Introduction: A new way of looking at nutrition.
THE NEW WAY OF NUTRITION
INTRODUCTION
- Greetings my friends, this is Sébastien Fèbvre, founder of the “Nourish Your Being” method. Welcome to the New Way of Nutrition and thank you for taking this course. I hope you’re doing well and congratulations! Whichever approach you choose, it takes some courage to make this powerful and not so easy decision to commit to healing from eating challenges.
- So, here we are in the introduction to the New Way of Nutrition.
- Let’s start by saying that if you have landed here, you are probably motivated by the nutritional aspect of healing from eating issues. If you feel deep down that using nutrition is the key to your recovery journey, you’ve come to the right place.
- This course is the result of five years of research and 35 years of personal experience with eating concerns. I hope you will find it as interesting to learn and practice as it was for me to create.
- I wish I’d known about this method then, it would have saved me a lot of time, energy and life opportunities.
- This course will take you far less time and energy than it took me to recover. The New Way of Nutrition will elevate and transform your unwanted eating habits into an enlightened personal discovery, like an exciting treasure hunt. Through this process, we’ll have a great learning experience together.
What about you and this course?
- Perhaps you have chosen this course because you have tried many methods before without success and you hope that this is the right one.
- Or because you have been hesitant to recover from your eating challenges and have decided to take a step forward with this new approach.
- No matter what your reason is for choosing this course, the content you will explore is quite dense, with some idea development that may sound new to you.
- Therefore, your attention, time, personal investment, and practice are required to successfully overcome your eating issues on the path to long-term recovery.
- I can assure you that this investment will be well worth it, as you will have a much better toolbox to enhance your healing journey and regulate your eating experience.
You’ll come out of this learning experience different, with a strong sense of having grown as an eater and as a person. You will be much better equipped from a nutritional and psychological standpoint.
Why this course?
- Let me tell you why I created this content.
- I was born and raised in France, the country where good food is revered. As a child, I was made aware of nutrition by my mother, who was interested in dietetics.
- However, she enjoyed an abundance of food of all kinds. When she returned from the supermarket, the table was overflowing with whole food and ultra-processed foods because she had a family of five mouths to feed and she made sure we never went hungry. She was a great cook and prepared copious and varied meals.
- Overfeeding her tribe made my mother happy. Strangely, despite the overfeeding, my family of origin knew how to regulate their appetite and weight.
- When my older brothers left the household, it was just the three of us, which made my mom depressed. Since she was in denial, she kept making food for five people, as if my brothers were still around.
- She expected me and my father to eat for five and more. She said that with so many people starving in the world, we had to respect food and finish our plates. We could snack on whatever we wanted day and night. So we were used to eating past fullness.
- My father and I were gaining weight. He went on a diet. I didn’t because I wanted to comfort my depressed mother by overeating. Then I restricted my eating by skipping meals to compensate, which led to uncontrollable cravings. That’s when I started to struggle with binge eating and weight for a long time.
- My mother used food as reward, comfort, celebration, moral obligation, and hospitality, without weighing the consequences. It was her way of saying, “I love you”. That was my upbringing and my food story.
- I ignored what it meant to be satiated. I had extra portions, finished other people’s plates, and couldn’t stop eating. I used to stuff my stomach all the way to the edge. I was cut off from my appetite cues because I was making food choices that weren’t mine.
- Culture hit me like a hammer. I was told that I ate too much and that I was fat. I was called names at school, at home, at family gatherings, on vacation. Fatphobia was rampant at the time, especially when moderate eating and thinness were the norm.
- This rejection made me feel like I didn’t belong, which activated my threat system and created chronic stress. I didn’t feel safe in my body. I simply shut myself off by communicating as little as possible. So I was constantly checking out of my body. Binge eating was my way of abandoning myself and dealing with this hostile environment.
- I couldn’t concentrate in school and got bad grades. I had few friends who would accept the fat kid I was in exchange for favours. This was the effect of improper nutrition with improper mindset and improper decision on my life.
- My parents panicked. So they put me on diets and exercise. I got weight fluctuations, which caused more stress. I ate even more and my weight increased. I also underwent therapy to no avail.
- Then I joined Weight Watchers. Their group method made me lose the excess weight. Then I gained it back with a bonus and went to the point of obesity. At that time I learned some relevant nutritional tools, such as food balancing and meal timing.
