can

2:44

join your program. And my first

2:44

my first thought is always is

2:49

always is always this, whatever

2:49

you're going to do to get you to

2:53

lose the weight, you must keep

2:53

doing for you to keep that

2:56

weight off. This is a very, very

2:56

simple step. So simple rule to

3:01

have in mind is that whatever

3:01

you're going to do to attain a

3:03

result, you must keep doing to

3:03

attain to keep the same result.

3:08

You can you're not going to work

3:08

for example a month and get get

3:11

your salary. And then that says

3:11

you're done working, you're

3:14

going to stop getting your salary and you're going to go into debt, right. So you have to

3:15

keep working. So when it comes

3:19

to weight loss, the best way to

3:19

lose weight and keep it off is

3:23

to have something that you can

3:23

keep doing for life. So that so

3:27

my question back is always well

3:27

can do you see yourself

3:31

restricting for life? And many

3:31

think it's something that they

3:35

potentially can do. And this is

3:35

the goal of today to discuss

3:38

today. So how does restriction

3:38

look like? Well, restriction,

3:41

most of the time looks like

3:41

removing certain foods from the

3:45

environment, cutting out certain

3:45

foods completely. avoiding

3:48

certain gatherings, avoiding

3:48

social events, avoiding going

3:52

out with friends, doing our best

3:52

to steer steer clear of trigger

3:55

foods, going to the grocery

3:55

market while we're at a store

3:59

and avoiding certain aisles.

3:59

This is all forms of

4:01

restriction. But the number one

4:01

way to restrict is to start a

4:05

diet right to start to diet and

4:05

to make sure that we stay away

4:08

from the foods that we have

4:08

benched on in the past. So to

4:12

start a diet and the most

4:12

restrictive diets out there are

4:15

the keto diet, that's number one

4:15

most restrictive diet and the

4:19

Atkins diet those again, another

4:19

restrictive diet. And I'm not

4:22

saying they're bad but or

4:22

trashing them by the way for it.

4:24

But and by any means. I just

4:24

simply want you to understand

4:27

whether it would work for you or

4:27

not. And this is coming by the

4:29

way from somebody who has done

4:29

keto for a year. So I did keto

4:31

in the for a year. I believe it

4:31

was 20 what was 2014 2015

4:35

something I don't remember but

4:35

anyways, that keto for a whole

4:38

year I can safely tell you is

4:38

one of the most restricting

4:41

diets and for the record, I did

4:41

not do it for weight loss. It it

4:45

can work for weight, it can work

4:45

for weight loss, but actually

4:48

research shows that even a

4:48

regular way of eating a moderate

4:52

way of eating will give you the

4:52

exact same weight loss as keto.

4:55

It's just with keto. Many people

4:55

are drawn to it because of the

5:00

Quick Weight gain weight loss,

5:00

the lose the beginning as a

5:03

result of losing water weight.

5:03

And also they kind of feel

5:06

lighter and the brain fog, which

5:06

is a different story. And by all

5:10

means, I'm not saying that

5:10

eating regular moderate foods

5:14

will help you not have brain fog

5:14

with brain fog is a different

5:18

topic. If you want to hear more

5:18

about brain fog, I can make a

5:21

podcast on it. Anyways, let's go

5:21

back on track and focus today on

5:27

the restriction. So this is how

5:27

most people restrict is they

5:30

start a diet and do all this

5:30

stuff. Now here's, before we

5:34

dive into like, does it work or

5:34

not? What are the different

5:38

reasons that actually get us to

5:38

restrict in the first very first

5:42

place? Because here's the thing,

5:42

if you're aware of how it

5:44

starts, you you gain the sense

5:44

of self awareness that can help

5:48

you realize if it's something if

5:48

it's the right path for you or

5:50

not. Because many, many times

5:50

we're on a path, but we don't

5:53

remember how we got onto this

5:53

path in the first place. If you

5:56

took the wrong first step, it

5:56

can often lead to a completely

6:00

wrong path. So one must go back

6:00

and review the first step that

6:04

we took. So that we're able to

6:04

assess if this is the path that

6:08

we want to keep on or not the

6:08

quite the answer to why people

6:14

start restricting in the first

6:14

place is actually many things

6:18

while it's because I'm bingeing,

6:18

it's actually not. So benching,

6:21

and restriction is the big

6:21

cycled big pattern of binge

6:26

restrict, binge restrict, I

6:26

died, I binge I died, I binge.

