EP-19 Emotional Eating | Waist Away

Chantel Ray:	Welcome to the Chantel Ray Way, the inspirational way to lose weight for life through intermittent fasting. Remember, the thoughts and opinions on this podcast do not constitute medical advice.
	Hey guys, I’m so excited that my new book, “Waist Away: The Chantel Ray Way” is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and pretty much anywhere you can find books. We also have the audiobook, the eBook, and my new recipe book that you can download all the recipes that I love that I make and it’s super cheap, it’s all my favorites. Anyway, if you have a minute to write a review on Amazon I would be ever grateful. I am here with my co-host who is also amazing, Chris Sykes. Chris, how are you today?
Chris Sykes:	Hello everybody. I’m good. How are you?
Chantel Ray:	Good. I want you to tell everyone … People have been asking me, “Where does Chris train at?” I feel like you’re quiet sometimes, you need to really …
Chris Sykes:	Yeah, let me properly introduce myself.
Chantel Ray:	Yes, you do.
Chris Sykes:	I am Chris Sykes, I am a trainer at Take No Days Off Fitness and Performance, it’s a local gym here in the Virginia Beach area if you’re in the area, over here by the Landstown Commons area. I do fitness training, I train athletes, I do a lot of fitness training in the morning groups and personals, and evenings I do athletes all the way from 10 years old on up to the pro level.
Chantel Ray:	Awesome. Today we do have a guest with us, it’s Kristin Cuthriell, did I get it right? Did I pronounce it right?
Kristin C:	You did, yes.
Chantel Ray:	She is a counselor and therapist and she’s a renowned author of a book called “Snowball Effect” which I have read, which is absolutely amazing, just talking about how to be more positive. We’re so excited to have you today.
Kristin C:	Thanks for having me.
Chantel Ray:	Let’s jump right in. I want to let everyone know, today is all about emotional eating. What we did is we took all the questions, and that’s why we invited Kristin here because she is a licensed therapist and counselor. We were like, “We need someone to come in and really help deal with some of these emotional eating questions.”
Chris Sykes:	The mental part.
Chantel Ray:	Yes, so let’s dive right in. Chris, read us our first question.
Chris Sykes:	First question is from Lisa in Nashville. She says, “I always thought that emotional eaters were depressed girls who sit at home eating ice cream out of the container after a bad breakup. In Chantel’s book she touches on eating for all different reasons. When I started to think about it I realized that I overindulge when I am celebrating. When I was growing up we planned all of our family time, celebrations, and holidays around food. Now that I am an adult I see myself carrying on the tradition. Is this really considered emotional eating even though I am happy and not depressed?”
Chantel Ray:	That’s a really great question. Kristin, I’m going to let you answer that to start.
Kristin C:	Okay, that really is a good question. I want to start with saying that our brain really can associate eating with celebrations. Unless you have a particular health problem it’s usually not a big deal if those celebrations are every once in a while. If you’re celebrating every weekend and those times become more frequent it can become a problem.
Chantel Ray:	I think part of the issue is that … Again, one of the things we talk about in this podcast and in this show is you eat when you’re hungry, you stop when you’re full. We constantly are hammering this point is that we’re narrowing our eating window, so we’re making sure we’re eating when our bodies are physically hungry. To me, if you want to have a celebration every night, have the celebration. You have to eat when you’re physically hungry and you have to stop before you’re full. If you’re doing that, then heck, as long as you’re hungry during that celebration … The problem comes in when you’re not hungry and now it’s just like I’m overeating because it’s-
Chris Sykes:	I think people tend to let … You let your guard down. It’s like going on vacation, you’re in a happier emotion, you let your guard down more when you celebrate. When you typically wouldn’t eat this, this, and this, now you’re starting to eat stuff and you’re starting to eat more than you usually do. I don’t think eating during a celebration is the problem, I think it’s more how you’re eating and the type of things you tend to eat during celebrations.
Chantel Ray:	It’s about staying mindful.
Chris Sykes:	Right, you tend to let your guard down during happy or sad times, you tend to just … Let’s say you normally eat one slice of cake, “It’s a celebration, let’s have three glasses of wine instead of one,” or three slices of cake instead of one. You start to get out of your norm and I think that’s where [crosstalk 00:04:37].
Chantel Ray:	That’s true.
