#268: Silencing the Food Noise: The 4 Root Causes Stealing Your Peace (And How to Break Free Before the Holidays)

WEBVTT
00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:13.789
Hello, hello! If you are watching me, my nose is a little red.
00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:18.669
I just came inside and it is cold in Michigan, you guys.
00:02:18.669 --> 00:02:22.829
And you're probably wondering where the heck is the intro music?
00:02:22.829 --> 00:02:24.189
Here's the deal.
00:02:24.189 --> 00:02:34.750
We are skipping the music and all of the things we are trying to get this episode out to ASAP because I was on the Candace Cameron Beret podcast.
00:02:34.750 --> 00:02:40.030
We did a three-part series, and you guys want to know more about food noise.
00:02:40.030 --> 00:02:46.430
I've heard you, I've listened, and I'm bringing you the truth about what the heck food noise is.
00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:49.229
So let's dive right into that today.
00:02:49.229 --> 00:02:52.269
And welcome to the Fast of Faith podcast.
00:02:52.269 --> 00:02:52.829
I'm Dr.
00:02:52.829 --> 00:02:54.590
Tabitha, your Christian physician.
00:02:54.590 --> 00:02:58.829
If you didn't know, if you're new here, I'm here for you.
00:02:58.829 --> 00:03:04.189
We are all about health and wellness and gut and hormones and fasting and faith.
00:03:04.189 --> 00:03:10.829
So let's dive into what it takes to silence the food noise.
00:03:10.829 --> 00:03:20.349
We're gonna heal the cravings, balance our hormones, and nourish our spirit because it's all connected, it all ties together.
00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:23.310
So let me ask you a question.
00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:31.469
Have you ever felt like food is talking to you like all the time?
00:03:31.469 --> 00:03:32.670
It was for me.
00:03:32.670 --> 00:03:45.149
When I was in OBGYN, the donuts would talk to me in the break room, the Twizzlers would talk to me at the nurses station or the MMs in the pre-op room.
00:03:45.149 --> 00:03:50.269
Wherever there was food, I was thinking about it.
00:03:50.269 --> 00:03:59.469
And if there wasn't food around, then I was dreaming about what sounded good and what I could eat next.
00:03:59.469 --> 00:04:06.189
And I didn't realize it at the time because you can't see the picture when you're in the frame.
00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:22.029
But now I understand that so much of it had to do with my lack of energy, my stressed out life, and my unhealthy gut and my dysregulated nervous system.
00:04:22.029 --> 00:04:31.550
So we're gonna dive into the why behind food noise, and more importantly, what to do about it.
00:04:31.550 --> 00:04:36.029
So, food noise, let's let's define it.
00:04:36.029 --> 00:04:46.750
First of all, it's intrusive thoughts and cravings that dominate your focus, and they often lead to frustration, guilt, and overeating.
00:04:46.750 --> 00:05:06.110
So, my best example is I remember one day there was a box full of donuts in the break room, and I was thinking about them while I was seeing patients and specifically thinking, I really hope that um one specific long jawn is still there.
00:05:06.110 --> 00:05:15.629
I want that one with the custard cream filling and the extra chocolate when I get out, but I'm only gonna eat half of it because I don't need the whole thing.
00:05:15.629 --> 00:05:25.629
I've been eating too much junk lately, and I remember this entire conversation going on while I was seeing a patient, mind you, and I should have been paying attention to her.
00:05:25.629 --> 00:05:29.069
Um, just being real truthful here right now.
00:05:29.069 --> 00:05:31.550
Um, I was thinking about this donut.
00:05:31.550 --> 00:05:37.949
So I finally went and ate the half a donut, and I ate it probably in like 30 seconds.
00:05:37.949 --> 00:05:55.949
Uh, I barely even tasted it, and that's part of the issue is we're trying to satisfy something, and so oftentimes we eat really quickly and we don't savor it, we don't slow down to enjoy it.
00:05:55.949 --> 00:06:22.029
And then I went on to seeing the next patient and the next patient, and all I could think about was that other half that I left in the break room, and I ended up going back and shoving that down my face, and then the food noise quieted for a minute, and then I started thinking about the other donuts in the box, and that was the day I knew I had a problem.
00:06:22.029 --> 00:06:23.870
Like, this is not normal.
00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:29.310
I started talking to my coworkers and asking them, like, do the donuts talk to you?
00:06:29.310 --> 00:06:36.430
Because I feel like they're talking to me, they're they're distracting me from seeing my patients.
00:06:36.430 --> 00:06:45.310
And at that time, I knew it was a problem, but I didn't know why it was happening and I didn't know what to do about it.
00:06:45.310 --> 00:06:50.589
And unfortunately, it took me a few years to figure that out.
00:06:50.589 --> 00:07:04.029
It wasn't until I went through full-on burnout, adrenal fatigue, a broken back, a failed back surgery, Hashimoto's that I couldn't get into remission, the whole nine yards.
00:07:04.029 --> 00:07:06.109
And I went on this healing journey.
