Episode 29: 6 Strategies for Food Freedom
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Sick of the fatigue and fog? Fed up with the unpredictable flares? Hangry from the super restrictive diets?
Hello and welcome to the Crunchy Allergist Podcast.
A podcast empowering those who, like me, appreciate both a naturally minded and scientifically grounded approach to health and healing.
Hi, I'm your host, Dr. Kara Wada. Quadruple Board Certified Pediatric and adult allergy immunology and lifestyle medicine physician, Sjogren's patient, and life coach.
My recipe for success combines anti-inflammatory lifestyle, trusting therapeutic relationships, modern medicine, and mindset to harness our body's ability to heal.
Now, although I might be a physician, I'm not your physician and this podcast is for educational purposes only.
Kara Wada, MD: Welcome everyone back to the Crunchy Allergist podcast. I am so excited today to welcome someone who I was connected through a mutual friend if you follow Million Marker. They connected us. And this is another awesome nutrition expert, Kim Shapira.
She is a registered dietician, which if you follow the country allergist, I love collaborating with our dieticians. She has a background in human me metabolism, clinical nutrition, and she helps people heal their relationship with food. She spent the last 24 years helping people lose weight and keep it off.
Giant emphasis on keeping it off.
She's developed six rules over the years to help people on their journey to having a normal relationship with food.
They're easy, they're not complicated. They're based in science, totally up our alley here. And I am so excited for her to share them with our community.
Kim, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come on the podcast, and I would love to hear your story. How did you. How did you end up doing what you're doing?
Kim Shapira, RD: First of all, thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
How did I get into what I'm doing?
All of us, every human, we all develop triggers in the first seven years of our life and when we go through something traumatizing, we develop another one.
So 9/11, covid, and in my case, when I was 12, I got sick.
And I was 12, and so you really don't think it's gonna be a long term situation.
It ended up being a situation where I went to UCLA every Wednesday for five years.
And so being unhealthy was really scary, and all I wanted to do was be healthy.
And what's interesting is that my mom would say to me in a very loving way, "Don't cry, we're gonna go shopping after your doctor appointment. "
And for my clients that might sound like, "Don't worry, let's go get ice cream. "Or" let's go have a retreat because you deserve it. You had a bad day."
So what had happened was I was very scared of my doctors and I was in a terrible amount of pain and I looked forward to shopping.
So I would spend my appointments thinking about what I was gonna buy, and this created a very fierce shopping addiction that I didn't realize was happening.
And later on when I was in graduate college basically, and I realized I wanted to be in a profession to help people get healthy because there were so many people who helped me.
I picked a field in nutrition and I didn't have a lot of passion about food and I didn't have a lot of care about what I was eating.
It just didn't affect me. I just ate what I ate and didn't think about it.
So I went to grad school. I decided to open a private practice and just get on the road to helping people and my very first client was a therapist.
I put her on a diet cuz that's what I was trained to do. She lost 30 pounds. I was like, I'm so good at my job. This is so amazing.
I did exactly what I needed to do.
Yes. And then she said, I'm gonna gain the weight back. And this was very triggering for me because I had just thought I made her healthy.
And in what I had really done was created a storm in her world.
And she said that she had a lot of trauma in, in her childhood, sexually related, and losing 30 pounds scared her because her husband wanted to have sex all the time, and she protectively needed to gain the weight back.
I had not been trained for this.
I did not understand what was happening, and as I started doing a deep dive early in my career, I started recognizing, Oh my gosh, these people are eating the way that I shop.
I shop when I'm in a good mood, I shop when I'm in a bad mood. I use shopping as a shiny tool to relieve me of any discomfort I have in my body.
And as I got into really healing myself, I started applying those same methods with food, and I now call it the Kim Shapira Method, and it's based on six rules.
So I will tell you all about those rules, but that is essentially how I got into this. It's to heal myself and to make everyone healthy.
Kara Wada, MD: And I think that that lands so much in thinking, over the last couple weeks we've talked with author Donna Jackson Nakazawa, who's written this book called Girls on the Brink.
And just thinking about how I'm a mom of three, which, we were talking about before we hit record and my two oldest are my girls.