6:30

But it's not one of these that

6:30

started, the whole process

6:33

actually is something else. And

6:33

for many people, actually, it's

6:36

different. But there's one main

6:36

reason I found it's pretty

6:39

common out there. And it

6:39

actually starts with poor body

6:42

image mostly from a young age,

6:42

which causes us to restrict

6:45

thinking that we need to lose

6:45

weight, whether our caregivers,

6:50

our family, or our parents, or

6:50

loved ones, or even like when

6:53

we're younger, in our school in

6:53

school, they made us believe

6:56

that we something's wrong with

6:56

our body, or even social media

6:59

nowadays made us believe that

6:59

there's something wrong with our

7:02

body. So the first thing that we

7:02

gravitate to doing is restrict

7:06

and diet because this is what's

7:06

advertised as number one way to

7:10

lose weight, right? You want to

7:10

lose weight, you want to diet,

7:13

you want to lose weight, stop eating junk, this is what they this is what they say, which

7:15

basically says restrict. And as

7:19

they do that, eventually,

7:19

depending on other factors could

7:22

develop into benching and this

7:22

is how the cycle starts. So it

7:25

actually doesn't start with

7:25

restricting or bingeing. It

7:27

starts with poor body image, and

7:27

it breaks my heart to see so

7:31

many young kids, majority of

7:31

girls struggling with that from

7:38

a very young age of 14 and 15.

7:38

When, when they should like this

7:43

is if there's anybody body

7:43

listening out there right now,

7:46

don't worry about your body. And

7:46

the changes is going through a

7:49

young age at all just worry

7:49

about nourishing your body. And

7:52

that's it. But let's get back on

7:52

track. So this is how it starts.

7:55

For me personally, binge eating started actually a bit differently. And this is

7:57

something that others could face

8:01

as the starting point is that

8:01

for me when I was younger source

8:04

food was a source of comfort

8:04

growing up like I, you know, I

8:07

have a sweet tooth. Chocolate

8:07

tastes great for me. cakes

8:11

tastes great for me, all this

8:11

stuff tastes delicious to me. So

8:13

it was a source of comfort. And

8:13

what I went through a period of

8:17

time, when I was in between like

8:17

14 and 16, when I was going

8:20

through a lot of pain and stress

8:20

as a result of events in my

8:23

life, that if I discussed right

8:23

now might take maybe a few

8:26

hours. So I'm not going to as a

8:26

result of that I find myself

8:29

gravitating more towards food

8:29

and using it as a source of

8:33

comfort. So that's one of the

8:33

other causes that could

8:36

potentially start it. And

8:36

actually, many have several

8:40

causes that start the whole

8:40

restrict restriction bingeing

8:43

cycle, it's never just one

8:43

cause. But to review, to be

8:47

aware of what it is helps us

8:47

because then we can go back and

8:50

learn how to, you know, change

8:50

it potentially, and see what we

8:56

did wrong. So we can change that

8:56

in the in what we're doing right

8:59

now. But that's not something

8:59

that we are going to dive into

9:02

today, we're going to keep

9:02

focusing on the restriction. So

9:06

this is how it starts now does

9:06

it work? So the question is,

9:09

does restriction work? Can I

9:09

stop eating certain foods like

9:13

chocolate, candy, cookies,

9:13

certain junk food that I like,

9:17

or certain foods that are, you

9:17

know, kind of think of a lot?

9:21

Can I stop eating them as a way

9:21

to stop binge eating and use

9:24

willpower? Is this going to work

9:24

for me. And this is where we are

9:27

going to dive into the brain and

9:27

how the brain works. And once I

9:32

explained to you, I'm going to

9:32

leave it up to you, for you to

9:35

understand if it's going to work

9:35

or not. So this is what we're

9:40

going to be doing today. Number

9:40

one, most importantly, one of

9:45

the most important rules about

9:45

the brain is that the brain is

9:49

drawn to pleasure. And it avoids

9:49

pain. So it seeks pleasure and

9:52

avoid pain and that is something

9:52

actually that is in the

9:55

mammalian brain in us the animalistic part

9:55

of us. That was part of us from

9:59

from a Very, very long time,

9:59

it's the exact same part that

10:02

basically, you know, let's say

10:02

your, your, let's say our

10:07

ancestors were out foraging and

10:07

they go into a bush that has

10:10

thorns and they get like, you

10:10

know, they get like, they get a

10:14

little pricks and stuff and then

10:14

I go, Okay, that's, that's

10:16

painful, I don't want to go in

10:16

that bush again. Let's say they

10:18

eat blueberry and then tastes

10:18

delicious. They're like, Oh,

10:21

that tastes good. That's pleasuring. I'm going to have more of that. So it's the brains