Kristin C:	Being mindful about what you put into your mouth. Also there has been some research to show that when we numb out pain, when we tend to numb out extreme emotion, sometimes our brain generalizes and sometimes that extreme emotion can be joy and our brain doesn’t differentiate between the pain and the joy. All of a sudden we’re overindulging in both.
Chantel Ray:	Yeah. We created a quiz for you guys at ChantelRayWay.com/quiz and it asks some certain questions that are really, really good and it really makes you think. The quiz tells you, it’s a free quiz if you go there now, and it will tell you are you a depressed eater, are you a stress eater, are you an angry eater, are you a bored eater, lonely eater, happy eater, what kind are you? Just for fun let’s ask you guys a couple questions. These are some of the questions that are on the quiz. It says, “If someone disappoints me I want to eat.” How would you answer that question, Chris?
Chris Sykes:	Someone disappoints me? I don’t think that affects my eating.
Chantel Ray:	Okay. What about you Kristin?
Kristin C:	No, I probably wouldn’t want to eat.
Chantel Ray:	Okay. For me I would say yes. If someone does disappoint me my first reaction is … Now I’m getting so much better. Now I am not an angry eater, I’m not a bored eater-
Chris Sykes:	Being an angry eater sounds dangerous.
Chantel Ray:	I’m not really a lonely eater, I’m not as much a happy eater. I am definitely, when I get depressed or if I get stressed, those are my two areas that I have to consciously say to myself, “We got to stop right now. We have a problem. I cannot eat. I’m not physically hungry, I cannot run to food at this time.” Those two areas I already know-
Kristin C:	You are being mindful, you’re observing what’s going on within your body.
Chantel Ray:	Yeah. It’s not … I’ve gotten all those other areas dialed in with my intermittent fasting. These two are still an issue.
Chris Sykes:	I think for me it would be depressed and bored. Not necessarily disappointment, I guess it depends on what type of disappointment, I guess that can go in the same category. I think depressed and bored would be my two.
Chantel Ray:	You’ve said over and over bored is a big one for you.
Chris Sykes:	Bored, if I’m in the house … If I know it’s going to be a lazy Sunday, I don’t have any plans, I’m in the house all day, that’s probably going to be my bad day.
Kristin C:	I think mine is bored also.
Chantel Ray:	With stress it says, “When I’m going through a stressful time at work, i.e. a tight deadline, I find myself snacking more.” Would you say if you’re stressed you’re going to-
Chris Sykes:	Stress, I eat less actually. I guess I’m the opposite. I tend to eat less.
Chantel Ray:	[crosstalk 00:07:14]. Anyway, go onto ChantelRayWay.com/quiz and go through and see which kind of eater you are. It gives you the solutions for it. Let’s read question number two. Kristin, why don’t you read that one?
Kristin C:	“My question for you is about emotional eating. How can I tell if I am eating because I am truly hungry versus eating because I feel a certain kind of way? I do pretty good with my eating during the week but come Thursday or Friday I am stressed, I just want to go home and raid my pantry. My friend told me this is called emotional eating. I can’t be the only one who struggles with this, right? How do I identify when I am doing this?
Chantel Ray:	That’s from Astrid in Maryland, that’s a strange name isn’t it? It’s kind of cool.
Chris Sykes:	[crosstalk 00:08:06] glad you said it because I was going to say Astrid.
Chantel Ray:	[crosstalk 00:08:08], maybe it’s Astrid, maybe it’s Astrid, it’s kind of cool, I like it. What would you say, Kristin?
Kristin C:	I would say to first, again, I’m going to bring back the mindfulness thing. Be mindful of when you’re most vulnerable. Astrid, I’m sorry if I’m not pronouncing the name correctly, seems to be most vulnerable on a Thursday or Friday when feeling stressed, so it’s important to know when you’re most vulnerable.
Chris Sykes:	I think she answered … She or he, what is that, you think a female name?
Kristin C:	[crosstalk 00:08:39].
Chris Sykes:	I think answered their own question because they said Thursday and Friday, whatever happens Thursday and Friday during their job obviously gets more stressful during those days and that’s when they tend to go home and eat. Obviously it is emotion, something outside of the kitchen, outside of your hunger causing it because you don’t have it Monday through Wednesday or Saturday or Sunday. I think you know that whatever happens at your job on Thursday and Friday that stresses you out causes you to do that. It’s definitely a form of emotional eating.
