What We Talk About in This Episode

In Episode 9 of the Joyful Health Show, we interview registered dietitian Emily Fonnesbeck to address the common question, “How do you eat intuitively with food sensitivities?”

Emily shares her personal story of elimination diets, digestive symptoms, and ultimately recovery from orthorexia and how God met her in her struggle to bring her to what she does now, which is helping others recover from eating disorders and learn to become confident eaters.

Connect with Emily at on instagram at @emilyfonnesbeck_rd 

Or on her websites at emilyfonnesbeck.com and eatconfident.co.

In this episode we discuss:

• Emily’s own journey with elimination diets and intuitive eating

• Differences between food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances

• Slippery slope of elimination diets

• The most important steps you can take to promote healthy digestion and overall nutritional health

• Abundance of grace when it comes to feeling confident around food

Resources Mentioned

1. Emily’s podcast, Eat With Confidence

2. Eat Confident Co Coaching with Emily and Stephanie

3. Body Blessings: A 30-Day Journal to Praise God with Your Body through Prayer, Intuitive Eating, and Joyful Movement can help you track your eating and movement patterns with diet-free language

Guest Bio

Emily Fonnesbeck, RD

Emily Fonnesbeck is a Registered Dietitian who owns her own private practice in Hyde Park, Utah, working with both local and virtual clients. Her treatment focus is on eating disorders, disordered eating and body image concerns and she uses an Intuitive Eating and weight-neutral approach. She is also the co-founder of Eat Confident Co., which offers group coaching programs for women struggling with disordered eating and negative body image, and co-hosts the Eat with Confidence podcast.

You can connect with Emily on Instagram, or on her website here.

Episode Transcription

Introduction

Hi Joyful Health friends. We are so excited to bring you this episode from Emily Fonnesbeck, registered dietitian and co-founder of Eat Confident Co, where she answers this question “How do I eat intuitively with food sensitivities?” So go ahead and download the episode so you can listen at any time without interruptions. And in this episode, Emily discusses the difference between allergies and sensitivities.

And if you'd like to document your own intuitive health journey after this episode, without weight loss language or calorie tracking, we highly encourage you to get our Body Blessings Journal so you can gain more clarity alongside intentional prayer to allow God to continue guiding your journey. So plug in those headphones. And enjoy the show.

 Hey friends, welcome to the Joyful Health Show. I'm Aubrey, registered dietitian, and I'm Kasey, a personal trainer. And together, we are here to help you discover joyful health by grace.

 Hi, guys, and welcome to this week's episode of The Joyful Health Show. We have the honor of interviewing Emily Fonnesbeck today. Emily is a registered dietitian who we are going to be talking to about a common question we get which is, “Can I or how do I eat intuitively if I think I have food sensitivities?” So we're so excited to have Emily here. Welcome, Emily. 

Emily

Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. 

Kasey

If you don’t know Emily Fonnesbeck, she is a registered dietitian She owns her own private practice in Hyde Park, Utah.She works with both local and virtual clients. Emily's treatment focuses on eating disorders, disordered eating and body image concerns. She uses intuitive eating and weight neutral approach. Emily is the co-founder of Eat Confident Co, which offers group coaching programs for women struggling with disordered eating and negative body image. And she co-hosts the Eat with Confidence Podcast.

So, Emily, can you share a little bit about how you got to this place? What was your personal struggle or maybe career struggle with this topic, how God met you in the middle of it and then what you teach now as a result? 

How Disordered Eating Affects Relationships 

Emily

Yeah. Thank you for asking. This is an important topic to explore specifically on this topic of elimination diets. I have a lot of personal experience with that. Specifically how it led to my own kind of flawed relationship with food. So I would say that it started after the birth of my first child. He's now 16. So this is 16 years ago. And I thought a lot of the cultural pressure that most women feel postpartum to, you know, quote unquote clean up their diet or work on fixing their body.

And I definitely felt that and fell prey to that pressure and engaged in, I would say, a lot of under eating and over exercising, which I think is actually pretty culturally normal. And so I would call it a dysfunction, a functionally dysfunctional relationship with it. Meaning, you know, a lot of people walk around with that being the relationship with food, and they see it as somewhat normal.

