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E18: How to EBTL - Travel Chronicles: Costa Rica
48 Plays1 year ago
Listen in today and join me discussing my venture to Costa Rica and how to EAT BETWEEN THE LINES while traveling :) I go over:
Travel evolution with ED recovery
My approach to travel nutrition with balance
How to check into your body and set yourself up for success
How to promote and support your patterns while away
How to pull back on rigidity while maintaining a healthy relationship with food
How to gauge your relationship with food based off your approach to travel
Fill-in-the-blanks nutrition tips
Aids and tips for travel constipation
Reflections on how to observe your reactions to food and movement during travel that can indicate a need for more work
Breaking free of preoccupation
Battling guilt around fullness
and so much more…..
@theresemartinezrd
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Eating Between the Lines'
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Eating Between the Lines. I am your host, Therese Martinez, and I am so happy to have you here. If you want to untangle yourself from diet culture conditioning and get appropriate, actionable options to nourish your unique life and body, I'm going to dive deep into the nuanced spectrum of health to help you figure out what to prioritize in your journey
00:00:25
Speaker
without getting trapped in the extreme ideology of health optimization or total complacency. I am here to help you apply the science effectively, not rigidly, and get you feeling better in your body and mind. Here is how to eat between the lines.
Cultural Insights from Costa Rica
00:00:47
Speaker
Hello, hello, welcome back everyone. Happy January. I just got back from Costa Rica last week. I had a wonderful time. Traveling is just, it's just so incredible and I feel so
00:01:07
Speaker
very, very lucky to be able to experience all the places that I have. And I don't know, going to Costa Rica was just this great reminder for me of how, well, so many things, but how incredibly beautiful so many places are in this world. And also what a great appreciation for the immense cultural diversity that we also have in this world.
00:01:33
Speaker
I just love experiencing different places that people live and kind of understanding and valuing certain components of their culture, how they live, resources that they have, and then pulling that back into my own life and kind of seeing what I like to prioritize and what I value and all of that. And I just think it's I just think it's a wonderful experience.
Travel and Diet: Common Concerns
00:02:03
Speaker
And with that today, I want to talk about my own experiences in Costa Rica traveling. This is a really hot topic when it comes to folks being a little bit kind of like concerned more or less.
00:02:22
Speaker
around what to do when they travel, how to travel well, how to, you know, I hear this with like not losing progress or kind of backsliding and many times it's kind of related. The little hint of diet culture, you know, how can I stay on the diet that I am on while traveling more or less? How do I not lose progress in that sense? But I also like to note that it's not all about
00:02:52
Speaker
dieting either.
Maintaining Routines on Vacation
00:02:53
Speaker
I think some people really love the way that they feel when they are in routine and sometimes it can feel risky going on vacations and doing different types of travel because you want to maintain feeling as good as you are and or they are scared very legitimately that
00:03:15
Speaker
this will kind of lead them into a sense of feeling a little out of control, maybe regressing in certain ways that they have progressed and coming back from vacation with a mindset of vacation or something to that nature, right? Like it's going to be even harder to get back into routine when you're out of it. And so,
00:03:40
Speaker
I want to talk about my own approach to travel and what I also talk about with patients all the time.
Mindfulness in Eating During Travel
00:03:48
Speaker
So I also just want to note that this is about not only giving input on recommendations of food choices and tangible action items. You can try yourself next time, but I want to dissect these concerns I often hear.
00:04:07
Speaker
and see if we can't shift some of the framework around your next trip. So while I have many tips up my sleeve on how to eat nutritiously and aligned on vacation, my approach caters more to the energetics and mindfulness to the process so that you can spend
00:04:31
Speaker
less time consumed by your thoughts around food and more time enjoying the time and food that you consume. So I've talked about this before, but I do always like to highlight that 5% consideration, right?
The 5% Rule for Dietary Flexibility
00:04:52
Speaker
So the 5% consideration, if you have not heard this before from me or anyone else,
00:04:59
Speaker
This is showing that if you were to go out to eat on the weekend, you know, one dinner or something to that nature, a wedding, a barbecue, something like that, when you feel like it throws off your consistency. And if you are eating three meals every day, that is 5% of your week.
00:05:26
Speaker
And I feel like shedding light on the fact that it's just 5% can really promote the idea that the bulk of your week is what's going to make the difference, right? The consistency with your routine. You know, if you are concerned about that 5%, but you haven't been having regular balanced meals on a regular basis,
00:05:50
Speaker
then that's really not going to be the demise to your health, right? We have other foundations to work on.