And I've really started to reexamine how I talk about food and body image and all of those things around them, knowing how much my mom's, especially my mom's influence on her relationship with food and body image reflected on myself and my sister as well.
And just trying to come to an awareness and being conscientious about that and then that's like half the battle, right?
And then the other is just trying to keep doing better.
Kim Shapira, RD: It's so funny, I was talking to my 16 year old the other day and she's taking psychology in high school and she was talking about how great of a mom the psychologist must be.
And I was laughing thinking why would this be?
And she said she knows all the right things to say and do I bet that she's been training her children and the children don't even know.
And this child definitely triggers me in some ways, which, we all have one that does it..
And I wanted to say to her, Oh, but I've been doing the same thing, sweetheart.
We have a pantry full of every food imaginable, so it's got candy every, I probably have 10 or 11 different types of cereals at all times.
I have every cake mix and cookie batter. I have girls got cookies. Cookies, I have anything you can imagine in my pantry on purpose.
So that way when they come in, they recognize food as food and not label it as rewards or treats.
And most of the time when they come in, go into the pantry or into the refrigerator, they will say we have no food.
And what they're looking for is they're looking for something fresh and is more nourishing.
And this is like I wanted to say to her, I've been planting seeds too.
I've been training you your whole life and you have no idea either.
And another similar thing she said to me once was, I always say to my early on, when I first had three girls, I said to my father-in-law, my parents we're not gonna use the word fat in the house.
Because it triggers people and I don't want them to think of it as a negative.
And my father-in-law, who's, 85, was like, Come on, that's not a big deal.
And so last year I was talking to the same child and I was saying, she said to me, mom, the word fat is actually not a bad.
And I'm like, You're right. It's not.
But so many of my friends think it is anyway, so it'll be interesting like at some point for her to come back and say to me like, Oh, I do see.
That you've been training me and that you're a good mom. But she doesn't think that yet.
Kara Wada, MD: No. And our moms would probably say it's gonna take until they're probably in their thirties to really recognize . Yeah. Or they're parent. Maybe if she decides to be a mom that in that journey, she may recognize that.
Kim Shapira, RD: But by the way, I'm training my food, looks like my pantry looks like the one I was raised in.
My mom had been restricted, and so she didn't restrict us.
And I always noticed that my friends would come over and wanna hang out in the pantry and eat all of the stuff that I never saw as food.
And so I just continued that process. Interesting.
Kara Wada, MD: So I have a question, and maybe this is too big of a question for now.
If someone's wanting to transition from this mindset of treats and rewards, any like starter tips on how to start making that transition with your family?
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah, I'm gonna, can I run through my role? Cause I think...
Kara Wada, MD: Absolutely. Yes.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. *So there, there are six rules and this is basically a way for you to develop a new value system around food. *
So like we all brush our teeth in the morning. It's a pain in the butt sometimes.
Sometimes we don't do it as well as we want to and we're not as satisfied. It's a value, right?
It's something that we do regardless and these rules are meant to become a new value system.
So you could be anywhere in the world on any vacation at home, wherever, and it's just part of your moral compass, or I would say your new diet compass, if you will.
*So the first rule is you eat only when you're physically hungry.*
Hunger is really not talked about. It's overlooked and it is a natural phenomenon that should happen multiple times a day.
It means your blood sugar is stable, you're regulating it, which is the link to longevity and reducing your risk of almost every disease.
If you're not getting hungry, there's a problem.
And just like your bladder, if you didn't have to pee, you probably would go to the doctor.
If you're not getting hungry, it's really important that you pay attention to the reasons why you're not and focus on working on getting hungry.
And the way that I would recommend that is small mini meals often.
So we wanna train our bodies to be consistent cuz we run on a consistent rhythm, circadian rhythms.
And our body when we start eating consistently and small, it begins to trust and then it frees up what we don't need.
So if we were to overreat on Monday and Undereat on Tuesday, we're basically telling our body that we're preparing for a famine and to store.
If we undereat, we're telling our body we're in a famine and to store.
So we wanna give it comfort and consistency.
Our body can detect stress in less than 10 seconds.
Being hungry is stress. Being over full is stress.
We really wanna de-stress our body, as for inflammatory issues.