And I definitely did. I felt like this was just something I needed to do. It was a responsible thing to do. It was what I was doing for my health at the time that I spent in that dysfunctional relationship with food and exercise started to take a toll on my physical health. So I started noticing a lot of side effects of under eating and over exercising that I ascribed to not eating perfectly enough.

I called it inflammation, and it was something that food was causing. And so I just needed to figure out what I needed to cut out or how I could eat more perfectly. And then I'd feel better. And this is what started me down the rabbit hole, the elimination diet, specifically food sensitivity testing and the elimination diets that followed.

And it became a really quick rabbit hole for me, where I got to a really, really bad place with food, was not eating very any foods at all and had eliminated most of them. From my diet I found myself just really questioning a lot of things. I love this question. I've never been asked this before, how God met me in that. No one has ever asked me this.

So I'm really happy to share. I've been pondering this over the last few days and I just have so much to share. Looking back hindsight, I could say that God was with me every step of the way. But I would say the most significant experience was one evening my family had gone over to my parents house for dinner, and this wasn't new.

We usually would do Sunday dinners with my family pretty frequently, and most of the time I just wouldn't eat. So I walked in and I told my mom, I'm not eating. I'm not feeling well. Or I made up some excuse like why I wasn't eating. And I remember sitting at the dinner table watching everyone eat this meal that my mom had lovingly prepared for our family.

And I feel like God kind of opened my eyes in that moment to help me really see the situation for what it is. And I found myself seeing my mom and her cooking the way that God saw her with her and her cooking. And I say that because she she was such a good cook. She cooked a lot of things that my eating disorder at the time was not comfortable with.

Right? Like creamy chicken soup and cheese and sour cream and white rice and all the things. And so I was watching everyone eating, and I thought to myself, if Jesus Christ walked in this room right now, he would accept my mom's offering. He would be so glad to sit at this table and eat whatever she had prepared.

And you know, I am a Christian, as you are, and I'm sure many of your listeners are. And as a Christian, I really try my hardest to do what Jesus Christ would do, right. To let him really guide my decisions. I'm very imperfect at that. But I recognized in that moment just how much this disordered eating and the way that I was doing food and the relationship I had with food was absolutely impacting my deepest values.

And I wasn't able to really connect with my family over a meal because of that. And I started to recognize the discrepancy between how I was behaving and what I really wanted for myself. And that was a big pivotal turning point. I won't say that there weren't a lot of other rock bottom moments and situations where I had to see things differently, but I appreciate being able to share that story.

It's not one I really shared much, and it was really special to me. 

00:07:54:18 - 00:07:56:07

Kasey

Yeah, I love hearing that. And so when you say that you went during that dinner that God showed you your mom and this new light, was that prompted by a certain prayer or maybe like a turn of events like you had come to a certain point in your journey with eating, or was it any specific thing you think that like allows you to see your mom that way?

Emily

I think that's a really good question. I don't know if I can remember specifically a prayer that I had offered or a situation that had made me think differently but I do know that I had a lot of people praying for me. My husband, my mom, my parents knew that I was really struggling. And I think that if, you know, thinking back, I would probably say that it was their prayers that blessed me that allowed God to bless me in that way.

I luckily had a good support system. I don't know that I would have thought that out. I wouldn't have necessarily asked for that. But I had people asking that for me, which I can think back and probably pinpoint it there. Hmm.

Elimination Diets and Orthorexia

00:08:43:18 - 00:09:16:05

Aubrey

Yeah. Wow. I know that. It's just so cool. Hindsight's 2020. Right? When you're in the midst of that struggle, you can feel like, okay, God's not with me at all. Like, where is he? Why is he not answering this problem of these symptoms that I'm having that I just want to go away And I think I know for myself, even wanting to have a perfect body, why isn't God just, like, giving me this perfect body so I can stop you know, I can stop freaking out about it, and it's like, he's so gracious.

He gives us what we need. And I'm just really reminded of that in your story of, like, hey, I want to give you something way better and I want to use it. I know having watched your career, use it to impact many, many, many more lives. And so I know I was inspired by your story, listening to you talk about orthorexia.

