How to have better self-control with food.

In this podcast episode, I interview Joanna Zajusz, a clinical hypnotherapist and certified coach who helps people with mindset, emotions, spirituality, and nutrition. We discuss the mindset around overeating and weight loss, challenging beliefs about food, and finding a balance between restriction and indulgence. We also touch on the cultural aspects of food and the challenges faced by immigrants in navigating different food cultures. Joanna emphasizes the importance of using food as medicine and gradually making changes to eating habits. She also discusses the process of overcoming cravings and urges, and how weight loss can become easier over time.



Check out and order Joanna's Mind-Body Food Journal here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJLCZV4N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Joanna's webiste: https://positivelyrebellious.com/
To schedule a session with Joanna click here: https://calendly.com/jopr

To join our Facebook Group "Pogaduchy na Emigracji" click here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1106767306991881/

SIGN UP FOR FREE COURSE ON HOW TO FEEL GOOD HANGING OUT WITH AMERICANS WHEN YOU ARE THE ONLY IMMIGRANT IN THE GROUP:
https://shorturl.at/chyM2

Need my help?
SCHEDULE A QUICK CALL WITH ME:
https://app.simplymeet.me/lifecoachewelina

Chapters

• 0:00 Update
• 1:34 WHY THIS SUBJECT / NON BELONGING
• 4:09 WHAT HAPPENS BEFORE WE LEAVE
• 6:01 FEELING REALLY DISAPPOINTED
• 7:33 MEMORY OF TORUŃ
• 9:32 WHAT ELSE HAPPENS WHEN WE GO BACK
• 10:37 INNER PRESSURE
• 11:47 WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE IT’S 2 WORLDS
• 14:08 THESE VISITS ARE SO PRECIOUS
• 14:17 WHAT IS THE BEST THING TO DO AFTER VISITING YOUR HOME COUNTRY?
• 22:48 WHY ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS
• 23:40 FREE COURSE FOR IMMIGRANTS

Transcript

Ewelina (00:00):
Hello, my immigrant friends. This is life coach for immigrants. I hope you are doing well. Well, I am doing, oh my gosh, so good. I am visiting my family in Poland, so my heart is overflowing with love. I have been just feeling so incredibly happy being here. I'm sure you know what I'm talking [00:00:30] about, that just like deep inner happiness that comes from connecting to people you miss and going places and eating foods and feeling connected on the deeper level. I am sure you know what I'm talking about. So that's where I am at and I'm very, very happy. But today I have a special treat for you. My guest is Joanna Z, [00:01:00] who is also an immigrant from Poland that lives in the us. Joanna is a clinical hypnotherapist and a certified coach who helps people holistically addressing mindset, emotions, spirituality, and when working with weight loss clients, also nutrition.
(01:17):
We both got certified through the life coach school and soon after I met her, I knew I will want to have her share her wisdom with you here. And I am excited that she had time [00:01:30] and she agreed to do this because she's a very, very wise person. Today we will be taking our mindset and we will be turning it upside down. I am specifically speaking about the mindset that makes us overeat. So this episode is for those of you who struggle with weight, who look in the mirror and feel disappointed because you wish you were skinnier. And when you look at skinnier women, [00:02:00] you feel maybe a little bit of jealousy and frustration. Maybe you are like me where you have tried all different kinds of diets and today you think that yeah, you can be skinny, but only if you starve yourself and suffer. So my guest, Joanna, is going to help you understand how you can take back control over your eating habits and weight [00:02:30] and how to meet yourself where you are at. And she's also going to help us challenge some beliefs that perhaps were well intended in the beginning, but in practice create more harm than good. So I hope you will enjoy this conversation. Here we go.
(02:51):
Joanna, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you here. We're finally doing this and I cannot wait for my listeners to find out more about, you're doing such [00:03:00] an incredible work. So why don't you introduce yourself first and tell us a little bit more about what you do, who you are, just the basic stuff.