00:07:06.109 --> 00:07:20.269
I found the world of functional medicine, and when I started studying the root cause of why we have disease, why we have problems, that is when I understood my food noise problem.
00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:26.189
So I, if you are feeling me in this story, this episode is for you.
00:07:26.189 --> 00:07:32.349
So let's dive in because I want to reassure you, this is not about a lack of willpower.
00:07:32.349 --> 00:07:36.269
It's your body's chemistry, your hormones.
00:07:36.269 --> 00:07:42.109
You have hormones that regulate your appetite, your hunger, your satiety.
00:07:42.109 --> 00:07:56.990
You have stress hormones that hijack your brain, and you have a microbiome, an entire ecosystem living in your gut that is creating chemicals and sending signals to your brain as well.
00:07:56.990 --> 00:08:15.229
So we're gonna dive into all of that, and I'm going to give you solutions about how to get rid of this food noise because I'm here to say happily, six years later, I don't have food noise, and I haven't for at least four years.
00:08:15.229 --> 00:08:27.310
When it starts to creep up, I now know that is a message from my body that something is off and I need to deal with it, and I know how to tackle it so it doesn't get out of control.
00:08:27.310 --> 00:08:32.990
So I have broken up with sugar and been off of sugar for over six years.
00:08:32.990 --> 00:08:41.070
I no longer have the food noise and all of the struggles, and I have created a healthy relationship with food.
00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:47.149
I don't use it uh when I'm tired and stressed out and lonely as much.
00:08:47.149 --> 00:08:52.430
Like, let's be truthful, nobody's perfect, just Jesus.
00:08:52.430 --> 00:08:55.470
And I still struggle every now and again.
00:08:55.470 --> 00:09:01.950
I do eat the ice cream at times when I'm lonely, but I at least acknowledge it and I know what I'm signing up for.
00:09:01.950 --> 00:09:10.190
So I just want to say that because this journey is not about perfection, it's about progress.
00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:28.909
And if I can just instill in you some tools and resources to be able to make forward progress toward loving your body and living in harmony with it, with food, with your environment, with your life, then you are winning, right?
00:09:28.909 --> 00:09:30.990
So let's dive in.
00:09:30.990 --> 00:09:40.909
Like I said, food noise is that constant mental chatter or cravings driven by a dysregulated brain-body chemistry.
00:09:40.909 --> 00:09:45.870
And uh a big part of it is our standard American diet.
00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:49.230
We call it the sad diet for a reason.
00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:53.470
It is very sad because it's high in ultra-processed foods.
00:09:53.470 --> 00:10:10.269
They actually pull out the vitamins and the minerals and all the necessary things your body needs to thrive, and they fill it with garbage, with preservatives, with dyes and chemicals that are very destructive to your body.
00:10:10.269 --> 00:10:14.350
So it's the sad diet that most of us are living on.
00:10:14.350 --> 00:10:19.789
Sleep deprivation was a huge reason that I had food noise.
00:10:19.789 --> 00:10:21.710
I was exhausted.
00:10:21.710 --> 00:10:30.990
My body was constantly looking for a source of energy, and I was giving it fake energy.
00:10:30.990 --> 00:10:37.389
Fake energy is like sugar and caffeine and carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates.
00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:46.509
Whereas real energy comes from eating proteins and fats to make ATP in a long, sustainable form.
00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:48.429
That is true energy.
00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:50.429
And then hormones.
00:10:50.429 --> 00:10:55.949
When your hormones are out of balance, it amplifies the food noise.
00:10:55.949 --> 00:11:04.909
So women in particular are more vulnerable to this due to our cyclical hormonal nature.
00:11:04.909 --> 00:11:14.029
We have hormones that are changing all of the time, and that contributes to our emotional well-being.
00:11:14.029 --> 00:11:18.990
We take on the world's problems, right?
00:11:18.990 --> 00:11:58.269
We are there for our children, for our co-workers, for our husbands, all the people, and that leads to us uh neglecting ourselves a little bit, along with chronic stress, chronic stress of self-neglect, taking care of everyone else, not doing your daily centering practices of getting still, talking to God, listening to God for guidance, trying to carry all the burdens yourself and do everything yourself, those all contribute to food noise.
00:11:58.269 --> 00:12:08.509
So there are four root causes that I want to talk about today, and then we're gonna talk about how to address each one of those.
00:12:08.509 --> 00:12:12.429
So, number one, gut dysbiosis.
00:12:12.429 --> 00:12:17.389
The wrong bacteria controlling the cravings.
00:12:17.389 --> 00:12:27.389
So if you have the wrong bacteria living in your gut, they will send chemicals to your brain that make you crave the foods they want to eat.
00:12:27.389 --> 00:12:30.750
Yeast in particular love sugar.
00:12:30.750 --> 00:12:38.110
So if you have yeast overgrowth in your gut, you're gonna crave sugar all the time until you kill those yeasts off.
00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:50.029
And I want to remind you or let you know if you didn't know, that 90% of the serotonin that we make, we make in our gut.
00:12:50.029 --> 00:12:54.590
Serotonin is our feel-good neurotransmitter.