So go back to eating only when you're hungry.
And if you're not somebody who gets hungry or knows what hunger feels like, it is isolated in your stomach.
It is not a scary feeling. It can become scary because we're like animals and our mind wants us to survive.
So the way that it protects us is it becomes this animalistic, primal, I need food now.
And that is usually what people think I binged and they really are just hungry.
So the rule is to start eating only when you're physically hungry.
I want you to take your normal portion, whatever you would normally eat, and cut it in half.
Now, this is where most people get scared. That's not gonna be enough food.
I'm gonna miss out on something I like, so I didn't say that's all you get to eat.
What I want you to do is start with half.
I want you to start with half, eat slowly, be hungry when you eat it and wait 15 minutes to see if you need more.
So the 15 minute mark starts from the second you take your first bite.
And the reason it's a 15 minute rule is because that's how long it takes for us to know if we've had enough food. Exactly.
And most of us are not natural overeaters.
Even if we're overeaters, it's not natural.
And as long as we can be quiet in our mind, or our mind can be in our body. We won't overeat, especially when we begin to trust.
We're going to eat again in two and a half hours. Okay.
*So the whole rule is eat when you're hungry, take your normal portion, start with half, wait 15 minutes and see if you need more food.*
Sometimes you do and sometimes you don't.
And that's okay. Any questions about that?
Kara Wada, MD: No, that's I think that's really helpful to think about and it's fascinating because we know portion sizes overall.
Like if we go to a restaurant or any place have grown to these huge amounts of food, that really half, many times is what grandma or grandpa probably would've eaten.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. So if you think about like normal portion, right?
What your normal portion is versus my normal portion?
If I'm going to a restaurant, I'm five two.
If I'm having some, meal with someone who's four or five or six three, we're not gonna need the same portion.
Yeah.
But I would be completely offended if the chef served a bigger piece of salmon to somebody else at the table. It just would be rude.
And so it's like personal responsibility to figure out like how much I need in this meal. I can't count on the chef knowing what I need.
Kara Wada, MD: Because their job is to make everyone feel satisfied.
Kim Shapira, RD: And if we're in a restaurant, we tend to eat about 33% more than if we were at home.
And I don't know maybe the person I'm having lunch with ate a snack an hour ago, or maybe they, ran a marathon yesterday. I don't know.
I'm not in their body. I shouldn't be looking at what they're eating.
I need to be focusing on what my body needs in this moment, knowing that it could be different tomorrow.
*Rule number two, which is I think to your point a little bit, which is eat what you love, and there's two parts to this. *
*Eat what you love and make sure that the food you eat loves you back.*
Now, as an allergist, you should like love this rule.
Kara Wada, MD: Yes.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. So as a registered dietician, people get a little alarmed that I'm giving them permission to eat what they love.
Yeah. And I, people are like, then I'm just going to eat croissant all day, or I'm just gonna have chocolate. Go for it.
But you always have to be hungry when you eat, and you always have to start with half, and you always have to wait 15 minutes. It's fail safe.
You cannot overeat here. And I have a client who has been pretty much restricted on any other diet every other week. Forever.
And when she started in one of my groups, she literally only ate pastries and she lost 10 pounds in three weeks.
She did get pushback from her husband who was cooking dinner, and he is like, What do you mean you don't want like my chicken in broccoli?
And she's I'm practicing eating what I love.
And it turns out she got sick of the pastries and it was very simple for her to say, No thank you to the pastries anymore without feeling restricted.
And that is a natural way to move away from it rather than I can't have it.
Cuz what happens is people think they should eat the chicken and the broccoli, so they eat it.
Then they end up eating the croissant or the pastry as well, and gaining weight.
So I am flipping it. I'm focusing on the psychology.
Instead of restricting, we're allowing ourselves to eat it, recognizing that it may or may not agree with our bodies, and then like basically figuring out how does that croissant make you feel?
It turns out I have a lot of clients who are sensitive to chicken.
And like they, they need to figure out differently than what's happening in anyone else's body. Whether it's gluten or dairy.
No, it could be pepper. It could be lemon. It could be, in my case, blueberries, give me diarrhea.
For a lot of people would say that's a very healthy food full of antioxidants. Not in my case.