- But I was still emotionally hungry. Simply planning a calorie deficit for the sole purpose of unsustainable weight loss was not the answer.
- I realised that there was one crucial missing piece in the puzzle: Nutrition is not only a limited reserve of points to be spent.
- Nutrition can also be used to improve mental health. Better mental state can relax the body. A relaxed body can lead to better behaviour. Responsible behaviour can improve your life. Better lifestyle can improve your eating habits.
- I am a firm believer in this domino effect of nutrition. What I found out years ago, science is just now recognizing.That’s what this course is all about.
- Then, I asked myself: “How can my food choices nourish my mind, body, and life? And in turn, how can a nourished mind, body, and life influence my food decisions?”
- Answering these questions made me curious. I wanted to know more. So I had to study articles, videos, podcasts, research literature, books on personal development in various areas of life, and behavioural science to understand why we live and eat the way we do. And I’ve taken an academic course in dietetics to understand the impact of food on health. Through this multidisciplinary homework, I entered a compelling new world where nutrition and psychology were linked.
- Then I wonder: when it comes to mindset, where do we begin to heal from eating challenges? Something clicked: Consciousness. Consciousness has to be the starting point. You need to listen more to your internal signals than to external signals. It is the key place where you access the control tower: the higher part of the brain.
- To access consciousness, you must enter physiological relaxation, which allows the brain to regulate your food choices and eating behaviour. You can’t be conscious when you attack yourself. Self-attack creates physiological stress.
- From this state of unconsciousness, you can’t expect to make better choices about food, beliefs, emotions, weight and life. Easier said than done? Well, it’s a re-education and a daily practice.
- As the right nutrition changes your mood, physiology and life habits, you can in turn tap into resources in your mind, body wisdom, and life experience to improve your nutrition.
- The more I learned about this virtuous cycle, the more confident I felt. To my own surprise, I spontaneously decided to have a purpose and connection. And finally, this learning experience led me to check in my body and incarnate my true self.
- From this place, I rediscovered nutrition in a new way, where I could strengthen myself in many areas. Changing my nutrition from this new mindset made perfect sense. As a result, I gradually changed my diet.
- It encouraged me to choose a consistent physical movement that I enjoyed – going to the gym. I started training for a new job – becoming a freelance copywriter. I improved my relationships – meeting a romantic partner. I reconnected with spirituality – finding a church community. I have a relaxing hobby – listening to good music and walking in nature. I had a creative activity where I can express my authentic voice – writing. I changed my place of residence – moving from Paris to Prague.
- In turn, all of these changes strengthened my food decisions. Then I gained muscle, lost the excess weight and have kept it off for the past 10 years to this day. Losing weight was not the goal. The physical transformation was a side effect of dealing with my poor nutrition, my existential issues, my sedentary lifestyle, my lack of sleep, and my difficult emotions.
- Then, for my personal enrichment, I enrolled in the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, the internationally renowned school that trains mind-body nutrition coaches. Their unique training confirmed what I had learned and took my knowledge and skills to a much higher level.
- After I graduated from the Institute, my friends and family made me realise that all of this valuable content that I had gathered over many years should be out there. That’s why I created “Nourish Your Being”, a global coaching method to help people who struggle with eating difficulties. That is why I have taken The New Way of Nutrition from this method and share it with you through this course so that you can begin your healing journey for good.
Am I a role model?
- Of course, every eating challenge journey is as unique as a fingerprint and requires a unique strategy. So my food story is probably not your food story. But I will say this. According to the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) frequency, binge eating occurs on average at least 1 day per week for 3 months. In my case, I can count 4 binges in 10 years. That’s about one binge every 2.5 years. I consider this rate a success.
- This urge was a brief echoe of the past that I could handle. How did I do it? Because of my learning experience, I catch myself when I’m tempted to use food as a coping strategy. I pause, I breathe, I relax into the unexpected urge, I don’t catastrophize, I forgive myself, I listen to its voice, I strive to grow as a person, I figure out how to correct my next meal, I use nutrition to harness my mind, and I bounce back. I’m still alive and moving on to a meaningful activity!
- I wouldn’t presume to say that I can legitimately help you. After all, I’m not a doctor or a clinical expert. But I have lived with binge eating for years. So I know how you feel and what you’re going through. I’ve done a lot of research into the causes of this disorder. The solutions I’ve practiced have gotten me out of it for good, with results that speak for themselves. So I can say that this method is worth a try.
- So if it works for me, there is no reason it cannot work for you. I am not better or stronger or smarter than you. I was a couch potato who didn’t care and didn’t do anything for years! It’s about creating a system that works for you in a sustainable way.
What’s the secret goal of this method?
- The New Way of Nutrition can work as a stand-alone method for many people who struggle with eating issues. As such, it plays a very important role in your healing journey.
- And this approach works even better in the long run when you add psychology, body wisdom, and life lessons to nutrition.
- This package creates a synergy that allows you to connect to the Source, the natural place that reveals your True Self.
- This may sound a bit esoteric, but believe it or not, your eating concerns are a signal that you are disconnected from your Essential Self that points to your Guiding Star. So the real goal of this approach is to reconnect your mind to your Natural Self through the lens of nutrition. This is the hidden meaning of this method.
Who is The New Way of Nutrition for?
- It is for anyone who is struggling with eating difficulties such as: binge eating, overeating, stress eating, compulsive eating, and emotional eating.
- This course is applicable regardless of the duration of the eating problem, whether it is 2 months or decades. You are qualified to take this course as long as you are willing to learn, to explore, to make progress, to see setbacks as great teachers, and to work on yourself.
- There is nothing to fix. You are not broken. The work is to reconnect the mind-body wire to access the nutritional consciousness that allows you to add more life to your Being. A nourished Being improves your nutrition. In turn, an improved nutrition nourishes your Being. As a result, your eating challenges will have less and less reason to manifest.
How long will it take?
- Let’s face it. Your body has been used to your current eating habits for years, even decades. It’s set on automatic behaviour. It doesn’t know any better. So it may take some time to unlearn your eating habits, bring awareness to your food choices, and create new, efficient eating habits.
- For many people, it can take as long as a year. But don’t worry. A year is nothing compared to a lifetime. This is your journey. It’s the most important personal investment that you can ever make. If you stay on track and acknowledge your setbacks, you will build the solid foundation your recovery needs to be successful in the long run.
What is this course based on?
- This content is based on dietetics, behavioural science, personal development, and my own experience as a former “binge eater”. I use these quotes because binge eating is obviously NOT an identity.
- This method may not work for everyone because each of us has a unique food story and your success depends on how willing you are to learn and practice. But this content is rooted in the highest common denominator of nutrition and eating disorder observations. So anyone who is caught up in eating issues can try and achieve significant results.
- I have struggled with eating issues for so long and so much that I wanted to do something about it and share this content with people who feel alone and have no way out. It is my sincere hope that this course will help you get where you want to go in your relationship with food and yourself.
- Remember. There is no foregone conclusion. There is always a way out. If you never stop believing that you can heal from your eating challenges, then you are on the road to progress. This course will remind you of this many times.
How is the New Way of Nutrition relevant to recovery from eating concerns?
- The New Way of Nutrition course begins with this quote: “Nutrition fuels your strength, not your fears”– signed by an unknown author.
- Eating disorders are considered by medical science to be mental illnesses that need to be treated with therapeutic guidance.
- This is probably true. But we are missing a point here. Therapy is an incomplete treatment. We need a powerful complementary tool that projects you into existence: Personal Development.
- What’s the difference between therapy and personal growth?
- Therapy explores the past and elicits your own answers to heal your eating concerns.
- Personal development focuses on the present and the future. To that end, you develop intuitive skills that encourage better food choices with a proactive approach. The goal is clear: reduce your compulsive eating behaviour as much as possible by making the best nutritional decisions.
- Our food choices need this kind of guidance because they can positively influence our psychology and eating behaviour in the long term. And we can do this through an alternative view of nutrition.
- So whatever we say about eating challenges, every road of recovery leads to nutrition at some point.
- Why? Because we are natural born eaters. If we don’t eat, we die. With this ingrained thought, we go through the different stages of life.
- When life becomes difficult, we may turn to food and binge to numb ourselves. Then sometimes we compensate by skipping meals and restricting. Then we binge again. If we remain stubbornly stuck in that cycle, it also sounds like a symbolic death.
- So the experience of eating is about feeling alive in every sense of the word.
- In any case, we must eat. Abstinence is not an option. That’s where our relationship with food gets kind of tricky. Why is that?
- Because humans seek all aspects of the eating experience beyond survival. That’s how we differ from animals in our relationship with food. Animals eat only to survive.
- The experience of eating is an essential activity for many reasons. Eating helps us:
– Survive – Get pleasure – Put our emotions on the table – Express our values – Socialize with people – Ritualize our daily lives.
- Our upbringing has a tremendous impact on our eating habits.
- Culture gets us lost in our food behaviours.
- Trauma, work, relationships, money, health, family, environment, emotions, thoughts, beliefs… So many factors influence our eating experience. We often have little or no control over them, especially when we live in the unconscious coping zone.
- And nutrition influences our eating experience in a crucial way because we, and only we, make the food choices as responsible adults.
- You may end up wondering:
- What do I need to eat? What do I want to eat? How much do I need to eat? How long does a meal last? How often should I eat? How do I eat? Where do I eat?
- Do I eat fast? Why do I eat this way? Is it because I’m stressed or I’m checking out?
- Why do I restrict my eating? Is it because I need to lose weight? Why do I overeat? Is it because I need to regulate my emotions? Is it because it feels good?
- When should I eat? Do I have to eat at meal times? If I binge eat, do I still have to eat the next meal?
- Do I have to eat when I’m hungry? Why do I eat when I’m not hungry? What if I don’t know when I’m hungry?
- What if I don’t know when I’m full? What if I don’t know when to stop eating? What if I can’t stop eating?
- What is triggering my binge eating? How can I make the food noise in my head go away?
- These questions confuse us, especially when therapies and eating challenges recovery methods have not worked.
- And with all the information overload about food, we can’t seem to find a clear path.
- Our complicated lifestyles haven’t helped, especially when they leave us poorly fed, tired, unfulfilled, sad, anxious, burnt out and overweight.
- Our environment has robbed us of our vital energy. We eat more food than our bodies need, but we live with the illusion that we can make it up tomorrow.
- And we don’t. But we are allowed to go on. The result is that we are left with mental and physical debt.
- This inner debt creates feelings of fear and loneliness, which leads to physiological stress. Because we don’t know how to deal with stress, we may turn to food as the easiest coping strategy.
- We cope without resolving, which increases inner debt, which increases feelings of loneliness, which increases stress.
- This can become an automatic habit and lead to unexpected unwanted symptoms such as overeating, emotional eating, and binge eating.
- Food becomes the enemy because It makes us gain weight, it makes us feel socially and sexually unacceptable and it does not work in the long run.
- But food is neither good nor bad. It’s neutral. Only your reaction and response to it determines its value. So your focus is not on the food itself, but on your eating behaviour, the food choices you make, and the thoughts that drive them.
- How? We need to move beyond the concept of food by addressing nutrition in a new way.
- Mastering nutrition in a new way reduces your inner debt and increases mental and physical abundance.
- Let’s find value in nutritional science that can positively influence our eating behavior.
- Nutrition can be very complex, and yet in truth, it is largely simple.
- For about 95% of all humans, the same useful nutritional principles give us the best probability of good health.
- Nutrition is not a pure science, it is a young science, the field is filled with dueling experts, so we must have a strong tolerance for discord in the field, while maintaining a positive attitude of exploration and a willingness to experiment and discover.
- We need to get a broader perspective on nutrition by using psychology. The use of psychology allows us to explore our relationship to nutrition.
- Reframing our nutrition allows us to reframe our relationship with food AND ourselves.
- When it comes to healing our eating challenges, this new way of nutrition is in many cases the easiest tool to use to our advantage.
- The following will help you outline your food story, your identity as an eater and enhance your eating concerns.
- In order to heal from our eating issues through the lens of the psychology of nutrition, we need to get answers to the following questions through the table of contents below.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: The WHAT.
What food choices do we make to feel nourished and at peace?
Chapter 2: The VALUE.
How can food illuminate your relationship with your emotions?
Chapter 3: The QUALITY.
How does the best version of a food benefit your eating behavior?
Chapter 4: The HOW and WHEN
How do relaxation and meal timing enhance your eating experience?
Chapter 5: The POWERFUL FOODS.
How to outsmart addictive and allergic foods?
My friends, this is the end of the introduction to the New Way of Nutrition. Part 1 is next. I appreciate your time, your attention and your willingness. Let’s stay together on this learning journey. There is more to come.
Hey, my friends! I have an important message for you. At the bottom of this introduction, you will find a file called “Apply the Course – Introduction.” There are a text and audio versions. I highly recommend clicking on it. This document explains why the exercises in each course are ESSENTIAL for healing your eating challenges. I count on you not to miss it! See you soon!