10:23

way of guiding us to what is

10:26

good for us and what and keeping

10:26

us away from what is bad for us.

10:29

Alright, so this is a very

10:29

important fundamental component

10:33

of the brain of being a human

10:33

being. Now, here's the thing we

10:39

had as we have evolved and

10:39

overcome certain things such as

10:43

having to, you know, stop

10:43

worrying about Tigers eating us

10:46

and and elephants trampling on

10:46

us, or freezing to death or

10:50

something like that, we have

10:50

started to associate new things

10:53

with pleasure and new things

10:53

with pain, certain things like

10:55

foods like chocolate cookies,

10:55

fried foods, all this stuff can

11:00

now be a huge source of pleasure

11:00

for someone. And certain things

11:04

like, you know, exercise, etc,

11:04

can be a source of pain for

11:08

others. And that is how

11:08

sometimes we are drawn to, to,

11:14

to certain foods. Now, here's

11:14

the thing. When we go through

11:18

tough, tough, a period of time,

11:18

pain, like a lot of pain, a lot

11:23

of stress events that are

11:23

happening in our life that are

11:25

pretty rough. That is crazy,

11:25

creating this emotional,

11:30

psychological pain, it is very

11:30

normal to gravitate towards

11:34

certain foods that cause us

11:34

pleasure, or even events in

11:38

general or causes pleasure. So

11:38

things like entertainment, maybe

11:42

alcohol, maybe smoking for

11:42

others. And there's many, many

11:45

reasons why many different

11:45

things others, other people

11:47

associate with pleasure. We're

11:47

specifically obviously focusing

11:51

on food, everybody who is

11:51

listening to this has this

11:54

struggle, they associate certain

11:54

foods with pleasure.

11:56

So when there's a lot of pain

11:56

going on your life, it is normal

11:59

to gravitate towards that,

11:59

right. So this is this is why

12:04

this is why with restrictions

12:04

specifically, as you restrict

12:08

the source of pleasure, it is

12:08

normal for you to be thinking

12:11

about it more often. So this is

12:11

what you're doing when you're

12:13

restricting is restricting a

12:13

source of pleasure. So some

12:18

strategies that you could

12:18

potentially try is to find other

12:20

healthy sources of pleasure that

12:20

could work for you. But still,

12:23

keep in mind that once the brain

12:23

files a certain thing, as a

12:27

source of pleasure, such as

12:27

food, it really gravitates

12:30

towards it. And for some, the

12:30

source of pleasure could be

12:33

much, much higher than others,

12:33

the pleasure scale, for certain

12:36

foods could be higher than

12:36

others because of the

12:39

association they had when they

12:39

were younger. So for example,

12:42

let's say they really associate

12:42

having cake or cookies, or

12:46

certain foods with their

12:46

parents, or certain memories

12:50

that they're very fond of that

12:50

combination or Association,

12:53

makes the makes the pleasure

12:53

makes the food much that much

12:58

more pleasuring as opposed to

12:58

somebody who just likes it,

13:00

because it tastes good. So keep

13:00

that in mind is that the brain

13:04

is drawn to pleasure and avoid

13:04

pain. That's rule number one.

13:07

Remember that rule, because we're going to tight and the second rule right now, the

13:08

second rule right now is that

13:12

brain, the brain focuses on the

13:12

words and the images that we

13:17

give it, and it ignores

13:17

negatives. And this is

13:20

important, it ignores negatives,

13:20

the best way I can explain is to

13:23

say that the brain works with

13:23

nouns and adjectives. And it

13:27

ignores verbs basically. So it

13:27

doesn't understand I don't want

13:31

to I'm not, I don't want to stop

13:31

doing this, it doesn't

13:35

understand this, and understands

13:35

the word that comes after these

13:38

verbs. So if you're saying I

13:38

don't want to eat chocolate, it

13:41

will take the image of chocolate

13:41

and the word of chocolate and

13:43

file it as something that you're

13:43

feeding your brain, your brain.