00:12:54.590 --> 00:13:01.230
That is the messenger that is activated with antidepressants.
00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:06.509
They're called SSRIs, serotonin, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
00:13:06.509 --> 00:13:14.189
So they help the serotonin stay at the receptor longer because you're not making enough of it yourself.
00:13:14.189 --> 00:13:20.990
And it's most likely because you don't have the right microbiome to make your own serotonin.
00:13:20.990 --> 00:13:23.389
Another one is dopamine.
00:13:23.389 --> 00:13:31.069
This neurotransmitter is really important in reward and satisfaction.
00:13:31.069 --> 00:13:33.949
And we all know about the dopamine hit, right?
00:13:33.949 --> 00:13:45.149
That is scrolling through TikTok and Instagram, and you feel satisfied because you're getting these dopamine hits like scroll, scroll, scroll, dopamine, dopamine, dopamine.
00:13:45.149 --> 00:13:53.230
You get that same result with chocolate and sugar and gluten and a lot of things in your food.
00:13:53.230 --> 00:14:15.389
And so some people they are low on dopamine because they don't have a healthy microbiome and they are looking for that feel-good neurotransmitter because 50% of that is made in your gut and travels up the vagus nerve to talk to your brain, and then it tells your brain to create more chemicals that talk back to your body.
00:14:15.389 --> 00:14:29.309
But if that is interrupted, if you're not making those neurotransmitters, then your brain is gonna tell you, give me some of this, give me some of this, and it will tell you to eat those horrible foods.
00:14:29.309 --> 00:14:35.710
So, number one is you want to figure out what's going on in your microbiome.
00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:44.189
When I first studied functional medicine, I did a stool test on myself, a functional stool test.
00:14:44.189 --> 00:14:57.949
It shows you your entire gut microbiome, the good bacteria, the bad bacteria, the different kinds of yeast, uh, parasites, worms, and then it shows you the function of your gut.
00:14:57.949 --> 00:15:00.829
Is your immune system acting appropriately?
00:15:00.829 --> 00:15:04.750
Do you even have enough of an immune system response?
00:15:04.750 --> 00:15:07.069
Are you making your digestive enzymes?
00:15:07.069 --> 00:15:10.590
Do you have active leaky gut that needs to be healed?
00:15:10.590 --> 00:15:20.990
All of these things show up on the test, and you can actually actively heal your gut, shift your microbiome, kill off those bad guys.
00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:26.669
And that is how I broke up with sugar and started to silence my food noise.
00:15:26.669 --> 00:15:30.029
So healing your gut is profound.
00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:32.269
It is so helpful.
00:15:32.269 --> 00:15:37.470
We can try empirically to do this by getting rid of the standard American diet.
00:15:37.470 --> 00:15:49.549
Stop eating out of boxes and bags, focus on real foods that God gave us, real animal proteins, healthy fats, vegetables, fruits.
00:15:49.549 --> 00:15:56.429
If it looks like what it was when it grew or came out of its mama, then you can eat it.
00:15:56.429 --> 00:16:03.309
If it is processed and it's got an ingredient list that you can't even pronounce, you should not be eating it.
00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:05.949
It's contributing to your food noise.
00:16:05.949 --> 00:16:19.870
So cut out those ultra-processed foods, break up with sugar, start eating fiber, protein, healthy fats, all those good things, your microbiome will start to shift.
00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:26.669
But I do I mentioned the stool test because some people really clean up their diet.
00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:39.789
They are eating so clean and so healthy, but they have yeast overgrowth that if it doesn't get killed off with actual herbs or medications, they can't shift their microbiome.
00:16:39.789 --> 00:16:42.829
So sometimes testing is necessary.
00:16:42.829 --> 00:16:54.750
I just wanted to throw that piece in there, and for me it was because my gut dysbiosis had gone on so long that changing my diet just wasn't gonna cut it.
00:16:54.750 --> 00:16:56.509
It wasn't enough, honestly.
00:16:56.509 --> 00:17:13.630
And then we want to use intermittent fasting strategically to reset our microbiome because when we starve off those bad guys, we don't feed them, they will die off, and then the good guys can start to multiply and take over.
00:17:13.630 --> 00:17:21.390
And so fasting is one of the quickest ways to actually break up with sugar and reset your microbiome.
00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:27.390
I love intermittent fasting, but there are a couple issues with it.
00:17:27.390 --> 00:17:35.150
If you have insulin dysregulation, cortisol dysfunction, then it might be challenging to fast.
00:17:35.150 --> 00:17:50.269
So if you have struggled to fast, I want you to stay and listen to number two and number three of the root causes of why we have food noise, because it's hard to fast if you're dealing with these next two things.
00:17:50.269 --> 00:18:09.710
And I wanted to mention First Corinthians 10, 31, because a lot of us we eat our feelings, and what scripture says is whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
00:18:09.710 --> 00:18:18.110
So we glorify God when we feed our bodies the food that he gave us to nourish ourselves with.
