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The Sex, Money, and Food Podcast   Welcome to this edition of The Sex, Money and Food podcast! Do you have a mental list of foods you should and should not eat? Most of us do. In today’s episode, we’re focusing on what happens when you restrict the food you eat, and why it’s not a healthy approach.   We take a deeper look at why you have that list of should and shouldn’t eat foods, how binge eating starts and how to let go of restrictions to create a healthier relationship with food. Find out about all of that and more on the 108th edition of Sex, Money and Food!   More About This Show   Most of crave different foods. For some of us we want salty before our periods, some of us want chocolate and sugar. And many of us deny ourselves those cravings because we believe it’s wrong to eat them, or we eat them and then feel ashamed after we do.   When it comes to our relationship with food, especially our cravings, there’s usually something deeper than just how they taste. It’s often tied to a binge-eating/restriction dynamic we’ve created for ourselves. We tell ourselves not to eat something and withhold it, only to later binge on it when we can no longer deny our cravings.   Personally I can relate. In high school I was a cheerleader and we would go to Islands before cheering. We went there to get their cheese fries - and we would get them with extra cheese!   Around this time I had gone on birth control and it completely changed my body. I had put on 20 pounds, which is a lot for anyone but even more so for me since I'm only 5'4"!   So instead of eating cheese fries with the other cheerleaders I decided to have a latte for breakfast, skip the cheese fries and go to Ralph's (a grocery store) to buy carrots and fat-free ranch dressing to eat. And that’s what I did: I brought my ranch and my carrots to Islands!   But then I would realize I wasn’t being filled up by my carrots and I wouldn’t have the energy to cheer if I didn’t eat more. So then I would binge-eat the fries, usually consuming 1.5 orders’ worth.   Whether it was cheese fries or something else, most of us have a similar story of starving ourselves only to binge eat later. As a result we create a love/hate relationship with food. We teach ourselves to obsess over it and start a rollercoaster ride of starving, binge-eating and/or emotional eating.  I did it, and I did it for 10-15 years. Do you still have this kind of mental/emotional relationship with food? Do you still have some kind of restriction on certain foods? Most of us still have some type of “should” and “should not” list of foods in our minds. Having that list gets in the way of enjoying food today and it stops us from allowing food to do what it is supposed to do: nourish our bodies.   In fact, we become overfed and undernourished. Ideally we get our nourishment from foods that are grown: plants and from the ground, fruits from bushes and trees, and humanely-raised animals.   When you see today’s episode can you allow it to help you look at your own food stories? What is it you tell yourself you cannot have: fries, cake, chocolate, alcohol? Then look at how those stories play games with your mind and how they make you a prisoner. Those stories take away from what should be a pleasurable experience.   Also on this edition of Sex, Money and Food I share why I don't weigh myself very often any longer, and how any weight fluctuation would've destroyed me in the past but not today. Tune in and let me know if you can relate to episode 108 of Sex, Money and Food! Tweetable:  “Food is meant to nourish our bodies!” - Alexandra Harbushka Episode Resources DoTerra’s Emotional Aromatherapy Kit Connect with me on Instagram Sign up for my Five Day Self-love Challenge Follow me on Twitter Subscribe to the Sex Money and Food Podcast on iTunes