13:47

If it takes something like, I

13:47

want to stop eating cookies, or

13:52

stop smoking, or stop drinking,

13:52

it will say, Take drinking, and

13:55

smoking and cookies and file it

13:55

in as something you're feeding

13:58

the brain. And it ignores the

13:58

negatives, right? It ignores

14:01

negatives. So what happens then

14:01

is as you try to restrict,

14:05

you're obviously feeding your

14:05

mind certain things like, I

14:08

don't want to do this, I don't want to eat chocolate, I don't want to do this, I want to avoid

14:10

this. And if let's say you're

14:12

tempted to go to an event with

14:12

some friends, your first thought

14:15

is like I don't want to go

14:15

because there's chocolate there,

14:17

I don't want to go because there's dessert, there's dessert dessert there I don't want to

14:19

have the dessert. As you say

14:21

that your brain ignores the I

14:21

don't want to and it takes the

14:24

word dessert chocolate, etc. And

14:24

it files it in and it sends it

14:28

into your into your conscious

14:28

and your subconscious. It goes

14:32

right into your mind. And here's

14:32

the here's what happens after

14:36

that. It starts to work on the

14:36

conscious level and subconscious

14:39

level and bear with me right now

14:39

because once you understand

14:42

this, a lot of things will make

14:42

sense to you. So on the

14:44

conscious level, what happens is

14:44

your brain is will be constantly

14:47

scanning your thoughts as you go

14:47

and finding the the the words

14:52

that you that associate with the

14:52

ones that you are feeding it.

14:55

Let's say you're seeing, you're

14:55

saying to yourself a lot. I

14:57

don't wanna have chocolate, I wanna have dessert. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do

14:59

Then, as you're having a usual

15:02

ongoing narrative in your mind

15:02

during the day, you might not be

15:04

thinking about chocolate. But

15:04

the moment you start thinking

15:06

about chocolate consciously,

15:06

your mind says, oh, chocolate,

15:09

here it is, because you've been

15:09

thinking about it, and you've

15:11

fed that condition to your

15:11

brain. The second level it works

15:14

on is the subconscious level,

15:14

the brain usually scans the

15:18

subconscious on the subconscious

15:18

level scans, everything that you

15:22

see without you necessarily

15:22

having to put any attention on

15:26

it. So for example, you could be

15:26

driving down the road and see

15:30

100 advertisements, and you will

15:30

not be aware of what all these

15:33

100 advertisements are. But your

15:33

brain is processing all these

15:37

advertisements. And the moment

15:37

in finds chocolate. And while

15:40

these advertisers, it brings it

15:40

up to your attention, because

15:42

you fed that condition into your

15:42

brain and your conscious. And

15:46

your subconscious mind is like,

15:46

here it is, here's a chocolate,

15:49

because you said I don't want to have chocolate wanna have chocolate? So it's basically

15:50

you're fed that. So now it's

15:53

providing you back with what you

15:53

said is here it is, haven't you

15:55

been focusing on that word? Here

15:55

it is, and you find yourself

15:58

even more focused on it. It's

15:58

basically like me saying, Don't

16:02

think of the pink elephant. But

16:02

are you thinking of your think

16:04

of a pink elephant. It's a very,

16:04

very simple rule. And it's

16:06

another thing actually is that

16:06

once you do that, this really

16:09

feeds into the law of attention

16:09

and puts it in your focus and

16:12

makes you get closer and closer

16:12

to it. Whatever you put in your

16:16

attention, or in your focus, you

16:16

will find yourself getting

16:18

closer and closer to and a

16:18

classic way I can explain this

16:22

is through this study that they

16:22

ran where they were curious, why

16:27

is it that cars on the highway

16:27

when they crash, they always

16:30

crash into a tree or a pole even

16:30

though there's one every like

16:33

one kilometer or something, they

16:33

found that drivers, when they

16:36

lose control the car and the the

16:36

their subconscious mind or they

16:40

consciously know there's a

16:40

certain pole or tree nearby, the

16:43

first thing that they think

16:43

they're saying constantly is

16:46

like, I don't wanna hit the tree, I don't wanna hit the tree, I don't want to hit the