Kara Wada, MD: Your gut bugs do not like them.
Kim Shapira, RD: Exactly. Not yet. Yeah, I can do work on it cause I'm not allergic to it.
Exactly. Yeah. And so understanding like I'm eating what I love and then I'm also checking the box that the food is agreeing with my body.
And so some of the symptoms that you would know that it's not would be a headache, tearing eyes, clearing your throat, burping nausea, heartburn, feeling full fast, getting bloated, having gas, that's air or smelly, having diarrhea, constipation, eczema, psoria, any joint pain, these are some indication that you're eating foods that do not love you back.
If you would agree with that, and I would love your opinion on that.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah, Those are things that we think about and then, as you alluded to, I think where I have been trying to reassure folks is that, if you don't have a true life threatening allergy and you are having more of those other symptoms that you just described.
That there are ways we can help you hopefully be able to tolerate those foods moving forward in some cases,
Kim Shapira, RD: I would say in most cases, it's like you said, the stomach bugs, right?
Like we need to support your body and it's less about what you're taking out more about what you're putting in.
Kara Wada, MD: Absolutely.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. We're like the frame of mind of abundance. Yes.
So it's more like fermenting or fertilizing.
The stomach and the lining of your guts. Yes. Yeah. So yeah, so that's rule number two.
*Rule number three is to eat without distractions*.
And so we eat for three reasons.
One of them is because the food is in front of us.
One of 'em is for emotional reasons.
And the third is because we're hungry.
And like I want you to only eat because you're hungry and sometimes there's birthday cake and you're not hungry.
And I would consider that normal eating.
If there's birthday cake every day of the week, every month of the year, this may not be normal.
So you can have birthday cake when you're hungry as your meal, but you may not like the way that feels.
I wouldn't do it because it would make me wanna go to sleep right away.
It doesn't agree with me, so I don't do it.
But it doesn't mean that on a normal birthday or an occasion I'm having it, it's your body knows how to take care of that as long as you get right back to the rules.
It takes about three days for your body to fully function or fully handle that.
So again, get right back to being consistent and that's all normal.
But emotional eating.
I talk a lot about where your mind is and making sure it's in your body.
So if we could all just take a second and scan our body and figure out how badly we have to pee, we would recognize that it takes less than a second for us to figure it.
And at the same time our mind is assessing where is the closest bathroom, right?
And that's as fast as we need to be in figuring out how hungry are we are, or what else we might be feeling.
If we're having any emotional distress, and that could be excitement, boredom, fear, anxiety, whatever it is.
Our mind might not be comfortable in its body, so it would jump out and be in this worry place and we need to do the work to bring it back so we can focus on it this moment and what we're feeling.
The distracted eating, it's really finding new coping mechanisms for dealing with the emotions, which we should have been having all along.
And I think about my 12 year old self and what she was going through and the fear and the anxiety, and I'm glad that she was able to think about shopping as a way to get out of feeling any pain in her body.
But it would've been nice to have a different way to cope in that moment. I just didn't have it.
And so I trained my mind to go to shopping in all the ways.
And when we're having any emotional distress, we have to think about the ways that we trained our mind and know that we can change instantly.
We just have to do the training.
Which means we have to go over every time we have this emotional thought, food is a good idea, we have to scan our body, think what we're feeling, and recognize that we can be in our body in this moment, even in a state of discomfort, and that we're going to survive and we can let it pass without having to eat.
Yeah.
So that's rule three without distractions.
*Rule number four is 10,000 steps*.
So there are so many reasons why we need to move our body, and I think your newsletter was about that today.
I love that, that, yes.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah, I loved it.
Kim Shapira, RD: So there's lots of information that shows 7,000 steps is actually incredible and great, but 10,000 steps actually lowers your risk of premature death by 50%.
It actually helps maintain your weight, so any weight that you do lose, you're able to maintain it with these steps.
It stabilizes blood sugars, it helps with digestion, sleep, and hormone balance.
So if you're not getting 10,000, you don't have to be perfect, but you do have to try adding a little bit more every day and be a little bit progressive. Yeah.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah. Our bodies were made to move.
Kim Shapira, RD: They are.