Joanna (03:09):
Thank you. Thank you for having me on your podcast. Thank you so much. So I like you. I'm a certified life coach and also a clinical hypnotherapist. So I combine the two plus couple of other modalities to help people make changes in life. And those could be [00:03:30] small transformations like somebody wants to build a skill, overcome fear or bigger transformations, like something in their life is ending. They're starting a new chapter in life or simply they want to lose weight, which is a journey in itself.
Ewelina (03:48):
So let's talk about it. Gosh, this is a story of my life. Gaining weight, losing weight, gaining weight, losing weight, obsessing about food, obsessing about what are other [00:04:00] people doing to be so skinny and beautiful and wanting to be skinnier. Tell me all the things.
Joanna (04:06):
If I told
(04:07):
You weight related, let's talk about that today.
(04:09):
So I have to really restrict me because I can talk for five hours. So I thought for this conversation, let's just turn upside down, certain thoughts that we all hear, and maybe those are beliefs that [00:04:30] are in the society and maybe they were created for a good reason, but they also create harm and confuse us. There is nothing more frustrating in the journey of weight loss than confusion. This person says this, this person says that, and I hear this from well-meaning people, but when I do it, I actually gain weight. So let's look at couple of those thoughts that would be part of the mindset, [00:05:00] but I wanted to say it upfront. Weight loss is a work on body, mind and spirit and emotions. So everything is connected. We really can't separate one from the other. One thought is food is food. Food is food.
(05:19):
And that was created for people to not be afraid of food. Of course, we don't want to create fear, obsession, the negative [00:05:30] obsession because you can also be positively obsessed and that's a good thing that was probably created for people to not be afraid of food and maybe that would serve somebody who has severe eating disorder. There is actually a sort of anxiety when people are so afraid of food that they will not eat even though they are hungry, [00:06:00] but we are not going to enter the territory of those disorders. This is for therapies, this is for medical field. We are coaches and hypnotherapist. So we are working with functioning people who simply sometimes overeat, right?
Ewelina (06:20):
That's right. Yeah.
Joanna (06:22):
So the statement food is food in my opinion is harmful because maybe it was true [00:06:30] many, many years ago, but this days there is something on the market. There is something that pretends to be food on the market, but it's not suitable for human consumption.
Ewelina (06:42):
A lot of it here in the states too, there's so much junk,
Joanna (06:46):
It's unbelievable and so many lies, right? Pretending food, pretending to be food. So my role is, yeah, go back to nature. Would nature create this? Because we are part [00:07:00] of nature and when you have something that is created in the lab, in the factories and complicated chemical processes are used to create it like the seed oils, vegetable oils, we sometimes don't realize what it does to our body. And when you put something like this to the body, it is unrecognizable to our enzymes. And when we eat, for example, fat that is unnatural, [00:07:30] then the enzymes are confused. They stop processing the natural fat, but also they don't know what to do with this fake fat and they will store it in the unnatural way. And that also contributes to all sorts of health problems. On top of that, those foods create cravings. So it's super, super hard to lose weight [00:08:00] and have healthy eating habits when we have cravings. So food can be medicine and food can be poison. And the solution to this is just gain some knowledge, educate yourself on what you are eating, and this way you will know what is really food and what is harmful.
Ewelina (08:24):
Do you do a lot of that work with your clients? Is this something that when [00:08:30] you are doing an assessment with a client, right, what do they want to do? The setting of a goal, how much, why do they want to lose? Do you look specifically at the foods that they're eating today?
Joanna (08:41):
Yes, absolutely. Because this is the foundation. My philosophy in work is that let's look at the basics first, what is the simplest solution? And then when we handle the simplest solution and we still have some obstacles or plateaus, then we move deeper [00:09:00] to the deeper limiting beliefs, the subconscious mind and so on. It makes no sense for me to do the spiritual work or deep emotional healing. If somebody is still eating some processed foods, right, the candy bars or anything that is deep fried in bad oils and processed, that would not work.
Ewelina (09:26):
That makes sense? Yeah, it makes sense. Okay, so that's [00:09:30] the first belief. I know that you had some other ones too, so tell me what else is there out there in our minds that is standing in our way?
