Nourish With Intent

Good morning, Cadre. Happy Saturday. Back with you and another coffee. I hope everyone's doing well. Give everyone a second if they want to pop in. Good morning. Good morning everyone. How are you all doing today on this where I am snowy Saturday. I'm in Denver. We got our spring snow, we had our fake spring, our last snow. I see a couple people in here that I don't know if I've seen your name before. So if I haven't met you before, haven't spent time with you. I'm Kristen. I'm a dietitian. As I said, I'm based in Denver, but I do virtual work, I guess.

So I'm kind of everywhere. I primarily focus on intuitive eating, eating disorders and more specifically medical conditions through the lens of a like eating disorder recovery lens. So it's a lot of words to say that I help people work their stuff with food. Admittedly, I wasn't sure what I was going to talk about this morning because I've been feeling rather uninspired. I don't know if anyone else can relate to that. Just feeling tired and, you know, exhausted from the world and just a lot going on.

So I would love to ask you guys, what do you think is going well right now with your relationship with food or if there are any things that are feeling challenging with nutrition and food that maybe I can offer some insight in? Insight around. I did just wake up ten minutes ago. I will be honest with you. It's 8:30 here in Denver. I slept in a little bit today. I think I can speak to something that I was talking about this week with a client that I also personally am struggling with right now. And that is just consistency.

I work from home and some days, even though I'm a dietitian, I don't feel like making a nice balanced meal. I don't feel like drinking my water. So I've been admittedly a little inconsistent with that. And on that note, I also want to remind you, all fluids, no matter what they are, all contribute to your overall hydration. The amount at which they hydrate is different. My latte this morning is contributing to my hydration. So if you struggle with plain water adding some sort of flavoring fruit slices, I really like the stir squeezy flavoring like still water will still help you meet your fluid goals.

So don't forget about that. Things don't have to be perfect in order for them to be in order for them to count, right? Like there's no such thing as perfection. We are all human. It doesn't exist. And every day we're just doing what we can, and that is great. Speak wonder Food choices are a struggle. Last night I was carboding. This is my weakest when I'm in distress. Yeah, I think that's pretty common. You know, I don't think you're alone in that they are comforting. Right. And carbohydrates, specifically, you get that dopamine response.

But also it is involved in the production of serotonin. So it quite literally is helping to make our brains happy. So not unusual, I would say, make sure that you're doing what you can to take care of yourself outside of food as well, and also have grace for yourself. That it's a period of time, it's a snapshot, and that's okay. You know, I think a lot of people will say food shouldn't be a coping skill. Food shouldn't be a source of comfort. And I practice in a way that I disagree with that. It makes sense that food is a coping tool for a lot of people.

It makes sense that food is a comfort for a lot of people, Especially if you look at. Was it that way growing up? Right. Do you have that relationship, whether by your own choice or just kind of the nature of the household you grew up in, you know, where it starts to become more of a. Maybe a burden on people. I would say, is when that becomes your only coping tool. Something I often will talk about with people is what's known as the Suds scale. And if you've ever been in therapy or listen to some of our speakers here, you may have heard it.

It's called the Subjective Units of Distress Scale. Think about it like a thermometer. That's the most common visual. But something I like to talk to people about is how that can relate to food. And, you know, maybe when you're like 100 out of 100 on this thermometer, the only coping tool that feels accessible might be food. And when you drop to 85, you feel like you can access a coping tool of meditation. If that's the case, maybe we're using food to help get to an emotional state where you're at that 85.

And then we incorporate some meditation. So, yes, we're using food as the coping tool, but it's not the only coping tool. Really meeting yourself where you're at and what you're able to access emotionally in that moment can be really helpful in taking some of the guilt and shame and blame off of yourself. So just know you're not alone in that and it's not in and of itself, not necessarily an unhealthy coping skill. We'll say that. Started taking a probiotic and I've been craving chocolate. Interesting.

