Can You Lose Weight and Practice Body Acceptance at the Same Time?
Welcome to the Satiated Podcast where we explore physical and emotional hunger, satiation and healing your relationship with your food and body. I'm your host Stephanie Mara Fox your Somatic Nutritional Counselor. I'm looking forward to chatting with Lisa Moskovitz today. Lisa is an RD, CDN, and the CEO of New York Nutrition Group. She is the author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan, a simple and scientific solution to finding your healthiest, happiest body. Lisa has been seen on Fox 5, Inside Edition, Business Insider, Healthline, and Well + Good. With over a decade of experience in private practice, she has a knack for empowering her clients to feel healthier and more confident in their skin. Welcome Lisa!
Lisa Moskovitz 00:51
Thank you so much. I appreciate the intro. I'm really happy to be here and talk to you today.
Stephanie Mara 00:56
Yeah, so I would love just to at first hear about a little bit of your background and how did you get into this work? I always find it's really interesting to hear individuals who got into this focus on food and body for personal or professional reasons or how you got into this passion.
Lisa Moskovitz 01:14
Yes, so for me, I like to tell people, you know, it was something that I ultimately chose to do, but I really feel like it chose me. It was something that felt very natural throughout my four years of undergrad studying learning, seeing other people realize, I had friends in classes that were realizing it wasn't for them. It was at one point I looked around and we went from like a size a class size of like 30 to by the end, it was like 10 of us. A lot of people assume that it could be you know, it's easier than it is. You know, I don't want to say that everyone assumes that I think a lot of people do appreciate the profession and understand the training that goes into it. But I think a lot of people especially when you're when you're going into college, like oh, we're just gonna learn about food and healthy food and what could be so difficult about this and I love food and who doesn't love it, you know, but then when you get into it, you realize it is so science and math based more than anyone can imagine. You have to really understand so many different aspects of the nutrition science world. And so for me, it was something that felt natural, I will say and I think this is important because I know that most people that choose a profession they do it because, and especially a profession that you can excel and succeed in, you do it for personal reasons, you have to be passionate about what you're doing. If you can't relate if you can't connect to the people you're helping, it's just never going to be feel so rewarding. And it's always gonna feel like a job. It's not going to, it's always gonna feel like work. And yes, this is hard, and there's days it definitely feels like work. But there's so many times where I'm so grateful that I can connect and relate and help people it's challenging yet rewarding. So for me, I never had any an eating disorder per se, but I definitely struggled. I mean, I still struggle to this day with my body image and even food. You know, there's days where I do stress eat, and I do mindless eat, and I don't eat a vegetable. I know shocker. Like there's no, there is no such thing as a perfect diet anyway, but there's days that I also struggle. People will say, "you're a dietician, like what do you eat in a day?"
Lisa Moskovitz 03:09
And I always find that to be a question that, you know, I don't wanna say it makes me cringe a little bit, but it kind of makes me cringe. Because what I eat has nothing to do with what somebody else can or should or wants to eat. I don't know what your body is asking for. I don't know how much oxygen you need to breathe or when you should pee and go to the bathroom. How can I tell you what, when and how much to eat in detail? I can give you an idea, can give you an idea of estimated needs. So for me a lot of the a lot of my focus and attention around food and weight started, mostly I would say because I think look, you know, as women, especially young girls, like we're always subject to that. And this is because I grew up when social media was around, but can only imagine how hard it is now. But still like it happens from a young age, especially when we start to go through puberty, our body changes and our hormones are fluctuating and you know, so it's really hard to feel good about yourself all the time, especially at a time when we're developing so rapidly. So I was very competitive sports soccer player. And I actually did competitions and I was in tournaments and travel teams and I even played into high school. And then just one day I woke up and I said I'm not enjoying this anymore. I'd rather be doing this. It's such a commitment. I felt like I couldn't do anything after school with my friends. My priorities, admittedly weren't in the right place. I should have kept with it longer, but I didn't because I wanted instead to hang out and have fun and go to parties. Right? So I stopped