Joanna (09:39):
Okay, another one is restriction is unhealthy. And people would say, oh no, I should not restrict myself because restriction is unhealthy. I don't want to give bad example to my kids. I don't want them to see me restricting myself. So that is really messing with my mind because so what you want to [00:10:00] be completely unrestricted and how you are eating, you want to overeat to the point that you cannot move. And that is a good example. So this statement is not true in itself because healthy restriction is healthy. An unhealthy restriction is unhealthy. If we are looking at this, we should never restrict ourselves. This is this all or nothing [00:10:30] thinking. And as well as I do, when we get ourselves in the all or nothing thinking, we can't actually move forward in life because we are thrown back and forth to those extremes. And usually the path is the middle path.
(10:50):
I see that this comes from this part of brain and this comes from completely giving up on my goal, but what if [00:11:00] I could look at my food this way if I have been unrestricted in eating sugar, for example, can I cut it down a little bit today and maybe a little bit tomorrow? And that creates a sense of calm and control in life once we overcome all those thoughts that come from the survival brain and [00:11:30] from the addiction, right? Because there is a part of us that addict that you don't have to be addicted to hard stuff, but the soft, innocent addictions, when you used to numb your pain, your emotions all the time, every single day, you are addicted to that substance. It could be a cookie, it could be chocolate, anything with flour, sugar, and bad fats. And that inner addict [00:12:00] will fight for that cookie.
Ewelina (12:03):
That's right.
Joanna (12:05):
And it's so good to bring that inner wise caring parent or that inner mentor to balance that conversation. And I know that you work with the archetypes, you bring archetypes into your work. I find it really helpful because that can balance our mindset and actions.
Ewelina (12:29):
So [00:12:30] the inner addict, that would be an archetype. And one, as you were speaking, there's two things that came to my mind. One is how addictive sugar really is. How addictive flour is what happens inside of our body. So many times we feel like we are out of control with food, and it's simply because we're stimulating too much the lower part of the brain. So that's one thing, right? It's oftentimes just simply our lack of understanding [00:13:00] of human body and what's happening on the inside that causes so much of confusion and frustration and all of the things I'm sure you're doing also a lot of education as you're working with a client, you're teaching them probably quite a bit so they understand really what's standing in their way. And that's another function that I don't think a lot of people understand with us coaches. We are the mentors and experts. Sometimes we simply studied this and we understand it. So that's one thing that came to my mind. And then with the restriction, another thing that came into my mind [00:13:30] is the law of discipline. There's a paradox within the law of discipline and that says that yes, you're restricting your body, but you're freeing your mind and the true freedom is in the freedom of your mind. So as we are lowering the addictive substances, we are freeing energy to go into the higher brain basically. Is this right? Am I saying that correctly?
Joanna (13:58):
I didn't know the [00:14:00] law of discipline, but it resonates with me very much. But you said we are restricting the body, but freeing the mind, but in case of eating habits, in the end, we are also freeing the body.
Ewelina (14:13):
Yes, that's true. Absolutely. Yeah, it makes sense. Okay, you see, I told you guys this is going to be a good conversation. You're learning all different kinds of things from us. Okay, so let's keep on going. So what is the next belief [00:14:30] that you find that it's not true, right? In our society?
Joanna (14:35):
Yeah, I don't want to feel deprived as if weight loss was about deprivation, and many people will believe that it is. So to me, we have to turn it upside down because the way we want to do weight loss is taking care of the body and the health of the body and mind. [00:15:00] So it's not about the deprivation, it's simply about switching what is your fuel in a way. Because there is a difference between feeling deprived and being deprived. You don't want to be deprived in a way that you don't want to deprive your body of nutrients. So when somebody usually who will have this thought, I don't want to feel deprived, a person that is [00:15:30] maybe in a company of other people and other people are eating enormous, gigantic portions of pizza or cake, or maybe there is some people still bringing donuts to the office. I think this is still a thing, especially Around There will be cookies that one company will send some Swiss to another company or will be out there for everybody to enjoy stuff like this. So [00:16:00] the thought I don't want to feel deprived is about seeing other people enjoying that sugar, getting themselves even more addicted and acidic and feeling that you are missing out. But if you really stop, take a breath, and you are in a moment, you can easily challenge that thought. And to me it would be this. If I bring with myself, I [00:16:30] mean I don't go to any office, but let's say if you are on the weight loss journey, you probably will bring with yourself a very nice salad with a vegetables protein to work with you and you have that nutritious, beautiful food. If you would give this up and go for the donuts or candy, you would deprive yourself then because your body would be deprived of nutrients giving up on that [00:17:00] sugar and eating that salad with protein, you are actually creating abundance for your body, abundance of nutrients, building blocks. So am I clear? Clear in explaining that?
Ewelina (17:18):
Yeah, you're clear. Oh my gosh, I love it. That is such a important distinction and I never thought about it this way, but it feels like something just changed [00:17:30] in my mind. Something just changed my brain. And I'm even thinking energetically when you look at the donut, that donut is literally dead. It's dead, Right? It's going to take so much more energy from your body to digest it and it'll take life force energy to really work with it. And you'll pay consequences of it here. If you're giving a healthy, yummy, fresh salad to the body that still has some prana and it some aliveness, you're actually really, like [00:18:00] you said, you're giving yourself What Your body needs. And it all comes down to how we interpret what's happening around us and what's happening within us. But one of the things that I am thinking about my journey, because I've done all different kinds of diets, including keto, where I removed all the carbs and a lot of carbs, a lot of carbs, and I've done different cleanses and All [00:18:30] Different kinds of things, but every time that I stopped eating sugar for longer period of time, I stopped completely craving. It would be like I would go into a bakery or whatever, and you smell the smell and it's delicious, the freshly baked bread or whatever, the candy, but it's like your brain is not reacting to it. You have this beautiful distance. It's like, Yeah, Not interested. It almost feels like you're in a museum, you're looking [00:19:00] for a glass at something that's notable.
Joanna (19:03):
So can I share my experience with this? Yes. So to me, I get easily addicted to sugar, so I have to be really careful. And to me, when I start eating, sometimes maybe twice a year I start eating maybe some cookies around the holidays, right? Then I know that the next thing I will experience is the horrible cravings and then [00:19:30] I will have to undo the addiction again. So why put myself through the torture? I can simply have one cookie and not every day because if something is repeated every day, then it creates really fast habit. But I already know that I will have to go through that torture again. But for you, you smell the smell from the bakery [00:20:00] and it does nothing to you. To me, it still does something. It's amazing, but here's what I'm doing. It smells so good and I know it won't taste that good.
Ewelina (20:13):
Oh, I love it. What a good thought. It smells so good, but it'll not taste that good.
Joanna (20:19):
No, it rarely does. Because when you are, it's true present. When you eat, when you are really mindful and present to every bite, it's rarely worth [00:20:30] it. Rarely.
Ewelina (20:32):
It's true. It's actually what is disappointing in itself. Oh my gosh,
Joanna (20:36):
We bought it. We bought it, and we are eating it as if it wasn't that easy to just throw it away, which is a big challenge to many people to throw away food. But we are not throwing away food. We are throwing away substance that your body doesn't even need. Your body will appreciate you throwing away that donut that you started.