Kara Wada, MD: I know. With my inflammatory disorder, when I sit stagnant for too long, that's what I hurt more too.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah, it's true. It's true. Yeah. And people could hear you saying that and they could hear me saying that, but I would really urge them to try it.
Because like we operate from a place of fear or trust and fear could be that I hurt and that it's going to hurt.
And so they don't have the trust that it will feel good. So again, this progress maybe look like what you suggested five minutes. Yeah.
What is five minutes? How can I do this for five minutes today?
Yeah.
Kara Wada, MD: Or so yesterday, So we're recording this on September 22nd. Just to give some context, yesterday we had the Long Covid Summit, Virtual Summit, and one of my colleagues who's a lung specialist was talking about the role of pulmonary rehab.
Looking for help, asking for help. There are different folks out there who will help supervise you.
If you do have that fear and you need a little bit more help and encouragement in making sure, maybe if someone's listening and they're dealing with dysautonomia or significant arthritis or other issues and trusting in a physical therapist or someone who can help you be really beneficial and help you, you know. Lift you up.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. And I know that sometimes with inflammatory issues there's a lot of pain and I would like if the doctor gives you permission to move.
Just opening up are putting yourself in flow with movement, how can I say?
This is the way I would describe it. We have fasha that covers us from head to toe, and that's where the energy gets stuck, right?
They're stuck. It's stuck in the fasha, it's stuck in the muscles, it's stuck in the joints, and so allowing yourself just to try being in flow in your body, moving a little bit will give room to circulate.
And oxygen. We need to oxygenate like all parts of our body and. Sitting in like a summit all day that stagnation doesn't put the oxygen.
Just even like simple movements in your wrists, if you're having wrist pain, oxygenates that area and that brings fresh blood and just because you were in pain yesterday, maybe tomorrow you'd be in less.
That's how I would imagine it goes with flow.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah. Yeah. The, we know that exercise is inflammatory by nature, but not all inflammation is harmful. Yeah. It can be healing and a part of it's experimenting, like figuring out like how much is enough and how much is too much.
And that's part of the risk, but it's also a huge part of the reward.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. And sweating is one way that we detox. And some of the inflammatory problems are just this part that need to be released and detoxed.
And so if you're somebody who doesn't sweats, it would be interesting to find a way if you could just maybe visit something that could allow you to sweat.
Figure out why you're not sweat.
Yeah. And then like I always, I love a sauna bag. I love a sauna room specifically to allow our insights to sweat first, to help us detox ourselves.
Kara Wada, MD: It feels nice too, .
Kim Shapira, RD: It feels nice, and it is very important to get rid of all of those things that need to be detoxed. Yeah.
*Which brings me to rule number five, which is water.*
*Water is our natural form of detox. So it the recommendation is eight cups a day, and it literally detoxes every cell from our brain all the way down to every organ in our body.*
And we need to be drinking. If we don't, then these detoxed little things, these, when we're not detoxing, they get built up in our system and this is what causes illness.
And for instance, if we don't drink enough water, our bodies are so amazing. They're meant to self heal. They're meant to self regulate
.And so if we're not drinking enough water, our body kind of says,
Where can I kick in and help here? And the liver becomes a resource for the kidneys.
The liver then doesn't do its own job, which is to metabolize fat, triglycerides, cholesterol and body fat.
So it starts storing it. So just by drinking water, we start detoxing all of our organs, and it's a natural way to help our bodies lose weight. Very important.
Kara Wada, MD: And we know it improves energy too, which is huge. You'll have more energy to get your 10,000 steps.
Kim Shapira, RD: *Our body composition is made up 60% of water, and every single cell is made up of 43% water.*
So we lose a lot of water in our day just by breathing and by sweating, also in our urine and in our stool. So we need to replenish it every single day. And if we're not, then we get a buildup of toxin drink your water. Yes, everybody? Yeah.
Kara Wada, MD: I'm gonna need a refill after we're done.
Kim Shapira, RD: Perfect. Perfect. Good.
*And the last rule is sleep*.
So this actually became a rule right when Covid hit because it became a conversation I started having with everybody.
Although sleep has always been important, it was very noticeable that when people became stressed out, this was spiking their cortisol levels and they were losing sleep and there.