playing soccer. And if anyone has ever played soccer or watch people play soccer, you could just see how active that how much running, how much energy you need, how much you're just all running all over the field constantly and so it was a drastic dramatic change in my energy output. I wasn't burning the same amount of calories. I was still young and metabolism was still kind of fast but I wasn't burning the same so my body quickly changed. It felt like it was pretty quickly and felt like overnight where things were just becoming softer and clothes were getting a little tighter and I started to feel more self conscious, I started to say, well I don't like this, my clothes aren't fitting, this you know sucks. Even if you have a good body image, nobody likes to not fit into their clothes very well. Like even someone that likes what they see in the mirror, it's very annoying when you can't wear the clothes you have. So that's kind of what started it. And like I said before, although I never was had an eating disorder, it definitely was disordered. I was paying too much attention to it, I was too focused on it. And I spent way more time than what was healthy, it wasn't just healthy eating, it was a little bit beyond that. And that's really hard sometimes to to detect, even as adults and people have trouble not crossing that line going from okay, what's a normal amount of paying attention and planning and structuring and focusing on healthy eating without it becoming disordered, dysfunctional, obsessive, you know, and that that is a really hard line not to cross. So for me, it definitely breached it just a tad. And at that point, I became more passionate about the nutrition industry. And I can't say it was all for positive intentions. Like I know, some people are saying, you know, I had a father who died of a heart attack, or my brother was celiac or Crohn's. And I, you know, I hear you know, I always talk to colleagues, and I know everyone gets into it for different reasons. So I'm not saying every dietitian had a problem with food, but I think many did. And I think that's a good thing, because it makes us even more qualified to help other people if we can put ourselves in their shoes, and we can be more empathetic to what's going on in their struggle. So fortunately, for me, I was able, through my training, and through my studies, and through getting, you know, just speaking to other people and taking a step back, and recognizing too, that it wasn't about the food, really, it was more like for me stress management control, you know, dealing with like, you know, all of the things that we deal with as teenagers and I was kind of taking it out on this. So it just started with I want to lose weight, and then it snowballed into something more. So I quickly recognized that not everybody is that fortunate to do that. And now, I again can see more clearly the signs and the symptoms. And now being in this industry for 15 years, I've been counseling for about 10 of those years, I have even more skills and training and resources to help other people and prevent it. Because sometimes dieticians can be part of the problem. Sometimes they can they can contribute to food rules and food fears and stress around eating and ideas of what a healthy weight and healthy body should look like unknowingly, not intentionally, but it happens. And so I have a large practice. Today, we have 14 to 16 dietitians, I'm bringing in two more on staff, and I say to them, look, you don't have to specialize in eating disorders, you don't have to specialize in disordered eating, but you need to know what it looks like you have to be able to spot and screen patients properly because they could be coming in for weight loss and not realizing that us giving them a weight loss plan is actually giving like alcohol to an alcoholic, we can't be part of the problem, we have to be part of the solution. So at least to be aware of it. It's very important.
Stephanie Fox 06:53
Yeah, I appreciate you pointing out that disordered eating and eating disorders is a spectrum.
Lisa Moskovitz 08:00
Yes.
Stephanie Mara 08:01
You know, really, and I think a lot of individuals are very confused over while I was doing this behavior out of an impulse to want to take care of myself. But it kind of, I was thinking as you were talking that dieting is kind of like the ultimate doorway into disordered eating. You know that as soon as you go on a diet, it starts setting up these rules and regulations. And disordered eating can turn into an eating disorder as it starts to affect more and more of your life, where more of that control comes in where you're saying, Okay, now I can't do these things or can't eat these things, or can't go on a vacation or can't go out with my friends out of fear of how it is going to affect your body, and the lack of control over maybe what you're eating. So I appreciate that not everyone has an eating disorder. And not everyone even has disordered eating. It's like, you know, you kind of get to assess for yourself. Okay, is this working for me? And does this open up my life more? Or close it down a little bit?
