Ep 50 | 7 Benefits Of A Body Vacation

Absolutely everyone should do a Life Boost Body Vacation! It's one of the most powerful ways to feel empowered with the knowledge about what works best for your unique body and to learn how to start listening to your body instead of tuning it out. Listen to this episode for 7 amazing benefits of a body vacation.

Learn more or join the Life Boost Jumpstart Program here!

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn!
Learn more about how I can help you here!
I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Music: “Play Thing” by Ketsa
From Free Music Archive

I'm doing something fun for the month of December! If you listen to a podcast episode and then share it on social media and tag me (@lifeboostwithamelia), you'll be entered into a drawing at the end of the month for a chance to win a free 1 hour 1-on-1 coaching session with me. Two winners will be selected at the end of the month (you can also gift the session if you wish). Every share on social media counts as one entry. Fun, right? 

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical, mental health, or professional advice. I am a certified health and life coach, not a licensed medical or mental health professional. Please consult with a healthcare provider before making any changes to your physical or mental health routines. If you are experiencing a crisis, seek help from a qualified professional or contact emergency services.

Connect with me on your favorite social media channel: Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!

To learn more about my approach and the programs and free resources available to support you, visit my website: www.lifeboost.today

I love to hear from you. You can always reach me at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Transcript

0:57

Hey, Life Booster. This is Dr. Amelia, health coach and veterinarian here to help you ditch Yoyo dieting, people pleasing and perfectionism by breaking the norm and living a life that energizes you from within. Okay, so the next round of the Life Boost Jumpstart program starts really soon. It starts October 10th, and so today I wanted to talk about a piece of the Jumpstart program. Regardless of whether you're thinking of doing that program or not, I really encourage you to listen to this episode because we're going to be talking about the benefits of giving your body a body vacation. So that's a part of the Jumpstart program. Um, it's not the entire program, but a portion of it is the body vacation and what the body vacation is it is a break from some of the foods that are really stressing out your body and causing inflammation. So if you think about a vacation, right, it's when you get a break from reality, it's when you get to step away from the stress and the things that are making you maybe you have tension, not feel great, and you just get to like take a deep breath, right? And you come back feeling really renewed and energized. And that's what the body vacation does. So, You may be more familiar with like an elimination diet, and ultimately that's what it is, but I named it a body vacation because It's so important to shift the mindset around it, and a lot of the time when someone goes into an elimination, It's just focusing on everything that you're cutting out and restricting your body and it being hard, and really it's important to shift the mindset around that and to get excited about taking a break from some of those things and to really get excited about what you're adding and what your body is going to be getting out of eliminating some of those foods. With my body vacation. And this is something that you could certainly do on your own. I just encourage you to do it in the right way, uh, thoughtfully partnering with your body, really observing how it's making you feel. And at the end of it, not just like instantly going back to your old way just really paying attention to how the food is impacting you. So the things that I recommend taking a break from would be ultra processed food, added sugar, gluten, and I do include oats, alcohol, and dairy. Those five things, they all tend to either make it hard for you to listen to your body's natural cues. They are common causes of inflammation in your body. Maybe contributing to poor gut health could be contributing to just weird, vague signs throughout your body, like achy joints, headaches, sinus congestion, migraines, certainly bloating or constipation, any of those signs and just taking a break, giving yourself a vacation from those can be really life changing and eye opening, and I really, I truly believe that absolutely everybody should do this at some point in your life. if you are, if you have a history of some eating disorders or if that restriction could be triggering, then being thoughtful, or potentially waiting until that feels like something that would be nourishing to your body where you feel like you could really partner with it instead of having that be something restricting you. really tuning in with yourself and thinking about your relationship with your body and whether that does feel like something that is going to be good and nourishing is very important, but for anybody, it doesn't matter if you're wanting to work on weight loss or if you are just wanting to feel more empowered and to learn more about your body, There is so much that you can learn by doing a body vacation. So today I wanna talk about seven reasons why it can be a really exciting eye opening experience and why I encourage everybody to do that at some point. and just so we're clear, if you're not really