If you go to a pharmacy, there are literally two aisles of sleep aids.
It's insane how many sleep issues there actually are.
Some people can't fall asleep, some people can't stay asleep.
Some people wake up and they're not rested.
But all of this is like a stress in our body and it increases our cortisol levels, which then affects is affecting our adrenal glands, which is affecting our blood sugars, our hormones, and we become full blown messes and we cannot lose weight and we cannot keep weight off.
So we become unhealthy.
Kara Wada, MD: It affects our immune system too. We are less apt to fight off infection. That's when you're gonna catch that cold more often. Sometimes you can't avoid it, but It, it has really significant physiologic consequences. Yeah. And I know for me, with my Sjogrens, it is, it's a huge element in how well I'm doing and how my energy, my pain all of those things are, and by keeping my sleep in check, I am able to keep those symptoms better in check.
Kim Shapira, RD: It definitely should be part of your routine.
Melatonin is actually the most powerful antioxidant. It gets released around 9:00 PM or secreted, and sometimes we have what's called sleep latency, which means delayed sleep. And it could be because we're on an iPad or our, and for whatever other reason or there's a lot of other reasons.
But in this case then melatonin is not released and we have trouble falling asleep. And if our stress is so high, then our cortisone, which is cortisol, which is supposed to kick off in the morning, kicks off in the middle of the night.
And so we're unbalanced, but melatonin's job is actually to go into every single cell and clean it, vacuum up.
Every part of this toxic stuff that's left behind. So I'm not suggesting a melatonin supplement, actually the opposite.
I wouldn't suggest a melatonin supplement because unfortunately when you take it, then your brain starts thinking you don't need to make it anymore, and it relies on the supplement.
What I would want you to do is natural ways to increase your melatonin secretion so you have more antioxidants cleaning.
And then actually during the morning, if you have a good corti cortisol release, the melatonin is still in your cells, like a cooling off system, still cleaning all of those cells throughout the day.
So sleep is essential. Bright light in the morning. Yep. There you go. Turn off those screens in the evening. Yep. And so if you're actually somebody who is having trouble sleeping, I would just, like you're saying, go out first thing in the morning and get the whites of your eyes into the sun.
Don't look into the sun, but go for a walk and just have the whites of your eyes in plain view of the infrared light from the sun will really help you balance these circadian rhythms.
Yeah. And if you're also having trouble sleeping, Don't overwork out.
So a walk, yoga, Pilates, your body's already under stress and so we really wanna do everything we can to lower your body stress.
Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
So those are the six rules and they, if you follow them at about 90% and you have weight to lose, you would lose about three pounds a week.
If you follow the rules at about 80%, you would lose about a pound a week.
If you follow the rules at 70%, you would stay the same weight.
And then of course, 60%, you're gaining weight. But more importantly, these rules teach you how to live a balanced lifestyle that can help you have a normal relationship with food and stay well.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah. Simple and sustainable.
Kim Shapira, RD: That's exactly right.
Kara Wada, MD: I recall coming across a quote or statistics somewhere, something along the lines.
The only guarantee to like of a diet is gaining weight, something to that effect that.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah. Such a bummer.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah. Yeah. And just thinking about how, so I'm 38, so that makes me an elder millennial, but my entire adolescence, young adulthood Was always spent on this on, again, off again, diet rollercoaster as part of, I think a very common scenario in, in the American females experience.
Kim Shapira, RD: Male and males these days.
Kara Wada, MD: Yes.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah, it's true. I wrote a book as I was mentioning.
Kara Wada, MD: Yes. I wanna hear all about it.
Kim Shapira, RD: It's coming out in a year, July, 2023. It's called, This is What You're Really Hungry For.
And the thing is that what we're really hungry for is peace and freedom. Freedom from illness and peace from worrying about food.
And the first chapter talks about these trigger words, diet, fat, calories, and self control.
And when people hear these words, they're all feeling defeated or alarmed.
And I would love to reframe those words for people.
So diet for instance, is the way that we eat.
It's our lifestyle. It should not be thought of as restriction.
Kara Wada, MD: Yeah.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah, there was a study done and this is the paradox, so I'm gonna repeat it twice cuz it's very confusing.