Lisa Moskovitz 09:03
Yes. Yeah. Right. Is this going to improve my life? Is it going to make it better? Or is it going to make it worse? And that's what I tell people too. You can't prioritize your physical appearance over your mental health, like mental health has to come first. And if you start to realize, like, I'm feeling more depressed, more anxious, more stressed, more worried, I'm spending just so much brainpower on worrying about not overeating and not gaining weight. And that's a big indication that it's gotten to it's definitely disordered and dysfunctional, at the very least, but it could be it could easily breach into eating disorder. And we don't know the exact, there's not one exact cause of eating disorders. There's usually a myriad of different factors. And sometimes we just don't know what actually led someone to an eating disorder, but it definitely can get close to that. And so it's really important to take action now before it goes any further. But it is a spectrum and people ask, they'll say, well, what is the difference? I don't even understand the difference between the eating disorder and disordered eating and I sometimes it's just a diagnosis, or sometimes it's just somebody that has these issues that hasn't been diagnosed yet. But usually it is diagnosed using we know the classifications and the diagnosis criteria. And you know, if it fits within this one range, like someone who had one episode of what they would consider a binge eating, or had one episode where they forced themselves to throw up wouldn't be considered an eating disorder. But if it's happening frequently enough, then we then it can be classified as such. And that is up to the professional who's diagnosing them, of course, but that's kind of it. It's just how much, how often and it's assessed. And sometimes there is no, you know, cut and dry way to detect that. It's just that, hey, if it's if it's clearly affecting someone's life, and mental health and physical health and a diagnosis can be helpful, but it doesn't really matter. You know, we don't have to reduce it down to a label. Like, it doesn't matter if it were true. No matter what we're treating your symptoms, no matter what you have, no matter what condition you have, we're treating your symptoms, but some people find there's freedom in knowing like, okay, this is what it is, you know, I have anorexia, I have orthorexia. I have arfid, I have this, I have that. And then they can say, okay, it's I'm not making I'm not, you know, like crazy, but like, I'm not making this up. And I know that this is something that, you know, I am sick enough. I need a higher level of care.
Stephanie Fox 09:03
Yeah, yeah. So along your journey, you created this core three concept. And I would love to hear more about what you created in this book you wrote.
Lisa Moskovitz 11:27
Yes, thank you. So the core three was born out of just observing, especially in more recent years, but definitely over over many, many years, counseling clients and private practices. There's a very big gap between people who struggle with relationship with food, but also may benefit from weight loss, because I don't you know, I don't know about you, but personally, I'm not anti weight loss, I'm anti restrictive diet, and I'm anti diet for certain people, and I'm anti weight loss for certain people. But I'm not in general, I call myself like diet neutral, because there is no good and bad approach. And we have to be client centered. And there are patients who do benefit from weight loss, who really feel like this isn't my healthiest weight. And I just know that I'm not feeling good here. And it's hard for me to start like trusting and listening to my body and doing all that work, when I'm like every day waking up and just not feeling great because of my weight. And that's their prerogative. That's their right. So what I try to do was, was really bridge that gap where you can try to work on both simultaneously. And not everybody can, I'm not going to make it seem like it's this gimmicky, easiest thing and like everyone could do it. Because really, it's not appropriate for everyone to try that way. But there are a lot of people that can safely and in a healthy fashion, work on forming a healthier relationship with food and work on intentionally losing weight in a healthy way. And so the book is sort of supposed to be that marriage so that people don't feel like they have to pick a side, they don't have to choose, it doesn't have to be so polarizing. And you know, this is good, and this is bad. So it breaks it into three parts, the book is broken into down into three parts rather. The first part specifically goes into how to form a healthier relationship with your body. It talks about the signs of poor body image, it talks about why sometimes we do develop bad body image and it gives people turnkey tips on how to start working on improving that. And then it goes into the relationship with food. And in that chapter, I ended up as I'm writing it, I sort of it kind of happened naturally, where I just realized, like, look, I'm you know, I kind of created these four different eating personas based on what I see as the common pitfalls in my patients and clients of you know why, how I'm able to see that their relationship with food isn't so functional and healthy and really working for them. So I divided into four eating archetypes is what I call them, the erratic eater, the dependent eater, the judgmental eater, and then the obsessive eater. And each archetype goes into the characteristics, and then it goes into the common pitfalls, why this can be problematic. And then it also goes into solutions and remedies. So for the erratic eater, someone who just, to give you an example, you know, maybe doesn't eat a lot throughout the day, they might be the person that doesn't eat when they're stressed, they might only have one real meal a day. And the rest is like picking, grazing, grabbing, not eating at all, skipping meals. And so for them, a common pitfall would be mindless eating, not eating enough not getting in all the food groups. And a solution would be to practice more mindful