00:18:18.110 --> 00:18:27.150
We do not honor him and glorify him when we eat all of these processed Franken foods, I call them, because they're not real foods.
00:18:27.150 --> 00:18:33.630
We just took food parts and put them all together in a new way and created Franken foods like Frankenstein.
00:18:33.630 --> 00:18:36.269
And it's very depleting to our body.
00:18:36.269 --> 00:18:48.350
Our body actually has to expend energy to handle all of these toxins and food dyes and pesticides and preservatives.
00:18:48.350 --> 00:18:53.789
It actually has to use energy to process all of that.
00:18:53.789 --> 00:19:03.789
So you're not helping your energy levels, you're making them worse, especially when you're like eating fast food, pop, all of that kind of stuff.
00:19:03.789 --> 00:19:06.269
That's taking it to a whole nother level.
00:19:06.269 --> 00:19:13.150
Okay, so number two, stress hijacks your cortisol hormones.
00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:21.230
So cortisol and adrenaline are really important when we talk about food noise.
00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:33.710
And chronic stress creates chronic excess cortisol production, which sticks you in a fight or flight sympathetic dominant state.
00:19:33.710 --> 00:19:45.150
So your nervous system is always upregulated, ready to fight or flee, or run, or hide, and then you get stuck in this vicious cycle of now you're wired.
00:19:45.150 --> 00:20:00.269
And so every time you have another stressor come on, you pump out more cortisol, more adrenaline, and that keeps you stuck in fight or flight, and you can't get into rest, digest, and repair.
00:20:00.269 --> 00:20:03.069
That is sympathetic dominance.
00:20:03.069 --> 00:20:14.269
So your nervous system gets involved and you get nervous system dysregulation from this chronic cortisol adrenaline situation.
00:20:14.269 --> 00:20:20.910
And let me just mention that stressors don't have to be emotional or mental.
00:20:20.910 --> 00:20:26.509
It doesn't have to be you fighting with your boss or your spouse or you running late for work.
00:20:26.509 --> 00:20:28.750
It can be a gut infection.
00:20:28.750 --> 00:20:46.029
That is an internal stressor that tells your adrenal glands to produce more cortisol and your nervous system to get upregulated, and then it tells your immune system like it's time to fight and they get upregulated.
00:20:46.029 --> 00:20:50.990
So it's like this horrible domino effect that really happens.
00:20:50.990 --> 00:20:53.309
So I want you to understand that piece.
00:20:53.309 --> 00:20:57.069
It's it's not always about the external stressors.
00:20:57.069 --> 00:21:31.789
Maybe it's an infected root canal, or like I mentioned, yeast overgrowth, things of that nature, or hello, just the perimenopausal transition, just that natural decline of our hormone production is a huge stressor on our body because estrogen regulates all the systems in our body, keeps our immune system calm and stable, and when estrogen continues to decline, our body gets hyper-responsive.
00:21:31.789 --> 00:21:46.509
We see an upregulation or in autoimmune conditions, new diagnoses of rheumatoid, lupus, Hashimoto's, these different autoimmune conditions, they pop up at menopause.
00:21:46.509 --> 00:22:00.029
More women have shingles outbreaks and um Epstein bar, chronic fatigue that pops up, and new things that they never dealt with before because of that decline in hormones.
00:22:00.029 --> 00:22:09.549
So these internal stressors are hijacking your nervous system, and that affects your ghrelin and your leptin.
00:22:09.549 --> 00:22:20.509
So you get on this hunger roller coaster because if you disrupt leptin, your satiety hormone, you never feel full or satisfied.
00:22:20.509 --> 00:22:28.269
And if you disrupt ghrelin, your hunger hormone, like err ghrelin, then you get these false hunger signals.
00:22:28.269 --> 00:22:48.109
And so it's really important that we regulate our nervous system, get our adrenals to respond more appropriately, and help calm the roller coaster of perimenopause and menopause as much as we can.
00:22:48.109 --> 00:22:54.589
Symptoms that this is one of your food noise root causes is belly fat.
00:22:54.589 --> 00:23:00.430
If you're starting to gain weight around the belly, that means your cortisol is out of control.
00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:10.029
Or if you're feeling wired and tired, like you're dragging all day and then you're up at night and you can't sleep, that's often a cortisol issue.
00:23:10.029 --> 00:23:17.710
So we need to shift your nervous system and calm down your adrenal glands.
00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:20.269
That looks like micro breaks.
00:23:20.269 --> 00:23:23.789
Put in five minutes of prayer in the morning.
00:23:23.789 --> 00:23:29.470
What I do with my Fast of Faith women, if you're not in the group, oh my goodness, you need to be in the group.
00:23:29.470 --> 00:23:31.950
But we do Lectio Divina.
00:23:31.950 --> 00:23:46.509
That is meditating on one scripture for five to ten minutes, and we journal about it and we talk to God about that one scripture, and that puts you in a parasympathetic rest, digest, and repair state to start your day.
00:23:46.509 --> 00:23:52.829
That way you're not in fight or flight and you're not pumping out excess cortisol.
00:23:52.829 --> 00:23:55.549
Breath work works the same way.