Kristin C:	Come up with a healthier alternative to treat the stress.
Chantel Ray:	I want to bring this a little bit back to a Christian perspective for just a second. I believe that overeating can be an enslaving sin. What I mean by an enslaving sin is number one, if you’ve tried over and over and you can’t break the cycle. Number two, you say to yourself, “I don’t want to do this but I can’t help myself, I keep doing it over and over again.” Then third, excuse me, I have this terrible cough. Third is I need to figure out how to break free but I can’t seem to. When you have this area in your life where you can answer those three questions and you say, “Look, I really want to break free of this, I don’t know how to do it,” that, in my opinion, is what I call an enslaving sin, you are enslaved to it, you are in bondage to it.
	If you want to break free from it one of the things I talk about is that … I’m writing a new book and I talk about the first thing you have to do is write down some of the lies that you’re continually saying to yourself. For example, “It’s been a long day, I earned it, I really worked …” Allie says that, she says this, when she works hard at the gym in the morning with Chris one of the lies that she says to herself is, “I worked out really hard with Chris this morning, I deserve it.”
Chris Sykes:	We got to throw that one out.
Chantel Ray:	That’s a lie, or, “I already overate for lunch so now I’m going to just eat this for dinner,” [crosstalk 00:10:45] …
Chris Sykes:	Throw the whole day away, I think that’s a huge one.
Chantel Ray:	That’s a huge lie.
Kristin C:	[crosstalk 00:10:48], I might as well have three.
Chantel Ray:	I will tell you one big one for me, and Chris can cover his ears, but it’s that time of the month for me. The week before my period I am ravenous and I literally want to eat everything but the kitchen sink. Then I almost use it as an excuse, like, “It’s that time of the month, I have an excuse to overeat,” which by the way, I say this every show, the Bible says, “Put a knife to your throat if you’re giving into gluttony.” It’s just as bad as if you stole something from someone else’s house. You wouldn’t dream about stealing something from someone’s house, why would you dream about overeating?
Kristin C:	That’s great because we can … It’s amazing how we can come up with excuses to fall back on our unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Chantel Ray:	Another one is, “I don’t want to waste the food.” You have to have things to counterbalance it. I know people say, “People are starving in Africa, you don’t want to waste the food.” Guess what, you’re going to waste it on your hips or you’re going to waste it in the trashcan. Which one?
Kristin C:	That’s right.
Chantel Ray:	What other things do you think that are really good things that people say, that people … These lies that we’re talking about.
Kristin C:	I think people can say, “I’m on vacation right now,” or like we talked about earlier, “This is a celebration.” People just look for excuses to reward themselves, even if it is with an unhealthy behavior.
Chantel Ray:	Yeah. I think another one is, “I’ve eaten clean all day, now I need to reward myself with junk food.” A big one, I bet, for people, Chris, is, “I’ll work it off later.”
Chris Sykes:	I think justifying all of those … That’s a big one I hear, I think the domino effect one, I think that’s the biggest one I hear being a trainer for the last few years. You had a bad lunch, you overate breakfast or whatever, or maybe you broke your fast early, since we talk about a lot of intermittent fasting, it’s what we recommend. You’re supposed to have a 16 hour fast, you’re not supposed to eat until 2 o’clock and you ate a handful of something at 11 o’clock, “Oh, I broke my fast.” Is this all downhill from here? One bad event shouldn’t lead to a whole domino effect of your whole day and your whole week [crosstalk 00:13:26].
Chantel Ray:	Or people who are on vacation. “I’m on vacation right now so I think I can just eat anything I want.”
Kristin C:	It goes into, when you say, “I broke my fast so I’m going to break it all day,” or, “I already messed up this morning so I’m going to break it all day.” It goes into that all or none thinking which goes into what Chantel was saying, we need to really be mindful of the lies we tell ourself in going into that all or none thinking. It’s not an all or none, it’s just not.
Chantel Ray:	What about, “I’m so tired.” That’s a big one for me. Sometimes you might say, “I’m so tired, I need an energy boost.” That’s a total lie because food is not going to give you an energy boost, especially if you’re not actually hungry and using it for something else. It’s going to actually make you more tired.
Kristin C:	Absolutely. Especially-
Chris Sykes:	The big ones I see, another one is when you tend to eat a food that you don’t normally eat so you think, “I can overindulge.” If you don’t normally eat red meat and you finally eat a hamburger or you go to a steakhouse or something like that, that’s another big one.