eating. And the goal is never that we're going to eat mindfully at every meal. It's like a joke that anyone can do that or think they can do that. We just can't at all. But, to eat a little less mindlessly and to plan and structure your day a little bit better. While although we can't plan hunger, we can plan certain foods and meals to make sure we're getting in certain food groups. So that's just an example of the erratic and I do the same for the other three eating archetypes. And the last one too. I want to mention because the obsessive eater, it was very important for me to put in the book, because anytime there's any book that mentions weight loss at all, and I knew I was taking a risk putting that on the cover, because I didn't want it to, it's not supposed to be a diet, and I didn't want it to feel like I was being a hypocrite or contradicting myself by putting weight loss and food freedom on the cover. But what I really wanted to make it clear is that the book can be adopted and adapted for people who want to lose weight, or just want to feel healthier, or none of the above and just people that want to work on their relationship with food. So I really try to maintain that tone and make it clear like that's my audience, that's who I'm speaking to, I'm not speaking to the person that just like, wants another diet plan and wants to like be told what to eat and when to eat, and how to eat and their hand held like, in that sense. So that is not the person for this book. It's someone who really genuinely says I had enough and I'm sick of these yo yo dieting, and I'm sick that of of feeling like I can't enjoy myself around food, or I'm over eating because I'm not satisfied, because I'm not aware and, you know, so it's for those people who really struggle with constantly feeling like they're failing, or that the diet plans are failing them, which is usually what it is, that's really mostly what it is. And the obsessive eater is I put in the book, because the reality is, is that although that's my reader, there's going to be people with eating disorders and or borderline eating disorders that are going to pick up the book. Because, you know, that's the people that are also going to be very interested in that. And so I made it clear that look, if you identify as more of an obsessive eater, that is something that needs higher level of care, you need to work with a professional before you read the next chapters, because even though I still mean tried to make it very, you know, again, with the issue I find with diets is it's very black and white, this is good, this is bad, you have to eat this amount, you can't eat more than that, I really wanted to step away from that. So people felt flexible, but even still, it can be interpreted, and it can be manipulated, and it can be used and make the noise around food and the stress around food even worse, even though again, it's supposed to help with relationship with food and food freedom, it could still make the noise worse. And so I wanted to make that very clear, like a giant disclaimer. Yeah.
Stephanie Mara 17:04
Yeah, yeah, it is such a fine line, like you were talking about at the very beginning of navigating, okay, healing your relationship with food and body, and then also intentionally wanting to maybe change your body's weight. And it is kind of a very nuanced journey of having to really check in with yourself to assess what is your body ready for, because if it is, wow I'm starting to focus more on food, and you feel so dysregulated, you might not be ready for that. And there's not a problem in that. It might be that the focus needs to be more on healing your relationship with food first, and you can get to that later. But it has to start with okay, let me just track my body a little bit more in these experiments. I've literally done experiments with those I work with as well, that they'll come back and they say, yeah, I was really starting to obsess about food. And I'm like, okay, we let that go now. We can't do that experiment yet. Because your body is telling you we're not ready for that yet.
Lisa Moskovitz 18:04
Yes, yeah. And I'm happy you said that too. Because that's right. Like, it doesn't mean you can't ever try to lose weight. And it doesn't mean that you know, you you don't ever, like if your goal is just to lose weight that your relationship with food isn't important. Like there's, there's a different way of doing it for everybody. And so for some people, it's better for them to first focus on forming a healthier relationship with food, because you need that mind body connection. And like you said, your sometimes your body is just not ready to connect yet. Like it's just not, it's not the door isn't open yet, you just got to warm up a little bit more, you got to try to, you know, get it to relax more and engage it more and trust it more. And that takes a lot of time. And if you try to go the intentional weight loss route too soon, too early, it could backfire. I mean, it could basically just send you back down the road you came from why all of these issues started with to begin with a lot of times the relationship with food is to start because of usually not just one, several different diet plans or people that you've met with or things you heard. And so by going back down that same path, I mean, you just might end up exactly where you started, which wasn't obviously where you want it to be, or else you wouldn't have came to us to be with us. So I 100% agree with that. I think it's so important to be honest with yourself and be self aware and speak to somebody about it so that you aren't doing things that are going to cause more issues later on.
Stephanie Mara 19:22
Yeah, and you put out really great content of also starting to think about weight differently. You put a great post on Instagram, I think it was like last week or a couple of weeks ago, that was about we have to get rid of just like this set number of like okay, you're gonna reach this number and then that's it and kind of changing, starting to think of your body as having a weight range. And I'd love to hear more around your thoughts on that.