And maybe that's a new term for people who are listening to this podcast, but not even knowing that it was a thing that could become disordered from trying your hardest to eat healthy and to eat clean or eat perfect. So thank you for sharing that story. I would love for you to kind of elaborate on what are those symptoms that you were feeling at the beginning when you were restricting that made you think, Oh, maybe I need to eliminate some more things because I think that's something that people go to elimination diets first and they maybe don't realize what are symptoms of restriction and overexercising.

Emily

Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. So for me personally, I noticed a lot of digestive symptoms, and that's to be expected, right? When we are not feeding our bodies adequately, it's really hard for digestion to function most effectively. So digestively, I was noticing a lot of symptoms and also, you know, we recognized that the culture at large would definitely say that those digestive symptoms were a problem of not eating the right foods.

That's usually the message that we get. So it was very easy for me to believe that. But I just this often was a big one. Definitely some brain fog. So feeling really foggy headed, just not clear minded again. And my brain just probably needed glucose and also a lot of fatigue, just headaches and fatigue and just feeling really rundown.

And again, I called it inflammation, which I clearly in hindsight was me just not eating enough. 

Kasey

I have a similar story with trying to heal my autoimmune disease with elimination diets and basically feeling more stressed after those and having a much unhealthier relationship with food after. And so if the food, like you said, maybe didn't help clear up those symptoms, was there something else that you found that did clear your symptoms? 

Tell us about that. Because, you know, we go to these things because we think that they'll bring us joy. And so that's the point of elimination diets. Like, well, if I eliminate this now, feel better and we have that will to do it because we want to feel better. So what was it for you that helped you feel better? 

Emily

Yeah. So speaking of orthorexia, which to explain for listeners who aren't familiar, orthorexia is, you know, directly translated as just obsession with perfect eating. And so that's what I found myself in my personality would definitely predispose me for developing something like that. I'm very driven. And if there's a better way of doing something, I do it. I'm not afraid of hard work.

And so what happened was one evening, my husband and I were planning a trip with our family, and I started getting really anxious about this trip because I felt like I had to pack all my own food. Because when you eliminated so many foods, it's very difficult to travel and eat out and be social and and just kind of take life as it comes is pretty impossible at that point.

So I was getting anxious just thinking about going and leaving and having to pack all my own food and worrying about that. And so I said to him, I don't even know if I want to go. I think we should just cancel the trip. And he said, Emily, this is not you. I'm not talking to you right now. I don't know who I'm talking to. This is not what you want. And he pulled out this article that he found on Orthorexia wasn't the first time I'd heard that term. I just didn't really feel like it applied to me, because if it didn't, right? It was just me needing to figure out my digestive issues. I was doing the right thing.

I wasn't. It wasn't that disordered eating, right? It wasn't an eating disorder. But he produced this article on orthorexia. And so I think you should read this. I think it just describes you to a tee. So I read it, and I think I was at a point to want something different for myself. I didn't want to keep doing it. I felt compelled to keep doing what I was doing. I felt like I had to keep doing what I was doing. There was no other option but reading this article helped me kind of see that there was maybe another side of the story that I didn't know and that maybe, just maybe, I could approach this in a different way.

Intuitive Eating Instead of Elimination Dieting

00:14:25:13 - 00:14:47:21

And find a better solution because I wasn't feeling better. I was eliminated a lot of foods and I wasn't feeling any better. And I wanted something different for myself and so it was at that time that I really, really decided to approach the situation differently. I reached out to the therapist. In hindsight, I really probably could have used a dietician that was trained in eating disorders.

I had a lot of shame about that, though, as a practicing dietitian, not really wanting to admit that I struggled with food to another dietitian ,so I didn't. And I worked with a therapist, which was incredibly helpful and over time was able to change my mindset about food. Now, clearly, because this is the point of the podcast, my faith was a huge part of that.

I really do believe that I'm here for more than just obsessing about food. And so it's opening my mind to a new way of thinking about food. It felt very relevant to how I believed and what I wanted for myself in life and what I really felt like I was here to do or here to be. And I wanted to be able to travel with my family.