familiar with an elimination diet or how it works, it's basically taking a break from those categories that I listed. And of course there are so many different types of elimination diets. It ultimately is dependent on your unique body and your goals. But if you are looking for a place to start, The place that I recommend is really cutting out those five things, the ultra processed food, added sugar, alcohol, gluten and dairy. Those are the the biggest troublemakers. and then you take a break for a certain amount of time and the time varies. You'll find some that are a week, a couple of weeks in the Life Boost Jumpstart Program, I recommend at least a month. And the reason for that is, number one, that it can take quite a while for your body if you did have some intolerances or sensitivities, for your body to just kind of reset and to truly, stop feeling those reactions. A really big piece is that it takes at least 21 days for you to create new habits, and there can be a tendency to do an elimination diet and then to just instantly go right back to your old ways or just to be thinking, Oh, this is super temporary, and then I'm so glad I can't wait till I can just go back to all the things that I was eating. And it's incredibly valuable to do it long enough where you're not quite as attached and you've started to find a new normal and new things that you're turning to that are more nourishing and that are starting to feel automatic. So that's why I recommend a month and there are definitely many participants who end up doing that longer. And ultimately it's always about your unique body, what you need, and what you're hoping to get out of it. Because there are times when they're feeling just so much better, but they still feel like they want to take a break and or they're still observing and learning about their, their body and that's great. Not all of the things that you are cutting out are unhealthy, especially when it comes to like the category of gluten. There are some really wonderful whole grains that can be really nourishing for your body compared to ultra refined like flour, ultra processed, that type of thing that really doesn't have any. There are some really great grains that have so many nutrients including like oats can be a good option to have. So it doesn't mean that you should never have them, but just learning how they're influencing your body is really valuable. All right, so reason number one for taking a body vacation. Is to give your body a break from all those foods that have been causing inflammation and other uncomfortable signs, you know, like bloating, headaches, brain fog, achy joints. If you've been experiencing just these weird signs or low energy and you're just feeling confused, you know, maybe blood work has seemed normal. I can't emphasize enough how much the food you, you were eating impacts the way that you. Physically and mentally, and when you do a body vacation, your body is just, it's going to just give out this big sigh of relief because it's finally going to be getting so many amazing nutrients and the real food that it has been craving. when you eliminate all those foods that, that really are, um, lacking what your body actually needs. You know, when you think about ultra processed food, it's been stripped of all of like the nutrients and nourishing ingredients that your body actually needs. And so when suddenly your body is getting those again, it is just, it's going to be so happy. You're going to feel so satisfied, and that's a really great feeling. There is a good chance that you have never experienced how good you can feel. That's an exciting concept, right? Like growing up, you've probably always, you know, maybe we've always had dairy or gluten. We've always had some processed food or never really paid attention to the amount of added sugar, and so when you. Take a break from those. You are going to just be blown away by the way that your body feels and the energy that you have. And curiosity alone can be a great reason to do this body vacation. Just to get a glimpse of how great your body can feel when you are giving it the real food that it was designed to have, remember, food is fuel and during the body vacation, you are giving your body just ultra premium fuel. And that's a really exciting experience. Number two is to feel more in control of your food choices. So do you ever find yourself saying, Okay, I wanna make healthy changes, you want to be making healthy changes and then suddenly you find yourself eating something that like you know you shouldn't be. And yet there you are eating it cuz you just really don't feel in control of your choices. So a body of vacation is a break from the foods that are really just hijacking your brain and making it truly impossible think things through. Basically ultra processed food and sugar, it changes your brain's default settings and it makes it so that the amygdala is much more active than the prefrontal cortex. And the amygdala is the more impulsive, like childlike part of your brain. And so it really just acts on and impulses. Maybe you're stressed or you need a break, so you, you're just like instantly turning to sweets or your comfort food versus the prefrontal cortex that is like the adult in the room. That's the part of your brain that allows you to like, think about things. Think about like, do I actually want to have this? How is this actually going to make me feel? That's what helps you to feel more in control. And when you're consuming like a lot of ultra processed food or sugar, it truly makes that like so hard. That's when you start feeling