Lisa Moskovitz 19:50
Yes, a lot of times when a client comes in, we'll talk about what their history is, what their goals are. Many clients do come to us for weight loss. So the question naturally comes up. What is your goal weight? I'll hear usually one number, and I'll use and then that number kind of just something about it, you know, they just get hung up on it or caught up on it. And it's understandable because you know, especially, it's usually the lowest number they ever saw on the scale, it's usually, or it's something that they were told by someone or it's according to the BMI chart, like some things somewhere down the line got this idea in their head that they need to be this one number. And realistically, you are never going to be one number for the rest of your life, it's never going to stay that same, stay the same, same exact, especially to the ounce, it's going to fluctuate, and that's because our weight is even 100%, body fat, we have muscle mass, we have water weight, we have organs, we have all of these things that our body that are going to also fluctuate. And so how could we expect the weight number to stay the same all the time. So instead, I said, it's very important to first of all, be realistic about the goal in general, because the lowest you ever weighed in your life isn't necessarily your healthiest weight, especially if that weight was at a time that your life, you know, wasn't realistic, you were traveling a lot, you were in college, you were living on your own and single and not married and no kids and or your wedding day, or that week that you had the really bad stomach flu like those are not real life things. Those are not those are transitional, they're temporary, we have to think be realistic with ourselves about what a healthy weight is for us. And so the second part is coming up with a range so that you have a buffer and wiggle room so that if you get close to it, you at least are allowing yourself to celebrate, to feel good, to feel accomplished. And you know that you can just focus on the positive that you're in the weight range, because if it's just one number, even if you're a couple pounds higher, it's going to be hard for you to feel like you're getting close to your goal. So realistically, I say a 5 to 10 pound range is what you should aim for. Because there's it's just not realistic otherwise. And also be prepared that you might not get that low either. Because there's other things that come up that affect our body's willingness to lose weight, because weight loss is stressful on our body and our metabolism changes. And our you know, there's so many things that go into weight loss in general.
Stephanie Fox 19:50
Yeah, I appreciate you sharing all of that, that even when you create a range for yourself, that that might not be the range that your body wants to be at right now. That even that is coming from a mental place over this is what I think that my body should be at, and your body is actually going to let you know through healing your relationship with your food, and discovering what foods resonate with you what range it likes to be at based off of body feedback of feeling safe and grounded, and you can go out to lunch with your friends, and you can have like your foods that you just simply love and are pleasurable. And that's where you find that range. And I'd love to hear more around what you have found has supported your clients in that healing in the relationship with food.
Lisa Moskovitz 23:00
Yeah, yes. And just piggyback backing off of that as well, which is kind of answering your question at the same time, as I always say too this could be very helpful for people just know that when you're focused on developing healthier habits and behaviors, you will find your healthiest weight that's when it will come. It happens when you're focused on those things. And then you also have to make sure you're being realistic to like if yes, maybe you could weigh less. But that could also mean that you're committed to going to the gym five to six hours a week for people that do respond to exercise at all. That you're being so strict with your eating habits, you're not going out to eat, you're not drinking alcohol, you're cooking every night and you're measuring things. And we know that's not a healthy way to to navigate through food. But for some people, that is the only way they're going to be able to stay at a certain weight. And so asking yourself, do I want to live...is it worth it? Do I want to live the rest of my life like this because the way you eat and exercise to lose the weight you want to lose is the way you basically have to eat forever. And so know that it's a commitment one way or another. And there are times where there's other things going on that we can explore that I do explore with my clients, like maybe there is hormonal imbalances. Maybe we can tweak some exercise things, maybe it's sleep, maybe it's stress, maybe we incorporate some supplements, maybe there's something going on with your gut health, like there's all of that stuff. But usually it's not like okay, once we you know, focus on gut health and get more fiber and do this and that, then all of a sudden, the pounds are going to melt away. Like I wish it was that easy. And there's a lot of people out there that will claim that all it takes is this, and this is the most important thing it's become so dogmatic, and so usually not that's not going to be the big thing. It's just other things. It's like a lot of different things coming together a lot of different factors coming together. So I try to explain to people that if you're really struggling right now with weight with body image, it does help to put away the scale. Sometimes you don't have to keep weighing yourself what is the point why you need to get on the scale every day. What is it telling you? And the reality is it's not going to change what you have to do for yourself no matter what the scale says whether it's up or down. It's not like oh, it's a have a couple of pounds, now I don't get to eat today. It's not like oh, it's down a couple pounds, now I can go have you know, french fries and a hamburger at lunch. If that's how your your relationship was, the scale has been, that's a whole other story, and that's not healthy either. So no matter what it says, it doesn't change the way that you have to take care of yourself, no matter what the other thing is, you know, just understanding that it isn't always about food. And that body image is not what you see in the mirror. It's how you feel, and what you think about what you see in the mirror. So trying to really address underlying unresolved strong emotions. Anger is a big one, anger and worry, are probably the two biggest emotions that I see, especially for my female clients that can trigger emotional eating