Chantel Ray:	Oh my gosh. I’m going to share a secret with you guys and I literally don’t tell anyone this. I’m now telling everyone. My family is from Iran, my dad’s side is, my mom is American. I never like telling people that because people think, “Oh, she’s a terrorist,” or Muslim, or … You know how people have that in their mind. Anyway, my family on my dad’s side is Iranian and they make the best food. When I go see them I always tend to overeat because in my mind I say, “I’m never going to get this Iranian food again,” [crosstalk 00:15:05] …
Chris Sykes:	“I got to enjoy it while I’m here,” yeah.
Chantel Ray:	I got to enjoy it while I’m here, and I always end up overeating. If you go to a restaurant you don’t go into a long time … What’s your favorite restaurant, what would you say?
Kristin C:	I have so many of them. One of my favorites is Havana’s.
Chantel Ray:	Yeah, I love that place too. What about you?
Chris Sykes:	[inaudible 00:15:23] when it come to taste.
Kristin C:	I like Aldo’s too.
Chantel Ray:	I love Aldo’s.
Chris Sykes:	Aldo’s one. What’s the Italian one in Town Center?
Kristin C:	Why Not?
Chris Sykes:	No.
Chantel Ray:	Bravo’s?
Chris Sykes:	Yeah, that’s a good one I like.
Chantel Ray:	Anyway, once you write down all these lies that you’re telling yourself, then you need to really take personal responsibility. A lot of times people are constantly blaming. Do you see this at all, Kristin, where they’re blaming their overeating on other people? Have you had people in counseling talk to you about this?
Kristin C:	Absolutely. We can come up with, like we said, all kinds of different excuses of why we overindulge but we can also blame other people. “So and so let me down, so and so disappointed me, if they had not done this …” We say all you can be responsible for is your reactions. That’s all that-
Chantel Ray:	What about the husband or the kids? I hear that all the time.
Kristin C:	Right, what we try to get through to folks going through this is we are responsible … No matter what other people do we’re only responsible for our reactions.
Chantel Ray:	Then I think you need to really share the problem with other people. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 we need to confess our sins to others.
Chris Sykes:	Yeah, I think that’s the big one, knowing that you’re not … I think a lot of times people think, “I’m the only one that thinks like this or justifies this part.” If you talk to somebody, I don’t care if it’s in a Facebook group or your friends or wherever, at work, and you find out three, four other people in your immediate circle might have the same problems. “Yeah, when I’m stressed out I go home and get a pizza and I do this,” and then y’all can talk about it for a second and then you can help each other.
Chantel Ray:	We have a Facebook group, we’d love for you to join us. If you go to ChantelRayWay.com you’ll see the Facebook group and ask to join. It is a closed group but all you have to do is ask to join and we let you in as long as you’re not creepy or crazy then we let you stay in. You can share with other people some of these different things-
Chris Sykes:	You’d be surprised. All of a sudden you put one post up, you think nobody is going to … All of a sudden 10 people under there have the same exact issues and problems with certain foods and certain things that you do and you’re going to feel … It’s a whole lot easier when you have teammates on your side.
Kristin C:	One important thing I wanted to bring up … When you’re sharing like that it takes away some of the shame. I want to say to people that may fall into this category of emotional eating, be aware of what you say to yourself and how you criticize yourself. Let me tell you what, shame brings more emotional eating. If we shame ourselves rather than just get back on track we are going to want to numb out that emotion which brings more eating.
Chantel Ray:	I also think we need to get rid of some of the negative influences in our life. It’s easy to see, like if you had a problem with drugs obviously you’d say, “Look, your friend Bobby is doing drugs, you’re trying to quit drugs. You got to get away from Bobby.” If you have a friend that’s constantly overeating and encouraging you to go to the all you can eat buffet …
Chris Sykes:	That’s the biggest problem I see in training is the wife or the husband is trying to make a lifestyle change and the other half is still eating however. That’s the biggest, you got the same household, y’all don’t have any issues other than, “I’m trying to make this lifestyle change but the other half isn’t.”