16:47

pole, I don't want to pull. And what happens is because they're

16:49

so focused on it, they hit the

16:51

damn pole with an entry. So this

16:51

is usually what ends up

16:54

happening. So this is, this is how, with

16:56

restriction, we can actually,

17:01

without being aware of it push

17:01

our minds and our brain to be

17:05

thinking more about the foods

17:05

that we are trying to avoid. And

17:09

this is how certain companies

17:09

use advertisement as a way to

17:16

get you to be doing more of it

17:16

by constantly putting on these

17:20

little advertisements on TV or

17:20

throughout the streets or

17:23

throughout the roads, etc. Or

17:23

even in the grocery stores,

17:26

putting them on display, it's a

17:26

strategy they use, you might

17:29

think that like we're, they're

17:29

paying so much money on, on the

17:32

TV advertisement, but I'm not

17:32

gonna do it. It's working for

17:35

them, because they're putting it

17:35

in your attention, and you're

17:37

filing it in. And if you have a

17:37

narrative, a condition in your

17:40

mind is saying I don't want to

17:40

be doing blank, then the mind

17:43

ignores I don't want to and it

17:43

takes blank. And so when the

17:45

moment blank pops up in your

17:45

subconscious, your minds are

17:48

curious, and it makes you want

17:48

to do it right. This is how

17:51

restriction works. And this is

17:51

why in my opinion, people who

17:54

are restrict restricted to foods

17:54

that they love, like chocolate

17:58

cookies, etc. And they're going

17:58

through a painful time or

18:01

stressful time in life. But

18:01

they're able to really avoid

18:06

having to switch for a long

18:06

time, in my opinion, have the

18:09

most absolute strongest

18:09

willpower I have ever seen in my

18:13

life, because they're working

18:13

against their brain and still

18:16

able to keep themselves away

18:16

from certain things like really,

18:20

really very impressive. Imagine

18:20

if you take that willpower and

18:23

use it towards something that

18:23

would work in your favor and use

18:26

it towards a process that works

18:26

with your brain, not against

18:29

your brain, it will be much,

18:29

much much much easier to be able

18:33

to achieve what you're trying to

18:33

achieve. So this is how, how it

18:37

works. So I wanted this is how

18:37

the brain works when it comes to

18:39

restriction and I wanted to

18:39

share this with you. Now the

18:43

question is are like is

18:43

restriction something that is

18:46

that would work for you or not?

18:46

So now I hope this I hope you

18:49

have a better understanding now

18:49

and you're able to answer that

18:52

question on your own better. But

18:52

ask yourself, Am I going through

18:55

a lot of pain and stress etc? In

18:55

my life right now? Do I have

18:58

strong associations with

18:58

pleasure when it comes to these

19:00

certain foods? Have I been

19:00

successful in the past when it

19:03

comes to restriction? And once

19:03

you answer these questions and

19:06

related to related to the rules

19:06

that I've just shared with you,

19:09

you'll be able to discover that

19:09

the true question is another

19:13

milestone, the true question to question is should we restrict or not? And you're gonna, you're

19:15

hopefully going to be able to

19:17

answer that soon. But the other

19:17

question is, are people

19:21

successful doing it long term?

19:21

Because I see so many who are

19:25

like, Mike, my friend, oh, my

19:25

God, they don't touch chocolate.

19:28

They don't touch this, or you

19:28

know, they don't do any of that

19:31

at all. Are people successful

19:31

doing long term or not? And this

19:33

is where I can share my personal

19:33

story. When it comes to

19:35

restriction, I was able to

19:35

restrict at the age of 21 or 20

19:40

or 21. Don't remember, for a

19:40

whole year, maybe even a year

19:43

and a half. Cut out certain

19:43

foods that I used to love

19:46

chocolates, candies, all this

19:46

stuff, I would cut them out. And

19:50

I was so restrictive. People

19:50

thought that I was like you know

19:54

the new health guru, even though

19:54

I wasn't at all and by the way,

19:57

this is not a happy story

19:57

because at 25 my Benjin gotway

20:00

way worse. So I'm going to share

20:00

with you right now how at

20:02

20 2021, I restricted so much

20:02

and I was on this very specific

20:07

diet, and I was able through

20:07

willpower to avoid certain

20:11

foods. And the reason why is

20:11

because my motivating factor was

20:16

so high that it pushed me to

20:16

have this huge willpower to

20:20

overcome and resist certain

20:20

urges. And the motivating factor

20:25

for me specifically was like

20:25

growing up, I was the, you know,

20:27

overweight kid in school, and I

20:27

didn't want to be the chubby kid

20:32

in, in college or university.