Ewelina (21:00):
[00:21:00] Wow, I love it. Okay, so let's talk about this for a moment. Okay, let's talk about the whole idea of throwing away food and how, I mean, where we come from, we're both from Poland. That has never ever happened. And I mean, no, that's not true. My mom would throw away food, but very rarely there was not such a thing as leaving food [00:21:30] on a plate. You eat everything or if you leave it, then it'll be given to the dog. Or there was always something else happening with it that I didn't feel bad because I never really took things and just threw them in the trash. And moving to the us being around Americans, I noticed that they have zero problem throwing away food where it's like, oh my gosh. It's like there's people that are hungry out there. And I mean, I have not experienced hunger in Poland [00:22:00] ever living in Poland, but I know that there's plenty of people that have, and I remember I have one of my friends from Bosnia, I was doing a photo shoot for her baby and she was turning one, so I brought a cupcake or something like that. And the idea was that the baby just smashes the cupcake and we take a picture of it and she was very, very uncomfortable with it. It didn't even [00:22:30] cross my mind that she would, but it was being a refugee that was unbelievably uncomfortable situation for her. And it kind of made me so uncomfortable too, because I'm like, I did not even consider this being an issue. I felt so shallow. Shallow, I felt shallow that what I did, I put her in a situation that was uncomfortable for her. And yet here I write there she comes from [00:23:00] such a humble beginnings and this is a big deal. And for me it's like, oh yeah, let's just do a photo shoot with baby smashing food. She's like, no, that's just not right. So can we talk about that a little bit? How for us immigrants, it can be an issue.
Joanna (23:18):
So I want to make a distinction. I think that that cupcake, I don't see it as food. I see it as flour and sugar, [00:23:30] something that will raise your insulin and contribute to a lot of chronic problems in the body. So would I do it? I would have no, I would have moment of hesitation to throw away, smash the cupcake, but then I have to remember what would it do to my body? And would that really satisfy somebody's hunger? If we are in extreme situations [00:24:00] when we are really starving, well, yes, that would be lifesaving, but for wellness, we wouldn't be eating that. And if we have food in abundance, I mean I know that I am not pronouncing the word abundance very well. Lot of food. I think we have a lot of food, then this may not be a problem. However, would [00:24:30] I do the same thing with a piece of steak? Would I throw away just a piece of steak or some nice vegetables or good avocado? No, that seems wasteful. That would be wasteful just for the purpose of this. So it's another example how some food is not food, but it does damage to the body.
Ewelina (24:54):
Yeah. And you see this is it just shows your expertise that you go deeper into [00:25:00] it. Because for my brain, and I think for many of us overall, it's that interpretation of what food is. It's very black and white and clear. It's like food is food without looking deeper. Well, this is a cap cake. It's made of sugar, it's made with flour. It's not really the best choice here at all. So it belongs in the trash anyway, right? So it's not that big of a deal. But do you [00:25:30] find that sometimes that, because there's stuff that come to mind. One is that for us immigrant women specifically, one is the justification of why food should not be thrown away because of, like I said, with this friend of mine, her being a refugee, this was a Big Deal considering where she came from and what were her experience and how she has seen people starving and really hungry. So that's one story. And then another thing is our justification [00:26:00] of unhealthy eating for the sake of feeling connected to our culture. So we have pierogi roso with pasta in it with Macon, and that's flour.
Joanna (26:20):
Well, again, how often some people are on, they want to do radical weight loss. If they agree to radical [00:26:30] weight loss, then that paste is of the table literally. But we can also go through our weight loss journey, still enjoying the things, but not overeating. Because let me give you an example. When I was growing up, my diet was sugar. I was eating cookies in enormous quantities. It is like nobody watched [00:27:00] me. What I'm doing as a teenager, I would eat 10 slices of bread in one seat, in one while reading a book. I mean, who does it? Those were big slices. So again, I don't have to completely remove bread from my diet, but I know that I can eat just a piece. For example, once a week you can still eat something, but [00:27:30] be mindful and decide ahead of time how much you are going to eat. But you touched on an important part because when we think when we go back, I sometimes stay there for a month or two. Sometimes I come back five pounds lighter and sometimes two pounds heavier. And it depends on me being disciplined or not. Me being me watching what I'm eating and not watching. [00:28:00] And I love to decide ahead of time what I will eat,
(28:07):
How much and what is no, not an option. And when I decide, a hundred percent is the easiest decision ever. For example, I was staying in a hotel once for a month, and every single day I walked by a beautiful display of those artisan desserts. They [00:28:30] looked like art, and I often would look at them, admire them, but I know I knew that I'm not eating sugar. I never bought one, never, ever. But then that was my rule. I will not eat the desserts. Listen to this once I'm not on the bus, bus stop. And I still had some time and I was tired and so on, and there was a bakery nearby. And because [00:29:00] I didn't set the rule for myself, I walked in and I bought a donut and I ate the whole thing. So after this experience and it wasn't worth it, after this experience, I realized, no, no, no, no, no. I cannot have separate rules for everything because there's always some unpredictable thing. I simply have to decide for myself, no sugar. And if I buy something, three bites Maxs, three bites, [00:29:30] Maxs.
