Diet is one of the main pillars that has a significant impact on our physical and mental health. It can affect our energy or sports performance, but also hormonal balance or the regularity and course of a woman's menstrual cycle. That is why we carefully focus on diet and menu composition during individual consultations with clients.
However, it's not just about food choices, but also about your approach to food . An unhealthy relationship with your body and food, fear of certain foods, or constant switching between diets or nutritional trends can keep us from feeling healthy in the long term.
Today, Sára Zemancová , an intuitive eating coach and co-founder of Oasa , will tell us about freedom in eating .
Sari, what should a healthy relationship with food ideally look like in practice?
A healthy relationship with food is primarily a combination of flexibility, dietary freedom and food literacy, where we do not look at food only as a source of food and energy, but also as a source of pleasure, socialization, learning about new tastes and cultures and many others. We do not categorize food into good and bad, nutritious and non-nutritious , and others. We do not use food as a means to suppress emotions. It is also about being aware of how I eat and why I eat that way . It is also about perceiving hunger and satiety and other body signals. Last but not least, it is also about feeling good about food on all levels.
What early or subtle signs might indicate that someone doesn't have a completely healthy approach to food?
When we are the opposite of any of the points above for a long time and it has a negative impact on our functioning. It is important to mention, however, that it manifests itself completely differently for everyone . It can start, for example, with dissatisfaction with our body, excessive control over food, skipping social events because of our “lifestyle”, not listening to hunger and satiety, obsessive movement, perceiving food as a means to drive away emotions and so on.
What do you think is the biggest problem with diets or different nutritional trends ? Do you have any positive or negative experiences with them yourself?
Dietary trends come and go, are unsustainable, and have a negative impact on health. We even have scientific evidence that they have a very negative impact on the human psyche . Diets also tend to omit certain foods, which can lead to impaired nutrient absorption and malnutrition in the individual. In addition, they increase our cravings for the very foods we are trying to avoid. (1)
The Minnesota Starvation Experiment is a perfect example of how restriction doesn’t work, doesn’t build healthy habits, and leads to an obsession with food. (2) It’s been proven that in most cases, we end up weighing more than we started with. (3)
When it comes to our relationship with food, we often associate it more with the psychological side. Can you share with us the possibilities of how our approach to food can interfere with a woman's physical body ?
Yes, the physical and mental part are very closely connected, and that's how we communicate it at OASE. Many people often forget that it's not enough to "just" eat healthy and exercise regularly, but much more important is how we feel about everything we do. Our lifestyle has a great influence on hormones, such as cortisol , which needs to be handled very carefully, especially in women. A large part of the active female population tends to get up in the morning, skip breakfast, have coffee and go to training. Such an approach affects women's menstrual cycle , often in combination with insufficient nutrition of the body, up to secondary amenorrhea.
What is your opinion on the generally accepted advice that to lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more ?
Our bodies are much more complex than the calorie deficit equation. Some people may have different needs based on their metabolism, genetics, lifestyle, and health. Eating less and exercising more can be an effective approach for many people, but it is also difficult to maintain and is not suitable for everyone. Food quality, eating habits, emotional factors, and other aspects play an equally important role. So, rather than just losing weight, we should focus on our overall health and choose strategies that align with our lifestyle and values.
Do you encounter in practice that women are afraid of gaining weight when eating intuitively ?
Certainly… I would say on a daily basis. However, intuitive eating will only make you gain weight if your current weight is unsustainable in the long term and if you are at it only because of restriction. On the other hand, intuitive eating can also hinder weight loss, because it will lead you to a natural weight range where your body feels most satisfied on all levels.
Does your relationship with food affect your movement and exercise?
Yes. If we have a problematic relationship with food, it can manifest itself in the way that we use movement and exercise as a means to reduce weight rather than as something that we can benefit from in terms of long-term health benefits. Or we can use movement as compensation or punishment for what we have eaten.
What can women do if they feel they need support or help in this regard? Do you have any tips that women in our community could implement right away?
Above all, don't be afraid to ask for help. Follow OASA COACHING (haha) and download a “starter-pack” e-book from our website, From Saying Goodbye to Diet Culture to Intuitive Eating , which is completely free. In our practice with clients, we use the 4-step method. First comes the rejection of the diet mentality, then free eating, kind nutrition (i.e. food literacy) and intuitive eating.
Is there anything else you would like to say to women who are currently building a healthy relationship with food and their bodies?
Don't give up. Every problem is relevant, and no problem is "too small" to solve . And you don't have to be alone.
What is OASA and how did it come about?
We call OASE such an oasis of free and intuitive eating in a desert full of diets and nutritional trends. In the Czech Republic, there are a large number of nutritional consultancies that specialize in creating fixed menus and other restrictive plans. These do not make sense to us as nutrition coaches of intuitive eating. On the contrary, our tools are intuitive eating , freedom , consideration for the individuality of each woman within the framework of nutritional coaching and, above all, kindness . And that is why we founded Oase . Our goal is to educate all those trapped by diet culture and already recovered individuals from a problematic relationship with food with the most relevant information from free and intuitive eating through a kind approach to nutrition.
We thank Sara very much for sharing great information, tips and experiences with us, which many women will surely appreciate. 🤍
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With love
The Femvie team
Resources:
- Pelchat, ML, & Schaefer, S. (2000). Dietary monotony and food cravings in young and elderly adults. Physiology & Behavior, 68(3), 353-359)
- Keys, A., Brozek, J., et al. (1950). The Biology of Human Starvation (2 vols). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Hall, K. D., & Kahan, S. (2018). Maintenance of Lost Weight and Long-Term Management of Obesity. MedicalClinics Of North America, 102(1), 183-197.
