Have you been on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what’s been happening with Shannon in her Essential You 101 experience?! Sorry to keep you waiting. Both Shannon and I lost track of time and here we are three weeks later. Here is a recap from Week’s 3 and 4 complete with important reminders and powerful realizations:
Week 3: Stress Stress Baby
Another super informative topic covered in Essential You is stress and how it manifests in the body. Did you know that all kinds of stress (mental, physical, emotional) are processed by the brain and body the same way? This is something we talked about quite a bit in our Essential You group. I know for me, my stress levels are also significantly intertwined in the way a navigate food in my life. I think a lot of people experience that too.
I did have some good realizations through our group discussion! Like how planning ahead can minimize food anxiety when life stress gets in the way. Or that all-or- nothing thinking about cooking an elaborate recipe vs ordering take out isn’t actually super helpful. Turns out it’s probably ok to just prepare a simple meal sometimes when things are tough!
Thinking about ways in which stress impacts my nutrition choices, and the ways my nutrition choices impact my stress, has been super helpful for me. I’m glad I had the chance to process through it with the Essential You group. It’s so much more helpful for me when we can all bounce ideas off each other!
I’m looking forward to continue to work through my food/stress “stuff” going forward using the tools and information I’ve gained in Essential You!
Oh! And let’s check in on those goals I set last time!
Goals for this week:
1. Hit up some mobility – WIN! I tried Garrett’s Active Mobility class. Highly recommend!
2. Use my mediation app – Nope. Still need to do that.
3. Keep knocking down the sugar dragon – An ongoing battle. I’ll call this one a wash for now!
Goals for next week:
1. Use my mediation app
2. Keep knocking down the sugar dragon
3. Brainstorm some take-out alternatives for those super stressful days
Week 4: So Where Do We Go From Here?
Heading quickly towards the end of Essential You! This week we spent nearly all of the time together talking about moving forward: What happens next? How do we integrate what we’ve learned once we’re not meeting as a group each week?
This is something I’ve spent some time reflecting on the past few days. For me (and for a lot of other, I’m sure), navigating food and my body and all that goes with it is a hard thing. It’s really hard. One thing I am super grateful for is the Essential You program and the Solcana community. It’s so valuable to be a part of a space where perfection isn’t the expectation or the ideal. It’s about showing up. Sitting with the discomfort of the gray areas of growth. But with Essential You, I have more tools to support me in that.
So what are my key takeaways from the program?
- Mindfulness is so important! Especially with food.
- My body is adapted to crave sugar, and that’s really hard. Kicking that will be challenging, but the benefits of blood sugar regulation are huge!
- Ignoring my body and its’ signals isn’t actually helpful – It’s providing me good information!
- Stress permeates all aspects of daily living, including food.
- All-or-nothing thinking doesn’t help (So, this isn’t even a new lesson for me, but I apparently always need the reminder!)
- Being a person with a body can be really hard, but our body can tell us all sorts of cool things if we listen.
- I can learn to make more mindful and wellness-oriented food choices, but perfection isn’t required.
That’s a lot crammed into this 5 week program! I strongly encourage folks who want to learn about food and nutrition and their body talk to Emma about future sessions. You won’t regret it!
Stay tuned for Week 5, the final week of Essential You 101!