00:05:59
Speaker
So I recognize that vacations are usually, you know, more than one meal
Planning for Well-being on Vacations
00:06:04
Speaker
a week. Right. And it's still helpful to understand that we can take certain components of our routines and apply them into our vacation if we want. Okay. A lot of this is like.
00:06:21
Speaker
I want to emphasize this these are considerations and ideas and you can take or leave whatever feels aligned for you with how you want to experience your vacation. I've talked about this before but I am all about intentionality and staying proactive versus being reactive and impulsive.
00:06:43
Speaker
So if you can take a little bit of time to figure out how you want to spend your vacation, the headspace mindset you want going into it, that can play a huge role with the execution as well. And you know, the energetics around your own experiences. So please recognize that these are just my own personal experiences. And then also considerations I like to highlight with patients too.
Balancing Nutrition and Enjoyment
00:07:11
Speaker
So this isn't like, with that said, it's not like I am trying to talk about how to follow your diet on vacation. I am saying that there are things we can apply during vacation that support and nourish our mind and body and in turn our health overall that don't make a huge dent in our progress, okay? Again, progress, I like to consider progress
00:07:41
Speaker
Like time under one's belt with what they are trying to accomplish with their food and lifestyle and relationship with food considerations. Okay. So that means applying foundational components of nutrition and lifestyle along with combating psychological influences.
00:08:05
Speaker
that all can compound over time to support those goals. So many people will focus on one component and build consistent time there. So maybe that looks like establishing healthful balanced meals and building your database of food options and kind of working on.
Nutrition and Exercise: A Layered Approach
00:08:23
Speaker
Gentle nutrition and improving and increasing nutrient quality and density into your intake while giving yourself permission to consume variety of foods. And maybe that is something someone is working on and that is a process, right? And so then maybe we layer in movement as well, exercise as well.
00:08:45
Speaker
and see if that can kind of build on and compound with consistency. But that's a process, right? And so when I am referring to progress, I am talking about wherever people are in on their journey. And so these recommendations serve our health overall and where we can have things like vacation and traveling
00:09:12
Speaker
compliment this journey versus feel like a wrenches thrown in it. Okay, so vacations can be
00:09:21
Speaker
obstacles, right?
Consistency and Travel Challenges
00:09:22
Speaker
So part of this process, like I just mentioned, that I just mentioned is about developing skill sets to navigate obstacles, to help maintain consistency, to build upon time under one's belt. Now, consistency does not mean rigidity and restriction. Please understand that. I'm talking about consistency in the realm of
00:09:46
Speaker
behaviors that favor your health and your overall goals. Okay. And the fact that this process is not linear means that consistency is going to be challenging and that's part of the process, but vacations can be obstacles that we learn skills, uh, around and for. And so many times this is a learning curve.
Mindfulness vs. Diet Culture on Vacation
00:10:10
Speaker
And so many times people can feel a bit uneasy when they have a relationship with food where they don't allow certain foods ever, leading them to have a sense of being out of control or binging around foods, especially on vacations. It can lead to anxiety because of feeling like there is a huge tendency to overeat going out all the time.
00:10:33
Speaker
when you're on vacation or traveling. And it can lead to anxiety because regular routines are off. And that means you have lost your own control of the composition of meals and meal timing. And that can feel very risky and challenging, especially when we have this history of being immersed in diet culture. And so I want to first validate all of these fears.
00:11:01
Speaker
hundred percent. It is extremely common to not trust one's own body to crave and eat an appropriate amount and type of food to feel like we need that structure or otherwise all hell will break loose. We have been
00:11:21
Speaker
trained, groomed to be rather disconnected from our bodies. That's where profit lies, honestly. We have been trained to fear food, so we feel out of control around it and struggle to really gauge hunger and fullness.
00:11:40
Speaker
So while it is always important to recognize the many layers of influences to what and why we eat, what we do, talk about those a lot, I find there are areas we can be intentional around within nutrition and movement during travel that can greatly help us
00:11:58
Speaker
feel better in our bodies so we can be more present with the opportunities and experiences at hand. Traveling brings me back to two main concepts I have talked about before.
