Bridgett Burrick Brown (00:57.058) Hi everybody, welcome back. I am your host, Bridgett Burrick Brown, and this is Beyond Beauty Project, the podcast. This is my solo series, Beyond with B, and today I am gonna be talking about how I created my own version of intuitive eating. I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but it really gave me sanity. during this time where disordered eating was all around me when I was first starting out in the modeling world. So today's episode is called Mind Your Body, Mind Your Plates. So when I started, I was just really surrounded by this like constant scrutiny around food and body size. So when I had moved away from Michigan, I It was the first time I was on a plane. I was like super innocent and I moved to Miami Beach initially. And I always tell people it's like I felt like I was like dropped into like a Petri dish, like a science like experiment. And it's like, let's put all these young girls. We'll just stick with girls models, though, in one place together. Let's let them live together. work together, then they're going to eat together, work out together. And we're just going to keep telling them that they need to be smaller, that they're not perfect and not perfect enough, that they need to lose two inches off of their hips or their waist or whatever. mean, it was like this breeding ground for like just disordered everything. So. It was, you know, it was really normal. because of this. And I think it's like, A, it was the industry you're in. You're really young. And then two, it's like you're with all these other people, right? But you're with a bunch of other people that are constantly obsessing about what they're eating, what size they are, how they're exercising. Bridgett Burrick Brown (03:15.53) And this was just to give you guys a time frame. This was like late 90s. So was this wave era of like extreme thinness that unfortunately is seems to be coming back because of I think it was Zempik and just trends come and go. Right. Unfortunately, we didn't learn our lesson the first time, but it was this sort of like wave Kate Moss like nothing. Her quote was like nothing tastes good as skinny feels. this like Atkins kind of time and people were just like obsessed with like, ooh, she looks really good. Like what is she doing? we need to find out what she's doing. Cause if we do what she's doing, the wool look like she does. It was the first, I was like shell shocked cause it was the really the first time that I started focusing on what my body looks like. Not that I didn't care before, obviously. But it was just such a... It was just, I hadn't really that much, thankfully. And then I got thrown into this situation where it was like such a extreme situation. Bridgett Burrick Brown (04:52.75) So yeah, everyone was looking for this quick fix, like a quick diet fix or, like you're not supposed to eat carbs or you're supposed to eat carbs or, my God, there's this magic supplement. It was always like, you know, and then everyone was trying to starve themselves and like smoke cigarettes and like drink coffee. But it was just constant. Like I was, don't. Like everybody had something, either they were actually throwing up somewhere. That's not funny. It's not funny at all. You know, or they were, it was just always, even if it was like whatever spectrum they were on, there was kind of something going on for the most part, for the most part. I don't want to say every single person, but there was a lot of it. If you were, in the modeling world when I was, and you're listening to this, like the Deco plage in Miami Beach, whew, I just feel like there was just like a lot going on in that apartment building. yeah, so meals, would say, thankfully, as I traveled, I really started enjoying meals and I understood this like, I kind of went back to my roots because my family and I would really sit down and we would have family dinners from the Midwest and my grandparents would come over and it was the time we sort of connected and we ate meat, potatoes and vegetables and a lot of times the vegetables were frozen, but it was okay, we connected. But anyways, so Meals with, this time it started becoming, not about connection. And it started becoming this time of like, just more obsessing and like people staring at what the other person was eating. And I just started getting really uncomfortable. Like that was more triggering for me because I could tell people were staring at what I was eating. And I knew what they were doing because I was doing the same thing. Like if someone was really thin and Bridgett Burrick Brown (07:13.708) you know, or I like loved their body, I'd be like, ooh, what are they doing? Like, what are they eating over there? You know? So I... Bridgett Burrick Brown (07:26.446) Sorry, hold on, I got to just make sure. Bridgett Burrick Brown (07:40.28) Sorry, Brian, this one's gonna be a little bit more choppy. Sworn you know. Bridgett Burrick Brown (07:50.508) Yeah, so everyone was just for the most part, like, I guess maybe it was just the the crew I hung out with. like it was like very hyper focused on like what the next person was eating that was sitting next to