like, Oh, I need so much discipline and willpower. Like, why can't I just do this? And when you feel really frustrated, you know, it's, it's not your fault. The food is truly impacting the way that your body and that, that your brain is working, and as long as you're continuing to have that food in your diet, it's going to be very hard to be making the choices that you want to be making. The really cool thing is that the more you eat real food, the more that prefrontal cortex is going to become more active than the amygdala, and the easier it's going to be to continue to turn to that real food that helps you to feel better and helps your body to feel more satisfied and more nourished. And so that's the benefit of doing the body vacation. It may feel intimidating to make that abrupt change but the benefit of that is that you're not continuing to have some of that processed food or that sugar, when you're trying to make that gradual change. And in some cases, that is a better way, a better approach for some people. But if you're able to, Make that switch, take that body vacation, you're going to be able to much more quickly feel so much more in control of your decisions because you're giving your body the food that's going to help your body and your brain to work with you instead of against you. Number three is, when you do a body vacation, you will start trusting your body. You'll be able to start trusting its hunger cues and your satiety cues. Maybe right now you feel like you can't trust yourself, that you are just always hungry. You're never feeling satisfied. It's not your fault. It's because the food that you're eating is designed for you to not be able to, to trust yourself. It truly overrides your natural cues. So like ultra processed foods, sugar, and even dairy to an extent a lot of those foods are designed to achieve the bliss point. There's truly a team of engineers, like food engineers working to create that sweet spot, that like combination of like salt, sugar, fat, that's just going to like check all the boxes. It's going to just be like so pleasing to your brain and you're not going to want to stop eating it. Even like the texture- so if you think about some of like the cheese puffs or like Cheetos or some of those things, the way that it just like dissolves in your mouth, that doesn't really make you feel satisfied. It's just like instantly gone. It's confusing. have you ever had one Oreo and just been like, I feel completely satisfied. That is all I wanted. Or chips, you know, just having like one and you're like, Yeah, that was perfect. No, because they have been designed for you to just want to keep eating them. The other thing that happens is that your body is confused. So when you're eating these foods that have been stripped of all the nutrients that it originally had, you know, if you're thinking about like a whole grain when you're then eating like cereal or packaged food. They've taken out all of the fiber and the nutrients out of that and just so that it's hollow, It's just left just with, with nothing. Basically just a simple carb, and so your body is consuming calories. But it's not getting what it's supposed to be getting with those calories. It's not getting the nutrients and the fiber and so it's confused. It's like, uh, I'm eating, but I don't, I'm not getting what I need, so please, I need more. And so that's where you feel uncomfortable, you know, truly influences your satiety and hunger cues so that they're really not working in your favor. They have done studies where participants have unlimited access to either alter process food or real food. And the participants that had unlimited access to that real food naturally consumed 500 calories fewer than the, the group that had access to ultra processed food. That's a huge difference. Every day just naturally feeling satisfied with 500 fewer calories. This is why I cannot emphasize enough. You cannot just focus on calories and calories out because you're not focusing on where those calories are coming. Because those, that food, the impact that it's having, like on your metabolism and your hormones and your blood sugar and your gut health. That is what matters. That is what is going to impact the way that you are feeling, and whether weight loss and or just the way you're fueling your body is feeling good, helping you to enjoy the journey and helping you to feel satisfied, or whether it's making you feel miserable and out of control. So the way that you can start to trust your body is by giving it the food it was designed to have. I promise you, during that body vacation, You're going to be feeling so much more empowered. You're going to just have these light bulb moments that's going to be eye opening. You're going to learn that you truly can trust your body. It's going to feel satisfied in a way that feels really good and nourished because you're eating real food. Reason number four, to do a body vacation is to reset your taste buds back to factory setting. So if the idea of having fruit for dessert seems ridiculous or if you're always needing to sweeten your coffee with like some sugar sweeten creamer, think about kids. Have you ever seen them take like a bite or two of cake and then just to be done just completely satisfied. That is available to you. And if right now you're just needing everything to be sweet or fruit or like the idea of like a carrot tasting sweet to you just sounds ridiculous. It's because your taste buds need a reset. So, What happens is that if you've been listening and you know that added sugar is added to everything, so if you've