Identifying Personal Eating Patterns
00:12:10
Speaker
One, your patterns and two, your recipe. So patterns of intake. Oh, man. Patterns and knowing your patterns are so, so helpful when you are trying to get in front of
00:12:27
Speaker
and understand your decision making when it comes to food versus being on the back end and looking back and being like, what the heck just happened? Okay. Patterns of intake. For example, composition of your meal can lead to a certain fluctuations in energetics and
00:12:47
Speaker
you know, a lack of or sufficient satiety, which then leads to balanced intake at your next meal or having appropriate hunger going into your next meal where you then have a healthful and balanced intake at that meal. And it can really show two different patterns when we're thinking about how you're eating your food, right? The energetics behind it and
00:13:15
Speaker
and why you set yourself up. So patterns I find really helpful to identify because that can help you develop what your daily recipe is. We talked about this in a previous podcast. This is all about understanding kind of your daily script. What is a priority of yours that sets your day up for success when it comes to what you incorporate in?
00:13:43
Speaker
This can be nutrition. It can be about movement. It can be lifestyle things and it can be other
00:13:48
Speaker
things as well, but for the purpose of this conversation, let's just talk nutrition and lifestyle.
Importance of Nutritious Breakfast
00:13:56
Speaker
So, you know, for me, my recipe is really prioritizing a balanced breakfast and regular intake throughout the day. It's also prioritizing intentional movement. I like to start my day with a little bit of stretching and then have some kind of intentional movement later on.
00:14:16
Speaker
Now, are these hard and fast rules? Am I going to freak out? Is the world going to implode if they don't happen? No, I just have the experience that I understand that these things, in addition to a good handful of others, are what set me up for success for my day because it really helps with my energy balance, my blood sugar balance, and ensures that I feel pretty good.
00:14:44
Speaker
I also like to prioritize breakfast because of how it impacts my patterns. If I slack on breakfast, if I, oh my gosh, when I did intermittent fasting, I would get really preoccupied by food. I'd be super duper hungry. Even if I had a light breakfast, like one piece of peanut butter toast or something like that, I would be so hungry come 11 o'clock. And I would not let myself eat because this was in my disordered eating days.
00:15:12
Speaker
And it would be like I couldn't eat 11 because I would want to have lunch then. And then I was going to end up being hungry earlier on. And then I was overall going to overeat because of that meal timing. So if I added more volume to breakfast, it just really helped with then my energetics going into the next meal. It ensured more adequate nutrition and things like that. So that's an example.
00:15:40
Speaker
from college years, I ended up adding like another piece of peanut butter toast because I just lived off of peanut butter toast and other things, but it was mind blowing to recognize the impact that had. So that's why breakfast is so important for me. I know myself. I know that's what impacts my overall patterns of intake for the whole day.
00:16:02
Speaker
So patterns and your recipe highly recommend trying to create your own and understand this prior to going into a vacation. So if you think about this scenario, when you're traveling, say you have no breakfast at hand, you just have maybe run to a coffee shop, grab coffee and a pastry.
00:16:21
Speaker
You walk around all day exploring and you finally sit down to a meal famished and you just inhale an appetizer and dinner and dessert and a handful of beverages and you just don't feel so great. And then you plan to go easy on breakfast tomorrow.
00:16:37
Speaker
and then may go into this cycle, right? And maybe it averages out to be an okay amount of food every day and maybe adjusting intake and figuring out how to balance intake a little bit more throughout the day can help you feel better and be more mindful at your meal and not feel like you need to inhale absolutely everything.
Planning Eating Habits for Travel
00:17:01
Speaker
Or say, you know, you go for a continental breakfast somewhere. I'm picturing like an all inclusive resort of sorts. And then you go spend time out at the beach or pool and you have some beverages and then you have some lunch and maybe some snacks and then you have dinner.
00:17:19
Speaker
And you're just not feeling good. By the end of the day, you're feeling lethargic and flamed. I know this feeling. Absolutely. Considerations here would be composition of your meals. Maybe adjustments in the composition of your meals could improve. You know, a lot of times they're very high fat, high carb.
00:17:38
Speaker
Which is fine, right? We're just noting things. We're noting patterns. If you weren't very mindful and, you know, kind of considered your intake, alcohol can have a huge impact on the ability to be mindful around food intake. So I think it's important to kind of take that pause, especially when food is readily available and also maybe prioritize some movement in that type of a day, right?