00:23:55.549 --> 00:24:00.750
Walking, gratitude journaling, so powerful.
00:24:00.750 --> 00:24:03.710
And let's talk about some other things.
00:24:03.710 --> 00:24:05.710
Prioritizing sleep.
00:24:05.710 --> 00:24:18.430
So sleep is a whole nother episode, but if you are getting good quality sleep, then you can start to heal your adrenals and your cortisol production and your nervous system.
00:24:18.430 --> 00:24:19.629
That's super important.
00:24:19.629 --> 00:24:22.589
You want to limit your caffeine.
00:24:22.589 --> 00:24:23.950
Did you know?
00:24:23.950 --> 00:24:29.629
Every time you drink a cup of coffee, you produce cortisol.
00:24:29.629 --> 00:24:33.869
Cortisol is a response to that coffee you drink.
00:24:33.869 --> 00:24:43.470
And so if you're already making too much cortisol in the morning and then you're adding caffeine and coffee on top of it, you're gonna produce more and more.
00:24:43.470 --> 00:24:47.309
And some women, they're like, why do I feel so jittery?
00:24:47.309 --> 00:24:48.670
Why is my heart racing?
00:24:48.670 --> 00:24:50.190
Why do I have palpitations?
00:24:50.190 --> 00:24:52.990
Why am I exhausted by lunchtime?
00:24:52.990 --> 00:24:56.829
It's because they've been pumping out cortisol all morning.
00:24:56.829 --> 00:25:03.069
So try and stick to one cup of coffee or less and be done by noon.
00:25:03.069 --> 00:25:05.549
That will help substantially.
00:25:05.549 --> 00:25:18.190
And then the last thing is if you incorporate a fasting practice, we want to focus on the healing properties of fasting and not the deprivation.
00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:24.829
This is not about depriving you, it's about supporting your body's healing ability.
00:25:24.829 --> 00:25:30.589
That is what that is why God created our bodies to fast, to heal your nervous system.
00:25:30.589 --> 00:25:34.670
So this reminds me of Matthew 11, 28.
00:25:34.670 --> 00:25:40.589
Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
00:25:40.589 --> 00:25:47.470
If you meditate on that scripture for five minutes in the morning, just give it a try tomorrow.
00:25:47.470 --> 00:25:51.230
You will start your day so much better.
00:25:51.230 --> 00:26:00.829
Your adrenals will thank you, your nervous system will thank you, and you will put a break on that food noise.
00:26:00.829 --> 00:26:02.910
That will help so much.
00:26:02.910 --> 00:26:04.109
Okay.
00:26:04.109 --> 00:26:11.230
Number three root cause for food noise insulin resistance and blood sugar spikes.
00:26:11.230 --> 00:26:16.589
And a lot of you have this and you don't even know it.
00:26:16.589 --> 00:26:25.470
It's estimated that 96 million Americans, holy cow, have pre-diabetes and insulin resistance.
00:26:25.470 --> 00:26:32.670
And most of us don't know it because our doctor doesn't do the labs to check it.
00:26:32.670 --> 00:26:39.950
So you want to get a fasting insulin level and you want to get a hemoglobin A1C level.
00:26:39.950 --> 00:26:44.109
That is an average blood sugar over the past three months.
00:26:44.109 --> 00:26:49.470
And you want your fasting blood sugar to be like 80 to 90.
00:26:49.470 --> 00:26:59.069
So if your hemoglobin A1C is above five, then that usually means your average blood sugar has been too high over the past three months.
00:26:59.069 --> 00:27:04.430
Insulin should also be around five or less in a fasted state.
00:27:04.430 --> 00:27:06.670
So think five and five.
00:27:06.670 --> 00:27:10.430
And do it fasting at least 12 hours.
00:27:10.430 --> 00:27:18.670
If your levels are higher than that, we need to consider this as a root cause for your food noise.
00:27:18.670 --> 00:27:21.710
You are on this blood sugar roller coaster.
00:27:21.710 --> 00:27:27.150
So you eat, you can eat carbohydrates and they turn into sugar.
00:27:27.150 --> 00:27:28.829
You can drink them.
00:27:28.829 --> 00:27:34.430
And it doesn't have to be table sugar, it doesn't have to be straight up candy or pop.
00:27:34.430 --> 00:27:44.509
Carbohydrates like bagels and crackers and baked goods or those fancy coffee drinks, they're all full of carbohydrates.
00:27:44.509 --> 00:27:48.109
As soon as they go into your mouth, they turn into sugar.
00:27:48.109 --> 00:28:05.629
So your blood sugar increases when you do that, and then your body has to make insulin from your pancreas, send it out, and insulin takes that sugar and knocks on the door of your cells and said, Please store this or use this to produce energy.
00:28:05.629 --> 00:28:18.430
And if your cells are already full and there's too much sugar to process or store, then your cells won't listen to the insulin signal.
00:28:18.430 --> 00:28:28.509
Or if your cells are inflamed because of a high toxic burden or gut infections or other things, they also won't hear the insulin signal.