started looking at food labels, you'll find that even savory things like meats, salsa, pasta sauce, absolutely everything. Um, has sugar added to it, even like dried fruit, if you look at that, so much of it has an insane amount of added sugar. And so that means that even if you don't feel like you're eating a lot of sweet food, um, your taste buds are constantly being exposed to sugar. And then if you're also consuming, like if you have a lot of sugar cravings or sweets, so if you're always adding sugar to your coffee, if you are always snacking on like sweets throughout the day, your taste buds have just been overexposed and so now the normal natural sweetness from like real foods, your taste buds just don't register because it's used to such a high amount of sugar. And one way to think about this is when you go to a concert, you know how loud everything is, right? So the volume is just so extreme that when you, when the concert is over, you know, like you're walking back to your car, when you know your friend is trying to talk to you in like a normal voice, it's really hard to hear them right, or you're still yelling because it's hard to hear your own voice. It's because you have been around so much loudness. That's kind of what's happening with your taste buds. It's been like just totally bombarded with so much sweetness that now it can't register a normal amount of sweetness. But if you think about it, after the concert a little bit, then your ears go back to normal and you can hear a normal conversation, hear a normal volume. That's what happens with a body vacation or when you give your taste buds a break from all that unnatural added sugar, then it can start to recognize normal natural sweetness and, you'll be shocked to see that things like carrots, even some of the like sweeter vegetables and absolutely fruit are going to taste really sweet. and things that are artificially sweet like sour patch kids, or you know, donuts, cake that is going to taste so sweet to you. You may even notice that some of the marinades or things that are put on like a chicken or fish at a restaurant, you're going to start noticing that there's sugar added to those because they taste really sweet. Or like salad dressings. It's gonna be really eye opening. Um, and if you are feeling out of control right now with sugar cravings, this is going to help you so much and you're going to find that when you are wanting a little something sweet, something like fruit will satisfy your sweet tooth. I promise you'll be shocked.. Reason number five to do a body vacation is to learn about your body so that, that you feel empowered with that knowledge. Vacations aren't forever, right? You don't ever recommend that somebody do a body vacation and feel like they have to be stuck in it, but it's such a cool diagnostic tool. It's a really incredible way to learn about your body, your unique body, to understand what food works for you right now in this moment. One of the biggest mistakes I see with people who are doing an elimination diet is that they go through the diet and then they instantly, like they hit the end of it, and then they're like, Woohoo, and then they just return back to all their normal food, and that is so sad. That's such a big mistake because they've missed an incredible opportunity to learn about their body. So the thing that I recommend, whether you're doing the Jump Start program or if you're doing this on your own, is to use a food journal. do not care about macros or calorie. What I care about is the way that food is making you feel and the way that you can do a food journal. It's just documenting your food. Whichever way feels doable to you. You can write a quick description about the food that you are having in your meal. You can take a picture, whatever's going to help you to remember, and then paying attention to how you feel. Do you feel satisfied after? Do you feel uncomfortable full or you, you craving sweets or something? Are you bloated? Do you have a headache? Paying attention to your energy, paying attention to even the way that you were eating it. Like, were you distracted? Were you stressed? Were you actually chewing your food? Really just observing yourself throughout the day and, collecting that data to learn. I always recommend doing that maybe for a week before doing the body vacation so you start to maybe make some connections about how some of the food is making you feel, then doing it during the body vacation. And then the key is that as you start reintroducing foods really doing the food journal and paying attention to what you're feeling in your body. Do you suddenly start having headaches? Are you suddenly like really craving sugar? Are you experiencing any bloating? Especially with things like dairy, paying attention to how that's making you feel. So if you are doing body vacation on your own, I really recommend just choosing one category at a time. So say you're reintroducing dairy. Introduce it for a day, and then for two days after that, go back to the body vacation. and keep observing because sometimes with food sensitivities or intolerances, it can take up to 48 hours for those signs to show up. And so that can make it tricky to be, uh, making connections about what food is causing certain signs. If you take the time not to rush this, but to learn about yourself, you're gonna be empowered with so much knowledge about your unique body and that's valuable. So say you do reintroduce dairy and you have bloating and you just really don't feel good, or maybe you start to have some skin issues or maybe you do have some sinus congestion. It