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>> Jolene: Abstinence or moderation?

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I'm talking about when it comes to diet and health.

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Have you ever wondered if moderating is

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better or abstaining is better and you're trying

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to figure out which one works? Which is

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healthy, what is not? Let's dive

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in. Welcome to holistic health

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made simple. Are you tired of chasing fad diets and

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endless workouts? Frustrated and confused by the

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conflicting advice on health and weight loss? Well, you're not

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alone. I'm Jolene, a nutritional therapy professional practitioner, and

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I'm here to guide you on a different path through

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ancestral wisdom with scientific principles,

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making health and weight loss a reality.

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Say goodbye to yo yo dieting and hello to

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foods. Ready to make that personalized wellness a

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reality? Let's get started on your journey to real

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health. Hey. Hey there. Today we

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are going to explore moderation and

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abstinence as it relates to eating,

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reaching our health goals and maintaining them.

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Have you ever wondered if moderation

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is better or is abstinence better?

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Are you struggling to try to figure out which one

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works best, which is

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healthy, which is not? I get

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it. You just want to have a healthy relationship

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with food long term. But there's all

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this noise out in the world shouting for you to do

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this or to do that. So is it

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abstaining or moderating? Well, first,

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let's do our best to define both

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so that we're all on the same page of what we're actually

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talking about. According to Merriam

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Webster, to abstain or

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abstaining is to choose not to

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do or have something, to

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refrain deliberately and often with

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an effort of self denial from an action or

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practice. That is a pretty straightforward

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definition. As far as diet, it means we are

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deciding not to eat certain

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things. We're going to cut them out of our

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diet. Now, Merriam

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Webster defines moderating as to

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moderate, which is avoiding

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extremes of behavior or

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expression, observing reasonable

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limits, or tending towards

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the mean or average amount.

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I find this a little bit more nuanced in a

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definition than it came to when we talked about

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abstaining, but when it comes to

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dietary habits, because we

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use it in a way to explain, not to

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overindulge, to only have a little bit,

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or to control the amount. So it does fit

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in. But it's a lot more nuanced because when we

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say you have to have moderation,

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when it comes to certain foods, that means

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you're not going to have a moderate amount, which would be a middle

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amount. You're going to

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be careful how much you have. You're going to

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have less, you're going to stop at a serving

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per se. So it's a little bit more

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nuanced. But I think we all get the idea that

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we're either going to not have it at all or

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we're going to control the amount we're going to

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have. So controlling the amount we're going to have is

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moderation, and abstaining is not

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having it at all. Knowing the definitions are all

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well and good, but where does that

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get us to be healthy and or

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have a healthy relationship with food?

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There is a lot of confusion and

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conflicting information. As with all

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things nutrition, there is so much

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noise, and people really dig deep

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into their personal feelings that their way is

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the right way. Those who work

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with eating disorders in a clinical

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setting, like psychologists,

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psychotherapists, they have certain

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modalities they use to help their patients get

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through eating disorders. Depending on the

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disorder, which usually stresses

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eating everything in moderation

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or moderating all foods,

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they are working strictly with the mental

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aspect of the eating disorder. There's

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often fear of foods. There's control

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issues, either wanting strict control, or

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those that lose control altogether,

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obsessive behavior. And there's so much more when it

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comes to true to true,

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deep eating disorders.

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So the push for moderation, whether it be

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from a, clinician or a coach or

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an influencer, comes from the

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idea that restriction

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fuels the eating disorder. The concept

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that food is just, that it's food,

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nothing to be used as a form of identity

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worth, and that there is no good or bad

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foods. It's simply just food that we

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should be able to eat in moderation.

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Now, also, with those that are working

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with eating disorders in a clinical setting,

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they're also dealing with the deeper issues

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of a eating disorder. Body

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image issues, trauma control

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issues, obsessive compulsive issues.

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There's a lot of underlying

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issues that come with an eating disorder. So

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before we go any further,

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if you or someone you know,

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or you just think you have an eating

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disorder that is not only affecting your physical

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body, it's affecting your mental well being,

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reach out for help.