00:28:28.509 --> 00:28:32.430
And so what your pancreas does is it makes more insulin.
00:28:32.430 --> 00:28:39.150
It says, let's flood those receptors because we're obviously not yelling loud enough and we need to yell louder.
00:28:39.150 --> 00:28:43.549
So you make more insulin to take that sugar out of the bloodstream.
00:28:43.549 --> 00:28:53.869
And eventually you create this insulin resistance where your insulin is high, your blood sugar is high, nothing is moving or going where it's supposed to.
00:28:53.869 --> 00:28:57.150
And that leads to food noise.
00:28:57.150 --> 00:29:00.829
So get those labs done, super easy to do.
00:29:00.829 --> 00:29:03.869
You don't even need a doctor to order order them anymore.
00:29:03.869 --> 00:29:09.389
You can go to ultalabtest.com and get those lab tests yourself.
00:29:09.389 --> 00:29:16.029
So the other way that your blood sugar can be elevated is from cortisol.
00:29:16.029 --> 00:29:24.190
Again, when you wake up first thing in the morning, you have a natural cortisol awakening response.
00:29:24.190 --> 00:29:25.629
That's a good thing.
00:29:25.629 --> 00:29:29.230
That is how we get out of bed and we get moving for the day.
00:29:29.230 --> 00:29:32.269
It's like our body's natural cup of coffee.
00:29:32.269 --> 00:29:39.950
But we also produce glucose or sugar in our liver and put it in the bloodstream to get moving.
00:29:39.950 --> 00:29:46.269
So you don't have to eat carbohydrates or sugar in the morning for your blood sugar to increase.
00:29:46.269 --> 00:29:50.990
It is a natural thing that your body does to get you going.
00:29:50.990 --> 00:29:54.829
And then if you add the cup of coffee, it can increase it more.
00:29:54.829 --> 00:30:08.029
So I actually take care of a lot of women who tell me they don't eat at all in the morning, yet they're so stressed out that their cortisol is so high that their blood sugar is high.
00:30:08.029 --> 00:30:13.150
So I'm I hope this correlation makes sense to you.
00:30:13.150 --> 00:30:18.269
And for some of you, this is gonna be like the game-changing golden nugget.
00:30:18.269 --> 00:30:20.589
Oh my gosh, that's my problem.
00:30:20.589 --> 00:30:24.829
So there are ways to deal with this, I promise you.
00:30:24.829 --> 00:30:28.190
We have to get off the stress roller coaster.
00:30:28.190 --> 00:30:34.829
We have to get realistic and evaluate what is your body even doing.
00:30:34.829 --> 00:30:36.990
So I say test, don't guess.
00:30:36.990 --> 00:30:38.190
Let's figure it out.
00:30:38.190 --> 00:30:42.349
Let's look at that hemoglobin A1C and fasting insulin.
00:30:42.349 --> 00:30:54.109
Get a 24-hour cortisol pattern, see what your cortisol is doing in the morning and throughout the day, and then we can create a plan to help you shift.
00:30:54.109 --> 00:30:54.589
Okay.
00:30:54.589 --> 00:30:59.230
So high insulin levels they lead to blood sugar crashes.
00:30:59.230 --> 00:31:03.950
So your blood sugar can be really high and then it can drop really low.
00:31:03.950 --> 00:31:11.869
And if you're like most Americans, you are eating every two hours or so.
00:31:11.869 --> 00:31:22.190
You're putting candy in your mouth, or you're sipping on a pop or a soda, um, you're sipping coffee with stuff in it all throughout the day.
00:31:22.190 --> 00:31:26.029
You're constantly topping off your blood sugar.
00:31:26.029 --> 00:31:30.750
It's staying high, and your pancreas is constantly producing insulin.
00:31:30.750 --> 00:31:39.389
And anytime it starts to drop, you feel hangry, you feel irritable, you you are like, oh gosh, I don't like how I feel.
00:31:39.389 --> 00:31:48.349
So you go and you grab more sugar, and that is a setup for disease and a setup for disaster.
00:31:48.349 --> 00:31:52.829
But that is how I lived for 40 years of my life.
00:31:52.829 --> 00:32:00.029
And and I just want to put this caveat kids can live that way because they're going nonstop.
00:32:00.029 --> 00:32:05.869
At least, you know, my daughter, she's busy, physically active from dusk until dawn.
00:32:05.869 --> 00:32:10.269
And so she burns through all those carbohydrates she puts in her body.
00:32:10.269 --> 00:32:15.950
But if you're not physically active and burning through all of that, then you have to store it as fat.
00:32:15.950 --> 00:32:23.549
And the first place it goes is your liver around your vital organs, which increases your risk of heart disease.
00:32:23.549 --> 00:32:28.109
And that gives you that muffin top that you don't want.
00:32:28.109 --> 00:32:33.150
So there are ways to get you back into sync.
00:32:33.150 --> 00:32:41.309
And that's the whole idea around the Fast to Faith program is leading with healthy fats and protein to get you out of this sugar burning mode.