you. So I remember I went home to Michigan. That was that the place that I could like go home and like ground myself. And I remember I would we would go to National Coney Island all the time. and I was often with one of my friends and my friend Kristen and I remember we're eating and she left like a good like a third of her food and I was in awe. I was like. Like she didn't finish all her food. Like I don't understand. So then like, I don't know, we like hung out, you know, like when I would go home, we'd be together every day. I think by the third time I asked her, said, why aren't like, why aren't you going to finish your food? I wanted to know, because at this point I was so like, in my disordered eating world, because I had been like, I felt like I got thrown into it. And she's like, I don't know. I just like, I don't like the feeling that happens when I feel really full, so I stop. And I remember being like, wow, she listens to her body. She stops when she's full? Interesting. I was at that point on diets and you ate a portion size. And I was probably restricting so much that when I was eating, I was like, I wanted to eat it. So. So I go back, you know, and I'm, you know, with or surrounded, I'm in my science, my science experience, my science experiment. And I remember one day I'm eating and I'm like getting really annoyed because I'm like, I'm trying to like, okay, I'm gonna listen to my body. Like Kristen listens to her body. And people are staring at my plate. And I said out of nowhere to myself, I said, you know what, Bridget? Bridgett Burrick Brown (10:06.25) mind your body and mind your plate. That's the only thing you can do in this situation. So this little mantra was born and I just started saying it to myself all the time. Mind your body, mind your plate. So I started making some rules around this where when I would go to eat, I never looked at what anyone else was eating. And I only focused on what I wanted, what my body needed. And I would check in with myself and I would say, you know, I would, it started like, it's right now I can just do it. It's like a thing I just do. I like check in really quickly and I have this like, you know, mind body check in and I can like hear my intuition. But back then I sort of had to unlearn all of this. toxic thoughts and behaviors I had picked up. So what I would do is I would, you know, get grounded. If I went to dinner, I would just like take a moment, open the menu. I would really go into like my own little world. I never, I never ask people like, what are you gonna get? Like now I do a little bit more, but for a long time, I never, like I didn't even. plants that in my head because I wanted to know what I wanted. And so I would look at a menu. I would think first before I looked at the menu, like, you know, what do I feel like? What feels nourishing? What feels good to my body? And then I would see if they have it on the menu. I almost wouldn't look at what they had first. I would... check in and say like, what is my body craving right now? Does it want red meats? Does it want vegetables? Does it want a salad? Does it want pizza? Like, what is it feeling like? And then sometimes, because I think people get confused sometimes with my messaging where they think like, I don't care what my body looks like. And that's like, couldn't be farther from the truth. Like, because I like sense my healing journey. Bridgett Burrick Brown (12:31.702) I care what my body looks like and I also care about my health a lot, a lot. So just, let's just say my body is like, we want to eat pizza, but maybe I've had pizza over the last couple of days. Then I will stop and check in and say, okay, what else on this menu could you have that could make you feel fulfilled? And if, and if I get a yes, and I'm going to tell you guys more how I do this in a second. Then I have the thing, know, the other thing. Wait, hold on. Cut that part, Brian. Sorry. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:12.302) Menu, this is why I shouldn't go off script. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:17.71) Bye. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:26.062) think you can cut it before then, right? I'm hoping you can. Bridgett Burrick Brown (13:43.758) So, yeah, so this started this journey of this, you know, this way that I learned to just block out this constant noise around me and really like bring the attention back to myself, to my body, to my mind, to my spirit, like my soul, like all of it. I just started like repeating the mantra, like mind your body. mind your plate. And over time, it really kind of sprinkled into most parts of my life where it then went into like movement and exercise. Like just because this girl is doing like 40 spin classes a week, was that good for me? Did that work for my body? Was that gonna actually stress my body out more? Was it good for my mental health? I started incorporating it into like even my self care and how I took care of myself, especially when it came to my mental health. If and when still, if anybody stares at like what I'm eating or my plate or whatever, I literally just try to ignore it. I'm like, it's not like that's like theirs. But it came really, this thing that's like more than just an eating practice, it became, a way that I really got in tune with my intuition and myself. And it really started this relationship with my body. I feel like when we're, you know, When we're living in diet culture, we're so disconnected from ourselves that we lose this connection and this relationship with our bodies completely, really. There's obviously different ranges of it. Bridgett Burrick Brown (16:08.664) But really like, sorry. But like think of a time when you've like pushed yourself to do a diet and in the ending you gain all the weight back or you don't feel good or you push yourself to work out but you probably should have rested and you got sick, right? It's like if we're living disconnected which many of us end up doing when we are swimming in the waters of diet culture is We are really listening to these like external rules and expectations, which is diet, culture, wellness, trends, societal ideals. like we, you know, we've been sold this way. Hold on. Sorry. I got a shirt that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:03.022) you're gonna. Bridgett Burrick Brown (17:11.79) You know, for a long time, we've been taught to, you know, what to do, especially women were constantly told, you know, eat this way, do this diet, follow Jennifer Aniston's diet and you'll look just like her. It's diet culture, it's wellness trends, it's all the societal ideals, it's beauty ideals. And we've been sold the idea that if we shrink ourselves, if we restrict ourselves, If we fit into someone else's definition of wellness and beauty, we will be enough. So it's like the perfect setup to want to go that way. But the further we go that way, the further we become disconnected from ourselves. Bridgett Burrick Brown (18:05.922) Because the finish line, never stops. It keeps moving. Because you'll never be good enough or feel good enough if you're following those expectations. The expectations that live outside of you, not the ones that live inside of you. Bridgett Burrick Brown (18:31.022) So over time, really, I know I keep saying like we're disconnected from our body, but we really actually stop to understand hunger cues, tired cues, just maybe cues about like what fills our spirit, what we need for our mental health. because we shut them off, we override them by doing these things. So... What does it mean to mind your body, mind your plate, right? It really means tuning into your body's needs, your individual needs, not what the world tells you that you need to do or that you should do, like really getting, having this like, it starts this beautiful relationship with yourself and with your body. It's checking in with yourself. It's, saying no to external rules or calorie counting or the weight on a scale and definitely diet trends. So before we get into like, I want to kind of like break down exactly how I do this in case it's helpful. I hope it's helpful. I wanna talk for a second just about like nourishment versus control, right? So nourishment to me is like eating for fuel, for care, just to care for our bodies and like to satisfy our bodies, right? Control is based on external pressure, it's based on rules, it's based on shame and guilt. Bridgett Burrick Brown (20:25.902) So a question that you can just start asking yourself is, am I choosing this meal because it feels good or do I feel like I should? Do I have to? Am I breaking the rules if I don't, right? And then you can like ask further questions from there, right? Like, am I having a smaller meal right now to control my body or because my... Digestive system needs a little bit of a break. That's okay, you know? Am I eating too much right now? Or is my body just hungry and it needs some food? It needs some extra food right now. That's another thing with like, when we follow, when we're disconnected from our body and we follow diet culture rules, we think we're gonna eat the same exact thing every day. It's not that's not how it works. Like we are part of nature. And when you go with your flow and that's what mind your body, mind your plate starts to get you back into it starts getting you back into your flow, your rhythm and being sort of like actually a part of nature. I mean, we're human. We are a part of nature. Right. So if you think about like how animals, you know, eat in the wild, they eat when they're hungry. They sleep when they're tired. They get water when they're thirsty and every day doesn't look the same for them. So, I mean, I even think of like my dogs. One of my dogs, she will eat anything, a little scavenger. The other one, she's like, some days she eats a lot, some days she doesn't because she's just like, really, I think she's just a dog and she's living. her natural dog life. I don't know what I'm saying. What am I saying? But she's just going with the rhythm of her body. So, okay. So how do I do mind your body, mind your plate? I told you a little bit, but I'm gonna break it down a little bit more. what I like to do, and if you start to do this, I promise you will start to build this relationship with your body. And... Bridgett Burrick Brown (22:47.884) Today is just like a little glimpse. I wanna like dig into this a little bit more. So I will probably do a follow-up episode. I don't know if we'll dig into intuitive eating versus like the control, cause I like to talk about like the intuitive mind versus like the restrictive control mind. So maybe we'll talk about that, which I think will be a nice compliment to this one. But I first, start with just pausing. There's so much power in pausing, right? When you take a minute, you take a beat, you take a pause, it starts this process of getting really present, right? So just take a pause and you can do this actually like a bigger pause if you're by yourself and you can get really present. So I want you to take a pause. to get presence because you're gonna get present and you're gonna check in, right? So if you're by yourself, can actually, however you feel the most presence, you know, I like to have my feet on the floor, you know, maybe take a couple of deep breaths. Maybe close my eyes just to check in or, you know, have my days a little bit down, just to really check in and get present with your body. If you're out, say you're at a dinner party, you can just simply take a moment with your menu maybe and say, okay, I'm going to take a pause. I'm going to get present for a second. I'm going to get into my body. I'm going to connect with my body, right? So, You can do this when you're... Bridgett Burrick Brown (24:42.378) Asked if you want food, that's another one too. Being able just to pause, mm, you can even do this like, do I want that? You know, you're asking your, this is a quick one, right? It's good to respond. You pause, you mm, get presents, and then you can respond. And initially, those answers won't be as quick as you want them to. I can do it really fast now. and I can really honor myself and I can say no, even if someone really wants to give me that food or whatever. But so you you pause, you get present to stop and check in. Right. And you ask yourself what you really need or what you really want. Right. So simple questions that you can ask is like, what does my. What does my body need right now? Can I give her that? What does she need, you know? Can I give her that? Am I and so say. Bridgett Burrick Brown (25:57.806) Say your first thought is a salad. Because that's just sort of, but maybe there's a little, maybe there's a should in there, right? So my next follow-up question I like to ask is like, am I making this choice for me? Or because of like pressure, comparison, guilt? Like that answer, right? If you hear the word should, it's a really good red flag that you're probably not coming from your body, your mind. You're probably not coming from connection or that intuitive mind. You're coming from a place of like programming, conditioning, okay? So, Let me break down should a little bit for you guys. If your body is exhausted and you say, I should go to bed tonight early and get a good night's sleep, that feels nourishing, right? That's an okay should. But if you're like, I should have a salad. But then when you think about it, how does it make you feel? So if it then makes me feel like, should have a salad because... Otherwise I'd be breaking the rules, you know, like I would be stepping out of line. That's not that's not connecting with yourself. OK. Bridgett Burrick Brown (27:40.408) So the pausing and getting present is also this really good way that you can start really recognizing your hunger, your hunger signs. We lose them. We can get really disconnected from them. You start to understand your fullness signs, your energy levels. Like, you know, do I really need to work out right now or do I actually need a nap? And your cravings, and your cravings without judgment is very important, right? So mind your body, mind your plate, is this time where you can relearn yourself, you relearn your body, you relearn all of those signs that your body is, our bodies are so smart, they're so wise, they... They do things all the time without us telling them to do things. And they do speak to us if we listen to them. I had posted a story recently about, I think it was something your body did for you this week or something. And someone said, gave me, my body gave me pink eye. And I wrote her back and I said, how incredible our bodies that it gave you that sign. That to me is a sign that's saying, hey, hey, slow down a little bit because you didn't hear the last sign that I had told you when you felt really tired, right? So I feel like buying your body, your plate is just this beautiful way to start getting back in tune with yourself. It also is this way to start to understand because you'll start to see it when you start following it, that your body really knows best, right? So it gives you this sort of personal choice over what your body needs, right? So you really connect with your personal agency again. You start to trust your body signals. Bridgett Burrick Brown (30:01.95) you and you know that nobody else's choices or opinions are necessarily good for yours. Your choices and your opinions is good for your body. Bridgett Burrick Brown (30:20.622) So when you get the answer, so you've paused, you've become