I want to be able to go on a trip and enjoy time with my husband and kids and not be stressed out about food. So I think the combination of a good support system, a therapist wanting something different for myself and just being ready to admit that I had a problem and needed help and needed a different solution I was ready to commit to that.

I think this also speaks to my personality. I'm kind of like, well, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to do it, you know? So I didn't really waffle too much once I made up my mind to approach it that way and ultimately working to create an altered state mentality and really challenging the idea that I needed to eliminate anything was ultimately what helps me feel better physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, in every area of my life. An intuitive eating approach and always that mentality was the thing that really changed me for the better.

When Permission to Eat Brings Peace with Food

00:16:35:06 - 00:16:56:12

Aubrey

Yeah. And we know if you have not really listened to anything about intuitive eating at this point and you hear all foods fit that can like buzzers going off in your mind, like, okay, that might be for somebody else, but that's not for me. I would lose control around eating and I would feel so terrible.

Let's say someone is listening to this and they are having some of those digestive symptoms and they fear that they're just going to eat all of their trigger foods until they feel get sick and, and die. I don't know. The worst fear. Right. How would you explain, just for the very newbie, what really happens when we give ourselves permission to eat all foods as far as kind of that pendulum swing, if you know what I'm talking about, when we when we sort of come back and find like some peace around eating our fear foods and eating those trigger foods.

00:17:39:09 - 00:18:04:21

Emily

Yeah. Yeah. You're so right. All foods fit. No one wants to hear that. I didn't want to hear it at first. But, you know, usually people follow that up with, like, a disclaimer. And that actually really bothered me at the time that I was struggling because I really wanted to believe that I could just move around in the world and not have to be concerned about food and what food was going to do to me.

And so I didn't really like the disclaimer. And so when I say it, it's fair, I mean it. I mean all foods fit. So if any listeners are like, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. All foods fit, but not this one? Or only if this. And so when we say all foods that we mean and and why that's important is because food habituation studies is research that supports unconditional permission to eat with the intuitive eater’s mentality.

And what we know about that is that the less often we see food, the more our brain just fixates on it. But the opposite is also true. The more often we see the less our brain fixates on it. And so the more permission and access we have to ongoing reliable access to foods that we enjoy. We actually can just settle right down.

We can just our minds settle down. Our bodies settle down our impulses. Our reactions are natural, like knee jerk reactions around food that scare people when they think of all foods that those actually settle down when we know that food will be there. When we aren't in this scarcity mindset, when we know that we're going to have access and permission to have it, we find that we can settle into a groove with nutrition, a middle ground away from those extremes of restriction or chaos or back and forth.

And I get that get the concern, right. I get this fear because usually people have only related to foods in extreme ways. And so they hear all this fear and they think of chaos, right? And so they think restriction has to be the answer, because the only other answer is chaos. But there's actually this beautiful middle ground in between both of those where you can have structure and flexibility.

You can have predictability and permission. You can actually bring what you love about both of those extremes to the middle and combine them to something that's just really supportive and healthy. And Life-Giving, so that you're not just constantly at war, you know.

If I Have a Food Sensitivity, Intolerance, or Allergy, How Do I Practice Intuitive Eating?

00:20:23:14 - 00:20:49:07

Kasey

Yeah. And I think you answer this really well because the main question is if I have a food sensitivity, how do I eat intuitively?

So for the people who like for myself, for example, I have gone to different allergists and different foods pop up on like the allergy testing. And so and I do realize that now after eating intuitively as far as listening to my body, kind of figuring out how I feel after this, you know, that some foods aren't great for a season.

So how would you answer that question if someone is like I when I eat this food, I feel sensitive to it because I feel awful in a certain way. So how do all foods still fit? What does that mean for eating intuitively? 

00:21:23:10 - 00:21:48:16

Emily

Yeah, I appreciate this question and it might be helpful to dove into a little bit of this the science behind allergies versus sensitivities versus intolerance that I'd be happy to do it that a little bit here.