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Someone will help you find that mental health

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provider that can get you through this. Like

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I said, many eating disorders are more

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complex than just the food. That

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is why a nutritionist, a coach,

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an influencer, may not be

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the right person to help you through this.

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The rest of this podcast, we will be talking

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about moderation and

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abstinence in regards to a

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healthy relationship with food.

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But you need a healthy

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relationship with your body as well, and

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that is way beyond my scope of practice.

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While I tout self love and loving yourself

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enough to take control of your health,

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many truly need a professional

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in the mental health field

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that goes beyond what I personally can

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offer. I can help you find that person, and

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I can help you on the nutrition part along the way.

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But there is no shame in

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getting that help you need. It is

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courageous to reach out and get

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the mental help you need. So let's go back to the topic. Now

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that I got the heaviness out of the way, let's take

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a look at the concept and

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thoughts behind abstaining.

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By removing the foods that trigger

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uncontrollable behavior, we

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no longer have issues with whatever

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form of eating disorder we had.

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It's labeling these trigger foods off

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limits. Most that teach or

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coach this usually have had

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some kind of binge eating disorder

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or food addiction

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that they have personally overcome. Some

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have gone through the process of moderation with

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therapy and relapsed and found

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it was easier to be an abstainer,

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or they only had a very slight form of

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disordered eating. So abstaining from those foods

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didn't cause any additional mental issues.

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This does not make one way

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better than the other. It's a clear indication

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that it is way more nuanced than we see on the

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Internet. You know, those 15 2nd

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TikToks and reels are very

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absolute. They don't ever talk about the

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nuances. I see it day in and day

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out. People are saying, even

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arguing that removing foods is an

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eating disorder, or that fasting

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is an eating disorder, or, or,

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or the list goes on and

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on and on and everyone digs their feet in the

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sand because human nature is, they

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want to be right. So

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again, let's look at abstaining

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or moderating from a healthy relationship

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on a food perspective. Just because we believe

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a certain way is right does not make it

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so for everyone. The talk that if you

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give up something, it's a form of restrictive

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eating, and an eating disorder is a

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huge leap for the majority of the population,

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especially when the very next sentence

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usually is you only have to count

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calories, that translates into

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restrict to lose weight. If you've

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been listening for any length of time, you know,

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I believe in focusing on your health

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first and letting the weight sort itself

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out because a healthy body releases excess

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weight. It's just kind of how it works. Sometimes

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you do have to do some things to push it along its

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way. But weight

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loss and achieving a healthy weight

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comes from health. The thought

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that you can eat every type of food,

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junk food, as well as healthy food, and reach

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optimum health. For the average

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person, you'd just be wrong. You

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can reach a target weight, sure,

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but is that getting healthy,

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especially metabolically healthy, on the inside?

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The health on the inside that we can't see?

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So what are we to do?

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Moderate or abstain? You might be

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thinking, I'm, leaning one way or the other, but again,

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it is way more nuanced.

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As a nutritional therapy practitioner, I

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often say, you cannot out supplement,

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out exercise a bad diet.

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We need to be nourished and also

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absorb those nutrients. So eating

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countless empty calories, or should I say,

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counting those empty calories, but not focusing

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on getting in the nourishment and the building blocks

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your body needs, is problematic to being

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healthy. Moderating the junk is an option

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for someone who is metabolically

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healthy and can actually moderate. I

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know, that was a whole lotta, huh? For a

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metabolically healthy person who put in the

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work to have a good relationship with

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food, moderating is just fine. They can

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eat only one square of chocolate and be satisfied

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and leave it there for weeks on end, or have one

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dessert one night. And it doesn't set off a cascade of

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binge eating or negative feelings. This is

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something we can all dream of reaching, but

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sadly, it's not gonna be the norm

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for all of us. Moderating something

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like bread for someone that has celiac

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isn't going to work. It's the same thing that goes

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for alcohol and an alcoholic. It's just not

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going to work. We need to be

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realistic that for health

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reasons, some people will have to

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abstain from foods that their body just doesn't

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like, or it doesn't tolerate, or it

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ascorbates a condition they have,

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or it simply doesn't help them reach their

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goals. Abstaining because you want

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your health to improve and to be the best version

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of you is not the same thing as an