There was a study done that found that people who made more self-controlled decisions had fewer temptations.
People who make more self-controlled decisions had fewer temptations.
So I think you will understand this completely.
What they found is that people who were showing signs of self control were having fun in their choices.
And if you are somebody who diets, that's not fun. And that's based on will power.
And I am all about empowerment and inner power.
Knowing that I can be in this moment and that this moment will pass, and when I get up in the morning and go for a walk in the sun, I'm having fun.
Yeah. I'm not thinking of it as anything other than this is how I take care of me and I'm worth it when I'm choosing not to eat birthday cake in the middle of the day.
I'm having fun in that choice because otherwise I would completely crash. And I don't like the way it feels when I crash.
So again, it comes back to worthiness.
Willpower is not really a thing, right? No.
And it's just a form of restriction and it's ugly.
And so I would urge everybody to focus when they're looking at how they wanna take care of themselves long term.
What they can do long term, what they're willing to do, and show up for long term, right?
Like I meditate every single morning. It's a non-negotiable in my life. I do it for 10 minutes. Sometimes I do it for 20, Sometimes I do it for 11 minutes. Sometimes I don't wanna do it at all, but I never not do.
I don't return texts. I don't do anything during this period.
It's a non-negotiable because I know it's like a little bit of a flu shot for me every single day.
It's a way to lower any stress that I'm feeling, and it's a way to take care of myself so it doesn't feel like I'm having self control.
I like the way it makes me feel.
And so all of my rules are designed for you to be able to have fun.
I shouldn't, you shouldn't have any restriction in any of them because then it's not gonna be sustainable.
I know that some of them will evoke fear in you, but that's only because you're coming from a place of restriction.
But once you walk the walk, you'll realize, Oh, I didn't even need that whole Chipotle burger or a burrito anyway. It was enough food, and I can have more.
So I would urge everybody to look at where they're having fun and if their choices are making are letting them have fun.
What fun really looks like for them being sick, not fun for me.
And to your point, I was editing my book last month and taking my daughter to college.
It was the most stressful period I've had probably in five years.
And I got a cold, the first one I've had in five years. I knew I was stressed. I was doing everything I could.
It happened to be this period in my life that I knew would pass and I was trying to get back to normal. It was a lot. It was a lot.
And you could see where the crack was and there came a cold. Yeah, Case in point. Exactly.
Kara Wada, MD: If people want to follow you, where can they find you?
If they're like, Oh gosh, I wanna recap, I'm gonna listen to the podcast again, but where can they see your six rules in action?
Kim Shapira, RD: They can see them well I'm a new Tiktoker, so I'm trying to figure out. Yeah, not easy. Are you on TikTok?
Kara Wada, MD: Yes. barely.
Kim Shapira, RD: I'm not a dancer. Oh my gosh. So Embarrassing. Yeah, so I'm on T TikTok and I'm on Instagram @kimshapiramethod and I have a website, kimshapiramethod.com.
And I have weekly groups with between five and 10 women. I have quite a few of them. They're from all over the world.
They're very, they're ongoing and I see clients privately.
Kara Wada, MD: Awesome. Yeah. I would love if you have any parting words of wisdom to share with our crew.
And thank you so much for, again, for taking time out of your busy schedule and sharing all this wisdom and really, reiterating a lot of the the themes that I, you know I try to also, Bring awareness to on all things crunchy allergist.
It's always helpful to see, that other professionals are walking the walk, the talk, all the things.
Yeah. Yes.
This really is science and we don't need to be doing like the carnivore or the, this or the that, or the what have you that we can listen to.
Our most intelligent selves are leaning into our intuition and learning to reconnect with parts of us that we've been taught to ignore for so long.
Kim Shapira, RD: Yeah, I would agree.
If I had any, let's see, how would I, what would I say?
I would say to you all out there whatever you're doing, keep going.
Find a little progress in your day.
Some wins that make you feel good.
Listen to your body.
Know that you're having a human experience inside of this self-regulating body that is taking care of you, and just respect and honor the hell out of it.
Kara Wada, MD: Yes. Love it. Thank you so much, Kim.
Kim Shapira, RD: Thanks for having me.
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