Why your brain becomes addicted to diets? Hint: It isn’t your fault.

Hope you and your loved ones are safe and sound. This experience is bringing up our priorities, deep fears and feelings, how we respond to critical stress and how we choose self-care. I hope you are being super kind and gentle with your body and self.

During my monthly group call to check on my member’s physical and emotional well-being, the most amazing thing I could ask for them to experience happened, even during this stressful time.

The newest participants just finished up the New Year’s 6-week course at the end of February, so they had their supplements that support stress and their immune system on hand, their favorite and SAFE meals sorted and their old “I should be doing something different or on the next ____ Diet” out of their consciousness. With this state of affairs, they are feeling connected, nourished and released from their old diet mentality. AKA: LIBERATION! We all teared up and had goosebumps because they thought they were going to learn another “diet” from me, instead, they freed themselves and now understand how their body and mind works FOR them versus against them.

I use to have ONLY shame, judgment and exhaustion around what I ate or should have eaten for most of my life. Now, sharing this liberated philosophy, approach and feeling regarding how we can relate to food is my purpose and joy.

Combining our nutrition knowledge along with our emotional well-being is what will set us free.

From one of my recent emails, I shared about how our nervous system and brain are wired for feel-good attachment. Especially when we are under stress or have experienced intense feelings and past traumas.

All of those first-time diets caused this ATTACHMENT. And now we are chasing the feel-good feeling again. For example, on the first diet you did, after a few weeks your jeans felt better and looser. Then while later after you loosened your grip on the diet and your jeans became tighter because your body was worried you were maybe starving it, you tried to fire the diet back up again only to not receive the same results. The reason is your memories and brain are attached to the previous result and we are trying to CONTROL the outcome. The first time you were curious and open and then the second time you created an expectation on what the result should be.

Look how strong the connection is between the Amygdala and the Hippocampus. The brain and nervous system are leading how we make choices and try to recreate the “good feelings”.

This means your brain is triggering your nervous system to go in and out of an overload of adrenaline, oxygen and cortisol in a low to the high-intensity way during your day. The first time “diet” triggered this to help you find and feel success. Initially, this works, then we need to practice being more in the present moment and detached from the outcome. Which is easier said than done.

Now, after the first time, this can hold us back from trying foods that we love and that have healing properties because we are too busy judging them from our past conditioning. I am so grateful for my nutrition science knowledge and now believe our nervous system, subconscious conditioning and psyche are also the PRIORITY!

I almost called myself a Nervous System Nutritionist, instead of Conscious Nutrition and I keep evolving to help others alleviate this pain cycle and find peace with food.

Instead of being diet followers, we are becoming nourishment leaders.

During the week of the Appetizer Course you will:

• Find out how your Food Relationship Type (Take the Quiz Here) supports and hinders you.
• Discover what Conscious Nutrition Meal Types help support your digestion, emotions and energy.
• How your cravings are giving you POSITIVE signals and how to discern them.
• Add in REASONABLE goals that are realistic for you.
• We meet every other day for one week so you can practice, observe and implement on your own pace.
• LAUGH. The best way to alleviate guilt is through humor and laughter.

We all may have taken ourselves too seriously around our charged and complicated relationship with food and my lighthearted approach will help us move some of those ‘stuck’ emotions and beliefs. This is NOT the time to do more! I believe this with my whole heart, plus feeling all the feelings I currently am is a full-time job in itself. The reason I kept this course flowing is that I believe in my nourishing work and want to make sure you are not punishing yourself for your food choices.

Love from your nourishment leader,

Heather Fleming, C.C.N.