that can trigger bad body image days. So that's really helpful. I actually just post this today, but I know, you know, and I used to believe this and say this all the time to like, you know, social media, we know is a huge source of misinformation and triggers and people out there and we know it, we compare and we covet, and we do all these things. And so a lot of times, you know that the advice and I've given this to admittedly, is unfollow and mute and unfollow, and mute. But what is that really doing for us? I mean, there's definitely accounts that you should do that for, like, there's accounts that they're just spew nonsense constantly. And, you know, just it's, it's superficial shallow pictures, like selfies and all that stuff. And like nothing really interesting. I'm not learning, I'm not bettering myself by looking at this account, and all it's doing is making me feel like I should, you know, have that kind of body type or face, or I should sell, you know, and at the end of the day, it's probably mostly filters anyway. But there's also like, you know, it's all around us. If it's not on social media, it's everywhere you walk on the street, you're gonna see people, you go to a party, you're gonna see people doing this, you turn on the TV, you read a book, like we can't escape triggers, we have to own them. And so what service is it doing to us, if we're constantly trying to dodge and narrowly, narrowly escape, every single thing that makes us feel bad, so it's okay to feel bad. It's okay to say, I don't like the way I look, it's okay to say I feel fat, you don't have to be like a bad person. I think some people we want to be careful of doing that in front of is our youth and our younger and our children, because then it makes it seem like, you know, there's too much attention on that and it's negative, but it's okay to feel that, you're not a bad person for feeling that way. It's okay to sit with the negative emotions. But then it's good to redirect to say, okay, I don't like the way I look, or this person has this, and I don't have that, or they look this or my friend, look how much, you know weight my friend lost, or look, you know, she's went to high school with me and she looks 10 years younger than me, like, what's that about? You know, it's easy to go down that that doom spiral, but trying to leave at the end, redirect and say, you know what, but look like look at, you know, that life I built for myself, look at my career, look at my children, look at the marathon that I ran the other day, look at my friends who I'm going to meet with on Friday, like, just try to circle back to the things that you can be grateful in life and realize like, the grass is always greener, just because someone looks a certain way, it doesn't mean that they are actually happier. And this is my life. And I don't want to change that, you know, I should be grateful for everything. And so it helps to kind of, again, sit with the negative emotions, and even the diet noise to like, sit with it all, and just try to talk through it. And that's where, you know, Stephanie, you can help them with too. But you know, so like, that's where you come in and then I say go meet with someone who could talk to you about the emotions. So it can be very psychological. And a lot of times people like I call myself sometimes a food therapist, because there is so much psychology that goes into eating, it's not just as simple as that, I frickin hate the saying of eat less move more like, it is not that simple. It's so stupid that people actually use that as advice to people. It is so not that simple for everybody. So I really think that, you know, talking to if you're really struggling, of course, also talking to professional and a therapist, dietician and people that specialize in this, not just any therapist and dietitian, but a team that really you connect with, that also understands all the nuances and can really coach you through it.
Stephanie Mara 29:02
Yeah, I really appreciate all the normalization that you are doing right now of just saying, yeah, if you're having a day where you are having a more difficult time being in your body and appreciating what it looks like, that's okay, that's going to happen. You know, I often say until we transform the culture in that body image is no longer a conversation, or even a worry or concern or something that we're not seeing in social media or on magazines anymore, we are all going to experience difficult body image days. And yeah, just normalizing it. And I love that piece of ownership. I talk a lot about ownership as well of yeah, you can't change what you don't own. So these are your patterns like this is your behavior. This is your reaction and first you get to see like how is this serving and supporting and protecting me in some way and let me own that a little bit. And then I can kind of start to explore. okay, what else might I want to do to show up for myself or with food? But we first have to own our behaviors.
Lisa Moskovitz 30:03
Yes, yeah. 100% and separate too, like, you know, even food and feelings and just say, like, look, I don't have to, you know, I, you want to explore feelings around food, but with food too, like, it's okay to look at it and say, you know what, I am going to eat this salad. Because I know, like, look at it from an objective standpoint, I'm getting fiber, I'm getting nutrients, you know, eating a salad doesn't mean that you're on a diet, and you want to lose weight and ordering pizza, and, you know, french fries, and whatever else people think of as like guilty foods, or whatever they call them. You know, that doesn't mean that you're letting yourself go, it just means that you're eating that, because that's what you want in the moment. And that's always what I try to help people understand. It's like, combine what you want, like, when was the last time that you made a food decision, based on what you were actually in the mood for and what you really wanted without feeling guilty after, without walking away being like, I shouldn't have eaten that, that was so much. And this is maybe specific to people that are actively trying to lose weight, cuz I know not everybody feels that way around food. But you know, for people that do, it's so important that you ask yourself, what do I want? And then once you figure that out, how can I make this more balanced? How can I add in some more vegetables or protein or any health, anti inflammatory fats, or whatever it is, and that way, you can walk away being like, that was good, I enjoyed myself, I'm content. And I also know that I got these nutrients in my body and that I'm satisfied. And that also can be really helpful, especially when eating out and other situations where you just, you know, you're you're tempted you have all these options in front of you.
