Ep #76: Allergies, Intolerances, and Chronic Illnesses

Hi! So awesome that you’re here, I’m so excited to be here recording this for you, and today I’m finally talking about a topic that I’ve actually gotten a few emails about from some of you listeners.

I’m always open to your requests for episode topics and after receiving a few for this one, I decided it’s finally time to do it.

So today I’m talking about health related eating restrictions, allergies, intolerances, and chronic illnesses.

This is for those of you who have a health issue that puts restrictions on the foods you eat. You have a diagnosis where a doctor has recommended that you don’t eat certain foods, types of foods, or whole groups of foods.

Celiac disease is a big one these days. When diagnosed with that you’re told to not eat gluten. Lactose intolerance, you’re told to not eat dairy. Crohns, IBS, other chronic illnesses might be exacerbated by certain foods so you’re told to not eat the ones that negatively affect you.

When you learn about what some of the triggers for binge eating are, one thing that gets talked about often is the importance of not restricting your food. Let’s not forget that restriction in itself isn’t a problem, see episode 48 about the two types of restriction if you don’t know what I’m talking about. If done properly, it can be a good thing. But it’s the restriction that goes against what you really want and that you feel obligated to do that can throw you for a loop and lead to bingeing.

So when a doctor is telling you what not to eat, you may start feeling that way. You may start feeling like you don’t get to do what you want and you’re obligated to eat in this way that they told you to eat.

Now you feel totally restricted and deprived and that causes you to rebel against the whole thing and eat that stuff anyway…causing some not so great physical reactions in your body.

You want to follow along with the recommendations, but you have such a hard time resisting those food you’re not supposed to eat.

So how can you handle this? How can you stop feeling so limited, deprived, restricted, and unsatisfied?

Well, let’s talk about why you’re feeling those ways to begin with.

Your desire for those foods is probably strong. You love them. You want them so badly. You longingly think about them.

If you’re not getting something you desire, then you’re going to feel deprived.

You may try eating the gluten-free/dairy-free/whatever-free version to not feel deprived but, it’s just not the same. It’s probably not as good and you’re left feeling like something is missing. You’re not satisfied and thats when you either keep eating more whatever-free foods to try and become satisfied, or you just say screw it and go eat the real thing.

You want these foods to be a part of your life and as long as you’re wanting them to be, then you’re going to feel desire and cravings for them.

If you just didn’t want them, then there would be no desire and no cravings. We don’t crave things we don’t want.

But I get it, you do want them. They’re yummy. You don’t know how to not want them, but imagine if you did. It would be so much easier, right? You want to not want them.

That desire is getting in the way of you not eating them.

One mistake that I see a lot people make in these kinds of situations is telling themselves they can’t have this food they desire.

This may seem like the truth, you can’t have it. Your doctor told you that you can’t, the internet told you that you can’t, and now you’re telling yourself that.

Now think about how you feel when you tell yourself that you can’t have something you want. Doesn’t feel good, does it?

Some people tell me they feel deprived then, or they feel rebellious. “Don’t be telling me what I can’t have!” Right?

Which is so interesting because although someone else may have told you that to begin with, now it’s just you telling yourself that you can’t. It’s you rebelling against your own instructions.

It’s that word “can’t” that gets you. You say you can’t, you feel deprived or rebellious, and then you go eat it anyway because you don’t want to feel deprived or your rebelliousness drives you to the food.

You don’t think you have the free choice to select food for yourself. You think someone else is in charge of what you eat. You don’t get to do what you want.

And you might also think that it’s not fair that you don’t get to eat what you want. Thinking it’s not fair is going to lead you right into a pity party for yourself.

But here’s what you need to know about all of this.

You do have a choice. You do get to eat what you want. You can eat those foods.

You prove this every time you eat them.

You choose to eat them when you do. You choose to not eat them when you don’t. People can tell you that you can’t eat them, but that’s not even true. You can. You’re a grown adult, you can do whatever you want.

They say you can’t, you say you can’t, and then you do. You can.

So telling yourself you can’t eat them is not at all useful, or even true. All it does, again, is cause you to feel deprived or rebellious.

So it’s not about whether you can or can’t, it’s about whether or not you want to.

Your first reaction might be to say that yeah, you don’t want to. They taste so good.

But let’s think this all the way through. What will happen if you eat them? Most likely you’re going to have some kind of painful, debilitating, or uncomfortable physical reaction to it. Do you want that? Because that’s part of the deal.

You can absolutely eat those foods if you choose to, but just know that you’re choosing the whole experience. It’s like when you choose to continue eating after you’re full. You’re not just choosing to eat the foods, you’re choosing the whole experience, feeling stuffed and all.

Other people can tell you what to do, they can make recommendation and suggestions, but ultimately, the choice is always yours. They can say to not eat dairy, and you can still do it. You’ve done it.

The choice is always yours what you decide to eat.

So what do you decide? Do you decide to eat the foods that are going to affect you physically in a negative way? Or are you going to forgo that experience?

What do you want?

You may think you want the food, but if you’re getting the whole package of negative physical effects along with that, do you still want it?

You may say you don’t care and just eat it anyway, and that’s fine if you don’t, but take responsibility for not caring and for the consequences. That’s your choice to not care.

Or choose to care about what will happen.

Choose to want to feel good, not bad. Not in pain.

I talked before about your desire for these foods and how much easier it would be if you just didn’t want them. Well, do you want something that will cause you pain? Because that’s what that food really is, something that will cause you pain.

What is really all comes down to is that you have the choice and with all the information you have about what the effects will be, you have the choice to decide what you want.

Yes, you can have the food, but do you really want it, consequences and all?

As far as I know, I don’t have any major food issues with allergies, sensitivities, or autoimmune digestive problems, but this whole topic is still something I use for myself with foods that I know don’t feel good in my body or result in effects I don’t like. I think about that stuff and make my decision to not eat those foods not because I can’t, I could just put it in my mouth and eat it any time I wanted, but I choose not to because I don’t want to. I don’t want what will happen if I do.

To use an extreme example, a doctor, or someone close to me that I care about, my parents, my brothers, my boyfriend, could tell me that I can’t use heroin. Heroin is not allowed because it is very addictive and I could become addicted, overdose, and die. But no matter what they say, I could still do it, knowing all these consequences. But I choose not to because I don’t want them. I’m sure heroin would feel amazing, I personally don’t know, but that’s what I hear, but I don’t want the consequences of doing it. I don’t want the extreme low, I don’t want to feel addicted, and I don’t want to die from it.

Those foods you want may taste really good, but are you going to choose to hurt yourself or choose to stay away from them and not hurt yourself?

It’s all about what you want, not what you can or can’t have because you can have everything.

You have the power to choose, always, no matter what anyone tells you to do. Make sure you know it’s your choice, it’s your choice to follow what the doctor says, because you want to do it, not because you have to.

Make the choice that will give you the result you want. Bye bye!