Kristin C:	We’d get that a lot of times when I’d work with couples and one is trying to stop drinking and the other one-
Chris Sykes:	Yeah. You got to have the environment so you got to be around people that really care about your … If Chantel, she’s like, “I have to lose 50 pounds,” I wouldn’t bring Krispy Kreme donuts. I don’t care if I have an eight pack and I’m 140 pounds, I don’t have to bring that around her daily.
Chantel Ray:	Here’s the thing, this is the beauty of intermittent fasting. This is the beauty of what we talk about is … If you want to eat half a donut you can have a half a donut … Even if you want to have a whole donut, the whole point is that we’re trying to live a healthy lifestyle. 80% of what we’re eating is clean, 20% is [crosstalk 00:19:25]-
Chris Sykes:	I meant more like your weakness food.
Chantel Ray:	That’s true.
Chris Sykes:	If you overeat … Let’s say donuts was your favorite food in the world. I don’t need to bring that around you daily.
Chantel Ray:	That’s true, that’s very true.
Chris Sykes:	I don’t need to encourage you daily like that.
Chantel Ray:	I agree. Step four is get rid of negative influences. I guess if it’s your husband we are not trying to promote divorce here.
Chris Sykes:	Try to keep him around.
Chantel Ray:	That’s funny.
Chris Sykes:	Put him on probation.
Chantel Ray:	What I put down, step five is to flee the temptation, which I think is so important.
Chris Sykes:	Get out of the house?
Chantel Ray:	Yeah, go upstairs. For me, I will tell you this. Me being in the kitchen is just not a good idea. I need to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible.
Kristin C:	There need to be some no food zones.
Chantel Ray:	Yes!
Kristin C:	[crosstalk 00:20:09] never eat in your bedroom.
Chantel Ray:	I never eat in my bedroom, ever, ever, ever.
Kristin C:	If you’re one of these people who sits on the couch and can’t sit on the couch without eating, have some no food zones like the bedroom and on those-
Chris Sykes:	I think anywhere you’re real comfortable … You less likely to get up out your bed and go downstairs if you have a two story to get food. Once you’re comfortable in bed and stuff like that you’re less likely, that’s your no food zone.
Chantel Ray:	I’m not going downstairs. My bedroom to my kitchen is actually a 16th of a mile.
Chris Sykes:	If you don’t bring any food upstairs you’re rarely going to go … If you don’t have any food with you. If you bring a bag of chips up there then yeah, you’ll probably munch through the whole thing while you’re comfortable. If you don’t bring anything with you you’re not likely to get up.
Chantel Ray:	I never eat in my bedroom. This is a good one.
Kristin C:	The thing is our brain gets wired in a certain way. If our brain has been wired because we’ve done it so much, where the family room and the couch means a bag of chips-
Chris Sykes:	I was about to ask you does your brain associate certain sights to-
Kristin C:	Your brain is associative. If you have those no food zones, like the bedroom, your brain is not associating that with food so you’re not going to have the urges you will have on the couch if that’s where you’re used to eating.
Chantel Ray:	My number one trigger used to be that when I came home from work, every time I came home from work I would get a snack. Whether I was hungry or whether I [crosstalk 00:21:24] … My brain was wired to just go home, take a snack, and then I would always taste all the dinner, I’d have 10 bites of tasting. Then by the time it came down for dinnertime I wasn’t hungry anymore but I felt like I needed to eat because I was sitting with everyone.
Chris Sykes:	Dinnertime.
Chantel Ray:	Now it’s dinnertime. I needed to notice that. The next step that I wrote down was to quote God’s word. We are going to list some Bible verses for you. If you are struggling with eating the number one thing that you can do is to fast with intensity and really pray that God delivers you from this thing. My next book is going to be all about Biblical fasting. It doesn’t matter what your issue is, whether it’s lust or sex or this, whatever it is, our number one goal is to go to God. Anyway, Kristin, what other advice do you have that you can do to control yourself with the emotional eating?
Kristin C:	Get to know your triggers. Know what they are, be mindful of what is going on. Do a lot of self talk, observe what you’re feeling, describe it to yourself. Do it with a nonjudgmental attitude, I go back to that shame and the research is there. When we shame ourselves we tend to want to numb out that emotion and then we go back to unhealthy behaviors. Really increasing your awareness.
