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Hey there, welcome to episode 393 of the Find Your Food Voice podcast. I am Julie Duffy Dillon, registered dietitian and your host. I am taking a big sigh because I feel like I’m taking so many big sighs right now. Of course, I am recording this episode after the election in United States and I have an episode for you that I hope helps you today and any day that you are appreciating that.

I really need some comfort. need to disassociate. need to check out. I just need a numb out. Whatever you need to do with food. This is something that is quite controversial that I am behind, but I think this is your strength. Using food to cope with tough times is your strength. It’s not a weakness. It’s actually something that is really normal. And so I have an episode prepared for you to just share some experiences that I’ve had and to help you connect with basically the permission you need to be able to get to the moment and to cope however you need to cope. So I do hope it helps today if you’re listening to this when it’s released or anytime you are needing food to help you out. With that all being said, If you cook announcements, if you’ve listened to the show before, you probably have heard these dynamic ads that we have just placed in. I have very little control over what kind of ads you will hear. It’s based on demographics and yeah, and things like that. I have an ability to make sure you don’t get certain ones based on categories. So obviously there’s not supposed to be anything on food or weight loss or weight loss medications, but somehow they are still creeping up. So I apologize.

If you need to skip them, you skip them. If this is not a good podcast for you to listen to just in case you hear them, I totally appreciate that. want you to protect yourself however you need, but just want to let you know that that may happen. And I am really behind the scenes working hard to try to figure out a way to block them because of the fact of the matter is we need these ads in order to be able to have this show.

And if you would like to support the Find Your Food Voice podcast, so we don’t have to run ads. my gosh, we would love that so much. There is a tip jar below that you can donate to. And we thank you in advance for any and all support, whether it’s in the tip jar or subscribing or following the show. We love that we can connect with you. However, we appreciate your support however you can. All right, before we get to this episode, a very quick word from our sponsor Fiestaware bowl, I felt soothed by eating a big bowl of leftover spaghetti and meatballs. I felt hopeless and swirling my fork through the saucy spaghetti disconnected me for a few moments from that despair the hot steam engulfing my face felt like the embrace I needed in that moment.

You may have heard me talk about this one particular emotional eating experience back in 2016, the day after that election. The day after the 2024 election between sobs heavy with grief, my body recalled those post-election soothing moments. I yearned for it.

I could feel the rage just sitting right there under my 2024 post-election grief. And my body remembered the feeling my hands had holding onto the hot bowl and the linguine noodles just sliding down my throat. I remember going to my fridge, opening the door, and I didn’t have the same leftovers. So I made a mental note to make it for dinner. As my kids and I were setting the dinner table,

I rinsed off some blueberries to add as a side dish. Minutes later, I ate that spaghetti and I felt no escape at all. I was so worried, I was scared, and it gave me nothing. No soothing powers, no comfort. When the spaghetti felt like eating paper, I remember letting out this like huge sigh and noticing the blueberries.

They were the firm acidic blueberries that had tight skins bursting with each bite.

Normally, I prefer the softer riper berries, but not at this meal. Each blueberry burst affirmed the acid activated in me. It poured gasoline on my fire that was only embers the last few years.

It fanned the flames and helped me emotionally connect with what I was feeling, what I needed, and figuratively held my hand as I clung to the hopes slipping away from me. See, the thing is about food. I get really, really uncomfortable around the food is medicine conversation. Yes, food does fuel us. It can be like medicine, especially if we haven’t eaten enough.

Calories give us energy to think, play, and move about. Calories also wiggle our GI tract to digest. They give us energy to move our diaphragm to help us breathe. Without eating enough, we do run out of fuel, but here’s the thing. What I know to be true is that food is so much more than the calories it provides. It’s more than medicine. I was eating emotionally the day after the 2016 election.

and the day after the 2024 election and many, many other days too. That was a part of listening to my food voice. Does that sound shocking to you? I know a lot of people feel uncomfortable with this, but something I have noticed over the last 15 years is that most intuitive eating coaches I see on social media discourage emotional eating. And along the way, this healing methodology has been funneled into eating when hungry and stopping when full.

This rigid rule blocks us from normal coping strategies, something that you can access anytime you need look, if you and I were amoebas, living in an agar-filled Petri dish, eating only when hungry would probably be just fine. But we don’t live in a Petri dish. We live outside those circular walls and have seasons and time zones.

different languages and customs, political parties with different beliefs, gerrymandering, racism, climate change, wars, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, weddings, divorces, new life and death. Being human is complicated as fuck. We’re not robots, but live a complex human experience.

Here’s what I believe. Food is medicine only sets us up to fail because it ignores our complex humanity. Your food voice includes a way to help you cope with life’s different experiences. Like when we sit with how this next president will place our friends, loved ones, community, and even ourselves in danger. We eat at weddings and funerals for a reason. And it’s not because we’re addicted to food

Rather, food soothes us and nurtures our emotions. Food moves serotonin with one bite.

This is your strength, not your weakness. I hope you have permission to use all of your coping, all of your coping mechanisms, and I hope that includes emotional eating. In solidarity and support today and any day, you’re needing food to cope with what’s going on around you.

So there have it. I hope this episode allowed you to have more permission to meet your needs. And I hope it helps you to access this healing side of your food voice today and any day you need it. I will be back next week with the rest of the Find Your Food Voice team. We’re gonna be talking about eating around the holidays. It’s a really important episode that we do every year. And I think it’s really important, especially this year.

to talk about these tough conversations about food and body as we get closer to a lot of the holidays in the United States.

Before I sign off, would love it if you could hit subscribe or follow and stay connected. And until next time, take care.