00:32:41.309 --> 00:32:48.109
I've talked about this on multiple episodes, but we want to increase that insulin sensitivity again.
00:32:48.109 --> 00:32:50.269
Get those blood sugars down.
00:32:50.269 --> 00:32:53.869
That will start to calm down your food noise.
00:32:53.869 --> 00:32:58.509
And here's some encouraging words from 1 Corinthians 6 12.
00:32:58.509 --> 00:33:04.190
Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.
00:33:04.190 --> 00:33:08.589
I will not be mastered by anything.
00:33:08.589 --> 00:33:15.789
So when you regulate your body's chemistry, your food stops being your master and it becomes your fuel.
00:33:15.789 --> 00:33:20.750
Meaning, you can eat whatever you want, but that doesn't mean you should.
00:33:20.750 --> 00:33:36.750
And I'm gonna give you this tough love because I did it myself and it shifted everything.
00:33:36.750 --> 00:33:38.349
So I know you can do it.
00:33:38.349 --> 00:33:43.789
I broke up with gluten, with sugar, all the things, and my life has never been better.
00:33:43.789 --> 00:33:54.670
The fourth reason behind our food noise is actually emotional hunger and spiritual hunger.
00:33:54.670 --> 00:33:58.910
So many cravings are actually emotional needs.
00:33:58.910 --> 00:34:04.029
I mentioned this at the beginning: comfort, peace, connection, control.
00:34:04.029 --> 00:34:07.150
We're looking for all of those things.
00:34:07.150 --> 00:34:12.190
We're lonely, we're frustrated, we're we're overwhelmed, we're too busy.
00:34:12.190 --> 00:34:17.550
All of that, those are emotional needs not being met.
00:34:17.550 --> 00:34:24.430
And when we numb with food, which we often do, we don't get to hear from our soul.
00:34:24.430 --> 00:34:29.150
We aren't asking, we're not giving it what it's really asking for.
00:34:29.150 --> 00:34:37.950
Our soul, our spirit wants rest, love, reassurance, connection, all of those things.
00:34:37.950 --> 00:34:42.910
And we numb those aching feelings with food.
00:34:42.910 --> 00:34:46.349
And unfortunately, it only lasts 20 to 30 minutes.
00:34:46.349 --> 00:34:53.309
So that's why we end up wanting to eat all the time, and and we just have this food noise going on in the background.
00:34:53.309 --> 00:35:14.190
So, again, I love fast to faith because fasting quiet that food noise long enough for you to hear your heart and ask God to shift your heart and make you more Christ-like, and you can actually start to hear from God again and nourish your soul and give it what it needs.
00:35:14.190 --> 00:35:26.910
So here's what you can do before you eat, you feel the hunger, you go reach for something, pause and ask yourself, am I hungry or am I hurting?
00:35:26.910 --> 00:35:30.349
And then journal your way through those emotions.
00:35:30.349 --> 00:35:33.950
You'll be amazed at what comes out onto the paper.
00:35:33.950 --> 00:35:35.309
You will shock yourself.
00:35:35.309 --> 00:35:37.309
I promise you, give it a try.
00:35:37.309 --> 00:35:38.829
It is so worth it.
00:35:38.829 --> 00:35:46.670
And then ask God to help you through this, help to give you the strength to overcome your fleshly desires.
00:35:46.670 --> 00:36:00.670
If you can start to replace those emotional eating moments with spiritual nourishment and God and his love and his presence and his joy and his peace, then you will shift.
00:36:00.670 --> 00:36:08.670
That is why God says in the Bible to pray incessantly all throughout the day, nonstop.
00:36:08.670 --> 00:36:27.070
You a great thing that I love to do, I not only meditate on scripture and like study the Bible and and learn the stories to see how God works through people's lives, but I oh, there goes my estrogen drop.
00:36:27.070 --> 00:36:28.750
I just had a brain fart.
00:36:28.750 --> 00:36:47.070
Um, I memorize scriptures, I memorize the word of God so that when I am in a time of struggle, I can pull that up and start speaking it over my body and over my mind and get control over those fleshly desires, over those cravings.
00:36:47.070 --> 00:36:59.789
So just even five scriptures that feel powerful to you, if you memorize them, that is like um a sword.
00:36:59.789 --> 00:37:01.389
It is your protection.
00:37:01.389 --> 00:37:09.869
God tells you to gear up and to guard yourself and guard your heart, and that is how you do it.
00:37:09.869 --> 00:37:16.590
So Matthew 4:4 is an amazing scripture to memorize.
00:37:16.590 --> 00:37:23.789
Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
00:37:23.789 --> 00:37:25.469
That's an easy one.
00:37:25.469 --> 00:37:26.909
I know you can memorize that.
00:37:26.909 --> 00:37:34.989
And if you do, and you start speaking it over yourself when you hear that food noise and ask God to change your mind.
00:37:34.989 --> 00:37:38.829
Renew my mind, Lord, like you tell us to in Romans 12, 2.
00:37:38.829 --> 00:37:40.989
You command us to renew our mind.