00:18:03
Speaker
So considerations of blood sugar swings and imbalanced meals and lower nutrients can all impact the way that you feel. Now, if you're okay with the way that that makes you feel fine, right? This is just kind of addressing and understanding. We don't have an ability to be intentional if we want to, right? The idea is to see your patterns, understand how you set yourself up for success and attempt to apply that recipe to traveling as best as you can. If you want.
00:18:33
Speaker
So my approach in Costa Rica, number one thing I am, you know, start planning the
Cooking and Health Management During Travel
00:18:41
Speaker
trip. So I considered kitchen spaces. That was a priority of mine. When I looked at Airbnb's, I wanted to make sure we had an ability to store food or cook food. We didn't have that ability at all of the locations, but it worked out to be the most of them.
00:18:59
Speaker
And I think that that's really helpful for me. I love to eat out and try new food. I am also decently frugal, though my sweetie is a little less so. But honestly, I have a hard time eating out for every meal. Personally, I have a lot of considerations to make as someone with type one diabetes and how foods eating out impact my body and blood sugar.
00:19:26
Speaker
It's helpful for me to have a little bit more of an understanding of what is in food.
00:19:31
Speaker
And I try to really understand that with my own history of my eating disorder too. It has been quite a journey to sort of dissect what is truly concerned about blood sugar and what is disordered. And that continues to be something I always reflect on. I do truly believe though, that having a little bit of my home cooked meals while traveling can help me feel better in my body.
00:20:00
Speaker
So I like to eat out, you know, once, maybe twice a day, unless there is a restaurant or somewhere that looks super good and sounds delicious, right? These are, again, not hard and fast rules. You are always wanting to check in to the response of your own anxiety and fear and concern when something about the plan you have may go awry.
Packing Snacks for Travel Convenience
00:20:35
Speaker
anger, kind of edgy responses, then you know you might be a little latched on to that approach, right? I also like to browse areas around and kind of just research a little bit. I was part of like five different Facebook groups looking into things with Costa Rica for excursions, but also food, just kind of trying to get an idea of what was available as that is really helpful for me to plan for.
00:20:53
Speaker
if there's a lot of anxiousness and
00:21:03
Speaker
And so I looked to see what some grocery stores kind of looked like and what was available for me. I didn't do like a ton of this specifically in the grocery store department. I did look at a lot of restaurants, but I knew I could get some basics. I knew like they would have fruit, vegetables, eggs, and I can always whip something up with those. Then I packed my food. So this may sound weird to
00:21:29
Speaker
many people, but I really like packing my own food. There are considerations you have to make when you are going to a foreign country, of course, but I really benefit from this. Again, being a type one diabetic, this just helps me control intake a little bit more. And it's just so nice to not have to
00:21:50
Speaker
be constantly thinking about my blood sugars even more than I already have to every second of every day. So I brought a handful of foods that helped me fill in
Strategic Snacking and Energy Maintenance
00:22:02
Speaker
the blanks. So something about my recipe. Yes, I like to prioritize a helpful breakfast, especially on vacation.
00:22:09
Speaker
And then I also like to have snacks because they fill in the blinks. So I don't like to set myself up for being super duper hungry going into a meal. I like to just nourish my body throughout the day. I just feel like I do well with that. And so I.
00:22:26
Speaker
like to prioritize having some protein options around, maybe some snacks, things that just I know have some nutrition that support the overall feelings of wellness in my body. So I brought beef sticks, some jerky, plantain chips, although they have like tons of plantain chips there, but that was a little bit more intended for a plain snack, but we ended up having a lot of those plantain chips leftover throughout the trip too.
00:22:56
Speaker
I had a lot of my own mixed nut mix. I brought dried fruit again, blood sugar wise. And then I also brought some carrots and fruit that was mostly for the plane as, as bringing produce is usually not allowed. But I also packed hard boiled eggs for travel day and ate those in the airport to save everybody around me in the airplane. But I do really like hard boiled eggs for travel as well.
00:23:24
Speaker
And so packing these other things again, help fill in the nutritional gaps and they can also help aid in some hunger, right? So other goodies that I actually, I don't pack all of these, but I wanted to touch on them because I talk about this with clients a lot.
Supplements and Wellness on Trips
00:23:44
Speaker
supplements and digestive aids are super helpful when you are traveling. I have recommended like a greens powder in the past. I personally not a huge fan of greens powders. I just feel confident in my ability to get the nutrients I need from whole foods, but I also recognize not everybody has that luxury and or palette. So when you're traveling to you don't know what your access is going to be like too many foods. And so
00:24:13
Speaker
greens, powders can be helpful again, filling in that nutritional gap, bringing a protein powder. I've heard mixed things about bringing powders in suitcases, but in my experience, it's been okay. And protein powder can be a really, really great easy button to add to like coffee, oatmeal, yogurt, things like that. If a person is trying to increase nutritional content with their food supplement wise.