doesn't mean that you're not allowed to ever have dairy, but it does mean you might wanna be thoughtful about it, right? Like say you have an upcoming event and you want to feel good, You want your skin to be clear, then maybe you don't want to be having a lot of dairy. Now, you know, instead of being ha like sometimes having these skin flareups and just not knowing and not feeling in control and just being really frustrated that that's happening now, you know and you get to decide whether or not you want to incorporate that, you know, whether it's worth it or not. The other thing to note is that, um, dairy is a big category and so I've talked about this before, but you may not be able to tolerate milk but maybe you can, maybe you can tolerate goat cheese, for example, or maybe you can tolerate some of the sharper cheeses like parmesan, but maybe mozzarella doesn't work for you. You can really narrow down on the foods that work for you and the foods that don't by doing a body vacation. The other thing to note is that just because the food doesn't work for you now doesn't mean that it won't in the future. And so if you are experiencing leaky gut or you have some GI issue, once you heal your gut, which is something that you can do. And, there are other episodes that talk a little bit more about that. Maybe right now you don't tolerate some, gluten. It maybe that in the future you can, or maybe that it's not actually the gluten in the food. It could be some another component like the fruit tan in the food that your body is reacting to. And so you can start to see like how much of that, like maybe you can't have like a ton of bread, but maybe you can tolerate like a bite and learning what your body can tolerate now and helping to train your gut to be able to better digest those things is possible. So knowledge is power really helps you once again just to feel in control of your body so that you're really partnering with it and you have the choice of how you want to feel. Reason number six is to connect with what your body and mind really need. So, with the, the elimination diet. Sometimes the focus is just food, but it's never just about food. Okay? And so with a Jump start program and the body vacation, that's, we really dive deeper. We do not focus just on food. Cuz remember the three life boost B's, it's belly meaning gut health, blood sugar, we want stable blood, sugar and brain. Brain is a really big category. That means mindset, stress, happiness. This is a huge piece of really being able to partner with yourself and your body because ultimately alcohol and sweets, ultra processed food, dairy, they all are giving you something that you're craving, but those cravings, they run deeper than just that food. You're having hunger for something else. There's something else that you are really wanting. So for example, if at the end of the night you are craving a glass of wine, what you're really craving is the way that that wine helps tension just melts away, right? Or you getting a break from all those stressors temporarily. With sweets, you're probably, you are wanting a reward. right? It's, yes, your body is, could be craving the sweets just because of having those out of control, sugar cravings. But what are, what is it doing for you in your body when you get to have sweets? Really paying attention to how that feels in your body and what you're really needing. are you getting any other point in your day when you're getting rewards or getting that break? And then really exploring how to give yourself what you're really craving in a more nourishing way. So when you're taking a break from alcohol and the sweets, that opens up an opportunity to find new nourishing habits and to really get curious. So at the end of the day, when you no longer can just turn to glass of wine for that instant stress relief, it opens up the opportunity to really release the stress. Because alcohol, it feels so much like it is stress relief, but it's temporary, right? It's not actually dealing with a stressor. It's not really helping to release the stress in your body because it's also stressing your body in a way, right? Like if you notice the next morning you may feel puffy, you may have a headache, you may feel kind of lethargic, and that ends up just continuing to add to the stress of your day and the stress in your body versus if you are really finding like what are actual stress outlets? You know, whether that's meditating or journaling or yoga, going for a walk, laughing. If you start to replace those with things that feel more nourishing, you're just physically and mentally going to be feeling more nourished. Because you're going to be really be getting what you, what you need Same with sweets or comfort food that you tend to turn to. Why? Why is it that those were so appealing? You know, really questioning like when in your day are you getting time for you? What are other things that you're doing for you that feel fun? And making time for that check, checking in and really seeing. Are you just feeling rushed throughout the entire day and really starting to block out time for you. Starting to dig deeper and to get to know yourself instead of just feeling like, Oh, I have all these sugar cravings. Oh, I just need that glass of wine. You will, during the body vacation, get to know yourself on a much deeper level. If you let yourself. And that's definitely a huge piece of the Jumpstart program is that it's not just about food at all. There are so many more exercises of calling out habits and connecting with your thoughts. It's a really exciting journey that