00:37:40.989 --> 00:37:42.670
He will do it.
00:37:42.670 --> 00:37:45.630
You will stop that food noise.
00:37:45.630 --> 00:37:47.309
I promise you.
00:37:47.309 --> 00:37:51.550
Okay, we're gonna tie it up with this.
00:37:51.550 --> 00:37:54.909
I created a three-step faith-fueled reset.
00:37:54.909 --> 00:37:58.110
There is a little guide that you can download.
00:37:58.110 --> 00:38:06.429
It's free, and it's gonna teach you how to fast with intention, how to feed your body with purpose, and how to faith it forward.
00:38:06.429 --> 00:38:10.429
Okay, so we're gonna fast intentionally.
00:38:10.429 --> 00:38:17.389
A lot of us fast unintentionally, meaning we just forget to eat because we're so busy and life just lifes on us.
00:38:17.389 --> 00:38:18.909
That's not what we're gonna do.
00:38:18.909 --> 00:38:23.869
We're gonna have control over our body and our decisions of when and what we're going to eat.
00:38:23.869 --> 00:38:28.509
And then give your body and spirit grace and space to heal.
00:38:28.509 --> 00:38:30.989
And then we're gonna feed with purpose.
00:38:30.989 --> 00:38:33.469
We're gonna choose faith foods, I call them.
00:38:33.469 --> 00:38:40.269
These are foods that God has given us since the beginning of time to nourish our bodies, not Franken foods.
00:38:40.269 --> 00:38:42.989
And then lastly, we're gonna faith it.
00:38:42.989 --> 00:38:50.829
You're gonna replace those noise cravings, those food noise cravings with the stillness of prayer and truth.
00:38:50.829 --> 00:38:53.949
I have a whole faith it method.
00:38:53.949 --> 00:38:56.590
You can see it if you're watching the video.
00:38:56.590 --> 00:39:02.590
F is fast for focus, a is ask for guidance, ask God, ink it for clarity.
00:39:02.590 --> 00:39:06.110
Thank God for what he hasn't even given you yet.
00:39:06.110 --> 00:39:11.150
Hear his plans for you, initiate action, and trust his timing.
00:39:11.150 --> 00:39:16.590
I go through the faith it method in my book, in the fast to faith program.
00:39:16.590 --> 00:39:19.869
It is so powerful once you put it to work.
00:39:19.869 --> 00:39:23.710
Okay, so some journaling prompts.
00:39:23.710 --> 00:39:29.789
You can come back to this later, and that's why I love the podcast because the recording is always there.
00:39:29.789 --> 00:39:41.949
So tomorrow morning or to this afternoon, when you have that food noise, you can journal and ask yourself, what am I craving right now?
00:39:41.949 --> 00:39:44.829
What might this really mean?
00:39:44.829 --> 00:39:48.349
Where do I feel empty or out of control?
00:39:48.349 --> 00:39:52.750
And how can I invite God into my hunger?
00:39:52.750 --> 00:39:58.909
Journal on those things, it will be eye-opening, okay?
00:39:58.909 --> 00:40:01.789
And then meditate on Psalm 46, 10.
00:40:01.789 --> 00:40:06.590
Here's another one to write down Be still and know that I am God.
00:40:06.590 --> 00:40:12.670
When the noise gets loud, stillness is your medicine.
00:40:12.670 --> 00:40:15.789
God will heal you, I promise.
00:40:15.789 --> 00:40:22.429
Okay, so let's close this up because food noise isn't your fault, it's just a message.
00:40:22.429 --> 00:40:29.789
Your body's trying to tell you it's out of balance, and your spirit is reminding you it's time to return to peace.
00:40:29.789 --> 00:40:34.110
So I hope this uh blesses you.
00:40:34.110 --> 00:40:42.269
Download the food noise guide, follow it, consider joining us in the Fast of Faith Sisterhood.
00:40:42.269 --> 00:40:55.789
We would love to support you and give you nutritional guidance and all of the support for your gut, your hormones, all of the things pray with you, help you get on stock.
00:40:55.789 --> 00:41:05.630
Let's end with prayer today because I just I'm feeling so convicted about this because I have overcome food noise, and I know that you can.
00:41:05.630 --> 00:41:07.150
You absolutely can.
00:41:07.150 --> 00:41:10.829
You just have to do the work and invite God to do it with you.
00:41:10.829 --> 00:41:13.150
So let's pray, Lord.
00:41:13.150 --> 00:41:18.829
Help us tune out the noise of these cravings, this chaos, this confusion.
00:41:18.829 --> 00:41:26.590
Help us tune into your voice, the voice of truth, of peace, and of healing.
00:41:26.590 --> 00:41:30.750
We're so grateful for you, for you, Lord.
00:41:30.750 --> 00:41:32.829
We praise you in Jesus' name.
00:41:32.829 --> 00:41:33.710
Amen.
00:41:33.710 --> 00:41:35.630
Thank you, ladies.
00:41:35.630 --> 00:41:36.909
I will see you next week.
00:41:36.909 --> 00:41:38.829
Go be Christ and sister.