Chantel Ray:	All right, let’s move onto our question number three. Court in Virginia Beach says, “I live a hectic lifestyle so I intentionally try to allow myself some downtime, at least one day during the weekend. The problem is that when I’m at home chilling on the couch I can’t stop eating. What are some ways that I can unwind and relax without overeating?” Chris, pay attention. This is his issue, right? No, I’m joking you. What would you say are some tips that she needs to do?
Chris Sykes:	We just talked about the brain associating. For her the couch is a greedy zone, she might have to find other ways to unwind, either outside the house or [crosstalk 00:23:52]-
Chantel Ray:	She might have to say, “My boundary is I cannot eat when I’m on the couch.” If that’s an area that you’re overeating, would you say that would be a good thing, where you’ve created a boundary that you say, “I can’t eat here”?
Kristin C:	Absolutely. This is important to know, the first few weeks of doing that there may be some anxiety, some angst feeling. You’re sitting there on the couch, your brain is wired to know that you have that bag of chips, it goes with the couch. You’re going to be sitting there feeling a little fidgety for a while. You have to be aware that that will pass. In our field we call it ride the wave, ride the wave of that emotion. If you sit on that couch long enough without that food your brain will no longer associate the couch with food.
Chantel Ray:	One of the things I need to do is back to the kitchen. When I’m in the kitchen, I’m a snacker in the kitchen and I’m standing. I could say to myself, “When I’m in the kitchen I can eat but I have to make myself a plate and I have to sit down.”
Chris Sykes:	Can’t eat straight from the bag or the container.
Chantel Ray:	I cannot stand and eat. I keep saying that to myself but I’m not actually doing it. I might need to make some kind of little mini poster or post-it notes.
Kristin C:	Absolutely. There’s something called neuroplasticity. Scientists used to think once the brain was wired it was wired, you couldn’t change it. Now we’ve discovered that you can change it, you can actually change your wiring. You’re going to have to do that long enough. Make that poster. You’re going to have to stand and not eat long enough to where you rewire your brain.
Chantel Ray:	Mm-hmm (affirmative). The number one thing that will truly change your life with our podcast is really the fact that you are teaching yourself that when I’m physically hungry, when I hear my stomach growling, then I can eat food. When I am not physically hungry I cannot eat for any of those other reasons, stressed, bored, tired, happy-
Chris Sykes:	I think that was the biggest change that intermittent fasting helped me with. It used to be I would finish a workout, be like, “I need to eat.” Maybe I wasn’t hungry this day, I was like, “I need to eat. I’m about to go to the gym, I need to eat because I’m going to be there for three hours.” Sometimes dinnertime I’m not hungry … I got out of that putting meals in categories, I had to eat before I started this. Now if I’m not hungry I’m not hungry, I just don’t eat. If I’m hungry I’m hungry. It’s not every single day I need to eat right after my workout, it’s not every single day I need to eat right before the gym. Some days I do, some days I don’t. I think that was the biggest change I’ve made with intermittent fasting.
Chantel Ray:	It’s huge. It’s the most important thing that I’ve taught my body through the intermittent fasting. I’ve allowed myself to get hungry so now I know, and I’ve learned, when I’m physically hungry and when I just want to eat.
Kristin C:	That’s great.
Chantel Ray:	Head hunger versus heart hunger, it’s such … I constantly ask myself-
Kristin C:	You can tell the difference.
Chantel Ray:	Yeah. When do I have true stomach hunger and when do I have heart hunger? Head hunger, heart hunger means I’m not physically hungry I just want to eat, my heart needs it, my head needs it. Asking yourself that question. Question number four. It says, “After reading Chantel’s book where she talks about triggers I have no doubt that I eat emotionally. How do I stop?” Kate in Virginia Beach. It’s the same question I think we’ve talked about it. Any other last thoughts that you can think of that could help, Chris?
Chris Sykes:	Just change your environment. We talked about the brain associating, you got to realize first that your brain associates certain sights with certain foods, just like smells and everything. I think definitely changing the environment. If the kitchen is your weak place, the couch was the previous question’s weak place, you got to start changing that environment right there.
Chantel Ray:	We’re doing a four week class starting next Tuesday. If you sign up for that class it’s basically group coaching sessions. It’s $49 but if you put in a … Chris has a little tag that says, like a coupon code, and if you put in CHRIS …
Chris Sykes:	I made it. When you got your own coupon code that’s how you know you made it.
