In this episode, Stacy and Sarah welcome special guest, Cassy Joy Garcia of Fed and Fit to talk ditching the diet mentality, tips for staying on track without following a strict program, and how to turn your diet mentality into a sustainable, long term lifestyle! Click here to listen in iTunes If you enjoy the show, please review it in iTunes! The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 336: Cassy Joy Garcia of Fed and Fit (0:00) Intro (0:40) News and views Stacy and Sarah are excited to welcome today's special guest! May the snort-laughing begin! Dear listeners, we need a favor from you! Please nominate the podcast for the Paleo Magazine's 2019 Best Of Awards! (And all of your favorite paleo companies!) Nominate us here >> (6:17) Today's special guest: Cassy Joy Garcia of Fed and Fit Cassy runs the blog FedandFit.com Stacy and Cassy have been friends for years! Cassy has a guest recipe on RealEverything.com: a paleo gingerbread house! Fun fact: Cassy initially went to school to become an entymologist (someone who studies bugs). Cassy demonstrates her "dog voice." (11:03) Ditching the diet mentality The podcast has kicked off the New Year focused on making healthy nutrition and lifestyle changes with the mentality of making it a sustainable, longterm solution. If you missed the first couple episodes, check them out here: TPV Podcast, Episode 333: 2019 Resolutions Check-In Show TPV Podcast, Episode 334: The Secret to Dietary Success: Meal Planning TPV Podcast, Episode 335: How Many Vegetables Part 3: Souping vs Smoothies Cassy notes we give diets so much power. It can be easy to get sucked up into the negative mentality that eating off plan makes you "bad" or "a failure." But that's not true! You're creating a lifestyle so it's important to be kind to yourself, move on, and keep going instead of beating yourself up and falling off the wagon. Stacy wonders how we can find the balance between living a healthy, sustainable life and the stress of yoyo-dieting. Cassy says the object of the game is not to eat as few foods as possible. The goal is to heal and eat a variety of foods to get maximize nutrient density. Are you choosing foods for health? Or are you choosing foods based on arbitrary rules and restrictions. Sarah jumps in highlighting the difference between dieting and lifestyle. Dieting: following rules and restrictions to acheive a short term goal Lifestyle: a long term goal where you're finding balance and sustainability so you can continue this diet and lifestyle for the rest of your life. Sarah notices that in the AIP community, because it's such a restrictive protocol (even though it's a healing protocol), it can create the "diet mentality" that causes person to be afraid to reintroduce foods. (23:51) How do you stay on track after ditching the 'diet mentality'? Cassy says it's about being very strategic with your reintroductions, being thoughtful and careful. When you're following a plan, it can take some of the scariness out of these transitions. But it's important to trust the process and trust your coach. Instead of feeling like you failed on a diet, what if the diet failed you? It might not have been the right program for you. Cassy recommends sticking to the principles of good nutrition, sleep, exercise, and when you choose to indulge, enjoy it and move on the next day instead of beating yourself up. Indulgences don't have to be a "cheat" they can be part of your plan! Stacy notes when you call something a cheat, you're assigning a negative emotion to that food. (33:56) Strategies for creating sustainable habits Cassy says once your program is over, don't feel like you have to abandon all the healthy principles you learned! Pick your favorite healthy practices, tendencies, foods, etc, that you learned from the program and continue them. Meal planning and prep are essential to get your nutrition on track. (43:19) Keep up with Cassy from Fed and Fit Check out Cassy's project, Fed and Fit. Get her first cookbook, Fed and Fit. Pre-order her upcoming cookbook, Cook Once, Eat All Week: 26 Weeks of Gluten-Free, Affordable Meal Prep to Preserve Your Time & Sanity, which will be out April 23rd! Check out her podcast, Fed and Fit! Get your questions in! We want to hear from you! And there's no end to questions we can answer and topics we can address! Engage on social media! That's how we get feedback! Thank you for listening. Resources TPV Podcast, Episode 333: 2019 Resolutions Check-In Show TPV Podcast, Episode 334: The Secret to Dietary Success: Meal Planning TPV Podcast, Episode 335: How Many Vegetables Part 3: Souping vs Smoothies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices