Posted by Kelsey Pipp on January 27, 2021

Diets schm-iets, no one needs them… ever. Food is one of the most wonderful, and necessary, parts of life. Without food we are toast (and not the tasty kind)! Food is not just something that has to be in our lives, it’s something that gets to be in our lives. This is something I am coming to learn. Food has not always been, and still is not always, a place of enjoyment for me. In fact, outside of the past 5 months, food and meals were places of distress and angst. For me, food became a place of emotional overload, guilt and shame around eating too much, too little, the right food, the wrong food, frustration over a missed recipe, feeling sick as a result of not enough or on other days eating far too much. Food and the thoughts that surrounded it were also stressful. What to eat and how to cook it? When to eat? When to grocery shop? How to find the time? With each week these thoughts would reappear maintaining an underlying but steady bubbling pot of anxiety around the subject of food. Many of us face uncertainty and emotional responses around food, this blog series will try to break down why we feel as we do and how we can find enjoyment in food. Amidst the past 5 months I came across several moments, activities, and tools that have significantly (helped) change the way I think about food.

  1. The cookbook and Netflix film series: Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
    1. Please go watch (and maybe buy the book too, just not from Amazon! #shoplocal)
    1. Link to Country Shelf Bookstore on Main Street in Bozeman: https://www.countrybookshelf.com/search/site/salt%20acid%20fat%20heat
  2. Wellness Coaching at the Office of Health Advancement (OHA) with Catherine
    1. To schedule a FREE visit please give us a call (if we don’t answer leave a message, we will return it!) (also, Marie is our other wonderful wellness coach): 994-4380
    1. Link to find out more about wellness coaching at OHA: http://www.montana.edu/oha/wellnesscoaching/
  3. Discussions with the OHA’s dietician nutritionist: Jessi
    1. Call OHA to schedule a FREE visit: 994-4380
    1. Link to find out more: http://www.montana.edu/oha/nutrition/
  4. A sports nutrition class I took in the fall 2020 semester
  5. A mindfulness class (KORU) put on by OHA
    1. KORU helped me (and is still helping me) indirectly with food by guiding me through the breakdown of my thoughts, feelings, and emotional responses. Once you can begin to identify and understand your emotions you can explain the why. For me I have found that breaking down why I feel a certain way has led me to more compassionate responses from myself.  
    1. Link to KORU classes… they’re FREE! I highly recommend participating http://www.montana.edu/oha/koru-mindfulness-training/index.html
  6. Listening to an audiobook, Whole by T Colin Campbell
  7. Game Changers – a documentary on Netflix
    1. In response to this inspirational and intriguing movie I have improved my physical capabilities in the sports I love climbing, skiing, and running. It has also made me feel much better inside (fewer upset stomachs and energy crashes).

We will leave it here for now,

Stay tuned for blog 2 of this series!

-Kelsey