Hmm. I mean, there. It could be any sort of disruption in gut bacteria. Any sort of change in balance of the bacteria in your gut microbiome can potentially cause shifts in cravings and obviously, like, digestion. That's the goal. Right. But there is some research. I will preface with we. There is so much that we do not know about the microbiome. It is a very intriguing realm to be in, and there's some research showing that different bacteria levels can contribute to different food preferences. So potentially, do you happen to know the brand of the probiotic?

I'm really curious. I might look into that. I was going to say the other thing is, like, magnesium chocolate's got magnesium in it. So. But a lot of the. That theory of, like, oh, the body kind of craves what we need for the most part has been disproven. Like, it's not a real thing. In some cases, it can be. Yeah. That's so interesting. Bioma. I'm gonna look into that because I'm really curious. I want to know what the strains are that's in that probiotic. I'll get back to you, Jules. Yeah. Not out of the question.

I think a lot of times our gut is doing a lot more than we think our gut microbiome. The other thing I would ask you, and you don't have to answer this right here, but I think worth asking, is, are there any other things that you feel, like, shifted at that time? Did anything else change in terms of your eating habits or stress levels or anything like that? Just to kind of rule out all those other stuff? Yeah, that's so interesting. I do. I actually just remembered, I think I was going to start a GI series and I totally forgot.

I am prepping for my first lunch and learn that I've ever done in Arizona next week, and I'm nervous about it. So I've been putting a lot of my mental energy into that, and I totally forgot that I was gonna do some GI stuff. Okay, so other GI questions you have for me, do they exist? Are there anything. Anything specifically that you would love to learn more about in the realm of gi. I think microbiome? Nothing out of the ordinary. Okay. Microbiome is so interesting. I think some things that pop to come.

I can't talk today. Come to mind to me. Sorry. This is like, such a normal conversation, but also not Sorry. Because that's kind of how I roll things that I would like to cover that. I think a lot of people have questions on gut permeability or what is like colloquially talked about as leaky gut. I think that's thrown out a lot. I would love to talk more about that. Maybe like specific bacteria or even just like picking out a probiotic. As I said, there's a lot about the GI tract that we microbiome that we don't know.

But there are some things that we do know and specifically we know a lot about particular beneficial gut bacteria obviously, like nourishing the microbiome with foods that we eat. A big one that you have heard me talk about all the time is fiber. Because it are bacteria eat it and produce something called butyrate which is an energy source for the cells in our gut. So fiber is incredibly important. But if there's any other. I'll make a post in the Community tab. What GI questions do you have? And maybe I'll make that a little series.

Sorry, today was really boring. Didn't have much to say. I kind of just wanted to show up and be honest about that. I was unsure. But I appreciate you all being here. I will get myself together and do another little series. Maybe we'll do like a four week GI series. Yeah, let me know you guys think. Thanks for asking me questions. I do really love answering questions and things that I don't know about. I love diving into the research and learning more about because there is so much out there and for the most part I've like been in my little eating disorder realm until I kind of switched over into more medical conditions through an ED lens which is incredibly nuanced and I love it.

So I'm still learning, I'm always learning. But I'll post in the community. Drop me your GI questions and then starting next week, actually this time I promise we will do a little GI series. So Jules, thank. Thank you. I appreciate that. I feel like half the time I stress out about what I'm going to talk about and if anyone cares about it, and that is something I'm working on, is not needing validation from others. I think we've all been there, so happy to show up here, honestly. Yeah. That's all I've got for you today.

I appreciate you all being here. If this was your first time with me, I apologize. It's not always like this. I think having a couple, maybe monthly miniseries is what I'm going to do. We'll start with gi. It might be more than a month. There's a lot to talk about, but have a wonderful weekend. As always, I appreciate you. We got one more live coming up this afternoon with Dan, and I will be back next week. I might be in a car. That presentation I'm doing in Arizona, we're driving so we can bring our dog.

So I might be in a car, but I'll see you then. Have a good one.