I will say before I say that or before we get into that, I will say that I know that I shared my story and clearly that's not everyone's story, right? My experience with elimination diets wasn't really rooted in actual allergies. It was perceived intolerance or sensitivities. 

Food Allergies

But maybe not everyone's story. So there is a difference between an allergy, a sensitivity and an intolerance. So we know that there's a lot of validated tools for identifying food allergies. Right. You can go to an allergist like you mentioned, and you can have allergy screenings, whether it's a skin tests or a blood drop.

And what they're testing for in those tests is an IGE mediated response which, IGE is just an immune antibody that attacks an antigen. In this case, it would be an allergen that may be a virus or a bacteria that’s an antibody. And then the immune system produces these in response to something foreign that comes into the body.

So when I think this is important to share because proper treatment depends on proper diagnosis. Right. And without proper diagnosis, we're just throwing spaghetti at the wall. So it's really important to identify what exactly we're testing for and how accurate those tests are. Food allergy tests are medically recognized. We know that they're accurate. We know that they're going to sleuth out exactly what they need us without that Ige mediated response is very measurable, which is awesome.

Food Intolerances

And then you have food intolerances which are not immune mediated. So the good example of this would be lactose intolerance, for example. So you lack the enzyme to break down lactose. That's an intolerance. It has nothing to do with the immune system. Some people could have that in relationship to maybe some reflux, and then that could be digestive symptoms that we need to identify an intolerance for. But it's not done through a food allergy test or a food sensitivity test. 

Food Sensitivities

And then you have food sensitivities which is kind of a new term. And in all honesty, we don't have a great diagnostic tool for food sensitivity. I'm not saying food sensitivities don't exist, but what I am saying is that proper treatment depends on proper diagnosis.

Right. So what happens in food sensitivity testing? They are testing an IGG mediated response and IGG is actually correlated with exposure to that food. Not saying that because there's been an IGG mediated response by the immune system, that you have an actual problem with that food and this is why a lot of times food sensitivity tests are called “glorified food journals” because essentially you're getting a list of foods that you commonly eat because that's the immune system's job.

Every time you eat something, your immune system is going to check it out. You're going to have an immune response when you need something because it's something foreign coming into your body. And so the immune system is going to go for it and it's going to figure out if it's okay or not. Just because the immune system is responding doesn't mean it’s actually creating symptoms like digestive symptoms or allergies or like sinus issues or itching or any other ways that that might show up.

You're just testing exposure. So what happens is you get this food sensitivity test back, right? And you look at it and you're like, oh, my gosh, no wonder I feel horrible. I'm eating all of these foods if I mean, imagine getting that and and being like, this is my answer. This is my answer. If I cut all these foods and I've got to feel better because that's all I'm eating.

And then of course, they engage in that elimination diet. And I will say, I think elimination diets actually do make people feel better for a time. And I think that there's a bit of a phenomenon in that someone might be more intentional or aware or mindful of their eating patterns. They might pause to check in, essentially practicing a little bit more of intuitive eating.

And they feel better. But in my personal and clinical experience, the benefits of an elimination diet are pretty short lived and those symptoms return. But if you really bought into this mindset of this business of need have said that I have this problem with it, you're going to want to continue to eliminate those foods and then find more to eliminate.

It must be that I'm now eating something that I am now sensitive to. So I just need to find more to eliminate. And they're in lies the very slippery slope into an incredibly dysfunctional relationship with food, not to mention inadequate nutrition patterns, really running the risk for not getting your nutritional needs met because you're just putting out more and more and more foods.

So we need better testing for food sensitivities. But at the same time, I do want to say that I think a lot of times what we don't see is that, yeah, sure, maybe the digestive tract can't handle that food, but maybe what we do is support the digestive tract in being able to handle the food rather than the eliminate the diet or eliminate the food that we so like.

How to Use Flexible Nutrition Principles vs. Elimination Diets

00:26:46:24 - 00:27:05:22

Aubrey

I'm so glad you went into the IG because it's hard to explain that. And you did such a good job because you're right. It's like, well, see, all of the foods that we eat, and then we have to eliminate all of the foods that we eat and what's left to eat. And you're right, it goes into a crazy slippery slope where there's nothing available for us to eat. I would love for you to just talk about a few of those key ways. Very basic that we can get started just supporting our digestive tract. So positive nutrition as a lifestyle as opposed to eliminating so someone who maybe is experiencing symptoms and wants to choose that route instead of another elimination diet.