00:24:40
Speaker
it's really common to get constipated when a person is traveling. So I recommend bringing some digestive aids. So something like metamucil can be beneficial. Sometimes other fiber supplements out there can help. I also recommend bringing a probiotic. I don't recommend starting a probiotic when you're traveling, but if you have one, it can be beneficial to continue that supplement
00:25:09
Speaker
so that your digestive tract can kind of stay hardy and healthy as much as possible because of the vulnerability, I suppose, that it has to for things going awry when you are traveling, especially to other countries. And magnesium citrate can be another one. If a person tends to get constipated, you can take that in the evening as well. And so those are
00:25:37
Speaker
primary recommendations for supplements and, um, and some other nutritional aids that can help fill in the blanks and kind of help the experience be a little bit more, um, beneficial. I also did bring my fish oil. That was largely because I've been taking, I've been doing like high doses for my wrist that is injured. And so I wanted to maintain that.
00:26:01
Speaker
And so of course, if you're also taking something else, you may want to consider continuing taking it. So while traveling, I.
Adapting Meals and Activities for Health
00:26:14
Speaker
I'm always, I just want to note this again. Like I am always checking myself a lot around, is this truly what makes me feel good or is this disordered? Because the line is hard to understand sometimes. And I think a helpful tool is to consider your response when something does not go your way. I mentioned this a little bit before, but I just want to reiterate this. You know, if you have anxiety, stress, sadness, fear, does it feel overpowering or
00:26:39
Speaker
Can you adapt and adjust and move on? I think it's a really helpful way to kind of take a step back and reflect on your relationship with the decisions that you are making when it comes to nutrition while you're traveling. I prefer a certain amount of structure imbalance in my days because I know how it promotes my overall well-being and energy and blood sugars. And sometimes if it is a bugaboo,
00:27:09
Speaker
If things get thrown, or it is a bugaboo if things get thrown, but I am now far more adaptable than before. Oh my word, I just feel like I can feel the anxiety that would come up in times past. I would freak out if my only lunch options were like sandwiches or something because of bread and my fear of bread.
00:27:34
Speaker
Oh man, I just can't tell you how delicious sandwiches and burritos are when you are like not afraid of them. So good. So my recipe while traveling, getting a helpful balanced breakfast to ensure some substantial nutrition, not knowing what the day will bring. That's another reason I like to prioritize breakfast. It's like I am traveling.
00:28:00
Speaker
There is not a ton of structure to my day. I would love to make sure I get some adequate nutrition in and then additionally filling in the blanks with those snacks. So this worked really well for me. I mean, sometimes we went out to eat, but I think a lot of most days I made some food. I went to the grocery store when it was open and I got some eggs and some other produce, like I mentioned.
Incorporating Enjoyable Physical Activities
00:28:23
Speaker
And I kind of had eggs most days, um, or I would have leftovers. I did that a couple of days to have leftovers for breakfast. And then the other thing I really like to prioritize is movement. Uh, again, that really helps with blood sugars. It helps with my energy. It helps to feel good in my body. It just, it is amazing. I love, love, love to me, my body. I went on a couple runs. I realized quickly I was not, you know,
00:28:49
Speaker
acclimated to that humidity and heat. So it was humbling. But then I also, we spent a lot, I mean, we averaged a lot of miles walking around and that was wonderful too. It's interesting as I even mentioned that I want to contrast this with times past where even walking would not feel like substantial enough for me because
00:29:14
Speaker
in my disordered state, I would need to have a workout that got my blood pumping, heart rate going, and that usually involved lifting weights.
00:29:26
Speaker
And if I didn't have that, it wasn't really a day that I worked out. And I mean, we had days where we were hiking for eight plus miles, walking around like, you know, an average of 10 plus miles a day moving around and exploring this beautiful place. And to think back and recognize in times past that that would not be sufficient,
00:29:49
Speaker
Man, it is one thing to improve your relationship with food. It's another thing to improve your relationship with movement too. And I'm just very grateful that that was not something that was a preoccupation of mine.