20:32

And the idea of not being

20:37

accepted as a young male in

20:37

college was so difficult and

20:41

painful for me, coupled with the

20:41

fact that I thought I wasn't

20:44

accepted in school because I

20:44

was, you know, on the chubbier

20:47

side that was so painful to me.

20:47

It drove me to restrict and

20:50

really cut out certain certain

20:50

foods. Now, here's the thing is

20:55

is that people thought that I

20:55

was being I was being like a

20:57

health nut was I really healthy,

20:57

but the truth is, it wasn't

21:01

because it was I still developed

21:01

disordered eating. And this is

21:04

where orthorexia or anorexia

21:04

comes in. If you're not aware

21:07

orthorexia is basically a

21:07

disorder, an eating disorder

21:10

where you're super obsessed with

21:10

high quality, high nutritious

21:14

foods. And that's all you can eat. And you have tried to get like, super super ton amount, a

21:16

ton of them and you know,

21:20

getting your fiber exactly, you

21:20

need this amount of fiber,

21:23

you're getting it and exactly

21:23

this amount of calcium and

21:26

vitamin C, and you're tracking

21:26

everything and you're obsessive

21:28

about it obsessive about eating

21:28

nutritious and cannot, quote

21:33

unquote, healthy eating. So

21:33

you're super obsessed about

21:36

anorexia is when you're become

21:36

so restrictive, you start

21:40

cutting out a ton of other foods

21:40

and you're basically just

21:43

cutting out food, you're eating

21:43

very, very little, and you're

21:45

super afraid of gaining weight. So you force yourself to a

21:46

certain state of restriction,

21:50

which is, again, a very extreme

21:50

side of benching. Here's the

21:53

thing orthorexia or anorexia are

21:53

still a different forms of

21:58

eating disorders, which means

21:58

that even then I still wasn't

22:01

free of food, I was still

22:01

thinking of food consistently,

22:04

and with bingeing and

22:04

restriction, their opposite of

22:06

the same spectrum. So you might

22:06

think that with restriction, you

22:09

might get to your goal of weight

22:09

loss. And yes, it is. That is

22:12

true, I got I did get to my goal

22:12

of weight loss, using

22:15

restriction. But it was still a

22:15

disordered eating, because I

22:19

still thought about food non

22:19

stop, I was obsessed with it.

22:22

Now, here's the downside to all

22:22

of this, though, I eventually

22:25

ended up gaining that weight

22:25

back at 2526. Because the

22:29

motivating factors changed at

22:29

25, I was no longer motivated by

22:34

being accepted in college

22:34

university because I was no

22:36

longer there. I was graduated,

22:36

just starting, you know, seeing

22:41

what I'm supposed to be doing

22:41

for my career. And so the

22:45

motivating factors were not

22:45

there. So when it came to

22:47

wanting to restrict, I couldn't

22:47

do it for even a few days,

22:50

because the motivating factors

22:50

were gone. I couldn't do it for

22:53

even like a few days, there's

22:53

not that second. So the

22:56

different stage of your life

22:56

will determine whether

22:58

restriction can work or not. But

22:58

the real question is, is it

23:02

sustainable? Is it something you

23:02

can keep doing, why some people

23:05

succeed is because their

23:05

motivating factors could be

23:08

really, really, really high, or

23:08

the the potential could have had

23:12

a scare scare is sad, the the,

23:12

they got, they became diabetic,

23:17

and they've so terrified of

23:17

becoming diabetic, they

23:20

continuing and getting insulin

23:20

that pushes them away from it,

23:23

they start restricting, or let's

23:23

say they get Heart Heart attack,

23:27

and they get so scared from

23:27

dying, that it forces them,

23:29

well, let's say their partner doesn't want to accept them anymore. And, and this is