Chantel Ray:	… you get an additional $10 off. This is where we’re going to hold you accountable to … The thing we’re going to hold you accountable for is when you’re hungry … Did you eat when you were hungry or did you eat for every other reason?
Chris Sykes:	Honestly it’s so much, for the people that are starting it … I get questions about nutrition every single day. It’s so much easier in a group setting like this. 49 bucks, how long is it?
Chantel Ray:	It’s four weeks. We’re guaranteeing-
Chris Sykes:	That’s going to give you the headstart, that’s going to give you the perfect push start that you need to make the whole change that you … You don’t have to do it by yourself, that’s the most beautiful thing about it. It’s 10 times easier doing it with people, going through the same things … Everybody is starting at the same time so you’re all hungry at the same time, you’re all making an adjustment at the same time.
Chantel Ray:	Every person in our last four week class lost a minimum of 10 pounds.
Kristin C:	That’s awesome.
Chantel Ray:	That was the minimum that they lost. We’re going to do a guarantee. When you sign up we’re going to … At a minimum, if you have 10 pounds to lose, some people might only want to lose 5 or whatever it is. If you don’t lose the weight that you want to lose, a minimum of 10 pounds, in that four weeks then you get your money back. That’s how sure we are.
Kristin C:	[crosstalk 00:29:32].
Chantel Ray:	Most people lost 14 pounds, 15, all dependent on how much they wanted to lose. The minimum someone lost on that last one was 10 pounds.
Kristin C:	Wow, that’s [crosstalk 00:29:43].
Chantel Ray:	We’ll give you your money back if you don’t lose it, that’s how powerful these do. All right, you want to read question number five, Chris?
Chris Sykes:	All right, from Denise in Hampton. She’s trying to do the 80/20 rule where she eats 80% clean foods but sometimes when she’s trying to lose weight she will do 100% clean eating. “I end up feeling deprive which results in binge eating.” I guess she wants to know how to stop that. Once again, she just answered her own question. I’ve talked about it before, I got a big sweet tooth, I’ve probably got the biggest sweet tooth here. I know, I’ve tried it before, maybe I just don’t buy sweets. I’ll go a whole week or two without sweets and then what’s going to happen? I’m going to get a pack of cookies and …
Kristin C:	Devour it.
Chris Sykes:	Yeah, it’s a murder scene. It’s ridiculous. I’m actually better when I have multiple sweets in the house because I don’t binge out. I can eat one pack and be …
Chantel Ray:	Yes, I agree 100%.
Chris Sykes:	I think the 80/20 rule where she talked about, she needs to go back to that, make sure she’s not doing 100% clean. Whatever your comfort foods are, the foods that you enjoy, make sure you build those in throughout the week. You want a constant … I don’t know if she’s trying to lose, gain, whatever. Let’s say she’s trying to lose weight. You want a constant, if this is a line chart, you want a constant decline, you don’t want to have all these peaks and valleys where I lost five pounds this week but I gained five pounds this next week, then I lost six, then I gained three. You want to have a constant [crosstalk 00:31:05] pounds a week than to lose eight pounds this week and binge out next week.
Kristin C:	Absolutely.
Chantel Ray:	That’s the only way you can do it. You cannot … If I deprive myself or I say, “I’m not having this,” then all of a sudden I’m just thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it. If you think about people, all of the people that I interviewed, I interviewed over 1,000 women. Almost, I would say at least 90% of them, said that they ate something bad almost every day. I had one girl who literally ate a regular size Snickers bar every single day. That was her thing, she ate a Snickers bar because she said it satisfied her, she felt like … She just loved a Snickers bar, that was her thing. She ate clean most of the day but that was her one thing, she loved a frozen Snickers bar. She had it every single day and she was a stick.
Kristin C:	It has to be sustainable. The only time I can ever remember going 100% clean for an extended amount of time, I gained every pound back plus some.
Chantel Ray:	Plus some.
Kristin C:	You can’t-
Chantel Ray:	It’s a horrible way to be.
Kristin C:	Absolutely. It has to be sustainable.
Chris Sykes:	Plus you want to enjoy life. As soon as I tell you you can’t do something you start thinking … If I tell you, “Chantel, you can’t backpedal across the street,” something that you don’t even care about, you’ll start thinking about it. Any time you tell yourself, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this,” your brain is wired to think about it.