present, you've asked yourself a couple questions, you make sure if you hear the word should, you check in, what's the should about, right? When you get the answer, then this is really important and this will take some practice, especially if you're used to really, you know, being very regimented and strict and lots of rules around your eating. You have to, once you get the answer and the answer feels nourishing and fulfilling to you and it feels right, that feels right, you have to give yourself permission. It's very important. And you have to give yourself permission without guilt. Pizza is okay sometimes and so is salad. So it's like, this is where really this practice will come in to give yourself permission, right? most of the time having, I love goals. love, I have like, I'm not like, I have to hit a goal because that's, I think for me, it almost goes back into my disordered eating where like, like to live, I like to be able to be a little fluid. That's how I enjoy my life. If I get too extreme on one end, it's not good for me. So, In my personal opinion, when there's like too many rules, it doesn't really serve you because you're usually disconnected. And I know I'll get some pushback where people are like, you know, very, I just, I just, don't know. I just think you're not living in the rhythm of your life. I'm trying to think of how to say that. Bridgett Burrick Brown (32:13.518) It'll come to me. If it comes to me, I'll tell you. So yeah, it's giving yourself this permission, right? You don't need to burn off your food. You don't need to earn your food. Can you actually let yourself have something, right? It's this way that you will practice to kind of let go of like good or bad labels on food. Because our bodies need different things for different times. Like sometimes it's actual physical hunger and then sometimes it's emotional hunger. And we don't want to always be eating in emotional hunger because that again would be one end of the spectrum. But it's okay sometimes. Me and my girlfriend were just talking about this. We've both struggled with disordered eating. And I'm like, you know what? Sometimes I just want to like eat a lot of the chips. And she's like, you know what? I get it. And she's like, but now we just like know that we're doing it. It's not, you know, anyways, my point is like, it's OK that sometimes you're like, I'm a little sad. I just want some ice cream. But this takes this takes practice, right? Mind your body, mind your plate. It is a practice. It does become second nature. I promise I I love that I can like check in with my body really quickly. Bridgett Burrick Brown (33:59.33) And the goal is really to get to this place of more peace in our bodies, right? So we're releasing this micromanaging, we're releasing that we miss out on so many things when we live like that. Connection at meals, like I was talking about in the beginning, it's like, you give yourself permission to actually enjoy the food and be with your friends or your family, right? And I think this piece part two for me is like actually finding this natural rhythm like I was talking about. And I really think that when you find your body's natural rhythm, you're typically happy with the way your body looks. So I'll say that again. When you find your body's natural rhythm, you typically like the way your body looks. And you're not swimming in diet culture. I always say like, if you do the inner work, the added bonus is the outer, like, you know, but it's true. It's like, if you can really start to, I do this when I get in rhythm. But also your body is really, it starts working sort of for you and not against you. and with you, it's like you create this little partnership. So it's about building trust rather than, trying to force or manipulate. And it's, it's beautiful because I think you just really start to listen and honor your body and, and you feel more at peace. So. Bridgett Burrick Brown (35:53.44) I'm going to wrap up, but I want to challenge you to just kind of take some pauses throughout your day, you know, before choosing what you grab out of the cupboard or out of the refrigerator, or you order something in at a restaurant, just take a pause for a second. Check in. Get present with your body and see if you start to choose a different choice. Remember to ask yourself, what does my body truly need right now? What does my body want? Does that feel good? Notice if the guilt or this external expectations kind of creep in. Just notice it. You can tell it to go away if you want, but. Bye. And start to make these choices, you know, based on your body's signals, not on external choices. If someone is obsessed with your plates, you can ignore them. If someone's obsessed with your workouts, et cetera, you can ignore them. And I'll just leave you with this thought that your body already knows what it needs. It just needs you to start listening to it. Thank you so much. Bridgett Burrick Brown (37:44.962) And when you start trusting your body, feel like everything else just starts to fall in place naturally. Thank you so much for being here. I hope this was helpful. Pass it on to a friend and yeah, I'll see you soon.