In this episode, I talk to Ana Vucetic about how to heal from constant restrictions, binge-eating, and emotional eating.
About Ana
“Ana Vucetic is a Psychologist, Certified Wellness Coach, Founder of “Balanced by Ana” and mother of 2 beautiful boys. Driven by her own health struggles – Ana now is on a mission to help women feel comfortable in their body and stop the endless dieting cycles. She helps achieve a balanced approach to life and wellness by helping to clean your emotional pantry, not your kitchen’s!”
Ana’s story
Ana shares her story as to how she began to restrict her calories and control her diet in a negative way.
She had always been very slim and sporty, then puberty hit, and she didn’t understand the changes happening in her body. She admits that for a decade she was unhappy with her body and spent that time on various different diets – none of which worked!
What is emotional eating?
We have been at home and alone with our thoughts for quite a long time now, and eating emotionally has been something we have been doing more, I originally recorded a podcast episode discussing this way back in May 2020.
When our body is stressed it releases cortisol, this is our fight or flight hormone. Our bodies start to crave energy rich foods high in calories; high in fat and sugar, so that we can get energy quickly. They provide the energy to deal with the stress, and gives us a dopamine high which makes us feel better.
Why is restricting calories so bad for us?
Our bodies need a certain amount of calories per day – our basal metabolic rate. However it is not that simple, as we also need a wide range of vitamins and minerals for essential daily functions.
If you restrict calories and more importantly nutrients, your body diverts the energy for essential functions, and holds onto the excess as a natural survival technique. But, if you give it all the nutrients and calories it needs, your muscles will grow, your skin and hair will be healthy and strong.
How do we break the cycle?
Both Ana and I are clear that you need to be ready to make the changes. It might be hard to break those habits and ultimately it is your choice, there is no magic pill.
We are all different and understanding how food makes you feel is key. Intuitive eating is at the core of this, and I talk about this in one of my podcast episodes.
Clean up your emotional pantry
Ana has some tips for how to clean up your emotional pantry, and be more intuitive about your eating:
- Setting your intention – Be positive, ‘I want to eat in a healthy way’
- Plan – Planning your meals and ensuring you have healthy foods in your fridge to support your healthy intentions is key.
- Ask yourself a question – ‘Do I really want to eat that’? Or is it an emotional reaction?
- Take time to eat food – No distractions! If you want to learn about what makes you feel good, then you need to really connect with your food.
Quick fire!
- What is your most positively memorable meal? My Mom’s home-made bread (with nuts and seeds)
- What food reminds you of childhood? Meatballs with pasta
- What have you got for tea? Fish with a big green salad and a great dressing of olive oil with nuts and seeds
Ana’s links
My links
Do you take time to really connect with your food and think about how it makes you feel? I’d love to know if Ana has inspired you to take back control of your own diet.