Ewelina (29:31):
Oh, I love it. That's another great role. It's mindfulness.
(29:36):
Yeah. So three bites. If I have a moment of weakness, if I'm tired and whatever else, and I make this bad decision, not a problem, not a problem. But the rule is that three bites and I'm throwing it out, I love it. Oh my gosh, that's a great idea.
Joanna (29:54):
The faster you make the decision, throw something away without overthinking and you actually take the action of throwing [00:30:00] it away, the better it'll be. No looking back, no drama. It's done, done.
Ewelina (30:05):
It's such a black and white thing when we approach eating overall even approaching, who are you today versus that skinny you in the future, whenever that ideal you, you look at yourself and you're like, yeah, this is me in my bad version. And then there's this perfect version of me sometimes in the future. Do you do any type of work [00:30:30] on the self-image of your clients as well as you're going through? Obviously their body is changing.
Joanna (30:36):
Let me recall. Well, actually, yes, especially in the hypnosis part because my sessions are usually coaching connected with hypnosis most of the time. So definitely in the hypnosis part we are connecting to that version of them that they want to be. But you mentioned [00:31:00] that perfect version, and I want to say that perfection is not required and especially is not required in the process. If somebody is training for some competition, that's a different category of eating. We don't have to do that in real life. And I know that I can lose weight even without following my own rules perfectly, and I have done it.
(31:29):
So [00:31:30] going back to the situations with going back to family, and sometimes in some cultures there's a lot of food pushing, they will push food on you, maybe less now than Yes,
Ewelina (31:43):
That's Poland. Oh my goodness, that's us. That's a Polish culture.
Joanna (31:48):
Yes. But not only, I don't want to mention the other cultures because I don't to generalize, but some of my clients that come from other cultures, they shared with me the same thing. You don't know how it is in [00:32:00] our family. My mother will push, she'll make so much food, and then you have to eat it. And then we create a strategy, how to handle this without distancing yourself from the people that you love who are your family, because you absolutely don't want to do that, right? There is this fascinating concept that, an observation that when we are faced with the choice to belong to a group of people or to take care of our wellbeing, we are going to give [00:32:30] up our wellbeing and we will do everything to belong to that group of people. So then again, it is this black and white picture, but if you don't have to give up on your wellness, you can still belong and eat. You want to eat. And connection doesn't come from what we have on the plate because if you and I meet and we are sitting together, we are not going to [00:33:00] have this deep human connection because we both have pizza on our plates. If you want to eat pizza and I want to eat vegetables, then are you going to feel disconnected from me? No. Unless you are thinking who else she think she is, she eats vegetables. Right,
Ewelina (33:23):
Right, right, right. It's our mind that creates connection or disconnection.
Joanna (33:26):
Yes, yes. But how much freedom is in simply [00:33:30] stating, this is me today, I'm eating pizza today and I own it, and I will enjoy every single bite of it while you enjoy your, because this is the space where you are today. But of course, if you really want to lose weight, you're not going to eat pizza every day. It just doesn't happen unless you are really depriving yourself, which is the hard way.
Ewelina (33:59):
Yeah. So let's talk about [00:34:00] this for a moment, right? Because that's what comes to mind when we think of the dieting. We think of, at least my brain interprets it that way. There's going to be pain associated with this whole process. There's going to be a lot of discomfort associated with this whole process. And as you're sharing your ideas, it sounds like there's actually a lot of embracing, there's a lot of compassion, there's a lot of working with yourself from this point of, I can meet [00:34:30] you here, and that's set a role and still don't give up on yourself, but have a role where it's like even with the three bites, right? You're not giving up on your diet, but in the same time you're satisfying the little kid that wants something sweet. So can you speak to that a little bit?