Chantel Ray:	Kristin is so thin, she’s very, very thin and-
Kristin C:	You and I were talking, I love my nachos. I’m going to try to eat clean and healthy most of the time but every weekend I go out for nachos.
Chris Sykes:	Enjoy yourself, you got to enjoy yourself. That’s the whole point of this intermittent fasting thing, is that you’re able to enjoy yourself within reason and still get the results that you want.
Chantel Ray:	All right, Chandra in Richmond says, “I am a Christian and I feel like this is one area I’m really tempted in. When I get really stressed I find that I keep turning to food. How do I quit it?” Again, we’ve lumped all these questions in together and we’ve talked about this. I will tell you, the Bible talks about fasting over 70 times. If you want to free yourself from the bondage of food fasting is, in my opinion, one of the secret weapons of someone who is a Christian to break free, whether it’s from drugs, or alcohol, or sex, or whatever it is. Fasting is one of those areas where you can really pray to God and say, “God, I need complete healing on this.”
	If you want to know more about Biblical fasting go to ChantelRayWay.com/fasting. I talk more about this idea of Biblical fasting because intermittent fasting and Biblical fasting are two different things for sure. When you’re doing Biblical fasting you’re fasting for a purpose, like a Biblical purpose or to free your from something or clarity, and there’s all kinds of different things. The intermittent fasting is really for weight loss in specific. We are out of time, thank you guys so much. Any last minute thoughts, Kristin, that you can give us to … All the questions were the same but anything else that you can give us, tips on this whole idea of emotional eating?
Kristin C:	I wanted to go back real quick to the 80/20 rule. When you’re on that 20, when I’m eating my nachos, I’m very careful not to shame myself. When I start feeling guilt I talk myself out of it because, again, I go back to shame leads to more emotional eating. If you’re eating clean and healthy 80% of the time let yourself have something that you really desire 20% of the time. I love that.
Chantel Ray:	I will tell you this, in my book I talk about the 80/20 rule. I will tell you, I have some friends that literally … They are in superb health, my aunt is a perfect example. She’s like 100 pounds, she’s so thin. I will tell you, she eats more like 50/50 I would say, like 50% clean, 50% whatever she wants. It’s just her portion sizes, she’s just not eating huge amounts of food. She eats whatever she wants. I do personally think 80/20 is the balance that you need to be at but at the same time if you’re following the principle that you’re only eating when you’re hungry and you’re stopping before you’re full, those are the two giant principles that can never, ever be broken and you’ll be safe.
Chris Sykes:	The big thing with the 80 rule, the 80% doesn’t have to be plain, nasty food. There’s plenty of good ways, even nachos, there’s plenty of good ways to make it fit … I’m not going to say it’s [crosstalk 00:36:08] …
Kristin C:	That’s a great point.
Chris Sykes:	You can get plenty of vegetables on those nachos with your chicken and cheese and whatnot. There’s ways to make … 80% doesn’t have to be this nasty thing.
Kristin C:	That’s a good point.
Chantel Ray:	Great job. Bringing it today! He is on fire today!
Kristin C:	There’s even healthier chips.
Chantel Ray:	Yeah, there’s these new … I’m going to put it on my things that I love on the site. If you go to ChantelRayWay.com there’s a link that’s called “Things I Love”. There are these nacho chips that are grain free, you buy them from Whole Foods, have you ever had them?
Kristin C:	I haven’t.
Chantel Ray:	They are delicious. They’re made with vegetables and they’re just grain free. They’re paleo and they are amazing. What else is your favorite thing that you love that’s super healthy but you think it tastes like a million bucks? Do you have any?
Kristin C:	That’s super healthy?
Chantel Ray:	Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Kristin C:	I love vegetables. I love any kind of … Give me a spinach salad, I love vegetables.
Chantel Ray:	What about you, Chris?
Chris Sykes:	[inaudible 00:37:10] love vegetables. That’s healthy … I don’t know, I think cucumber salad, it’s just cucumbers and vinegar, that’s really a big snack of mine. That’s probably my main that’s super healthy, I think, that’s probably my main one.
Chantel Ray:	That’s good. All right, we are out of time. Guys, thanks so much for joining us. We love to hear from you. If you have a question that you want answered go to questions@ChantelRay.com. Again, remember, if we don’t get to your question we will save it and it might be a couple weeks but we will answer it. Thanks so much for your time. We’ll see you next time.

Posted in Podcast Transcriptions