23:31

horrible. By the way, if you're

23:34

experiencing this, and they're,

23:34

they're so scared of losing

23:38

their partner, they start to like, really, really restrict and that forces them. So the

23:39

question is, are they free? Have

23:44

they do they experience food

23:44

freedom? And the answer is

23:47

mostly not I was there, they

23:47

don't really experience that

23:52

freedom from food. And long term

23:52

is that motivating factor that

23:56

is driving them to restrict

23:56

could disappear, which will make

23:59

everything fall apart because it

23:59

is only being held together by

24:03

willpower. Only willpower is

24:03

able to hold restriction and

24:06

willpower alone, by the way is

24:06

not sustainable at all. What is

24:09

sustainable is building habits,

24:09

building a lifestyle, automating

24:12

certain thoughts understanding

24:12

how your brain works, learning

24:15

how to cope with stress,

24:15

learning how to cope with pain,

24:17

learning how to moderate certain

24:17

foods, all this stuff. So so

24:21

this is this is the answer to

24:21

that. So if you come across

24:24

somebody who's good at

24:24

restricting and and and you're

24:28

looking up to them and you're like oh my god, they don't even touch bit of chocolate or

24:30

anything they they're so strong.

24:33

Please don't take them as your

24:33

role model or as example for

24:36

overcoming benching, because it

24:36

is still on the same spectrum it

24:42

is just the opposite side and it

24:42

is not does not lead to freedom

24:46

from food. So this is what I

24:46

wanted to discuss today. I

24:51

wanted to share with you I hope

24:51

you found this helpful. Not sure

24:55

if you have any questions, but

24:55

if you have, please please let

24:57

me know. And keep in mind that

24:57

With restriction, it is a purely

25:04

Battle of willpower. But it

25:04

doesn't have to be when it comes

25:07

to overcoming binge eating

25:07

because willpower is a force,

25:10

but binge eating is another

25:10

force. And not every day with

25:13

the heavy willpower, sometimes

25:13

your willpower is going to

25:15

decline. Ideally, you want to

25:15

find a way to lose weight and

25:18

keep it off for good

25:18

sustainably. Because whatever

25:21

you're going to do to lose

25:21

weight you must keep doing for

25:23

you to keep the weight off. So

25:23

when I started rebuilding my

25:27

lifestyle at 26, again, when I

25:27

did it all wrong, I decided to

25:32

build a lifestyle. And I have

25:32

the same lifestyle today and has

25:34

managed to keep the weight off

25:34

for good even during the

25:37

pandemic. So the question is a

25:37

matter of sustainability? How

25:41

can you do it long term? And how

25:41

can it last you for the rest of

25:45

your life regardless of what's

25:45

happening? Or the changes you go

25:48

through, etc? Or the life stages

25:48

that you're at? so that you're

25:52

not fluctuating in weight or

25:52

your life is struggling with it.

25:54

And it's something that's

25:54

automatic. So this is it with

25:56

weight loss with bingeing, it's

25:56

a matter of understanding what

26:00

causes you to binge, how you can

26:00

cope, how can you can replace

26:05

certain negative coping habits

26:05

such as bingeing, how to change

26:09

the thought process, how to

26:09

change your thought patterns,

26:11

how to change associations, with

26:11

certain foods, and certain

26:17

events that trigger to bench and

26:17

stuff like that. It is purely

26:20

mental. In my programs, we do

26:20

85% of the work is on the mental

26:25

component, and 15% on nutrition

26:25

component because nutrition is

26:29

pretty straightforward. It's not

26:29

complicated. The 85% the mental

26:34

component is the thing that

26:34

drives sustainability long term.

26:37

So if you're one of those people

26:37

relying on willpower,

26:40

and it's working for you, that's

26:40

great, but planning for the

26:42

future right now by saying okay,

26:42

well let me see what I can do to

26:46

transition to long term where it

26:46

can so I can stop constantly

26:50

relying on willpower and instead

26:50

have something that is much,

26:53

much easier to do and that

26:53

hopefully will get you to a much

26:56

much better place. Anyways, I

26:56

hope you are having a wonderful,

27:00

wonderful day and I hope this

27:00

has helped and I will see you in

27:02

my next podcast.