Joanna (34:51):
Yeah. And of course you cannot do it if you are on keto because you'll get yourself out of keto. But [00:35:00] there's also healthy keto. This is name of a program, healthy keto or green keto, where we mostly eat vegetables. But often if you are not in a hurry to lose weight, sometimes you can eat something that has flour and sugar. But again, are you eating the whole package or are you taking a bite? So [00:35:30] those are actually stages. I am not proposing that anyone will give up their sugar today completely. There are people like this, but for most of us, we have to do it gradually. And your question was, it's about embracing also those,
Ewelina (35:50):
I guess not being, if you can speak loud, but more to the, there's no black and whiteness in what you're saying, right? There's no black and whiteness. [00:36:00] Our brain will go into the black and white interpretation. Like I said, diet means deprivation, but the methods that you're describing, it's like you meet yourself in the middle and you meet all the parts of you, the hungry meat that wants to have a donut. And also the one that's like, no, this would be a bad decision if we were to eat the whole thing. But three bites are okay. And also you mentioned something About
Joanna (36:27):
When we diet, we think about pain. [00:36:30] Okay, this is what you asked about. Yeah. Initially it feels like it is, especially when we try to face the cravings, the urges. Sometimes it's unbearable because you really want it. How do you stop yourself from eating it? The good news is that when we use food as medicine, as we focus on nutrient dense food, the vegetables, [00:37:00] the proteins and good fats, healthy fats, but mostly the vegetables, low sugar, fruit and protein, we use food as medicine, and that food will help us with the cravings because then our body is filled with nutrients and we no longer have to look into sugar and flour to satisfy the cravings. Of course, that happens over time. But one important thing that [00:37:30] we don't know in the beginning, and we then discover for ourselves and everybody who is going through the process, they are going to be pleasantly surprised by this, that in the beginning you think it's unbearable. And that weight loss or keeping the weight off is about always fighting with the urges and cravings. And the beauty of the process when we are losing weight by taking [00:38:00] care of the body and by eating good nutrient dense foods, is that over time the cravings go away and the urges go away, or they are less and less intense and they happen less and less frequently.
(38:18):
So this is a beautiful surprise for people who go through this process.
Ewelina (38:24):
That's great to know, right? Because it, the initial stage was really difficult because yeah, you have to deal with [00:38:30] the urges and process then I'm sure you teach that too. But you see, I've never heard anyone say it, and it has been in my life experience too, right, where the urges just kind of go away. Like I was saying with sugar's, at least that's the way it is for me. If I completely stop eating it, I don't really crave it at all. It keeps me just such a beautiful disconnect and so much more power. But the truth is we never thought about [00:39:00] it this way, that really this metal path also leads to more freedom overall and it gets easier. So that's huge news for those of you out there who are thinking about stepping on a little bit of a different weight loss journey, that it'll get easier, it'll get better. So why don't you tell us how my listeners, all the listeners [00:39:30] that are intrigued, that would like to know more about you, where they can find you online, tell us.
Joanna (39:36):
My website is positively rebellious.com, and I also have links to my YouTube and Instagram on my website, so it's positively rebellious.com. It's because we are rebelling positively against those in their limitations and limiting beliefs.
Ewelina (39:54):
I love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming. Is there anything else that you want to add [00:40:00] before I Wrap it up?
(40:01):
Yes, thank you for having me on your podcast. And I just want to say I simply love the conversations we have together because they are always illuminating rich, and you are such a wise person and you also opened for me a window into knowledge that I kind of forgot. So thank you for this. Thank you for your wisdom.
Joanna (40:29):
Thank you. Thank you for being [00:40:30] here. I cannot wait to have you back. For those of you that don't know this or didn't really pay attention, we both are certified through the life school. We have met because of that. But one of the things that she does that I don't do completely, she's an expert in human design and we've already kind of mentioned that. Maybe she'll be back to tell us more about that. So you'll hear her voice here, you'll hear her again. But for now, [00:41:00] Joanna, thank you so much. This was a fascinating conversation.