Stephanie Mara 31:33
Yeah, I really hear in that of, we have to de-label food. A salad is not a good food. It is just a food. And if a salad is truly what you want, and what is going to resonate with your body and make you feel the way you want to feel in it, cool. You can choose a salad. And pizza like that was the other thing that you mentioned, is also just a food, it is not a bad food. And kind of even getting curious, okay, when I eat pizza, how does this feel in my body? And I often find there's a lot of food experimentations that need to be done to heal our relationship with food so that you can rediscover how does this food actually feel in my body based off of my body's feedback, and not my preconceived notion of how this food should or might feel based off of what I've been taught about this food.
Lisa Moskovitz 32:23
Right. Right. When you label food as bad, you've already decided before you're even taking the first bite how you're supposed to feel. And I love that thing about the labeling and I'll even say to people, we'll go over, we'll have them list out what are the foods that you feel guilty eating or you considered bad or you are afraid of eating even. We'll list them all out and if I look at them, and I'm like, okay, cake, you know, for example, might be on your list, but when you break down cake is flour, and eggs, and oil, and sugar, the all of those ingredients, if you look at them on their own, you know that they're okay, you know that none of them are really bad. And if they were in any other food, you probably wouldn't have a problem eating them. Like if there was flour in whole wheat bread, you would be okay with with avocado on it. And avocado toast you'd be fine eating it. And if there was a little bit of sugar in, you know, a cereal bar that was high protein, fiber, you wouldn't have a problem with eating that either. So why is it because it's all into one place that now it's a problem. Pizza, it's tomatoes, cheese, protein, calcium, great. Bread, we need carbs every day anyway, carbs are not the devil, stop canceling carbs. All of those on their own are we know are not bad foods. So why is it that when it's all in one package on your plate, now it's bad. And so that could be a really good exercise to to challenge some of those thoughts and preconceived notions because like we said before, you're labeling it bad, you're gonna feel bad eating it, when you feel bad, you're just going to keep going down that path, it's going to be really hard to get off and that's when it kind of spirals and keeps going and going. So just the way that you're looking at the food can hold so much influence and impact over your food choices and how you feel at the end of the day.
Stephanie Mara 33:57
I love that exercise that you just offered! And I really think that would be so great. For those who are listening right now if there is a food that you're like, that is a bad food and I shouldn't eat that food, like deconstruct what that food is made out of just to say, oh, if I looked at that in anything else, I'd be fine eating that. I think that is such a fantastic exercise to engage in. You know, I'm curious with your clients, where do you start? You know, I often like to offer the those who listened to this podcast like what is a baby step for them to get started on this journey wherever they're at. Maybe they're at the beginning, middle, on the on the path. And sometimes we just need more tools or tips of like, I don't know where to go next. And I'm curious what is like a baby step that you would offer someone who's listening to this right now and is trying to heal their relationship with their food and their body.
Lisa Moskovitz 34:58
For sure. I mean, I'm always, you know, maybe I'm a little biased, but I'm always an advocate of our profession and how much we can help people, especially dietitians that do specialize in eating disorders, disordered eating, intuitive eating, body image health, at every size, all of those things can really be helpful to just become more familiar with. So simply just, you know, reaching out sending an email, go into a website, we take health insurance, there's a lot of dietitians that take health insurance. So if one of the obstacles for you is, I don't know if I can afford it because everything is really expensive right now, and I do think that's a major hurdle for people to reach out for help and care in this day and age is, it's expensive. So just know that you can probably find someone that's in network with your insurance, my practice takes health insurance. So just there's like, very little risk there, you have nothing to lose by just even making an appointment, and just talking to somebody for one session. But if you want even something more, more micro, that they can start with even just like journaling, but not in the way of like calorie counting, like, please don't start with that. That's the opposite of listening to your body. It's not bad for everybody, it's just if we're talking specifically about healing, that's not really healing. So even just journaling and writing down what you're eating just for a couple days, what you're eating, why you're eating that food, and how you're feeling afterward, and rating your satisfaction level. And I love doing that with clients too, even at the first appointment, because it's so telling. And if everything that you're eating is, because I should be eating that, or that's healthier, that's better for me, that's good for me, and then my satisfaction scores are like a two out of 10, 10 being most satisfied, that right there is a really important like that can be super eye opening for someone. So that's something that is even really helpful to bring in to a meeting with a professional like a registered dietician, or even a therapist that helps them with a relationship with food, because it is we don't know everything that's going on, I'm not with the person you're not with the person all the time. And even when we ask people, it is really hard to think back about what's going on. And then it can help us also know where to start. So if we see all that on paper, we have more a better roadmap to see where we're going to start and where this journey is gonna go.