Mindful Eating for Balance
00:30:04
Speaker
And even with running, running could sometimes feel that way to me too. Walking was never good enough. I needed to run. But honestly, running was not super pleasurable there. And I only did it a handful of times. And I didn't go as far as maybe I could have gone because I just wasn't enjoying it as much. And I kind of knew when my body was trying to say no more.
00:30:34
Speaker
I don't know. I want to say that because I think creating this awareness and mindfulness around your energetics behind your food choices and movement choices is something that can be very empowering and relieving, honestly, when you can break through that preoccupation and the rules and rigidity.
00:30:56
Speaker
So, uh, choosing food at restaurants.
Intuitive Eating and Honoring Fullness
00:31:00
Speaker
This is something that is honestly unique to everyone. And what I like to recommend is doing a nice little body check-in prior to ordering, you know, see where you're at with your hunger, what sounds good. I mean, we definitely looked at some menus before going, but it was kind of hard. We usually just found a spot and popped in and, and went there.
00:31:23
Speaker
And so there were sometimes I was really hungry. There were sometimes I was not very hungry. So in both of those times, I just like to stay mindful. I mean, mindful eating is the theme. I will forever get behind.
00:31:39
Speaker
to help a person get more in tune and connected to their body to stay aligned with their intake, whatever that means for them. Right. So if I'm not super hungry, I like to just stay mindful of portions and mindfulness to prevent getting overly full and uncomfortable. And this can be hard sometimes. And especially if there isn't anywhere to store the food, don't like to waste food. And I know many of my patients deal with this too.
00:32:05
Speaker
And over the course of many years and working on this and getting more in tune with my body, it is a lot easier to leave food on the table because of the comfort I feel when I do not overeat. And this has also been a process for me. Like I still battle feelings of guilt when getting overly full.
00:32:33
Speaker
And this is, cause this is deep wiring. This is deep wiring for my own self. I have a history of feeling like I shouldn't ever feel full. Plus I have a history of making myself feel too full and engaging in disorder behavior thereafter. And this runs deep. This runs since I was 14 years old, you guys. So though I have gone through tons of therapy and
00:32:59
Speaker
and so far progress on the other side of eating, massively disordered eating, there are still times where these voices peek through. So honoring my fullness has been an intuitive eating principle that has taken a lot of time and practice. And, you know, it's possible to still get triggered. And I don't know, like what I like to imagine
00:33:23
Speaker
Is that boxing analogy I've talked about before where it's like you just develop better skills that being a boxer, you know, swings are like punches are always going to be
Managing Emotional and Dietary Setbacks
00:33:34
Speaker
thrown at you. It's the culture we live in and you get more skilled. You develop better ways to combat and dodge and avoid. And sometimes you still get knocked out, but with time, with practice, you get better at fighting.
00:33:48
Speaker
And so luckily with skills I have developed over the years, the triggering turns into more observation versus negative action. So I must admit though, tank culture and wellness culture and body issues. They just, they can creep in even after many, many, many, many, many, many, many years of combating narratives.
00:34:11
Speaker
I remember a night actually in Costa Rica getting overly full and we even went on this little night walk after and, but I was, Oh my word. I was just, I was uncomfortable and I don't like that feeling. And the cool thing though, well, so with that fullness, I had a thought of, Oh, maybe I could just skip breakfast tomorrow and
00:34:40
Speaker
I just won't eat till a little later. So I'm just going to kind of restrict my food tomorrow. You know, just quote, quote, makeup for it. So the cool thing is that I saw this thought. I knew this thought, this very, very familiar thought of mine. And I knew it meant I absolutely needed to prioritize breakfast the next day because I have learned.
Nutritious Breakfast Revisited
00:35:04
Speaker
that when i skip breakfast to compensate for food eaten as i mentioned earlier where this does not work like through intermittent fasting and things you know i get more hungry i get more preoccupied and honestly like i end up snacking
00:35:20
Speaker
more and it leads me to eat just as much food as I would have if I just prioritize a balanced breakfast and it more so leads to preoccupation and overeating and poor patterns of intake. So I listened to my body and the next morning I made a little breakfast scramble. It was delicious and felt good.
00:35:46
Speaker
And I just want to recognize sometimes those things still happen even with a lot of work and you develop the skills to combat them and come out on the other side in a much healthier fashion, which is wonderful. So sometimes I am neutral on taste and options when I eat out. So in these situations, I'll opt for something I know will help me feel good and feels more doable with blood sugars.