Ewelina (41:03):
Alright, my friends, I hope you really enjoyed this talk. Joanna has created a food journal and planner. I have been using it and I absolutely love it. This planner is going to help you take your self-care to the next level. It'll help you focus your action every week. You'll find in it 33 questions for clarity and awareness about the mind body connection, [00:41:30] and they're all in eating habits. So if you're struggling with weight, I really need you to look in a description of the show because that's where I have a link for you to purchase this journal and give yourself this gift. It's very affordable. It's under 10 bucks, my friends. Here's the beauty of it. When you use it, it'll help you change your relationship [00:42:00] with food and with yourself, and you will do it on your own terms, in your own time without feeling like you're making humongous shifts that threaten the feeling of safety because it sometimes happens when we make changes.
(42:16):
It's a journal that will help you deepen your self-awareness and I highly, highly recommend it. So make sure to look in the description of this show. Before we end today, I want to remind you about the free course [00:42:30] I made for you. It's about how to feel good hanging out with Americans when you're the only immigrant in the group, and this is for those of you who live in the US but you feel really stressed when you need to go out there and meet Americans. It doesn't matter if you're going to a party or anything really, any type of gathering. And you have to talk to Americans, right? You want to build connections. On one hand, you want to get to know them and build connections, but it's hard because you worry about saying [00:43:00] a wrong thing and that you will be judged and you think about all the awkward moments that have already happened in the past, and maybe you also think about how many Americans are fake and you can't really trust them.
(43:13):
And so you might also be thinking that it's worrying and that you're not going to be having that much fun and all the things. Listen, I can speak about this. I can create courses about this because I'm super familiar with that whole scenario. [00:43:30] It was me for a very long time and in this course I share with you my secret sauce because today I feel very comfortable hanging out with Americans, really with anyone and looking the description of this show to find a link where you can sign up for this free course. Now, in that course, you also will get to know me a little bit better because I tell you my immigrant story, I tell you what it's been like, so you get a chance to get to know me a little bit better. [00:44:00] Also, just want to remind you, if you are new to this podcast, please make sure to follow me to follow this show so you get notified about all the new episodes coming out.
(44:10):
You can also follow me on social media. I am on Instagram and on Facebook, so just look up live coach for immigrants and you'll find me. Alright, my friends. That's it for today. I am sending the biggest hug from Poland, all this happiness that I have in my heart, [00:44:30] all this peace and joy from reconnecting. I'm sending it to you and especially to those of you who miss your home country. For those of you who feel disconnected and lost and confused and that are not happy on your immigrant journey, I am sending you so much love from where I am at because not only I'm in Poland, but I am in a place of my life where [00:45:00] it's good, it's so good, and I know where you're at if you're unhappy and lost and disconnected and confused because I've been there. That was my life for quite some time there and I know how miserable that is, and I just, if I could really get through the ether and [00:45:30] give you a truly warm, wonderful hug, I would do it because I needed a hug so badly back in those days.
(45:38):
So if you need a hug right now, hug yourself, my friend, because that's always an option. Wrap your arms around your chest and just give yourself nice warm hug. Remember that you are strong, that you're courageous, that you have inner wisdom that is guiding you, that you have divine protection and that even [00:46:00] when it's super difficult, you have what it takes because you are on this path for a reason and you would not be putting yourself in places in situations that you cannot handle. God has your back. You can learn to have your own back as well. That's something that I teach my clients how to do. If you need my help, if you need support, mental emotional support on this immigrant journey, I am the person to speak to, so [00:46:30] please reach out to me. I help immigrant women that live in the US create connections, but also the most important part of my work is that I help my immigrant clients create relationship with themselves based on love,
(46:44):
Compassion, understanding a relationship where you are not beating yourself up or you are loving and kind to yourself. That's what I do. If you need my help, please let me know. In the meantime, I'm sending the warmest, the biggest hug from Poland and loves and lots of [00:47:00] peace and happiness to your heart, and I hope you it. Alright, my loves. I will talk to you in the next episode.