Stephanie Mara 37:05
Yeah, I really appreciate you just even starting with reach out for support. So many individuals are trying to piecemeal, pun intended not intended, you know, piecemeal everything together for themselves by what they're seeing on social media, or like reading articles. And it's really difficult to kind of figure it all out just entirely on your own. We are not lone islands, we aren't meant to do this life by ourselves. And so I love that you even started with reaching out for support, I also think that's so important is that sometimes you even just need to bounce ideas off of someone else of what you're thinking about trying or experimenting with, and then doing it and having a safe space to talk about it with someone. So I love that. And yeah, journaling can be so powerful just for that self reflective piece.
Lisa Moskovitz 37:56
Yes, and the most, listen, the most successful people in the world, the CEOs and billionaires, they have people helping them, they get that way because they delegate, they say you helped me with this. And I know it's not the exact same thing. But it is like you can't rise up and you can't grow and you can't expand unless you're delegating these things. It's not a weakness, it is a strength. And so that's why I say look, if that's what it is, it's possible to get over it, but for some people, I know that sometimes it is financial obligations, or time or just like even feeling hopeless, like I don't know if this person can help me and I've tried this before, and I met with this person, but what you're doing ultimately, even if the person says nothing, even if you literally meet with the professional, and it's like talking to a wall, which I know sometimes it can be. So I'm not saying everybody you know, there's different personality types for different people, you just making that commitment, and you sending out that email and you showing up, it's just showing up for yourself. So even just doing that, I mean, hopefully the person actually has good advice and recommendations for you. But even just showing up, it does so many things. I can't tell you how many clients will say to me, look, this session was so helpful, but I'll be honest, like just making this appointment, I started to think about all of these things. And I started to make this change. And I started to realize this, like before we even met, the wheels were turning, and they started to prioritize themselves. They realized, like, look, I'm committing to myself, I'm doing this for myself. So that's why I think it's such a little thing that has such a profound impact impact on everything else.
Stephanie Mara 39:16
Yeah. And your example of CEOs, I actually think that is a spot on example, because technically, we're like the CEO of our own life. And so yeah, sometimes we need to delegate and receive support in the multiple areas of our life to assess okay, what is going to help me thrive here?
Lisa Moskovitz 39:33
Yes. 100%.
Stephanie Mara 39:35
Yeah, so I would love for you to share how can listeners keep in touch with you? Where can they find you?
Lisa Moskovitz 39:40
Yeah, so you could find me on social I'm most active on Instagram. So I'll just give my handle there. It's lisamnutrition and you can follow me for just helpful information on how to form a healthier relationship with food. I post on body image stuff, I post some eating tips as well. And then my practice website is nynutritiongroup.com. So that's n y as a nutrition. Sorry, NY as in New York nutrition group.com. I should know that on my own practice name, and we you can reach out that way. And like I said, we take most major health insurance plans because I believe nutrition should be accessible for all and not this luxury service that only the 1% of population can afford.
Stephanie Mara 40:23
Yeah, thanks for sharing that. And I will put all of these links in the show notes. And thank you so much for sharing your wisdom today really resonate with how you practice and just so grateful that you are doing this work in the world.
Lisa Moskovitz 40:37
Thank you so much, and likewise to you as well. So I appreciate being here. Thank you.
Stephanie Mara 40:41
Yeah. And to all the listeners. Thanks so much for tuning in this week. If you have any questions, reach out anytime and looking forward to connecting with you all again soon. Bye!
Keep in touch with Lisa here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisamnutrition/
https://www.instagram.com/nynutritiongroup/
Website: https://www.nynutritiongroup.com/