will empower you and, leave you with new habits that you're never gonna wanna. And finally, number seven, the reason to do a body vacation is so that you can partner with your body and you can trust it. One of the first things I talk about with the Jumpstart program is finding your inner researcher and really starting to observe your choices and the way you feel without judgment, you know, it's not good versus bad. all of your choices and the behaviors. It's all really valuable data to collect, to learn about yourself and to move forward. It's an opportunity to have clarity on why you had these unhealthy habits, why you were choosing some unhealthy foods, why certain foods were making you feel out of control, so that you understand how to listen to your body. your body all along it's been trying to communicate with you. It's been trying to tell you what it needs, and yet, Our society just teaches you not to trust and not to listen to it, right? Because of that focus on calories in and calories out. You know, the diet and fitness industry teaching you like you have to restrict, you have to push your body. You haven't been taught that it's okay to trust and listen to your body, but the reason that you have outta control cravings are you'd eat things that you wish that you weren't, or you have these habits that are frustrating. It's because you were taught that you shouldn't be listening to your body, and when you'd give your body the vacation and you approach that in a very nourishing way, a non-judgmental way, when you enter that and you're ready to learn about what your body really needs, you are going to create a whole new relationship with yourself that is going to change your life forever. Because when you partner with your body and you're no longer judging it, you just approach life with curiosity, you are always going to be able to move forward. You are never going to feel stuck because you're always going to be able to get curious. You're gonna listen. When your body doesn't feel good, you can start to tune in instead of tuning out. There are always going to be times when. Maybe you don't like the way that you feel, or you're starting to experience like headaches. You may, you feel confused about your body, but when you approach that mindset, that inner researcher, you're going to find that That may mean journaling, really paying attention to the foods. Getting curious about like, what's going on in my life. Like what has maybe felt hard? Why am I maybe feeling tension? Why am I starting to do these behaviors, uh, that don't feel good? Getting curious and learning about yourself, and when you take this body a vacation, this is going to really jumpstart that whole new relationship with yourself. Ultimately when you partner with your body, with this body vacation or the Jumpstart program, you're going to just have this whole new outlook for sustainable health, happiness, and success. It will change your life. So what do you think? Are you tempted now to to do a body vacation? If you are, it's absolutely up to you if you do that on your own, or if you wanna join this next round of the Jumpstart program, it starts October 10th. Think about all of those benefits. That is not something you wanna put off, right? Remember how much food you're just going to be flooding your body with And with a Jumpstart program, I make that feel really doable. Consistently, the thing that at the end, That a participant say is, it was not nearly as hard as they thought it was, and they are so excited they don't wanna go back to the way that things used to be because now they, they realize how much better they can feel. And then during the Jumpstart program, you do join a community where you're supported. You're joining a community of other people who see health in this way, who are partnering with their body in this way and really breaking the norm. And you join that community for life. and the body vacation is just one piece of the Jumpstart program. You know, I empower you, I hope you to learn to throw together super easy meals so that that body vacation doesn't feel hard. It feels exciting cuz you're discovering like all these new, awesome meals that you're really loving. You're just discovering the new energy. And at the same time, we have the, the group coaching calls as well as the Facebook page where you can constantly turn for with questions and for support because that mindset and that brain component of a body vacation and this full journey is so important where you can really talk about the challenges, talk about the stress, and learn how to really partner with your body, diving deeper on just learning about yourself in a way that you'll never wanna stop. The Jumpstart Program, it's called the Jumpstart because it just starts this really incredible positive ripple effect. So as you are empowered with this new energy, this new outlook, this new partnering with your body, you're going to find that it impacts so many things. You start creating boundaries. You start making changes at work. You start wanting to add fitness into your routine. I promise that Bo body vacation can jumpstart incredible changes in your life where you just feel so much more confident, empowered, and in control. So if you wanna sign up for this round of the Jumpstart program, you can follow the link in the show notes or you can visit my website www.life boost.today. If you click on the work with me, you'll find a tab for the Jumpstart program. You can also always find me on Instagram and Facebook. I'm Life Boost with Amelia. Cheers to your inevitable health, happiness, and success