00:27:34:15 - 00:28:01:15

Emily

Yeah, I love this question. I guess I'm speaking specifically to digestion. Clearly, you know, someone's food sensitivity symptoms might be showing up in other ways. I don't think it's unrelated, though. So I think don't don't tune us out if you're not feeling like it. Your “food sensitivities,” are showing up, digested. I think that a lot of this could still apply, especially just because nutrition impacts us globally, right?

Systemically, not just in the digestive tract. And one of two really, really fundamental ways to support digestion and elimination diets ignore both of those. So it's just a great paradox, right, that we know how to support digestion and elimination diets do the exact opposite. So the best two ways. And really I say fundamentally, because if you're not doing these two things, no supplement you take will help.

So fundamentally, first, you need to be eating enough food at rhythmic and predictable intervals throughout the day. So enough food often enough. So I will just kind of throw out some ballpark numbers. I mean, this really is meant to be more flexible.

It's not meant to be rigid. But the idea would be that, you know, a meal that's maybe composed of three to five food groups, you could expect to last two, maybe three to 4 hours. And so if breakfast is at eight in the morning and you've had a well-rounded, substantial breakfast you could imagine you could anticipate that lasting you till 11, maybe 12, 12 while you're pushing it, and in which case you'd either want to have lunch or a snack if lunch is going to be later, like closer to one, you definitely want to have a snack, and a snack would be less you an hour or two at the very most.

And so just especially if it's having a couple food groups, which I'd recommend. So when you think about just some basic what I would call flexible structure, I call this a flexible structure with food where you can anticipate your needs ahead of time and create predictable and rhythmic patterns where you're eating enough food often enough that right there will probably change your life, not just your digestion, your life.

And this goes so counter to what we hear in popular nutrition culture right now, right? That, you know, you should probably intermittently fast or you should skip this meal. And that's not going to be what we fundamentally want to work on. So making sure we're eating enough food often enough is one. 

And then second eating a variety of foods, the best way to support your digestion is to have a healthy gut bacteria and healthy gut motility. And the thing that will help that the most is a variety of foods. So you have a variety of gut bacteria to help break down food and to help keep your stomach or your intestinal lining healthy. I mean, there's so many benefits to having that healthy gut bacteria if you are taking probiotics and not eating enough variety for those probiotics to feed on, it's not going to really help.

So again, elimination diets kind of go against us, right? Eat less food and eat less variety. And then we end up in this really vicious cycle of cutting out more and more and having more and more digestive issues. And I know that this can feel really scary. I mean, I've been there, believe me. It can feel really scary to challenge that notion of, oh, I should be eating more and I should be eating more variety.

But I do want you to notice that physiologically that is the answer to supporting digestion. So I would say those two things would be the fundamentals. And then, of course, you know, as far as digestion goes there, there can be other lifestyle factors that can impact it. Really aiming to have some good sleep hygiene would be really helpful. I would say gentle exercise and movement.

If you're struggling with digestion, intense exercise is going to be really counterproductive. So really trying to scale that back a little bit and do something that feels more gentle and supportive. I would say drinking enough water and actively identifying physical, mental or emotional stress. I appreciate you bringing that up earlier. Right. That elimination diets actually are really stressful and that being counterproductive to our digestive health. So hopefully that helps lift a little bit of a framework. 

00:33:18:12 - 00:33:57:14

Kasey

Yeah, that's super helpful. And I'm thinking, okay, if I'm a listener and I clicked on this episode because I feel like I have a food sensitivity, but I know that this elimination diet isn't working or I know that I know the benefits of eating intuitively. So you've given us a few steps that we can try out.

Eating enough, eating often, eating with variety, adding those bigger frameworks of moving gently. And as a personal trainer, I fully endorse that because you have to give your body some space and time to create new rhythms and moving in a way that's not going to just put your system on overdrive, you know, is really helpful. And so those are all the physiological ways that our listeners can take part in. I think I'm still thinking about your turning point at your mom's house, as far as allowing the Lord to let you see a bigger perspective of like ‘this is not me.’

