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On this episode of Navigating Nourishment, Wendy and Debbie dive into the pressure many people feel to look great for major life events, like a daughter’s wedding. Rather than focusing solely on appearance, they emphasize the value of feeling strong, energized, and confident. Together, they challenge the pitfalls of diet culture, which often prioritizes looks over genuine health. Instead, they advocate for sustainable lifestyle changes—like nourishing the body with whole foods, staying active, and getting quality sleep. Sharing inspiring client stories, Wendy and Debbie showcase the lasting benefits of these habits, reminding listeners that true wellness is about feeling great from the inside out, not just achieving short-term results.
TRANSCRIPT
edited for readability
Wendy 00:05
One of our clients recently came to us and said, Oh my gosh, my daughter’s getting married, and I’ve got to look my best for this wedding. All the family is coming to town. What should I do?
Debbie 00:16
She had a year to plan and wanted to look fabulous for her daughter’s wedding.
Wendy 00:24
And it’s so exciting, right? Weddings, and to look our best when all eyes are on you because you’re the mother of the bride, and you want to shine.
Debbie 00:37
Yeah, of course, you want to shine for your own wedding and then when it’s your kids, it’s like, your second chance to shine. So that’s what we want to talk about today, on Navigating Nourishment.
Wendy 00:49
Welcome. I’m Wendy
Debbie 00:50
I’m Debbie, and this motivated us to talk about this, because I think both of us have known people in our families or our friends or clients who have been motivated by an event and decided, oh, this event is coming up, my reunion, this wedding, this vacation, whatever it is, and I really want to look good. I’m going to take off 15 pounds…
Wendy 01:16
And this goes to one of our taglines. How do you want to look, feel and perform? And we’re talking about the ‘look’ part in our society. We are really heavily concentrated on how we look, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We all want to look good and don’t want to take that away from anyone. That’s part of the tagline. So, of course, we want to look good too.
We represent health and wellness so we show up to play the part of a health and wellness coach absolutely. But it’s leaving out the part about feeling your best and performing your best, and that’s the gap we see in the diet culture.
And to unpack that just a little bit – we want to help people question the motivation behind looking good, what it looks like, how you do it, and ultimately: Is this concept a temporary concept or a concept for life?
People often sacrifice their well-being for temporary weight loss
Debbie 02:18
We are tapping this in the age of those quick weight loss drugs that people are taking that make you lose your appetite, and so people are dropping weight. And I don’t want to shame anybody. I don’t want anybody to feel that we’re saying that’s not the right way to go.
However, let’s talk about the habits that go along with that, with any kind of weight loss or motivation to look good, it can be an opportunity to have that motivation to do things that really nourish you, as opposed to starving yourself and not nourishing yourself on purpose, so that you can take off the weight and look good and inside not really feel great at all, because you’re sacrificing and you’re depriving yourself of nourishment just for the sake of fitting into that dress or that suit.
Aligning goals with personal well-being and feeling good inside
Wendy 03:16
Or you’re skipping social events, or you’re beating yourself up at the gym and sweating it all off and not nourishing yourself while you’re sweating, right?
There are so many ways that we can look good and do it in a sustainable way that’s so nourishing and gives us what do I want to call it? I want to call it this light that we’re looking for too, because we’ve seen people in wedding pictures that might, on the surface, look ‘good’ because it’s a definition of ‘skinny.’ But they also have a lot of shiny makeup on. We ask: how is their energy level? How is their clear thinking? How is their temperament, to their partners and their families?
There’s so much that goes on when we’re sacrificing and depriving ourselves that we don’t often talk about in the diet culture. It’s all about: what’s the goal, what’s the weight, what’s the number on the scale, you know, and it’s not really going inside and saying, Is this in alignment? Do I feel ok? Do I feel good doing what I’m doing? And it’s a hard subject to approach, because our culture is so demanding of us looking like each other or looking a certain way.
Use events as motivators to start habits that can become long-term
Debbie 04:38
What I like about an event coming up is that a lot of time people really want and try to have habits that are going to make them feel better, look better, and perform better. They’re trying to eat real, whole foods and trying to work out more often and get better sleep. They’re trying to do it all. The habits that help them look, look, feel and perform better.
And they keep getting sabotaged or self-sabotaging – going back to old habits over and over and over again because they’re not fully motivated. Because it’s really hard to think of that future self who’s in shape and feels great and eats real, whole foods and all the rest. So these events give people an opportunity for a short term, it’s happening somewhat soon, and it’s a motivator.
So we want to use these events almost as a way to get people to start these habits that will stick so that they can continue the habits after the event.
This happened for a client of ours, who I saw recently, and she had taken some weight off, and I said, “Your skin looks great and you seem to have great energy. You look really good.” She said, “Yes, I took some weight off. I’m doing really well.” And she told me about all the habits that she learned about in our group that she had been in. She said, “Thanks – You taught me all of these habits that I continued. And my daughter’s getting married at the end of the month, and I feel great.” And I’m imagining she’s going to look and feel great at the wedding and perhaps party all night long because of it and not and not suffer for it.
So she is a success story that brought me to this idea of talking about this. Because that’s exactly a great way to think of this as a motivating factor to get where you want to be. And she’ll continue those habits.
Wendy 06:50
What you just said is so important, she’ll continue. And because she feels so good, it’s not just for her. She realizes what feeling good in her body is and also looking good. Like you said – she has vibrancy.
We’re here to question our intentions. The opportunity here on this podcast is to rethink how you approach un upcoming event that could trigger you to say, I want to look good for this, and I also want to feel good and perform well leading up to it, during it and after it as well.
Debbie 07:45
Yeah, exactly. It’s a tall order.
Encouraging small, consistent steps towards health and wellness goals
Wendy 07:46
But who wants just to temporarily look good and then the next day, you know, throw it all away because it’s too hard, and you’ve deprived yourself so much. I mean, that’s not a sustainable way, right?
Debbie 08:08
I think for a lot of people, that’s what happens. They starve themselves, they deprive themselves. They’re working so hard to get to this look that they can’t wait till it’s over, so they can go back to eating what they want to eat, and doing or not doing movement. They work so hard to get there…
And the benefit of doing it in a way that nourishes you is exactly what you said: You feel good. That’s the ideal – to feel good and look good. That’s all we want.
So that’s our curiosity for today. Questioning people’s behavior and maybe we can influence some of our listeners in a renewed way. And if you have family going through this, be curious with them.
Wendy 09:18
And if you have a story to share about your success or not success in this area. Or you want help with that event coming up and embrace the idea: I want to feel good and look good too. Give us a buzz, and we’d love to support you on that journey,
Debbie 09:38
That’s what we do best. We help people with their habits, and we hold them accountable, and it’s getting people on the path to feeling good and looking good.
So that wraps up this episode of Navigating Nourishment. We hope you find our discussion helpful. And inspiring.
Wendy 10:00
Remember your health and wellness journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Remember small, consistent steps over time can lead to significant, lasting changes.
Debbie 10:10
If you enjoyed this episode, please share, subscribe, rate and leave us a review, because your feedback really helps us reach more people.
Wendy 10:19
You can follow us on social media for more tips, updates and inspiration. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Nourish Coaches.
Debbie 10:28
and for more resources, visit our website at NourishCoaches.com and there you’re going to find some show notes, additional articles, links to other shows and podcasts.
Wendy 10:41
Thanks for joining us today. Stay nourished, stay healthy, and we’ll see you next time on Navigating Nourishment.