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eating disorder. Being obsessive

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about it and feeling like the world is ending, or you're

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a bad person, or a failure because you

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had something you were abstaining from, that's a

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sign that there's some disordered eating going on, and you

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need to dig deeper. That's when we really need to do

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that. Check in with ourselves and make sure we're

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approaching all of our dietary choices in

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a healthy manner for both our body

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and our mind. You see, food

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is nourishment. It's what our body

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uses as building blocks for healthy

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cells, but it also can be for

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enjoyment. We just need to make sure

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we, understand our, own personal

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reactions to the food we're eating. That's

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physically and mentally. When it comes

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to indulgence, I know plenty,

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plenty of people that can moderate it.

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Others need to abstain from those

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foods, and others can

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moderate certain indulgences, but need

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to abstain from others. This is

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where it becomes truly nuanced,

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because if you're avoiding certain foods

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that don't make you feel good, don't help

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improve your health, or send you on

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an out of control spiral, does that mean

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there's something wrong for some?

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That's where food freedom comes from, not

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giving power to foods they lose control

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from, and this will look different

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for everyone. The key is to

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strive for good health in both body

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and mind. As we wrap up, there are a couple

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of things I'd like to talk, about that are

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related to the subject, but aren't necessarily related

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to the food aspects. But first,

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if you have found this podcast useful in

13:56

any way, would you please take 30

13:59

seconds and leave a written review

14:02

or share it with a friend that could use this information

14:05

or both? I'd really appreciate it

14:07

because reviews work with the algorithm to spread the word

14:10

even further and to help people find me.

14:13

Now to the other health modalities that

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can get somewhat disordered. First

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is exercise. Exercise.

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It's a privilege. We get to do this so that

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we can take care of our bodies and get

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healthy. It's not a

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punishment for overeating or overindulging. Using exercise

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to undo what you ate is not only

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not healthy, it doesn't even work.

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Exercise to be strong,

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both physically and mentally. That's why

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we exercise. The second thing is

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fasting. It's the same

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principle. If you are fasting to

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undo what you ate, or as

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a punishment for what you ate, or not

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losing enough or whatever, that means, that's not

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healthy. You need to have a healthy

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approach for fasting. We fast

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for the healing benefits it gives that

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allows our body and mind to be

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healthier. If you are pushing through

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fast and don't feel good or excessively

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hungry for hours on end, you aren't

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doing yourself loads of favors. Now you're

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putting extreme stress on your body, doing

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something that should actually be a healthy stress,

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so fast, gently,

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and with purpose. Lastly,

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if you are tracking your food and it has

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become obsessive, you are now

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obsessively trying to reach every

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single target to the point you are forcing

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foods after your fool or starving for days on

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end. Because you are not listening to your body. You're

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listening to the app that's becoming a

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disordered way of eating as well. Any

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data points that you obsess over?

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Trying to get them perfect requires

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you to take a step back and give yourself a little bit of

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a reality check. We don't want to

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take anything from a point of

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punishment or obsessiveness.

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We want to look at food as

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nourishment. And one of the

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main things I teach people is this going to help

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me reach my goals and get healthier, or is

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it not? It's as simple as that.

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So to wrap it up,

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moderating is fine as long as it

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works with your health goals and body.

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Abstaining is fine as long as you are coming

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from a place of knowledge of yourself.

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Doing a little bit of both is awesome. That

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means you're totally in tune with your body.

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We are unique and we need to do what's

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best for us, but we have to be

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honest with why and what we are

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doing. Our bodies are beautifully made.

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They are the only ones we get. So it

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is important that we do whatever we

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can to take care of our body and our

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mind. On, that note, friends, I will see you

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next time. Bye. Thanks for

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listening in today. I hope you've got some nuggets to take away

17:21

on your health journey. Remember, this podcast

17:24

is for educational and entertainment purposes.

17:27

No medical advice is being given. By listening

17:30

to this podcast, you agree to the full disclaimer, which is

17:33

linked in the show notes. You can stay connected

17:35

to me by joining the [email protected]

17:39

where I share additional tips and tricks weekly.

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Once again, thank you for being a part of my community and understanding. Until