You know, like what is actually meaningful in my life? So how is God still working in your life as far as eating intuitively and that being freeing and how can you give the listener some hope or some encouragement as far as leaning into grace instead of having the pressure to eat perfectly? 

00:33:57:17 - 00:34:17:19

Emily

Yeah. Isn't that so interesting, that contrast between this desire to seek out the perfect way of eating and then this idea of grace, which do we believe?

Do we believe we have to be perfect? Or do we believe that we can invite grace into our lives in every aspect of our lives? So I really appreciate, I mean, clearly this the mission of the podcast, like inviting grace in, and what a great example of that, right? When we are so intensely fixated on perfect eating, there's no room for that.

One thing that I really love is thinking about the word abundance. I haven't always thought that word clearly, but I have since grown to love that word. And I love the word abundance. And I think about that when I think about God, He's abundant in his gifts and grace and all those things.

Right. And I think that that is such a mindset shift for those of us who struggle with food and body image to go from this like scarcity. Like, I'm not good enough or I don't look good enough. My eating needs to be more perfect or I need to restrict foods to how can I invite abundance and I mean, God created the Earth and he gave us a lot of really great things.

Sugar, including sugar cane, actually, you know, so I feel like we can take a cue from that and recognize that it's also comfort. There's room for all of it. It's abundance. And I really, truly believe that it's been given to us. All these things have been given to us for nourishment. And satisfaction and enjoyment and for our benefit.

And he trusts us to use it for those reasons. And I think it's really important for us to learn to trust ourselves when there's abundant food available to say, I know how to handle this. This is a gift, and I can trust myself with it. And I know that probably listeners who are struggling with what they feel like could be sweet and see these are allergies or intolerances and and feeling like, no, my really my only answer is restriction.

I've been there. I get that. And I guess I want to say that I really felt like I was limiting myself. I was not allowing for bigger and better things. And I hope this episode invites anyone listening to just make some room for that. Just think about what could this look like if I was able to accept and receive abundance and these gifts and trust myself to know how to use it?

00:36:25:09 - 00:36:25:19

Aubrey

That's beautiful. I've thought about the scarcity abundance thing. I think about that all the time, especially with intuitive eating. And, you know, again, hindsight's 20, 20, like, how did I not see these things in the middle of my perfectionism? But it's amazing how letting go of perfectionism in this area and inviting that grace in abundance can open up other areas of your life to receive his grace into that area as well.

So, Emily, I'm just so thankful that you took the time to talk with us about this. I think you've left our listeners with some beautiful inspiration and also wise, wise information about handling these issues. So, Emily, I would love for you to first share about your community, the eat confident collective. And then if you wouldn't mind praying as out that would be a huge honor.

00:37:28:19 - 00:37:51:14

Emily

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I have as mentioned in my bio I have a second business, a confident coach where our center program, as we call it, where we help women who struggle with food and body image. And obviously doors are always open for anyone who feels like that's a good fit for them. It's a really lovely community of women who support each other.

And it's been one of my favorite things I've done in my career and most rewarding. So yeah, thanks for letting me share that and I'd be happy to offer a prayer. Yeah, thank you.

Prayer for Those Struggling with Food Restrictions

Our Dear Heavenly Father, we're so grateful to be able to come together today and explore topics surrounding health and well-being, especially spiritual health. And I pray that listeners will be able to make space for these thoughts in their lives and let it take root and in creating maybe new patterns of thinking and behaving and ultimately a closer relationship with you.

We're grateful for all of the abundance and gifts, and help us to have the wisdom to receive it. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Aubrey

 Yeah. Thank you so much, Emily. And so once again, you can follow her, find her, connect with her at eatconfident.co. And until next time, friends, you can rest in God's grace and follow the joy.

If you enjoy this podcast, would you be so kind as to leave a review for us? It helps others know that real people like you are listening and are benefiting, and will encourage others to try it out too. We are so grateful for you!