how to reconnect with your body through self-awareness

this week of the #selflove100 is all about self-awareness- noticing how we fuel and nourish our bodies with intention. similar to our very first week of awareness and reflection- this time we're really focusing on what we're putting into our bodies.

from the meals that energize us to the habits that drain us, this episode invites you to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with what truly makes you feel good from the inside out. it’s not about perfection- it’s about presence.

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Transcript

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Welcome back to the Self-Love Archives podcast. I am your host, Julia Salvia. I am so grateful that you are here. You are coming into the podcast at the perfect time because for the rest of 2025, we are doing the self-love 100, 100 Days of Loving Yourself more so on December 31st of this year. You are going to look back at the last couple of weeks that you have spent in 2025 saying, oh my goodness, I love myself more, and I can promise you that if you implement these habits, these routines, and join us every single week here on the podcast for only about 10 minutes. These are super, super short episodes. For that reason so that you can take everything that you've learned, take it with you throughout the week, and come back the next week for the next challenge. You will love yourself more by the end of 2025. We are on week number five, episode four, week number five, and this week I have to say I really dislike this week. And that's because of my own insecurities and my own issues, and probably the number one thing that I struggle with the most. I am always, always, always trying to find balance in the ways that I nourish and fuel my body. And it seems to be the one thing that I really struggle with. And I've, I've gotten it down pat in the past and I've done really well, but it is the first. Habit to go when all hell breaks loose, I guess in life. Or when life gets crazy or you go on vacation and come home. It's like the number one thing that I really struggle with. So knowing that, I want you to know that if it's also something that you struggle with, that you are not alone. Um, I. I'm very cognizant of the type of language I use when speaking about the ways that we fuel and nourish our bodies, because number one, it is so different across every single human in this world, right? From man to woman to child to adult, to someone who, um, has this or someone who is that it's so incredibly different and there are so many. Different ways that we can nourish and fuel our bodies, but there are also so many different ways that we can nourish and fuel our bodies according to what we like, who we are, the environments that we live in, and our capacity and privilege that we have. So knowing all of that this week is not about really doing anything except for awareness. Similar to our very first week of the Self-Love 100, we took a whole entire week to just be aware of where we are at, and I think that's the most, most, most important part of this journey in this challenge is to really become more self-aware of yourself, because it's one thing in these. Challenges and sometimes these ridiculous diets or these things that everybody is just joining in on these trends. Like it's one thing to do those things and it's another to actually be aware of how things affect you. And how things make you feel, and that's what I want you to focus on for this week. So we are not going to be paying attention necessarily to our calorie intake or what this has in it or what that has in it, or if we're going out to dinner this Thursday or what we for breakfast every day, or what we don't eat for breakfast every day. What I just want you to do this entire week is take the week to become more self-aware. And what that means is similar to our week one, is when it comes to the ways that you are fueling and nourishing your body. So what you're taking, um, what, what you're intaking into your body. And that goes far beyond. But let's focus on the internal this week. Everything that you are eating, everything that you are consuming, whether that is a food, um, a liquid, a vitamin supplement mineral. Anything across the board, anything that you are giving to give your body energy.'cause that's what food does for us, right? Gives us our vitamins and minerals to help our body function the way that it's supposed to, and it also provides us with energy, which is what makes us function. I want you to take note of the foods or the things that you are consuming that might not make you feel so good. Whether that's not make you feel good, physically, mentally, emotionally, a really, really great example. So as I've noticed recently as I've gained a little bit of weight, there are a lot of, lot of, lot of different things going on and puzzle pieces that kind of all fit together. But if we're just focusing on this one thing, I have been getting what's called esophageal spasms, and that's like right in the center of. My chest, it feels really tight. Some people say that it's similar to the way that like a heart attack feels. It's, it is a very, very, very intense pain. Um, but with a lot of research and bouncing it off of my doctors and things like that, it seems just like something that has happened because of the weight that I've gained. And it's has, has just kind of like almost. Made my esophagus feel smaller, so I'm not able to swallow certain foods as easily as I was once was before. It's a part of. Gerd, if you've ever heard of gerd, without getting into so much detail about it. The point is, is that it is very uncomfortable and it's really painful, and I started to notice it maybe a couple of months ago and realized, okay, what are the foods that are causing this to. Be more inflamed. What is, what are the foods that I'm eating that are causing my esophagus to be more inflamed? Has nothing to do with what I like, what I don't like. Just point blank. Let's be very self-aware and ask myself, what is hurting? What is making this? What is triggering it essentially, and I kind of came down to a couple of things that are very specific. Actually. It is potatoes, really potatoes of any kind. Pasta but not soft pasta. It's only with super aldente pasta. I know cries, cries in Italian cries. But like super Alden say pasta. It does not happen with rice or any other grains like bread or anything like that. And then occasionally it will happen with any sort of like seltzer or bubbly drink, but not always. Usually it's more of like if it's already happening from all of these other things, like the super aldente pasta or the potatoes, it'll, a bubbly drink will make it 10 times worse. That's one thing that I've personally been really self-aware of. The plan moving forward from that. Self-awareness is something that we're going to work on next week, but this week I don't want you to judge yourself for anything. I don't want you to set up an action plan. All I want you to do is be aware. Another thing that I want to add in here in regards to being aware of what you're consuming, how you're nourishing and fueling your body, is this. Notice how you feel before you eat something, while you eat something, and how you feel after you eat something. And that goes with how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally. How do these things that you are choosing for yourself, eating and then digesting, like how do those things make you feel mentally, physically, and emotionally? Are you making yourself feel guilty for eating specific things or eating something at a specific time? Do you feel fine prior to eating it? Feel guilty while you're eating it, but feel fine after. I want you to notice these feelings. Do you feel amazing before, fine during, and then shitty after. For me, that's a perfect example of the esophageal spasms that I'm having. Like I feel fine before, not so great during, and then pretty shitty after. And then after I've digested, like everything's perfectly fine. Like nothing kind of comes from that, but now that I'm self-aware, and I know that this happens every time I go to have that same dish or that same type of food that makes me feel that way, I'm questioning myself before I'm nervous, during and after. Just depends on whether or not it made my body inflamed and made that esophageal spasm happen. So taking that as you will. I just want you to be aware this week, please do not be hard on yourself as I know that a lot of us can be. Food is not something that should make us feel guilty. It's not something that we should, I genuinely think we should have necessarily any feelings around besides good ones. Food is fuel and nourishing and fueling our bodies in the ways that our body needs is completely different from everyone else. Completely different from everyone else, and I want you to let that sink in. So whatever your findings are this week, I want you to take them with no emotion, almost like writing it down on a piece of paper and saying, okay. No emotion, no positive, no negative emotions, no emotion. Being self-aware is exactly that. It's just being aware of how you feel mentally, physically, and emotionally. And that is it for this week. Next week we're gonna go into refining. Those findings, that self-awareness that you had with yourself this week to see how to move forward so that you can learn more about yourself and your body and how to nourish and fuel your body in the ways that you need. Thank you so much for hanging out with me this week, sending you all of the love in the entire world, and if you have any questions about anything. Please know that I am not a nutritionist. I am not a dietician, I'm not a doctor. I'm none of those things. All that I am here is a bestie, a best friend for you to help you learn more about you. And I think that self-awareness is at the forefront and the top of that. And when we have that, we can give ourselves more self-love. Self-love is all about the learning process of ourselves and when we can learn more about ourselves, we can love ourselves more. We can get closer to feeling fully irrevocably in love with who we are, but we need to know who we are inside, out and all around in order to do that. I'll see you back here next week for week six. I love you. Have the best week ever.