00:36:09
Speaker
I also try to apply mindful eating no matter what, though it doesn't always happen and that's okay too. And I like to consider mindful eating, you know, I'll probably do a more of a thorough podcast on what this is, but I like to consider components of mindful eating being just as beneficial as doing the whole rigmarole that is mindful eating too.
Flexible Nutrition Approach
00:36:33
Speaker
So even just focusing on breathing between bites, setting your fork down, noting certain textures, flavors, and aromas a little bit more, you can do one all or a couple of those things when you are applying it. The goal is to just get a little bit more engaged with your food and not so passive and impulsive and reactive.
00:36:59
Speaker
So in terms of eating otherwise, I don't like to have a lot of crazy rules on vacation, but I do have the personal experience to know what foods I like to prioritize, right? So this comes with experience with what your recipe entails and on a day-to-day basis that supports your overall goals, wherever you are at in your journey with establishing a better relationship with food and improving your health through shifts in nutrition and lifestyle.
00:37:26
Speaker
And so if I don't get like a ton of color and whole foods earlier in the day, I may consider more later, but I don't have to. And I really do like to emphasize grocery shopping as a tool to help, um, prevent eating out all the time. Like eating out is absolutely fine, right? Of course it's, there's new food and new opportunities to taste amazing food. Uh, and.
00:37:50
Speaker
They can tend to be a little heavier, a little higher in sugar and fat, and again, totally fine. It just can also lead to feelings of feeling a little ick, bloated, and sluggish. Sometimes, not always, but there are those GI considerations, so know thyself. My trip was so fun, you guys. I honestly felt really good the whole time in my body. There were certain times of just observation, you know, being on the beach, being
00:38:19
Speaker
Um, on my run and being overly full, certain things that times were, you know, a little bit of narratives and voices kind of creep back in, but.
00:38:31
Speaker
Overall, Headspace was really good, and food intake just really supported me feeling great in my body.
Skills for a Balanced Travel Experience
00:38:38
Speaker
And I don't feel like I restricted. I don't feel like I had to white knuckle my way through saying no to certain foods. It was very, very wonderful. And I'm so grateful for all of the skills that I have developed over decades now to help me be in a place of enjoying a trip so much.
00:38:59
Speaker
I think I still maybe considered someone to like, I don't know, quote control a little bit. But at this point, I really believe it is in my best interest. And I will always question myself and check in and see, does this feel disordered or does this feel aligned?
00:39:17
Speaker
And I do have the blood sugar considerations with type 1. And I will always ask myself, is it because of that or is it because you're trying to control something else? And I have my own reflections to dissect what it is and how I want to kind of deal with that. Though more often than not, I find that it really is just a normal way to be healthful for my body in a way that promotes a good relationship with food and just feelings of wellness.
Transformative Power of Mindful Eating
00:39:47
Speaker
It is amazing what prioritizing a few components of healthful eating a day plus some movement can do. And it's just always good to check the energetics around how you may respond if things may go awry to see if you're hanging a little too tight onto those things. It is also amazing to what relaxing and mindful eating and giving yourself permission to consume certain foods can also do. So
00:40:16
Speaker
Remember, improving health and relationship with food is not a linear process. If we can practice observation versus judgment through obstacles that arise, it will greatly help.
00:40:28
Speaker
There are ways we can approach food intake with peace, mindfulness, enjoyment, and satisfaction, verse, impulsiveness, inhalation, you know, mindlessness and effects that lead to discomfort, fatigue, and you know, other, um, uncomfortable feelings in the body.
00:40:52
Speaker
So developing these skills and strategies is work and can take a bit of time depending on where you're at, though I really think it is very game-changing. So I hope this helps, and I hope that you may have some travel in the future set up or a vacation or something, and that you are able to apply some of
Conclusion and Resources
00:41:14
Speaker
these things. I would be so curious to hear how it goes.
00:41:20
Speaker
I will talk to you guys next time. Thank you so much for listening today. If you found this information valuable, please share this episode and give it a review. They truly help a ton. If you want additional support and information, you can head over to my website, teresmartinezrd.com, where you can snag my free guide on how to improve your hunger signals, get on my email list for regular juicy content, or apply for the next round of my signature program, restoring nutrition intuition.
00:41:50
Speaker
Otherwise Instagram at Teresa Martinez RD or my Facebook group fed fit and fad free nutrition with Teresa are always places for more content and support until next time.